What qualities does a strong personality have: signs of great people

Most of us are used to living “like everyone else.” We swim in the ocean of life in the hope of catching a fair wind, thanks to which we will be thrown to a more comfortable level of existence. Some of us break under the gusts of the stormy winds of life, while others are content with what fate has sent them. However, there are also strong personalities - those who control the winds: they themselves pave the way for the ship and deftly control the helm of life.
It is impossible to give an exact and unambiguous definition of what constitutes the phenomenon of a “strong personality.” The qualities and character traits of every great person are unique and original. The portrait of a strong personality cannot be accurately described by individual signs or single deeds. The greatness of a person is determined only by the totality of his actions.

To understand how a particular individual became an outstanding personality, it is necessary to carefully consider his entire life, starting from birth. After all, everything that has ever happened to a person in the past is reflected in his present and affects the future. A strong personality is not born, but made. External circumstances and living conditions by themselves cannot create an outstanding person. Whether a person will be a weakling or he will conquer the world depends primarily on the ever-moving and changing components of his inner world.

What qualities does a strong personality have: the phenomenon of power
What signs indicate an outstanding person? In the understanding of some people, a strong personality is a leader who enjoys recognized authority, has influence and is able to lead a group of people. Other ordinary people consider strong people to be despots and tyrants, so they are fiercely feared and avoided. From the point of view of other people, a strong personality is a kind of role model, an idol that many want to be like. Despite the conflicting views, the human community has adopted abstract criteria by which society makes a verdict on the weakness or strength of an individual subject. What qualities does a great man have?

Sign 1. Extraordinary intelligence
A constant sign of an outstanding personality is enormous intellectual potential and an excellent level of education. A strong personality does not allow wild ignorance. She does not allow illiterate savages close to her person. Such a subject always tries to make up for the lack of knowledge. He strives to broaden his horizons and become educated in different areas of life. An outstanding person shines with excellent erudition.
A strong personality enthusiastically engages in intellectual discussions. However, conversations about anything and secular gossip are not welcomed by her. A dignified person will not allow himself to be drawn into discussions of someone else's personal life. Having heard gossip and rumors, such a person will unobtrusively move the conversation in a different direction. If he understands that his opponents are simply unable to conduct a dialogue on important and useful topics due to dark ignorance, he will not waste his oratory skills. A strong personality will instantly rid himself of communication with such ignoramuses. And he will do it tactfully, without humiliating the dignity of other people.

Sign 2. Having your own point of view
What qualities does a strong personality have? A person who is strong in spirit has his own point of view regarding all events and phenomena. It is impossible to impose someone else's opinion on him. He is used to saying what he thinks. He does not tolerate it when his monologue is interrupted by some information about nonsense. He does not consider it necessary to waste his precious personal time on nonsense and idle talk.
However, a strong personality is respectful of other people's points of view. An outstanding person knows how to win over his opponent. He listens carefully to other people's stories, asks clarifying questions, is interested in details, and asks for clarification of certain aspects. He never judges his interlocutors for having a different opinion. At the same time, a strong personality knows how to defend his views. With invincible arguments, such an individual is able to convince even the most persistent opponent.

Sign 3. Intuition and logic
What signs indicate a strong personality? A person who stands out among others sees prospects in projects that others consider to be failures. He knows how to foresee the course of events. The ability to notice what remains beyond the sight of other mortals ensures his not only survival, but also prosperity in difficult times. Developed intuition repeatedly helps a strong personality, directs him to the right decision, and helps in seemingly hopeless situations. However, an outstanding person does not rely only on his sixth sense. He passes intuition through the filter of logic and sober reason.

Sign 4. Initiative
The quality characteristic of a strong personality is initiative and enterprise. Most great people are active and energetic. They have sufficient resourcefulness and efficiency. It is initiative that allows a strong person to become popular among his peers, achieve a planned goal, and satisfy his own ambitions. Thanks to their entrepreneurial spirit, such an individual often manages to build a successful career and occupy a high position in leadership positions. We can say that such enthusiasts improve the world. With the help of enterprising people, fresh attractive ideas arise, new developments appear, and brilliant discoveries are made.

Sign 5. Adequate self-esteem
What does it mean to be a strong person? The hallmark of outstanding people is confidence in their own capabilities. A great man has adequate self-esteem. He has no doubt that he has unique talents and unusual abilities. A strong personality is convinced that he can achieve his goal. Such a person confidently moves towards his dream.
However, he soberly assesses his own resources. He will never reach unattainable heights if he does not have sufficient means to conquer them. A strong personality is aware of what qualities, skills, and knowledge she lacks to make her dreams come true. Such awareness stimulates great people to constantly expand the range of their capabilities. That is why an outstanding person never stops at a given level of development, but constantly increases the resources of skills and experience.

Sign 6. Lack of fear of difficulties
A characteristic feature of strong people is focusing on options for solving a problem, rather than on the difficulty itself. As a rule, most people, when faced with an obstacle, lose their cool and become dependent on their experiences. Instead of finding a way to overcome the difficulty, weaklings run away or freeze in place in horror.
A strong personality acts differently. When a problem arises, a great person does not give up and does not become dependent on fear. He assesses the situation with a sober look, analyzes all available factors, studies possible options for solving the problem and chooses the most effective and trouble-free method.
In some cases, fearlessness and inner readiness to act makes strong people intolerant of the spinelessness and lack of will of those around them. Many great personalities have an extremely negative attitude towards those who, instead of constructive actions, are accustomed to making excuses, complaining, whining about the injustice of fate.

