Personality qualities are a distinctive set of traits inherent in a person, expressing the uniqueness of states, psychological processes, aspects of character and behavioral patterns in society or the natural environment. The qualities of a person’s personality are always personal. They have quantitative characteristics, as a result of which they are measured by degree, stage of development or level.
A personal set of traits is simultaneously characterized by stability (at the time of measurement) and dynamism, in other words, they remain in constant development (over the years of a person’s existence). Their production and transformation are determined by many conditions of a biological and social nature. Their appearance and further development are significantly influenced by the spirituality of the individual.
What it is
The personal qualities of people are the so-called personal “attributes” of a person, influencing all possible aspects of his life, from the choice of daily wardrobe to professional preferences. Simply put, these are innate characteristics and acquired character traits. Some personal parameters can be modified due to the influence of society and life circumstances, while others remain constant. There is an opinion among psychologists that most personality traits are formed in the first five years of a baby’s existence; in subsequent years they are only subject to adjustment.
Innate personality traits include various character traits. So, for example, Cattell counts among them intelligence, the peculiarities of the processes of memorization and perception, memory, musical or artistic talent, and the fundamental properties of temperament.
In turn, Jung followed a similar theory and divided people according to their main subtypes into intuitive, feeling, sensing, thinking.
Personal characteristics are especially influential when choosing a professional field. Most psychologists claim that a person who has an unsuitable character for a chosen activity will never be able to achieve success in it.
Moreover, each area of employment is characterized by a separate set of desirable personality qualities and undesirable ones. For example, a successful businessman needs the following “attributes”: hard work, independence, determination, adequate self-esteem, courage, responsibility, initiative, stress resistance and communication skills. In addition, such parameters as uncertainty, aggressiveness and tactlessness should be absent.
The teacher must have observation, an adequate level of exactingness, and tact. He should be balanced and attentive, but at the same time it is better for him not to have a tendency towards aggressive manifestations, not to be withdrawn, irresponsible and unpunctual.
All qualities inherent in a personality and revealed throughout its existence are connected in pairs. They have a positive component and a negative color in accordance with their orientation.
The basic qualities of a person show the specificity of mental phenomena, characteristics and states of a person, express his character traits, aspects of temperament, originality of behavior, originality of interaction with society, the environment, and his own person. Simply put, they show the individual psychological attributes of a person. Also, these qualities include the subject’s skills, knowledge and abilities.
A person who knows what personal qualities there are can identify them in himself in order to chart a course and ways of corrective work.
In addition, such knowledge will help to better understand loved ones, colleagues and simply surrounding subjects, will contribute to optimal interaction with society and the preservation of relationships.
Thus, it is necessary to know your own personal characteristics in order to understand how to further develop yourself. Whereas understanding the characteristics of other subjects is important for determining compatibility and suggesting what kind of relationships can be established.
Positive qualities are usually maintained and steadily developed; most people diligently try to get rid of or correct negative ones.
At the same time, the division of personal qualities into parameters with a positive color and with a negative component is very arbitrary, since it is based on generally established moral standards. It should be understood that the non-black component will not be white, therefore personality characteristics cannot be divided into good qualities and bad parameters.
Traditionally, the following are considered negative personal qualities: deceit, duplicity, irresponsibility, neglect, aggressiveness, rudeness, intemperance, laziness, sloppiness, rudeness, hatred, excessive selfishness, inertia, weak character, sloppiness, uncertainty, resentment, pride, cowardice, greed, coldness , indifference, excessive self-criticism, envy, vindictiveness, and many others.
The listed traits give rise to corresponding behavior. For example, a lazy subject is lazy in any activity, and an irresponsible person invariably lets others down.
The presence of the above negative parameters harms both their owner and society and close people. However, they are perfectly amenable to correction. With a little effort, you can improve your own life, relationships with loved ones, colleagues, and simply become happier.
Among the positive components of an individual’s personality are the following: kindness, compassion, empathy, hard work, responsibility, patience, peacefulness, diligence, friendliness, culture, morality, reliability, unselfishness, directness, truthfulness, confidence, intelligence, prudence, optimism, determination, cheerfulness , energy, accuracy, attentiveness, tenderness, caring. There are many more traits with a positive color than listed, as well as negative components.
The listed parameters with a “+” sign generate the appropriate skills and abilities in the work environment, personal interaction, and social life.
From the above list of qualities with negative and positive connotations, it is clear that there are traits that express a person’s attitude to society, work, the world, and things. This is because a person’s individual set of characteristics is found in everything, from his friendly relationships to his manner of dressing.
