The concept of personality orientation and motivation of activity

Focus and motivation

The orientation of personality in psychology in terms of motivation to achieve is considered from various points of view. Some psychiatrists, by defining motivation, mean mental urges to action, others - a specific reason that encourages action.

There is an opinion that a motive is a need formed in a person to satisfy significant interests. Of all the theories of motivation, a general definition of the concept can be distinguished. Motivation is an internal stimulus of an individual that encourages activity aimed at satisfying a specific need.

The needs themselves can be different, from simple, biological, to sublime social.

American doctor of psychology Maslow developed a structure that includes five basic needs in a strict hierarchy:

Physiological needs are the most powerful and urgent of all. Until a person satisfies the basic need for food, comfort, and a healthy balance in the body, he cannot set higher goals.
Security - this need comes to the fore after the first essential need is provided. Personal security is not only protection from enemy attack, which may arise in rare cases of hostilities or outside aggression. Household safety involves the desire for stability and legislative protection. This concept also means freedom from chaos and uncertainty about the future. In everyday life, this desire manifests itself in the desire to get a stable job and create a reserve of funds for various unforeseen cases.
The need for love and affection includes the desire for communication, friendship, and love relationships. This desire is always inherent in a person, but is especially activated after the first two needs are satisfied.
The need for recognition includes personal growth and the desire to gain respect in society. A person needs to feel needed and useful to others. The absence of such a feeling leads to weakness and self-doubt. Loss in this matter leads to depression and neurological diseases.
Self-actualization is the search for one’s essence, one’s “I”, the desire to idealize oneself. It can manifest itself in different ways, depending on your personal interests. Some people strive for sensational scientific discoveries, while others want to become an ideal parent or housewife. The need for a high form of self-realization appears at the highest stage of development, when all previous needs are satisfied.

Any activity carried out by a person is greatly influenced by motivation factors.

External motivation encourages you to perform some task in order to express yourself in public opinion, in order to receive approval and praise.
Internal motivation is a much stronger mechanism for the movement of the individual. The result is not achieved for fame or approval, but to satisfy personal interest. It is internal motivation that encourages discoveries and new inventions.
Awareness is a correct understanding of the need for the process and the expected result. Carrying out incomprehensible tasks and unconscious activities creates boredom and lack of interest in such work.
Interests and satisfaction of needs. When an activity brings excitement, satisfaction and elation to a person, the result is very high. If at the same time the person also receives satisfaction of his needs, recognition, his desire to find the meaning of life intensifies. In case of dissatisfaction of spiritual and personal interests in a person, doubt in his abilities increases, his aspirations and energy are suppressed.

22.2. Psychological theories of motivation

The problem of human behavior motivation has attracted the attention of scientists since time immemorial. Numerous theories of motivation began to appear in the works of ancient philosophers, and currently there are already several dozen such theories. The point of view on the origin of human motivation in the process of development of mankind and science has changed repeatedly. However, most scientific approaches have always been located between two philosophical movements: rationalism and irrationalism. According to the rationalist position, and it was especially clear in the works of philosophers and theologians until the middle of the 19th century, man is a unique being of a special kind, which has nothing in common with animals. It was believed that only man is endowed with reason, thinking and consciousness, has will and freedom of choice in action, and the motivational source of human behavior was seen exclusively in the mind, consciousness and will of man.

Irrationalism as a doctrine mainly considered the behavior of animals. Proponents of this doctrine proceeded from the assertion that the behavior of animals, unlike humans, is not free, unreasonable, controlled by dark, unconscious forces that have their origins in organic needs. The history of the study of the problem of motivation is presented schematically in Fig. 22.1. The diagram depicted on it was proposed by the American scientist D. Atkinson and partially modified by R. S. Nemov.

The first actual psychological theories of motivation are considered to have arisen in HOOOP-HOOP! centuries the theory of decision making, which explains human behavior on a rationalistic basis, and the theory of the automaton, which explains the behavior of animals on an irrationalistic basis. The first was related to the use of mathematical knowledge in explaining human behavior. She considered the problems of human choice in economics. Subsequently, the main provisions of this theory were transferred to the understanding of human actions in general.

The emergence and development of the theory of automata was caused by the successes of mechanics in the 17th-18th centuries. One of the central points of this theory was the doctrine of reflex. Moreover, within the framework of this theory, the reflex was considered as a mechanical, or automatic, innate response of a living organism to external influences. The separate, independent existence of two motivational theories (one for humans, the other for animals) continued until the end of the 19th century.