Sign 7. Fulfillment of undertaken obligations
What qualities does a strong personality have? An invariable sign of a great man is the ability to keep his word. A strong personality is used to saying what he thinks and promising what he can deliver. That is why, before making a promise, such an individual will carefully think through everything and evaluate his own resources. Since an outstanding person is responsible for her words, she will make every effort to fulfill her obligations. A strong personality despises and avoids people whose words do not match their deeds.

Sign 8. Honesty and rejection of falsehood
The classic sign of great people is crystal honesty. A strong personality is honest and frank with himself. Hypocrisy and falsehood are alien to her. Such a person almost never lies to others and does not mislead them. The reluctance to deceive others is explained by the fact that outstanding people hate any lies.
However, a strong personality understands that the truth is not always pleasant and necessary for others. Therefore, if the end justifies the means, such a person will not publicly expose the liar and prove that he is right. She will remain consistent with her point of view and will not convince the crowd. But an outstanding person will take decisive measures to cleanse his environment from pathological liars who are accustomed to trying on various masks.

Sign 9. Realistic perception of the world
What does it mean to be a strong person? Being an outstanding person requires having a perfectly honed skill in establishing relationships with others. A strong personality is an excellent psychologist. She sees through those close to her, notices and takes into account the individuality of each person. A great person can build relationships with people from different social backgrounds. He knows how to win over absolutely any subject, regardless of his position in society, mentality, or level of education.
Despite the highly developed ability to interact with people, a great person does not try to dominate others. He perceives others as they are - with their shortcomings and advantages. He has no need to re-educate, teach and condemn people who are unpleasant to him. A person who is strong in spirit is a self-sufficient person who accepts the world in its imperfections. He understands that it is pointless to invest effort and spend energy on correcting other people's shortcomings.

Sign 10. Avoiding manipulation
What qualities does a strong personality have? An outstanding person is guided by his own opinions and lives by personal principles. He acts solely according to his own considerations. Even though great people listen to the opinions of those around them, they do not need approval from their peers. They don't need advice and recommendations. They rarely turn to other people for help. Most often, outsiders offer their services on their own. A strong personality accepts the existence of social standards. However, they are not particularly worried about violating norms imposed from the outside if the goal facing it outweighs the likely losses and casualties.

Sign 11. Personal responsibility
What signs give reason to assume that we have a strong personality? A great man has a developed sense of responsibility for his actions and behavior. He never shifts the burden onto other people's shoulders, does not blame the injustice of fate. A strong personality is the master of his own life. Such a subject takes full responsibility for everything that happens in his present. He does not recognize or allow outside influence, creating his happy future on his own. Such a consciously formed internal locus of control provides a strong personality with a clear superiority over other ordinary citizens who rely on fortune and blame evil fate for all troubles.

Sign 12. Ability to concentrate attention
What does it mean to be a strong person? To be a great person and leave a significant mark on history, you must be able to distinguish important facts from unimportant details. A strong personality knows how to focus entirely on the task at hand, ignoring and not noticing the presence of smaller problems. The ability to fully concentrate on the task at hand ensures high work results and dooms an outstanding person to success.
It should be pointed out that a strong personality cannot be forced to do something that is uninteresting and unhelpful to him. Such an individual cannot be seduced by a luxurious reward. No matter how high the prize, he will not act against his wishes. But a strong personality invests all available intellectual, material and time resources into a priority matter. A great person, in order to achieve his chosen goal, can push into the background all other aspects: personal life, hobbies, recreation, comfortable living conditions. However, having realized his intention, such a subject does not stop at the achieved result, but raises the bar even higher.

Sign 13. Inner harmony
What signs indicate a strong personality? Many outstanding people, like ordinary mortals, often have violent internal conflicts. However, the emerging contradictions in views do not slow down the activities of a great man, but, on the contrary, motivate him to work on himself. A strong personality always listens to his inner feelings and trusts his feelings. When the slightest disagreement arises in the inner world, a person with a strong spirit begins to take measures to quickly eliminate contradictions. Thanks to hard work on oneself, any internal conflict is resolved very quickly, and a strong personality regains harmony, calm and confidence.

Sign 14. Autonomy of worldview
What does it mean to be a strong person? A great man does not separate himself from the world around him and feels himself a part of it. However, he is aware of his autonomy of thinking and worldview. A strong personality does not obey the laws of an authoritarian regime. She will never blindly obey anyone, and will not carry out orders that are incomprehensible or unacceptable to her. The outstanding person subjects every proposal, wish, and demand addressed to him to an impartial assessment and sound criticism.
If a strong personality receives evidence that the order he has received is contrary to his moral values, he will not obey, regardless of who issued the order. Thanks to the presence of a strong inner core, great people cannot be manipulated and controlled. Such subjects will never allow stupid and senseless sacrifices, and will not put themselves on the chopping block for the sake of satisfying the ambitions of others.

Sign 15. Bright personality
What are the characteristics of a strong personality? Great people are the owners of an original and unique personality. Their significant originality is manifested in all areas - in their extraordinary character, specific interests, behavior, and style of communication with the environment. At the same time, the outstanding person is not afraid of her difference from others; on the contrary, she is oppressed by the dullness and standardness of society.

Sign 16. Cheerfulness and optimism
A strong personality is a cheerful, optimistic and positive person. He loves to be surrounded by friends and associates. He is often the life of the party. A great man can admit his mistakes and knows how to laugh at his own shortcomings. He does not lose heart and does not give up even in critical situations. The ability to maintain composure during extreme events and confidence in victory over the enemy attracts loyal followers to the camp of strong people.
Despite their sociability and sociability, all outstanding people from time to time have a need to be alone. They need solitude in order to sort out all their existing thoughts, separate the main tasks from unimportant problems, analyze the past and make adjustments to the present. At the same time, a strong-willed person is not oppressed by loneliness: such a person knows how to enjoy communicating with himself.