There are no people who are entirely composed of “good” qualities, but there are a huge number of individuals in whom positive traits prevail. At the same time, each individual has the power to minimize the number of negative qualities in himself, replacing them with positive antagonists.
Unity of biological and social in man
The idea that the two factors are a single whole did not form immediately: it was preceded by a long path of speculation and conjecture. Man as a product of the biological and social components began to form a very long time ago, but he himself began to think about it relatively recently. Let's not delve into the most ancient times, but take the Age of Enlightenment as an example. At that time, almost all thinkers shared the social and natural principles, but the first was considered not natural and necessary, but artificial and temporary. It was believed that morality, traditions, spiritual needs are just attributes that are not of particular importance. During the Enlightenment, concepts such as “natural morality” and “natural law” appeared.
What was meant by natural? This was a certain foundation that meant the correctness of the entire social system. Social norms were considered secondary and directly dependent on natural factors. Thinkers insisted that the relationship between the biological and the social in a person cannot be the same: the social (artificial) has always been less significant and more dependent. This statement was not even subject to dispute, because it was considered normal if a person acts based on his selfish intentions, and only then “thinks” by the standards of society.
Social and psychological qualities
Every day people have to interact with society, expressing their own communication skills and a complex of socio-psychological personality traits.
The concept of “personality” already presupposes a certain quality, since each subject must independently develop a personality in his own person. No one is born a person right away. This process of formation is influenced by a lot of circumstances and, above all, upbringing, the street environment, and living conditions.
Socio-psychological personal parameters are developed as a result of the influence of interaction with surrounding subjects, the result of which is the emergence of formed beliefs and social demands regarding oneself and society.
Psychological traits and social characteristics are formed subject to the presence of communicative interaction with social subgroups. The social characteristics of a person reflect his fundamental traits, which allow people to occupy certain positions in society.
Social and psychological parameters in the personality structure divide individuals into three types: athletics, picnics and asthenics.
People belonging to the first type have the traits of a socially energetic personality who strives to be in the circle of attention. An athlete wants to gain the trust of others and take a leading position in the social environment. Such personalities are quite expressive.
People of the second variety quickly adapt to new conditions. They build relationships with surrounding individuals in society, based on the ability to freely express their own beliefs, interests, principles, while avoiding conflict situations.
People belonging to the latter variety are characterized by low sociability. They are introverts who do not strive to acquire connections, relationships and new acquaintances.
Social and psychological qualities of a person are determined by:
– the content of a person’s worldview;
– interests and needs, the degree of rapid switching from one to another or their stability, insignificant content of interests and needs, or vice versa;
– the level of integrity of such a worldview and personal attitudes;
– the degree of awareness of one’s own purpose in the social environment;
– an extraordinary manifestation of a complex of various qualities.
Thus, for a prosperous life, a person should invariably develop social traits and psychological qualities in his own personality. Since the level of socio-psychological parameters of the individual has a direct impact on performance.
Biological and social factors
The social and biological in man have equally important forces. In order to realize all of his principles to the maximum, a person must strive to balance both of his parts. To do this, they must be clearly separated. Man was able to stand out from the animal world thanks to two groups of factors: biological and social. Biological features include the development of the skull, upright posture, development of the arms, and the ability to speak clearly. Social factors are work, thinking, collectivism, communication, language. Everyone knows that labor plays a big role, since it was labor that served to the greatest extent in the process of human development. Using this example, we can understand the close relationship between the social and the biological: upright walking freed up man’s hands so that tools could be made. At the same time, changes in the structure of the hand allowed man to use the tools he created. Moreover, joint work contributed to the development of social communication skills between tribe members. The emergence of language helped people express complex things, think on a larger scale, and plan at a basic level. A huge advantage of the appearance of the language is that it made it possible to transfer accumulated knowledge through generations, preserve history and increase experience. Thus, it turns out that the social and biological in man have a very close connection since the development of the human race and it is impossible to separate these two principles.
Volitional personality traits
Many would undoubtedly like for everything in life to happen naturally, so that they don’t have to make an effort. However, everyday life dispels their dreams. After all, every day people have to solve many problems, they face a lot of difficulties and they have to constantly make efforts.
Even going to the nearest supermarket is already a bit of effort. At the same time, in order to move forward and develop, people act, but each subject chooses the path of progress individually. Its length and speed along it are most often determined by the individual’s attitude towards difficulties, how much he intends to overcome in order to achieve the goal.
