How to determine a person’s psychotype: detailed instructions

Psychotypes of human personality

Based on the most striking character traits inherent in different people at first glance, psychologists combine them into several groups called psychotypes. There are many classifications of psychotypes, because each psychologist who studies them has his own criteria. Therefore, they are all rather arbitrary and subjective.

Classification of personality psychotypes

Well-known psychological types were identified and described by the Austrian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst C. G. Jung.

His theory about “introversion - extraversion”, as well as about the four types of perception of the world, has developed and continues to develop.

Psychological personality types proposed by Jung:

Personality types depending on the vector of its orientation:

An extrovert is a person psychologically oriented to the outside world; sociable, active, active.
An introvert is a person focused on the inner world; closed, sensitive, reasonable.

Psychological types depending on the predominant way of perceiving life, in other words, on the main mental function:

Thinking type - a person who primarily relies on logic and thinking when making decisions. The sphere of feelings is suppressed.
Feeling type - a person focused on feelings, judges in terms of “good - bad”, and not logically.
The sensing type is a person who perceives life directly through the senses; he looks, listens, touches and makes decisions based on the information he receives. Intuition is suppressed by him.
Intuitive type - a person who relies on the “sixth” sense; such people make decisions based on intuitive, unconscious knowledge, rather than on direct sensations.

Based on Jung’s typology, in the seventies and eighties of the last century, Soviet sociologist A. Augustinavichiute developed one of the most detailed and reliable personal typologies and became the founder of a scientific direction called “socionics”.

A. E. LICHKO

Another Soviet scientist A.E. Lichko, observing teenagers, identified psychological types that describe the types of character accentuations. Accentuation is an excessive strengthening of individual character traits, psychological deviations bordering on psychopathology, but not beyond the norm.

In adolescence, the crisis age, accentuation manifests itself most pronouncedly.
Later, the character “smoothes out”, and accentuation appears only in crisis, stressful situations.

K. LEONHARD

The German scientist K. Leonhard proposed a similar classification, but did not limit it to the puberty period. The classification is based on an assessment of a person’s communication style with his immediate environment.

Psychological types according to K. Leonhard:

Hyperthymic. Optimistic, sociable, proactive, active, conflict-ridden, irritable, frivolous.
Disthymic. Pessimistic, silent, withdrawn, non-conflict, conscientious, fair.
Cycloid. Changeable type, combining hyperthymia and dysthymia.
Excitable. Slow, irritable, gloomy, domineering, conscientious, neat, loving animals and children.
Stuck. Perfectionist, inquisitive, fair, ambitious, touchy, suspicious, jealous.
Pedantic. Formalist and neat, serious, reliable, non-conflict, passive, boring.
Anxious. Timid, insecure, defenseless, pessimistic, self-critical, friendly, efficient, sensitive.
Emotive. Excessively vulnerable, tearful, passive, kind, compassionate, responsive, efficient.
Demonstrative. Can be both a leader and an opportunist; self-confident, artistic, courteous, captivating, extraordinary, selfish, boastful, lazy.
Exalted. Extremely sociable, experiencing bright and sincere feelings, amorous, altruistic, compassionate, changeable, prone to panic and exaggerate.
Extroverted. Sociable and talkative, open, efficient, frivolous, prone to excitement and risk.
Introverted. Idealist, reserved, philosophizing, non-conflict, principled, restrained, persistent, stubborn.

What kind of girls are there: types of female character

Extraordinary, bright, caring, sweet, active, hardworking – we can talk about women’s positive qualities for quite a long time. In addition, ladies can be insidious, cunning, cold, suspicious and self-confident. In order for a man to choose the right tactics of behavior with the young lady he likes, he needs to know what types of women there are by character. Thanks to this division, it is possible to consider female behavior from a psychological point of view and even be able to predict the development of future relationships.

Classification of personality psychotypes depending on temperament

Most often, a personality typology is compiled based on differences in the temperaments and characters of people.

HIPPOCRATES

The first known typology of personality depending on the type of temperament was proposed by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. It still remains relevant and popular, although the scientist did not individually connect typological personality traits with the properties of the nervous system (as is customary now).

A person’s psychotype according to Hippocrates depends on the ratio of various fluids in the body: blood, lymph and two types of bile.

Psychological types of temperament according to Hippocrates:

phlegmatic - a person in whose body lymph (phlegm) predominates, which makes him calm and slow;
melancholic - a person in whose body black bile (melanchole) predominates, which makes him fearful and prone to sadness;
sanguine - a person who has a lot of blood in his body (sanguine), active and cheerful;
choleric is hot and impulsive; there is a lot of yellow bile (chole) in his body.