Sign 17. Capacity for high feelings
Despite the measured life of a strong personality, such a person is able to feel and demonstrate bright, intense feelings. Excitement and intensity of passions in great people are caused not by standard experiences, but by high emotions. A strong personality knows how to worry and sympathize with close friends. She knows how to sincerely love and is ready to perform feats for the sake of her chosen one. Such a person is able to remain faithful and devoted. An outstanding person can experience a flurry of emotions and receive deep satisfaction from creative insight, scientific discoveries, and positive changes she has carried out for the benefit of society.

A strong personality is a person with a big heart and enormous willpower. Despite the apparent rudeness and aggressiveness, such a subject never acts to the detriment of the surrounding world. Its purpose is to transform the world in humane and humane ways. It is the good intentions of strong people and their persistent implementation of their plans that provides them with fame and honor not only among their contemporaries, but also among their descendants.
Read about how to become a strong personality and raise a winner in yourself.

Personality is a qualitative individual characteristic that combines stable and permanent mental properties that determine a person’s behavior and attitude. Literally, translated from Greek, character means a sign, a trait. Character in the structure of personality combines the totality of its various qualities and properties that leave an imprint on behavior, activity and individual manifestation. A set of essential, and most importantly, stable properties and qualities determine a person’s entire lifestyle and his ways of reacting in a given situation.

The character of an individual is formed, determined and formed throughout his entire life journey. The relationship between character and personality is manifested in activity and communication, thereby determining typical modes of behavior.

Personality Traits

Any trait is some stable and unchangeable stereotype of behavior.

Characteristic personality traits in a general sense can be divided into those that set the general direction for the development of character manifestations in the complex (leading), and those that are determined by the main directions (minor). Leading traits allow you to reflect the very essence of character and show its main important manifestations. We must understand that any character trait of a person will reflect the manifestation of his attitude to reality, but this does not mean that any of his attitudes will directly be a character trait. Depending on the individual’s living environment and certain conditions, only some manifestations of relationships will become defining character traits. Those. a person may react aggressively to a particular irritant of the internal or external environment, but this will not mean that the person is evil by nature.

In the character structure of each person, there are 4 groups. The first group includes traits that determine the basis of personality, its core. These include: honesty and insincerity, integrity and cowardice, courage and cowardice, and many others. The second includes traits that demonstrate an individual’s attitude directly towards other people. For example, respect and contempt, kindness and anger, and others. The third group is characterized by the individual’s attitude towards himself. It includes: pride, modesty, arrogance, vanity, self-criticism and others. The fourth group is the attitude towards work, activity or work performed. And it is characterized by such traits as hard work and laziness, responsibility and irresponsibility, activity and passivity, and others.

Some scientists additionally identify another group that characterizes a person’s attitude towards things, for example, neatness and sloppiness.

They also distinguish such typological properties of character traits as abnormal and normal. Normal traits are characteristic of people who have a healthy psyche, while abnormal traits include people with a variety of mental illnesses. It should be noted that similar personality traits can be considered both abnormal and normal. It all depends on the degree of expression or whether it is an accentuation of character. An example of this could be healthy suspicion, but when it goes off scale, it leads to...

The determining role in the formation of personality traits is played by society and a person’s attitude towards it. It is impossible to judge a person without seeing how he interacts with the team, without taking into account his attachments, dislikes, comradely or friendly relations in society.

An individual's attitude towards any type of activity is determined by his relationships with other persons. Interaction with other people can encourage a person to be active and rationalize, or keep him in tension and give rise to his lack of initiative. An individual's idea of ​​himself is determined by his relationships with people and his attitude to activity. The basis in the formation of personality consciousness is the direct relationship to other individuals. A correct assessment of another person’s personality traits is a fundamental factor in the formation of self-esteem. Also, it should be noted that when a person’s activity changes, not only the methods, methods and subject of this activity change, but also the person’s attitude towards himself in the new role of an actor changes.

Personality traits

The main feature of character in the personality structure is its certainty. But this does not mean dominance of one trait. Several traits, contradicting or not contradicting each other, can dominate a character. Character can lose its definition in the absence of clearly defined traits. The system of moral values ​​and beliefs of an individual is also a leading and determining factor in the formation of character traits. They establish the long-term direction of individual behavior.

The character traits of an individual are inextricably linked with his stable and deep interests. The lack of integrity, self-sufficiency and independence of the individual is closely related to the instability and superficiality of the individual’s interests. And, conversely, a person’s integrity and purposefulness and perseverance directly depend on the content and depth of his interests. However, similarity of interests does not yet imply similarity of characteristic personality traits. For example, among scientists you can meet both cheerful and sad people, both good and evil.

To understand the characteristics of a person’s character, one should also pay attention to his affections and leisure time. This can reveal new facets and characteristics of character. It is also important to pay attention to the compliance of a person’s actions with his established goals, because an individual is characterized not only by actions, but also by how exactly he produces them. The direction of activity and the actions themselves form the dominant spiritual or material needs and interests of the individual. Therefore, character should be understood only as the unity of the image of actions and their direction. It is on the combination of personality traits and his properties that a person’s real achievements depend, and not on the presence of mental capabilities.

Temperament and personality

The relationship between character and personality is also determined by the individual’s temperament, abilities and other aspects. And the concepts of temperament and personality form its structure. Character is a set of qualitative properties of an individual that determine his actions, manifested in relation to other people, actions, and things. Whereas temperament is a set of mental properties of an individual that influence his behavioral reactions. The nervous system is responsible for the manifestation of temperament. Character is also inextricably linked with the individual’s psyche, but its traits develop throughout life under the influence of the external environment. And temperament is an innate parameter that cannot be changed, you can only restrain its negative manifestations.

