LECTURE NOTES ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COMMUNICATION. Individual psychological characteristics of the individual. Emotional-volitional sphere of personality.

Emotions are inherent in all people, they are an important component of our lives, and in our assessments of other people we are largely guided by the feelings they evoke. On the other hand, external manifestations of emotional states create a unique, inimitable image of each person. Emotionality, as a personality quality, is natural and necessary in communication, in professional activities, and in personal life. But excessive demonstration of emotions is tiring and often annoying; it interferes with normal interaction with people and is often a source of conflict. To understand what increased emotionality is associated with, you need to understand the psychology of this personal quality.

Personality emotionality

Each person's emotional system is individual. The individual psychological manifestation of emotions in each person is denoted by the concept of “personal emotionality” - this is the ability to reflect the content of experiences, mood and character. Otherwise, emotionality can be considered as a response to the world around us through the manifestation of feelings and their influence on human behavior. Emotions help to better understand each other, people can tune in to joint activities and communication, and also observe the state of the interlocutor. People belonging to different cultures are able to accurately perceive and evaluate each other’s emotional states such as delight, irritation, sadness, disappointment, pride, admiration, etc.

Emotional characteristics and emotional properties of personality

The system of feelings and typical emotional states that are formed in the process of life constitute the emotional side of the personality. Among the variety of individual emotional manifestations, emotional characteristics and emotional properties of the individual stand out.

Main Differences

in the emotional sphere, personalities are associated with differences
in the content
of human feelings, in what
,
to what objects they are directed and what kind of person’s attitude towards them they express. A person’s feelings, in the form of direct experience, express all of a person’s attitudes, including ideological, ideological, his entire attitude towards the world and, above all, towards other people. If we talk about different levels of feelings in the sense of their value, about higher and lower feelings, then we must proceed from the ideological value of the content that this or that feeling expresses. Anger can be noble and love can be despicable depending on who or what it is directed at.

Typical differences in the emotional characteristics of a person can be expressed: 1) in strong or weak emotional excitability;

2) more or less
emotional stability.
These differences in emotional excitability and stability significantly characterize a person’s temperament.
There are people who are easily ignited and quickly extinguished, just like people whose feelings cannot be immediately rekindled, but, once ignited, they will not soon cool down. Further we can distinguish: 3) the strength,
or intensity, of feelings and 4) its
depth.
A feeling that is strong in the sense of the intensity or swiftness with which it grips a person may be shallow. This is how infatuation differs from love. Love differs from infatuation primarily not by the intensity of the feeling, but by its depth, that is, not by how quickly it breaks into action, but by how deeply it penetrates into the personality. The depth of penetration of a feeling is determined by how significant this feeling and the sphere with which it is connected are so significant for a given person. Further, the breadth of distribution of the feeling also plays a significant role. It is determined by how broad and diverse are the spheres of personality with which it is intertwined. The strength of the feeling largely depends on this.

Emotional characteristics are determined by the type of nervous activity

. They are the ones who appear first in behavior and are noticed without much difficulty. If it is not easy to understand people’s relationships and feelings, then emotional characteristics are manifested in behavior more or less directly and therefore are relatively easily recorded. Through observation, it is possible to capture the strength, pace and rhythm of emotional reactions. As the skills of cultural behavior, restraint and other volitional personality traits are formed, emotional characteristics begin to manifest themselves less and less directly.

The degree of expression of emotional characteristics is very variable and ranges from mild emotional excitability in some to emotional inertia in others, from pronounced impulsiveness and affectivity to clearly expressed restraint. Strength, pace

and
the rhythm
of emotional reactions also vary and are individual for each person.

The emotional characteristics of a person together form the emotional-affective sphere, in which the dynamic side of emotional processes is expressed.

This dynamic side of emotional processes is manifested in the nature of their flow in one or another external “color” accessible to the eye, which appears in the form of involuntary expressive movements: facial expressions, pantomimes, gestures and intonation-expressive means of speech.

The dynamics of emotional processes, its external manifestations, expressive movements, in particular, do not exhaust the individual manifestations of the emotional sphere of the individual. They appear in concentrated form in the emotional properties of the individual.

To the emotional properties of personality

include impressionability, responsiveness, as well as those emotional qualities and their totality that leave their mark on many manifestations of personality and even on its entire mental appearance.

Responsiveness
is
one of the particularly important, socially significant emotional qualities of a person. Responsive is the one who responds to the joys and sorrows of other people as if they were his own. Responsiveness involves understanding the experiences of another person, since you can sympathize with another only by understanding his experiences.

The opposite quality of responsiveness is callousness.

A callous person is deaf and indifferent to people. He lives only his own life, thereby spiritually impoverishing himself. The highest degree of callousness is inhumanity and cruelty.