Rice. 22.1. History of the study of the problem of motivation

(from: Nemov R. S., 1998)

In the second half of the 19th century. With the advent of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory, prerequisites arose to revise some views on the mechanisms of human behavior. The theory developed by Darwin made it possible to overcome the antagonisms that separated views on the nature of man and animals as two incompatible phenomena of reality in anatomical, physiological and psychological respects. Moreover, Darwin was one of the first to draw attention to the fact that humans and animals have many common needs and forms of behavior, in particular emotionally expressive expressions and instincts.

Under the influence of this theory, psychology began an intensive study of rational forms of behavior in animals (W. Köhler, E. Thorndike) and instincts in humans (Z. Freud, W. McDougall, I. P. Pavlov, etc.). During these studies, the understanding of needs changed. If earlier researchers, as a rule, tried to connect needs with the needs of the body and therefore used the concept of “need” most often to explain the behavior of animals, then in the process of transformation and development of scientific views this concept began to be used to explain human behavior. It should be noted that the use of the concept of “need” in relation to a person has led to the expansion of this concept. They began to identify not only biological, but also some social needs. However, the main feature of research into the motivation of human behavior at this stage was that, unlike the previous stage, at which the behavior of humans and animals was contrasted, they tried to minimize these fundamental differences between humans and animals. The same organic needs that were previously assigned only to animals began to be attributed to humans as motivational factors.

One of the first manifestations of such an extreme, essentially biologizing, point of view on human behavior were the theories of instincts by Z. Freud and W. McDougall, proposed at the end of the 19th century. and gained the greatest popularity at the beginning of the 20th century. Trying to explain human social behavior by analogy with animal behavior, Freud and McDougall reduced all forms of human behavior to innate instincts. So, in Freud's theory there were three such instincts: the life instinct, the death instinct and the aggressive instinct. The website https://intellect.icu talks about this. McDougall proposed a set of ten instincts: the instinct of invention, the instinct of construction, the instinct of curiosity, the instinct of flight, the herd instinct, the instinct of pugnacity, the reproductive (parental) instinct, the instinct of disgust, the instinct of self-humiliation, the instinct of self-affirmation. In later works, McDougall added eight more instincts to those listed, mainly related to organic needs.

The developed theories of instincts still could not answer many questions and did not allow solving a number of very significant problems. For example, how can one prove the existence of these instincts in a person and to what extent can those forms of behavior that a person acquires during his lifetime under the influence of experience and social conditions be reduced to instincts or derived from them? And also how to separate in these forms of behavior what is actually instinctive and what is acquired as a result of learning?

The controversy surrounding the theory of instincts could not provide a scientifically based answer to any of the questions posed. As a result, all discussions ended with the fact that the very concept of “instinct” in relation to a person began to be used by all

In the 20s XX century The theory of instincts was replaced by a concept in which all human behavior was explained by the presence of biological needs. In accordance with this concept, it was generally accepted that humans and animals have common organic needs that have the same impact on behavior. Periodically arising organic needs cause a state of excitement and tension in the body, and satisfaction of the need leads to a decrease in tension. In this concept, there were no fundamental differences between the concepts of “instinct” and “need”, with the exception that instincts are innate, but needs are innate! acquired and changed throughout life, especially in humans.

It should be noted that the use of the concepts “instinct” and “need” in this concept had one significant drawback: their use eliminated the need to take into account cognitive behavior in explaining human behavior? psychological characteristics associated with consciousness and the subjective states of the body. Therefore, these concepts were subsequently replaced by the concept of attraction, or drive. Moreover, drive was understood as the body’s desire for some final result, subjectively presented in the form of some goal, expectation or intention against the background of a corresponding emotional experience.

In addition to theories of human biological needs, instincts and drives at the beginning of the 20th century. Two new directions have emerged. Their emergence was largely due to the discoveries of I.P. Pavlov. This is a behavioral (behaviorist) theory of motivation and a theory of higher nervous activity. The behavioral concept of motivation was essentially a logical continuation of the ideas of the founder of behaviorism D. Watson. The most famous representatives of this trend are E. Tolman K. Hull and B. Skinner. They all tried to explain behavior within the original framework of behaviorism: “stimulus-response.”

Another theory, the theory of higher nervous activity, was developed;

I. P. Pavlov, and its development was continued by his students and followers, among whom were the following: N. A. Bernstein - author of the theory of psychophysiological regulation of movements; P.K. Anokhin, who proposed a model of a functional system that describes and explains the dynamics of a behavioral act at the modern level; E. N. Sokolov, who discovered and studied the orientation reflex, which is of great importance for understanding psychophysiologically;

mechanisms of perception, attention and motivation, and also proposed a model of the conceptual reflex arc.