The prerequisite for character is temperament. Temperament and character in the personality structure are closely interrelated with each other, but at the same time they are different from each other.

Temperament embodies mental differences between people. It varies in depth and strength of manifestations of emotions, activity of actions, impressionability and other individual, stable, dynamic characteristics of the psyche.

We can conclude that temperament is the innate foundation and basis on which the personality is formed as a member of society. Therefore, the most stable and permanent personality traits are temperament. It manifests itself equally in any activity, regardless of its focus or content. Remains unchanged in adulthood.

So, temperament is the personal characteristics of an individual, which determine the dynamism of his behavior and mental processes. Those. The concept of temperament characterizes the pace, intensity, duration of mental processes, external behavioral reaction (activity, slowness), but not conviction in views and interests. It also does not determine the value of an individual and does not determine its potential.

There are three important components of temperament that relate to the general mobility (activity) of a person, his emotionality and motor skills. In turn, each of the components has a rather complex structure and is distinguished by various forms of psychological manifestation.

The essence of activity lies in the individual’s desire for self-expression and transformation of the external component of reality. At the same time, the very direction, the quality of implementation of these trends is determined precisely by the characterological characteristics of the individual and not only. The degree of such activity can range from lethargy to the highest manifestation of mobility - constant rise.

The emotional component of a person’s temperament is a set of properties that characterize the characteristics of the course of various feelings and moods. This component is the most complex in its structure compared to the others. Its main characteristics are lability, impressionability and impulsiveness. Emotional lability is the speed with which one emotional state is replaced by another or ceases. Sensibility is understood as the subject’s susceptibility to emotional influences. Impulsivity is the speed with which emotion turns into the motivating reason and force of actions and deeds without first thinking them through and making a conscious decision to carry them out.

The character and temperament of a person are inextricably linked. The dominance of one type of temperament can help determine the character of subjects as a whole.

Personality types

Today in the specific literature there are many criteria by which personality types are determined.

The typology proposed by E. Kretschmer is now the most popular. It consists of dividing people into three groups depending on their physique.

Picnic people are people who tend to be overweight or slightly overweight, short in stature, but with a large head, wide face and short neck. Their character type corresponds to cyclothymics. They are emotional, sociable, and easily adapt to a variety of conditions.

Athletic people are tall and broad-shouldered people, with well-developed muscles, a resilient skeleton and a powerful chest. They correspond to the ixothymic type of character. These people are powerful and quite practical, calm and unimpressive. Ixothymic people are restrained in their gestures and facial expressions and do not adapt well to changes.

Asthenic people are people who are prone to thinness, their muscles are poorly developed, their chest is flat, their arms and legs are long, and they have an elongated face. Corresponds to the schizothymic character type. Such people are very serious and prone to stubbornness, and have difficulty adapting to change. Characterized by isolation.

K.G. Jung developed a different typology. It is based on the predominant functions of the psyche (thinking, intuition). His classification divides subjects into introverts and extroverts depending on the dominance of the external or internal world.

An extrovert is characterized by directness and openness. Such a person is extremely sociable, active and has many friends, comrades and just acquaintances. Extroverts love to travel and get everything out of life. An extrovert often becomes the initiator of parties; in companies, he becomes their soul. In ordinary life, he focuses only on circumstances, and not on the subjective opinion of others.

An introvert, on the contrary, is characterized by isolation and turning inward. Such a person isolates himself from the environment and carefully analyzes all events. An introvert has a hard time making contact with people, so he has few friends and acquaintances. Introverts prefer solitude to noisy companies. These people have an increased degree of anxiety.

There is also a typology based on the relationship between character and temperament, which divides people into 4 psychotypes.

A choleric person is a rather impetuous, fast, passionate and at the same time unbalanced person. Such people are subject to sudden mood swings and emotional outbursts. Cholerics do not have a balance of nervous processes, so they quickly become exhausted, thoughtlessly wasting their strength.

Phlegmatic people are distinguished by equanimity, unhurriedness, stability of moods and aspirations. Outwardly, they practically do not show emotions and feelings. Such people are quite persistent and persistent in their work, while always remaining balanced and calm. The phlegmatic person compensates for his slowness in work with diligence.

A melancholic person is a very vulnerable person, prone to stable experiences of various events. A melancholic person reacts sharply to any external factors or manifestations. Such people are very impressionable.

A sanguine person is a mobile, active person with a lively character. He is subject to frequent changes of impressions and is characterized by rapid reactions to any events. We can easily relate to the failures or troubles that befell him. When a sanguine person is interested in his work, he will be quite productive.

Also, K. Leonhard identified 12 types, often found in people with neuroses, accentuated characters. And E. Fromm described three social types of characters.

Psychological character of personality

Everyone has long known that significant changes occur in the psychological character of an individual in the process of its development and life activity. Such changes are subject to typical (natural) and atypical (individual) trends.

Typical trends include changes that occur in psychological character as a person grows older. This happens because the older an individual becomes, the faster he gets rid of childish manifestations in character, which distinguish childish behavior from adult behavior. Childhood personality traits include capriciousness, tearfulness, fears, and irresponsibility. Adult traits that come with age include tolerance, life experience, rationality, wisdom, prudence, etc.

As an individual moves along the path of life and gains life experience, changes occur in their views on events, and their attitudes towards them change. Which together also influences the final formation of character. Therefore, there are certain differences between people of different age groups.