For many centuries in a row, the doctrine of temperaments has been developed and supplemented. In particular, the German philosopher I. Kant and the Russian physiologist I. P. Pavlov were engaged in this. Today, the names of the types of temperament remain the same, but the essence has changed.

Temperament is a combination of innate characteristics of higher nervous activity. It depends on the speed and strength of the processes of excitation and inhibition in the brain. Thus, a weak type of higher nervous activity corresponds to the temperament of a melancholic person; strong, balanced, but inert – phlegmatic; choleric – strong and unbalanced; strong, balanced and agile - sanguine.

E. KRETCHMER

At the beginning of the twentieth century, German psychiatrist E. Kretschmer identified various personality types depending on character. This was the first character classification. Kretschmer connected a person’s psychotype with the constitution of his body.

Three types of bodily constitution:

Asthenic. Thin and tall people, they have elongated arms and legs, underdeveloped muscles.
Athletic. People are strong, with well-developed muscles, average or above average height.
Picnic. People who tend to be overweight with underdeveloped muscles and musculoskeletal system, of average or short stature.

Since E. Kretschmer was a psychiatrist, he compared personality psychotypes with a tendency towards one or another psychopathology and grouped them into two personality types:

Schizothymics are mentally healthy people with an athletic or asthenic build, vaguely reminiscent of patients with schizophrenia. They are characterized by the following character traits: artistry, sensitivity, aloofness, selfishness, and authority.
Cyclothymics are mentally healthy people with a picnic build, reminiscent of patients with manic-depressive psychosis. These are cheerful, optimistic, sociable, frivolous people.

E. Kretschmer's theory was based only on his personal observations, but served as the basis for subsequent, more complex character typologies. Much later, scientists came to the conclusion that body shape really influences the character and individual typological characteristics of a person. The connection between the constitution of the body and the tendency to accentuate character (an extreme degree of normal functioning of the psyche) and psychopathology does exist.

Classification of personality psychotypes depending on character

People differ not only in their character traits, but also in their attitude to life, society and moral values. Although there is a concept of proper behavior, people behave differently.

The German psychoanalyst and sociologist E. Fromm introduced the concept of “social character” and defined it as a certain identical set of character traits in the personality structure of the majority of members of a particular community. Any community, class or group of people has a certain social character.

Social character was taken as the basis for the classification of psychological personality types.

Psychological personality types according to E. Fromm:

"Masochist-sadist"

A person who is inclined to direct aggression towards himself or other people if he considers them to be guilty of ongoing personal failures or problems of the whole society. Such people strive for self-improvement, are insecure, punctual, responsible, demanding, domineering, and love to terrorize others, justifying their actions with good intentions.

Psychological masochism is almost always combined with sadism. However, there are people who are more inclined to one of the types.

Individual typological features of a “masochist”: self-deprecation, self-criticism, tendency to always blame oneself for everything. Fromm defined a “sadist” as an authoritarian personality. This is an exploitative man, domineering and cruel.

"Destroyer"

He does not cause suffering to himself or others, but aggressively eliminates the cause of his troubles. In order not to feel powerless and frustrated, a person ends the relationship or interrupts the business he has started, that is, he uses destructiveness as a means of resolving any trouble. “Destroyers” are usually anxious, desperate, cowardly people, limited in the realization of their capabilities and abilities.

"Conformist Automaton"

Unlike the two previous psychological types, the “conformist” is passive. He does not fight, but resigns himself to difficult life circumstances. This is a too labile person who has practically lost his

He is an adaptable person who will change his point of view, behavior, principles and even type of thinking if the situation demands it. Such people are immoral, and therefore do not see anything shameful in changing points of view and life values.

This social typology does not characterize people from the best side, but it reveals the problems of society and remains extremely relevant in our time.

It is impossible to say which typology is better; they complement each other. Any personality typology allows an individual to know himself and at the same time realize his uniqueness.

Every person has shortcomings

Every person has some kind of physical disability. Even at the dawn of psychology as a science, scientists noted that all representatives of humanity can be divided into certain types, which have a set of qualities, both physical and psychological. And each type has a predisposition to certain shortcomings.

Imagining a kind, calm lout, you understand that we are talking about a person of a phlegmatic type of temperament. This is exactly what they most often look like - overweight, slightly clumsy, but consistent and benevolent phlegmatic people.

If a person is inclined towards thinness, is overly active, is often dissatisfied and nervous, then most likely he belongs to the choleric type of temperament. Please note that this is just a rule, which naturally has exceptions.