Simply put, on this path a person uses his own volitional qualities.
The volitional personality traits include the following:
– determination (the ability to instantly identify a goal and the trajectory of its implementation, even in extreme circumstances);
– determination (confident progress towards the intended goal, determination to devote time and make efforts in order to achieve it);
– perseverance (the ability to bring a new task to a consistent completion, not to deviate from the plan, not to look for an easier path);
– courage (overcoming confusion and fear while soberly understanding potential dangers);
– self-control (self-control, the ability, through the will, to restrain one’s own actions that interfere with the implementation of the plan);
– discipline (meaningful subordination of one’s own actions to certain norms);
– independence (the ability to perform actions alone, without looking at the environment, as well as evaluate the behavior of other individuals according to one’s own beliefs).
It is believed that a person’s volitional parameters do not belong to innate qualities. It should be understood that their formation is determined by temperament, which depends on the physiological characteristics of the nervous system. People's response to certain life difficulties is associated with the intensity and speed of mental reactions, but the formation of volitional personality parameters occurs only in the process of activity and gaining experience.
The first manifestations of volitional acts are observed in early childhood, when the baby tries to control himself (does not require immediate satisfaction of needs). Communication and knowledge of the surrounding reality forms a character in which strong-willed traits subsequently take over the leading position in the structure of the personality.
Personal development occurs only in conditions of overcoming obstacles. Often, the more pronounced the manifestations of a person’s volitional parameters, the more successful his professional sphere, standard of living, social relationships and satisfaction with his own existence in general.
Everyone wants to be known as a strong personality, but few people realize that a strong personality has qualities acquired through daily work and struggle with life’s obstacles. That is, simply put, a strong person is a subject who has developed strong-willed personality parameters, confidence and a positive worldview, since they cannot be frightened or stopped by any troubles or obstacles.
Thus, all volitional characteristics of a person are developed throughout existence, interaction and activity. At the same time, childhood is considered a particularly significant stage of such formation.
What is modern man like?
Every baby that is born is already a biosocial being. This is due to the fact that he is born in a circle of socialized creatures, and not in the jungle, for example. Thus, it turns out that from childhood the child gradually absorbs all social norms. He may not understand or be aware of them, but they will still influence his behavior to one degree or another. A person is born with underdeveloped qualities that develop during life in society. Moreover, such a fact as heredity cannot be discarded. It gives the child not only a certain set of biological properties, but also endows him with human qualities, such as curiosity, feelings of joy and sadness, and imitation. For example, a person smiles because it is an innate quality, but he is encouraged to smile consciously by the surrounding social world in which he is located.
You should also pay attention to the human consciousness. It is known that it is not innate, but nature creates all the conditions for it to develop. A person’s conscious reactions can be formed only if he is educated, trained, masters some skills and learns about cultures. Only thanks to society does a person have the opportunity for spiritual development, communication through speech, etc.
Moral qualities
Morality is the system of internal values of a person that determine his behavioral response, attitude towards the social environment, close people and himself.
A person’s system of internal norms is developed as a result of the influence of many factors: family relationships, personal experience, school environment, social relationships.
Morality can be racial, humanistic, religious-fanatical, nationalistic, which is determined by the values that were the basis for the formation of a person’s internal rules.
The moral formation of a child’s personality is determined by his perception of moral norms, knowledge of such norms, habits of behavioral reactions, and the internal position of the baby.
For the development of a child as a social creature, knowledge of behavioral norms is of paramount importance. The preschool age of the baby is characterized by the assimilation of social postulates of behavior through interaction with the environment (relatives, peers, teachers).
The assimilation of norms, first of all, involves the child’s gradual understanding and comprehension of their role, as well as the development of behavioral habits through interaction with society. A habit reflects an emotionally felt stimulating force - the child has to act, violating normal behavior, which creates a feeling of discomfort in the baby. In addition, the assimilation of norms presupposes that the child absorbs a certain emotional attitude towards the norms.
Important personality qualities, such as tact, correctness, respect, careful attitude towards heritage, nature - this is the basis on which the successful coexistence of a person in society is built.
Among the primary moral qualities are the following:
– philanthropy (selfless help to people, kindness);
– loyalty (this trait has two directions: towards oneself, that is, following one’s own principles, ideals, and outside, which implies loyalty to the Fatherland);
- respect;
– selflessness (actions without personal gain);
– spirituality (a characteristic that includes moral aspects and religiosity, which exalts the human spirit).