For example, people between the ages of approximately 30 and 40 live mainly in the future; they live in ideas and plans. All their thoughts, their activities are aimed at realizing the future. And people who have reached 50 years of age have approached the point where their present life meets simultaneously with their past life and their future. And therefore, their character is modified in such a way as to correspond to the present. This is the age when people completely say goodbye to their dreams, but are not yet ready to be nostalgic for the years they have lived. People who have passed the 60-year mark practically no longer think about the future; they are much more concerned about the present, and they have memories of the past. Also, due to physical ailments, the previously taken pace and rhythm of life is no longer available to them. This leads to the appearance of such character traits as slowness, measuredness, and tranquility.

Atypical, specific tendencies are directly related to events experienced by a person, i.e. conditioned by past life.

As a rule, character traits that are similar to existing ones are consolidated much faster and appear much faster.

You should always remember that character is not an immutable quantity; it is formed throughout a person’s entire life cycle.

Social character of personality

Individuals of any society, despite their individual personal characteristics and differences, have common psychological manifestations and properties, and therefore act as ordinary representatives of a given society.

The social character of a person is a general way of adapting a person to the influence of society. It is created by religion, culture, education system and family upbringing. It should also be taken into account that even in a family, a child receives an upbringing that is approved in a given society and corresponds to the culture, which is considered normal, ordinary and natural.

According to E. Fromm, social character means the result of a person’s adaptation to a particular way of organizing society, to the culture in which he is brought up. He believes that none of the known developed societies in the world will allow the individual to fully realize himself. From this it turns out that the individual from birth is in conflict with society. Therefore, we can conclude that the social character of an individual is a kind of mechanism that allows an individual to exist freely and with impunity in any society.

The process of adaptation of an individual in society occurs with a distortion of the character of the individual himself and his personality, to the detriment of it. According to Fromm, social character is a kind of defense, an individual’s response to a situation that causes frustration in the social environment, which does not allow the individual to freely express himself and fully develop, placing him obviously within limits and limitations. In society, a person will not be able to fully develop the inclinations and capabilities inherent in him by nature. As Fromm believed, social character is instilled in the individual and has a stabilizing character. From the moment an individual begins to have a social character, he becomes completely safe for the society in which he lives. Fromm identified several options of this nature.

Accentuation of personality character

Accentuation of a person’s character is a pronounced feature of character traits that is within the recognized norm. Depending on the severity of character traits, accentuation is divided into hidden and obvious.

Under the influence of specific environmental factors or circumstances, some weakly expressed or not manifested traits can be clearly expressed - this is called hidden accentuation.

Explicit accentuation is understood as an extreme manifestation of the norm. This type is characterized by constancy of traits for a certain character. Accentuations are dangerous because they can contribute to the development of mental disorders, situationally determined pathological behavioral disorders, neuroses, etc. However, one should not confuse and identify the accentuation of a person’s character with the concept of mental pathology.

K. Leongrad identified the main types and combinations of accentuations.

A feature of the hysteroid type is egocentrism, excessive thirst for attention, recognition of individual abilities, and the need for approval and honor.

People with the hyperthymic type are prone to a high degree of sociability, mobility, a tendency to mischief, and excessive independence.

Asthenoneurotic – characterized by high fatigue, irritability, and anxiety.

Psychosthenic - manifested by indecision, love of demagoguery, soul-searching and analysis, suspiciousness.

A distinctive feature of the schizoid type is isolation, detachment, and unsociability.

The sensitive type is manifested by increased touchiness, sensitivity, and shyness.

Excitable – characterized by a tendency to regularly recurring periods of sadness and accumulation of irritation.

Emotionally labile – characterized by very changeable mood.

Infantile-dependent - observed in people who play like children and avoid taking responsibility for their actions.

Unstable type - manifests itself in a constant craving for various kinds of entertainment, pleasure, idleness, idleness.

Human character traits and their manifestation

03.04.2015

Snezhana Ivanova

Character traits always leave an imprint on a person’s behavior and also influence his actions.

Throughout his life, each person exhibits his own individual characteristics, which are reflected not only in his behavior or the specifics of communication, but also determine his attitude towards activities, himself and other people. All these features that manifest themselves in life, both in scientific use and in everyday life, are called character.

Definition of "character"

In psychology, character is understood as a certain set of human traits that are clearly expressed and relatively stable. Character traits always leave an imprint on a person’s behavior and also influence his actions.

In psychological dictionaries you can find a fairly large number of definitions of character, but they all boil down to the fact that character is the totality of the most persistent individual psychological characteristics of a person, which always manifest themselves in their activities and social behavior, as well as in the system of relationships:

• to the team;
• to other people;
• to work;
• to the surrounding reality (to the world);
• to myself.

The term itself character» ( in the lane from Greek character – coinage or seal) was introduced by the ancient Greek philosopher and naturalist, student Plato and Aristotle's closest friend Theophrastus. And here it is worth paying special attention to the translation of the word – minting or printing. Indeed, character appears as a kind of pattern on a person’s personality, thereby creating a unique seal that distinguishes its owner from other individuals. Such a design, just like the coat of arms or emblem on the personal seal of the medieval nobility, is drawn on a certain basis using specific signs and letters. The basis for engraving an individual personality is temperament, and a unique design is based on bright and individual character traits .

Character traits as a tool for psychological assessment and understanding of a person

In psychology, character traits are understood as individual, rather complex characteristics that are the most indicative for a person and make it possible with a high degree of probability to predict his behavior in a specific situation. That is, knowing that a particular person has certain traits, one can predict his subsequent actions and possible actions in a given case. For example, if a person has a pronounced trait of responsiveness, then there is a high probability that at a difficult moment in life he will come to the rescue.