Impressionability

represents a unique manifestation of personality. Impressiveness is an emotional quality determined by the entire personality make-up, and above all by its cognitive attitude to the objective world and the people around it, its intellectual development.

If emotional personality traits are used as the basis for the characteristics of people, then according to this characteristic, emotional, sentimental, passionate and cold natures are distinguished.

Emotional natures

excitable, very easily “ignited” under the influence of stimuli. They are characterized by impetuosity and impulsiveness, often turning into passion. What they experience captivates them, and they do not so much think and reason about the content of the object as analyze their experiences. Impressiveness is an equally characteristic quality of emotional natures.

Sentimental natures

characterized by a penchant for contemplation. The world is reflected, as it were, through the prism of experiences and emotional states, which leave an imprint not only on the process of perception, but also determine the nature of a person’s ideas about surrounding people, objects, and events. Sentimental natures are sensitive and passive: their feelings do not cause active activity, the world of their experiences is, as it were, closed in on itself and is not associated with activity. The focus of feelings on oneself is noted, that is, the desire to admire one’s experiences.

Passionate natures

They are exceptionally efficient, impetuous and devoted to their favorite work, they live a rich and intense, emotionally rich life. They always have an object of passion. Ebullient energy and waste of energy without reserve is their characteristic feature. These are people of great, deep feelings, experiencing passion.

Comparing these three emotional types, S.L. Rubinstein writes: “Emotional natures themselves experience their feelings, surrendering to their vibrations; sentimental natures, rather, contemplate their feelings, admiring their overflows; Passionate natures live by their feelings, embodying its tension in action. For the former, affectivity dominates; they are impressionable, excitable, but more impetuous than effective; for them the feeling itself, with its exciting excitement, is more important than its object. The second are contemplative and sensitive, but passive; love for them is primarily admiration. Still others are effective; neither the experience of their feeling, nor the contemplative admiration of its object satisfies them. For them, feeling is not rapturous excitement or blissful contemplation, but a passionate desire” [Rubinstein, P. 584].

There are also people in whose lives and activities emotions do not have much significance. They are called cold natures ,

sometimes - “people of cold calculation.” Their feelings and emotional states manifest themselves to such a minimal extent that they practically have no influence on their behavior, actions and actions. They live by the arguments of reason. They are characterized by low emotional excitability, weak impressionability and what is usually called efficiency.

This typology does not exhaust and does not cover the nuances and variations that the emotional sphere imposes on a person’s mental appearance. Indeed, among the people around us, not everyone can be classified into one or another category of natures that were described above. But in all of them one can detect their inherent originality of the emotional sphere. Such characteristics may include good nature (a feeling of sympathy towards people), altruism, the basis of which is love for people, reaching a high degree of development. Such a personality quality as selfishness is also emotionally determined. After all, an egoist first of all loves himself and is guided in his life and activities by this feeling.

It should also be noted that if, by comparing emotions caused by the same object in different people, one can detect a certain similarity, then other emotional manifestations in people are strictly individual. The variety of emotional manifestations is expressed primarily in the prevailing mood of people. Under the influence of life conditions and depending on the attitude towards them, some people have a high, cheerful, cheerful mood; for others - depressed, depressed, sad; for others - capricious, irritable, etc.

It should be noted that existing differences in the manifestation of emotions and feelings largely determine the uniqueness of a particular person, i.e. determine his individuality.

By what signs can one determine the spiritual impulse of a person?

In psychology, there are several levels of expression of emotions:

• subjective plan for the manifestation of emotions (emotions are reflected in internal experiences that are closely related to the individual’s personal experience and based on it);
• manifestation of emotions in behavior (emotions are most often observed in facial expressions, gestures, movements of people, etc.);
• manifestation of emotions in speech (traced through the strength of the voice, its pitch and timbre);
• vegetative level of manifestation of emotions (changes in pulse, increased heart rate, breathing, changes in pupil diameter, electrical resistance of the skin are observed).

If you are interested in your own level of emotionality and in what areas it predominates, then we suggest you take the “Level of Emotionality” test.

Managing Emotions

In the process of interaction, it is not easy for many people to overcome barriers of mutual understanding. To avoid problems of misunderstanding with others, you need to know the basic psychological rules of communication, and first of all, learn to manage your own emotions, which most often become a source of interpersonal conflicts. The peculiarity of our feelings is that we can consciously control them. This makes them a powerful tool for successfully achieving any goal. To do this, first of all, you need to realize your emotions as early as possible, develop your innate ability to manage them, accumulate sensory experience and begin to consciously use it in your activities. In order to find out how consciously you use your emotions, we offer you V.V. Bondarenko’s test. “Do you know how to manage your emotions?”