A trait is one of the most important and essential parts of a person, his stable quality and established way of interacting with the surrounding reality. A character trait crystallizes a personality and reflects its integrity. A person’s character trait is a real way to solve many life situations (both active and communicative) and therefore they need to be considered from the point of view of the future. So, character traits are a forecast of a person’s actions and deeds, since they are persistent and make a person’s behavior predictable and more obvious. Because every personality is unique, there is a huge variety of unique character traits.

Each person acquires special character traits throughout his life in society, and all individual signs (traits) cannot be considered characterological. These will only be those who, regardless of life situation and circumstances, will always manifest themselves in an identical way of behavior and the same attitude in the surrounding reality.

Thus, in order to evaluate a personality psychologist (characterize it) as an individual, it is necessary to determine not the entire sum of a person’s individual qualities, but to highlight those traits and qualities of character that are distinctive from other people. Despite the fact that these features are individual and different, they must constitute a structural integrity.

A person’s character traits are a priority when studying his personality, as well as for understanding and predicting his actions, actions and behavior. Indeed, we perceive and understand any type of human activity as a manifestation of certain traits of his character. But, characterizing a person as a social being, it becomes important not so much the manifestation of traits in activity, but what exactly this activity is aimed at (as well as what the human will serves). In this case, one should pay attention to the content side of character, and more specifically, to those character traits of a person that make up the general structure of his mental make-up. They are expressed in: integrity-contradiction, unity-fragmentation, static-dynamism, breadth-narrowness, strength-weakness.

List of human character traits

Human character- this is not only a certain set of certain traits (or a random set of them), but a very complex mental formation that represents a certain system. This system consists of many of the most stable qualities of a person, as well as its properties, manifested in various systems of human relations (to work, to one’s business, to the world around us, to things, to oneself and to other people). In these relationships, the structure of character, its content and individuality of originality find its expression. Below, in the table, the main character traits (groups of them) are described, which find their manifestation in various systems of human relations.

Persistent character traits (symptom complexes) manifested in personal relationships

In addition to the traits that manifest themselves in the system of relationships, psychologists have identified human character traits that can be attributed to the cognitive and emotional-volitional sphere. So character traits are divided into:

• cognitive (or intellectual) - curiosity, theoreticality, criticality, resourcefulness, analyticalness, thoughtfulness, practicality, flexibility, frivolity;
• emotional (impressionability, passion, emotionality, cheerfulness, sentimentality, etc.);
• strong-willed traits (persistence, determination, independence, etc.);
• moral traits (kindness, honesty, justice, humanity, cruelty, responsiveness, patriotism, etc.).

Some psychologists propose to distinguish between motivational (or productive) and instrumental character traits. Motivational traits are understood as those that motivate a person, that is, they encourage him to take certain actions and actions. (they can also be called goal traits). Instrumental features give human activity a unique style and individuality. They relate to the very manner and way of performing an activity (they can also be called trait-methods).

Representative of the humanistic trend in psychology Gordon Allport character traits were combined into three main categories:

• dominant (those that most determine all forms of human behavior, his actions and deeds, such as selfishness or kindness);
• ordinary (which manifest themselves equally in all spheres of life, for example parity and humanity);
• secondary (they do not have the same influences as dominant or ordinary ones, for example it could be diligence or a love of music).

So, the main character traits are manifested in various spheres of mental activity and the system of relationships of the individual. All these relationships are fixed in different methods of action and forms of human behavior that are most familiar to him. Certain natural relationships are always established between existing traits, which make it possible to create a structured character. It, in turn, helps to predict, based on a person’s character trait already known to us, others who are hidden from us, which makes it possible to predict his subsequent actions and actions.

Any structure, including character, has its own hierarchy. Thus, character traits also have a certain hierarchy, so there are main (leading) and secondary traits that are subordinate to the leading ones. It is possible to predict a person’s actions and behavior based not only on the main features, but also on secondary ones (despite the fact that they are less significant and do not appear so clearly).

Typical and individual in character

The bearer of character is always a person, and his traits are manifested in activities, relationships, actions, behavior, methods of action in the family, in a team, at work, among friends, etc. This manifestation always reflects the typical and individual in character, because they exist in organic unity (thus, the typical is always the basis for the individual manifestation of character).

What is meant by typical character? A character is said to be typical when it has a set of essential traits that are common to a particular group of people. This set of traits reflects the general living conditions of a particular group. In addition, these traits must be manifested (to a greater or lesser extent) in each representative of this group. The set of distinctive typical features is a condition for the emergence of a certain one.

What is typical and individual in character is most clearly expressed in a person’s relationships with other people, because interpersonal contacts are always determined by certain social conditions of life, the corresponding level of cultural and historical development of society and the formed spiritual world of the person himself. The attitude towards other people is always evaluative and manifests itself in different ways (approval-condemnation, support-misunderstanding) depending on the existing circumstances. This manifestation is expressed depending on a person’s assessment of the actions and behavior of others, or rather their positive and negative character traits.

Typical human character traits, in terms of their level of intensity, manifest themselves individually in each person. For example, individual traits can reveal themselves so strongly and clearly that they become unique in their own way. It is in this case that the typical in character turns into the individual.

Positive character traits and their manifestation

Both typical and individual in character find their manifestation in systems of personality relationships. This happens due to the presence of certain traits (both positive and negative) in a person’s character. So, for example, in relation to work or one’s business, such positive character traits as hard work, discipline and organization are manifested.

As for interpersonal communication and attitude towards other people, the good character traits are the following: honesty, openness, fairness, integrity, humanity, etc. All these traits allow you to build constructive communication and quickly establish contacts with people around you.

It should be noted that there are a huge variety of individual character traits. But among them, it is necessary to highlight first of all those that have the greatest influence on the formation of a person’s spirituality (it is in this context that the best character trait of a person – humanity) finds its manifestation. These traits are even more important in the process of educating and developing the younger generation, because the same traits are formed differently depending on situations, the presence of other character traits and the orientation of the individual himself.

While highlighting good character traits, one should not forget about their possible distortion, or the presence of obvious negative traits that a person needs to fight. Only in this case will the harmonious and holistic development of the personality be observed.

Negative character traits and their manifestation

In relation to the behavior, actions and activities of other people, a person always forms traits of a certain character - positive and negative. This occurs on the principle of analogy (that is, identification occurs with what is acceptable) and opposition (with what is included in the list of unacceptable and incorrect). The attitude towards oneself can be positive or negative, which primarily depends on the level of development and the ability to adequately evaluate oneself ( that is, from the formed level). A high level of self-awareness is evidenced by the presence of the following positive traits: high demands on oneself, and self-esteem, as well as responsibility. And, conversely, an insufficient level of development of self-awareness is indicated by such negative character traits as self-confidence, selfishness, immodesty, etc.

Negative character traits (in principle, just like positive ones manifest themselves) in the four main systems of human relationships. For example, in the “attitude to work” system, among the negative traits are irresponsibility, carelessness and formality. And among the negative traits that manifest themselves in interpersonal communication, it is worth highlighting isolation, stinginess, boastfulness and disrespect.

It should be noted that negative character traits, which find their manifestation in the system of a person’s relationships with other people, almost always contribute to the emergence of conflicts, misunderstandings and aggression, which subsequently leads to the emergence of destructive forms of communication. That is why every person who wants to live in harmony with others and with himself should think about cultivating positive traits in his character and getting rid of destructive, negative traits.

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Distinctive Personality Traits

So, what is personality, given these limitations? Personality is a person taken in the system of his psychological characteristics that are socially conditioned, manifest themselves in social connections and relationships by nature, are stable, determine the moral actions of a person that are of significant importance for himself and those around him. Along with the concepts of “person” and “personality”, the terms “individual” and “individuality” are often used in science. Their difference from the concept of “personality” is as follows.

If the concept of “person” includes the totality of all human qualities characteristic of people, regardless of whether they are present or absent in a given person, then the concept of “individual” characterizes him and additionally includes such psychological and biological properties that, along with personal are also inherent in him. In addition, the concept of “individual” includes both qualities that distinguish a given person from other people, as well as properties common to him and many other people.

Individuality is the narrowest concept of all discussed. It contains only those individual and personal properties of a person, such a combination of them that distinguishes this person from other people.

Let's consider the personality structure. It usually includes abilities, temperament, character, volitional qualities, emotions, motivation, and social attitudes.

Abilities are understood as individually stable properties of a person that determine his success in various activities.

Temperament includes qualities that influence a person's reactions to other people and social circumstances.

Character contains qualities that determine a person’s actions towards other people.

Volitional qualities cover several special personal properties that influence a person’s desire to achieve his goals.

Emotions and motivation are, respectively, experiences and motivations for activity.

Social attitudes are people's beliefs and attitudes.

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Each person has certain characteristics that are expressed in emotional manifestations, selection of specific actions and reactions. All this happens automatically and is defined by people as character traits. There are many personality types to quickly determine what kind of person is experiencing this.

Everyone knows what character is. This is a set of qualities that are inherent in a particular person. Character is developed throughout life. As a child, he is flexible and quickly changing. Over the years, it becomes more stable and eventually consolidates. The article will tell you what it is and what features this phenomenon has.

What is personality character?

Every person encounters the character of another person. What it is? This is a characteristic of the psyche that combines permanent and stable qualities that determine the behavior and attitude of an individual. Translated from Greek, character means “trait”, “sign”. This is a stable characteristic that affects behavior, ways of reacting, activities and individual manifestations of a person.

We can say that the character of a person determines a person’s entire life, his destiny. They say that fate is predetermined. In fact, a person who does not obey specific rules and strategies creates his own destiny, which he then lives.

By changing your character, you can change your destiny, since character determines the reaction, behavior, and decisions a person makes in a specific situation. If you look closely, you can see that people who are similar in character live the same life. Only the details differ, but their methods and behavior are the same.

Character is formed throughout a person's life. It can be changed at any moment, which in adulthood is possible only under the influence of one’s own desire and willpower. If a person cannot change his character, then his life does not change and its development is predictable.

Personality Traits

Character changes depending on the type of activity, society, social circle, attitude towards oneself and the world as a whole. If any of these aspects change, this may affect the change in the quality of character. If everything in a person’s life remains unchanged, then character traits remain unchanged.

Personality traits

The character of a person is also formed under the influence of the values ​​and moral beliefs that a person uses. The more stable they are, the more a person becomes entrenched in his behavior and manifestations. The main feature of personal character is its certainty, where one can note the leading features, of which several always stand out. Definition of character disappears if there are no stable qualities.

Character is also based on the interests that a person has. The more stable and constant they are, the more a person becomes focused, persistent and integral in his manifestations.

You can determine the character traits of another person by his actions and their direction. Both actions and the results that he achieves after completing them are important. They are the ones who show a person's character.

Temperament and personality

The relationship between personality and character is also visible. Although these characteristics are determined by the human psyche, they are different quantities. Temperament is determined by the structure of the nervous system, which makes it an innate quality, the manifestations of which cannot be changed, but you can simply do something.

Character is a flexible aspect that is formed throughout life. A person can change it, which is determined by his life activity.

Character is formed based on the temperament with which a person is born. Temperament can be called the basis on which the entire branch of his character qualities is built. At the same time, temperament does not change depending on external circumstances and type of activity.