Character traits

Diverse character traits are combined into the following groups:

• strong-willed;
• emotional;
• intellectual.

Strong-willed character traits

Volitional character traits are stable individual-typological features of conscious, conceptually mediated regulation of activity and behavior. These include:

1. focus,
2. independence,
3. determination,
4. perseverance, etc.

Purposefulness is the ability to bring to the fore those motives of behavior that are associated with the basic principles and goals of the individual.

Independence is the ability to subordinate behavior to one’s own views, principles and beliefs; this is relative independence from the variety of demands of various small groups; critical evaluation of advice and directions.

Decisiveness is the ability in difficult, conflicting circumstances to make a well-founded, sustainable decision in a timely manner and carry it out.

Perseverance is the ability to achieve a set goal through overcoming significant difficulties, endurance to moral and physical stress, a persistent attitude towards failures and even defeats, a persistent search for new means of achieving a previously set goal.

Endurance and self-control - the ability to control your behavior in difficult conflict conditions, the ability to refrain from unnecessary actions, restrain your emotions and feelings, avoid impulsive actions, regulate your mood, not lose your presence of mind in difficult and even dangerous situations, endure hardships and failures with steadfastness , physical suffering.

Courage is the ability to maintain self-control in dangerous situations, the willingness and ability to achieve goals despite danger,

Courage is the ability to show courage in extremely life-threatening conditions, readiness to sacrifice oneself in order to achieve high goals.

Discipline - the ability to subordinate behavior to rules, norms, and requirements of society as a whole and individual social groups; the ability to exert great effort to best meet these requirements.

Emotional Traits

Emotional character traits are stable individual-typological features of direct, spontaneous regulation of behavior.

Natures differ in emotional qualities:

• emotionally impressionable (increased emotional reactivity);
• sentimental (increased passive-contemplative emotionality);
• passionate, expressive (increased emotionality associated with stormy, rapid activity);
• low-emotional (emotions do not play a significant role in activity).

The most important emotional feature is the prevailing mood of a person, his emotional stability,

Along with emotions, personality traits are determined by the characteristics of feelings. The breadth and depth of stable feelings, their effectiveness and harmonious combination with the intellectual and volitional sphere is the most important characterological feature of a person.

Intellectual character traits

Intellectual character traits are stable individual-typological characteristics of mental abilities.

Intellectual qualities distinguish between people with a theoretical or practical mindset, with varying degrees of flexibility and depth of intellect, the speed of thought processes, and with varying abilities to creatively transform elements of experience; to independence in posing and solving new problems.

Qualities characterizing the intellectual make-up of a person:

1. productivity of the mind, its originality, clarity and others, that is, general intellectual talent;
2. mastery of generalized ways of thinking, as well as
3. stable intellectual orientation of the individual - curiosity, prudence, thoughtfulness, etc.

In the diversity of characters, we can highlight what comes to the fore for a given individual:

1. predisposition to rational activity, thoughtfulness, prudence, accuracy, developed sense of duty and pride;
2. the predominance of the volitional side of the psyche, manifested in an increased ability to control oneself in difficult life situations or in increased activity;
3. lack of initiative, susceptibility to suggestion, instability of relationships, predominance of vital, organic needs and related drives;
4. emotional impulsiveness, expressiveness, increased mobility of emotions, desires and aspirations with an average level of will development;
5. increased emotional sensitivity, impressiveness, accompanied by signs of weakness of will, decreased adaptation to changing conditions;
6. increased expansiveness, desire for positive emotional situations, carefreeness, increased sociability and speech activity;
7. increased external activity on an insufficiently formed motivational-guiding basis, inflexibility of behavior, instability of decisions made and inability to make long-term volitional efforts.

The above features are, of course, schematized. In some people they are very pronounced, in others they are less pronounced, and in many they are presented in various combinations.

What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is the ability of an individual to recognize emotions, understand the intentions and desires of other people, as well as the ability to manage one’s own emotions in the process of solving practical problems. The main function of this phenomenon is to recognize one’s own and others’ emotions. Have you ever had a situation when, in the process of interacting with another person, you realized that he did not understand your feelings and experiences? Or, on the contrary, the cause of the conflict was your lack of understanding of the feelings of another person? In both cases, the level of emotional intelligence may have played a role in the emergence of misunderstandings. To learn about the characteristics of your own emotional intelligence, the site presents the D. V. Lyusin test and the N. Hall test, with the help of which you will learn about the characteristics of your personality.