Temperament is characterized by three directions, each of which has its own complex structure:

1. Mobility (activity). It manifests itself in vigorous activity, self-expression, manifestation of oneself, which can be either sluggish or overly active.
2. Emotionality. There is a variety of moods and feelings here. Defined by:

• Lability – the speed of change from one mood to another.
• Impressiveness - the depth of perception of external emotional stimuli.
• Impulsivity is the speed at which an emotion transforms into a motivating force for action without thinking it through and making a decision to carry it out.

1. Motor skills.

Personality types

Psychologists from different times have tried to identify personality types to identify specific groups of people. E. Kretschmer identified 3 groups of people according to their body type:

1. People are picnics, prone to gaining excess weight, short in stature, with a large face, neck, and overweight. They are easily adaptable to the conditions of the world, sociable and emotional.
2. Athletic people are characterized by well-developed muscles, tall and broad-shouldered, hardy and with a large chest. They are not impressionable, domineering, calm and practical, restrained in gestures and facial expressions, and do not adapt well.
3. Asthenic people are characterized by thinness and undeveloped muscles, a narrow face, long arms and legs, and a flat chest. They are stubborn and serious, withdrawn and poorly adaptable to change.

K. Jung proposed another typology that divides people by type of thinking:

• Extroverts. Very sociable and active people who tend to make a lot of acquaintances. They are direct and open. They love to travel, have parties, and be the life of the party. They focus on objective circumstances, and not on the subjective opinions of people.
• Introverts. Very closed and isolated people from the world. They have few friends because they find it difficult to make contacts. They constantly analyze everything that is happening. They are very anxious and prefer to be alone.

Another classification divides people into 4 psychotypes depending on their combination of character and temperament:

1. Cholerics are unbalanced, fast, impetuous, passionate people. They quickly become exhausted due to the senseless expenditure of energy. Prone to emotional outbursts and mood swings.
2. Phlegmatic people are stable in their manifestations, emotions and views, unhurried, unperturbed people. They tend to be calm and balanced, and persistent in their work. Outwardly they do not show emotions.
3. Melancholic people are vulnerable people prone to constantly experiencing emotions. Very impressionable, react sharply to external manifestations.
4. Sanguine people are lively, mobile and active people. They react quickly to external circumstances and tend to receive many impressions. They are productive at work. They easily endure failures and troubles.

Psychological character of personality

Changes that occur in the psychological character of a person are divided into natural (typical) and individual (atypical).

Natural changes occur as a person grows up and goes through certain changes in his body. Childish features disappear, replaced by adult ones. Childhood traits include capriciousness, irresponsibility, fears, and tearfulness. For adults - wisdom, life experience, tolerance, rationality, prudence, etc.

Much here is determined by the situations that a person often encounters. Communication with people, various circumstances, successes and failures, tragedies determine a person’s change of views and values. This is why people of the same age group differ from each other because everyone has had their own life experiences. Here individual traits are formed, which depend on the life circumstances through which each person passes.

Traits are quickly replaced by others if they are similar to or include previous ones.

Social character of personality

The social character of a person is understood as those qualities that should be characteristic of absolutely all people of a particular society. When going out into society, a person must show not only individual traits, but also those qualities that are considered acceptable, approved, and normal. This set is formed by society, the media, culture, education, educational institutions, religion, etc. It should be noted that parents also raise their children depending on the framework and norms that are accepted in society.

According to E. Fromm, the social character of a person is a person’s way of adapting to the society in which he is located. This is an unpunished and free way of existing in a particular society. He believed that no society allows a person to fully realize himself, since he always dictates its own rules and norms, which should be above individual characteristics and desires. This is why a person is always in conflict with society, when he must obey in order to be accepted, or tries to protest, which can be punishable.

Society will never allow a person to express himself in full force, which prevents him from realizing his inclinations and harms the individual himself. A distortion of character must occur when everyone fits themselves into certain frameworks and norms accepted in society. Only through the development of social character in a person does society make him safe for itself. What is important here is not the personality, but its safe manifestations that will be acceptable in society. Otherwise, there will be punishment for any individual self-expression that does not fit into the framework.

Accentuation of personality character

The accentuation of a person’s character is understood as a set of qualities that are clearly manifested by an individual within normal limits. It is divided into:

• Hidden - traits that appear infrequently or never at all. However, under certain conditions they can appear.
• Explicit - traits that manifest themselves to the extreme of the norm and are characterized by constancy.

K. Leongrad identified types of accentuation:

1. Hysterical – thirst for attention, egocentrism, need for honor and approval, recognition of individual characteristics.
2. Hyperthymic – sociability, mobility, tendency to mischief, excessive independence.
3. Asthenoneurotic – anxiety, high fatigue.
4. Psychosthenic – indecision, a tendency to demagoguery, analysis and soul-searching, suspiciousness.
5. Schizoid – detachment, isolation, unsociability.
6. Excitable – periodic sad moods, accumulation of irritation.
7. Sensitive – increased touchiness, sensitivity, shyness.
8. Infantile dependent - a delay in childhood when a person does not take responsibility.
9. Emotionally labile – mood variability.
10. Unstable - a tendency towards idleness, pleasure, entertainment, idleness.

Bottom line

Personality character often helps in understanding the personality itself, since everything revolves around its inner world, which has manifestations in the form of reactions, emotions, behavior, actions and even achievements that are currently available. Considering the different character types can lead to the following result - understanding people quickly and easily.

Character is a flexible characteristic that can be changed at any time. It can change both unconsciously and under the influence of the willpower of a person who controls the manifestation of a particular quality. The longer a person exhibits a particular quality, the more it is consolidated and becomes one of his characteristics that influences the future development of life.