Character types

1. A harmoniously integral type, well adaptable in various situations. This type of character is distinguished by the stability of relationships and at the same time high adaptability to the environment. A person with this type of character has no internal conflicts; his desires coincide with what he does. He is a sociable, strong-willed, principled person.
2. Internally conflicting type, but externally consistent with the environment. This type of character is characterized by inconsistency between internal motivations and external behavior, which, in accordance with the requirements of the environment, is carried out with great tension. A person with this type of character is prone to impulsive actions, but these actions are constantly restrained by volitional efforts. The system of his relationships is stable, his communicative properties are quite developed.
3. Conflict type with reduced adaptation. This type of character is characterized by conflict between emotional impulses and social responsibilities, impulsiveness, a predominance of negative emotions, and underdeveloped communicative properties.
4. Variable type, adapting to any conditions as a result of instability of positions, unprincipledness. This type of character indicates a low level of personality development, the absence of a stable general way of behavior.

So, character is a general regulatory feature of a person, which is formed in appropriate living conditions. The basis of character education is a system of influences on the orientation of the individual and the corresponding organization of the ways of human life.

A person’s character is formed gradually, in the process of active, systematic activity. However, significant changes in character sometimes occur abruptly, as a result of mental shocks, in a difficult conflict situation. Character is especially clearly demonstrated in critical circumstances.

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Emotional burnout

First, let's get acquainted with the definition of emotional burnout - this is a certain reaction of the individual’s body to prolonged exposure to stress, manifested in mental, physical and psycho-emotional exhaustion. To understand how to deal with this burnout and improve the quality of your life, it is worth understanding what factors provoke this condition.

What causes burnout?

In psychological science, there are a number of main factors of this concept:

Factors related to professional activity:

• lack of control over the work performed;
• low salary;
• increased responsibility;
• monotonous and uninteresting work;
• high pressure from management;
• etc.

Factors related to the individual's lifestyle:

• workaholics;
• people who do not have close people and friends nearby;
• sleep deprived;
• placing large responsibilities on their shoulders and not receiving outside help.

To identify personal burnout, the “Level of Emotional Burnout” test was developed by V.V. Boyko. This test will help determine the symptoms of professional burnout, because it is very important to identify its first signs for further effective communication with people. You can find this technique on our website and get results immediately.

Affect as a psychological state

There are situations when an individual becomes overly aggressive, irritable, screams, and does not control himself. In this situation, a person expresses a high level of emotions; such behavior manifests itself in people in a state of passion. So, affect is strong emotional experiences that arise when it is impossible to find a way out of a difficult situation, accompanied by motor activity. Using the test by Kulikova V.N. “Are you prone to emotions?” You can learn about your own predisposition to affective states.

Header image - Alexey Sokolov

Emotions, their functions and types

Definition 1
The emotional sphere is a reflection of the subjective attitude towards objects and phenomena that are significant to a person.

An essential characteristic of emotions is their subjectivity. Any human activity is accompanied by emotional experience.

Translated from Latin, “emotion” means to excite, shock, excite. By satisfying his needs, a person receives positive emotions, and if it is impossible to satisfy them, he receives negative ones. For a long time, scientists considered emotions to be a phenomenon that man inherited from his distant animal ancestors.

Today it is well known that the structure of emotions includes subjective and cognitive components, therefore the conditioning of emotions is twofold - human needs, on the one hand, determining his attitude towards the object of emotions and the ability to reflect and understand the properties of this object, on the other hand.

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Human emotions are very diverse and each of them is unique in its sources, experiences, external manifestations, and methods of regulation.

Emotions can be divided into positive and negative.

According to the criterion of mobilizing the resources of the human body, sthenic and asthenic emotions are distinguished, which act in the opposite way. If sthenic emotions cause a surge of energy, lifting and activity, then asthenic ones cause the opposite feelings.

Emotions also differ according to needs - lower emotions that cause general sensations, for example, hunger, thirst, a feeling of cold or warmth, and higher emotions associated with social relations.

Scientists are divided on the role of emotions in human life processes.

Emotions have their own characteristics:

• a person reacts to a situation by the emergence of an emotion, and not by a stimulus;
• early reaction to the situation and its assessment;
• differentiated assessment of different situations;
• a mechanism for adequate and advance preparation for the situation;
• a mechanism for consolidating negative and positive experiences.

Finished works on a similar topic

Course work The emotional sphere of personality 480 ₽ Essay The emotional sphere of personality 260 ₽ Test work The emotional sphere of personality 230 ₽

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In addition to signs, emotions have their own functions - motivational-regulatory, communicative, signaling, protective, which arises instantly and allows you to protect yourself from dangers.

The depth of a person’s inner life is expressed in emotional manifestations, and the same stimuli cause different and dissimilar reactions in different people.

Interaction between people cannot do without emotional manifestations, therefore the communicative function of emotions is one of the most important. Through emotions, a person shows his attitude to reality, to other people.