One of the theories that arose at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. and continuing to be developed now is the theory of organic needs of animals. It arose and developed under the influence of previous irrationalistic traditions in understanding animal behavior. Its modern representatives see their task as explaining the behavior of animals from the standpoint of physiology and biology.

Names

McDougall (1871-1938) - Anglo-American psychologist, founder of “hormic psychology”, according to which the instinctive desire for a goal is inherent in the nature of living things. McDougall declared himself as an original thinker in 1908, when one of his most important works, “Basic Problems of Social Psychology,” was published, where he formulated the basic principles of human social behavior. This work fell into

to be continued…

Motives as a factor in shaping direction

Orientation is associated with the motivational-need and cognitive sphere of the individual. The orientation of the individual, on the one hand, is determined by environmental conditions, and on the other hand, it itself determines the behavior of the individual.

In the motivational aspect, the following types of personality orientations can be distinguished:

Ideological and spiritual. The desire to understand the universe, solve issues of a universal scale, think in the direction of preserving and developing all humanity.
Individual and personal. The desire to satisfy the needs of one’s “I”, self-expression, and maintaining individuality.
Instinctive-physiological. The desire to satisfy bodily needs to preserve the species and the individual.

Based on the consideration of several approaches to the theory of personality orientation (Myasishchev and those described above), 9 types of orientation can be distinguished (figure below).

Options for personality orientation

Formation of personality orientation

Despite the differences in interpretations of personality, all approaches highlight its orientation as the leading characteristic. In different concepts, this characteristic is revealed in different ways: as a “dynamic tendency” (S. L. Rubinshtein), “meaning-forming motive” (A. N. Leontyev), “dominant attitude” (V. N. Myasishchev), “main life orientation” (B. G. Ananyev), “dynamic organization of the essential forces of man” (A. S. Prangishvili). Thus, orientation acts as a generalized property of a personality that determines its psychological make-up.

The set of stable motives that guide a person’s activity and are relatively independent of given situations is called the orientation of a person’s personality. It is always socially conditioned and formed through education.

The focus includes several related forms, which we will briefly describe:

attraction is the most primitive biological form of orientation;
desire - a conscious need and attraction to something specific;
desire - arises when a volitional component is included in the structure of desire;
interest is a cognitive form of focus on objects;
inclination - occurs when a volitional component is included in interest;
ideal is the objective goal of inclination, concretized in an image or representation;
worldview - a system of ethical, aesthetic, philosophical, natural science and other views on the world around us;
conviction - the highest form of orientation - is a system of personal motives that encourages it to act in accordance with its views, principles, and worldview.

The main role of personality orientation belongs to conscious motives. And the function of motive is to give direction to the activity being performed. It is not enough to just launch activities and constantly “feed”. It needs to be carried out and implemented. Another function of motive is meaning formation, thanks to which the concept of motive reaches the personal level. Meaning is the answer to the question: why? Why does a person need the object of his needs and activities? Man is a meaning-oriented creature. If there is no convincing personal meaning, then the motive as an incentive will not work. There will be no activity and an unrealized motive will remain.

It should be noted that the need-motivational sphere characterizes the orientation of the individual only partially, being its foundation, basis. On this foundation, the life goals of the individual are formed. In view of this, it is necessary to distinguish between the purpose of activity and the purpose of life. A person performs many diverse activities throughout his life, each of which realizes its own goal. A life goal acts as a combination of all private goals associated with individual activities. The level of achievement of an individual is associated with life goals. Awareness of not only the goal, but also reality is considered by a person as a personal perspective.

A state of frustration, depression, opposite to the experiences characteristic of a person aware of the prospect, is called frustration. It occurs in cases where a person, on the way to achieving a goal, encounters really insurmountable obstacles, barriers, or when they are perceived as such.

Needs

One of the main sources of human activity is needs. Need expresses a person’s dependence on certain conditions of existence. The specificity of human needs is determined by the social nature of human activity, especially labor.

Need is a state of a person that arises in conditions of need for objects necessary for his existence and development, and serves as a source of his activity.

In this context, the process of satisfying a need acts as an active, purposeful process of a person’s coping with a form of activity that is determined by the level of social development. Human needs have a social and personal nature, which is expressed in the fact that to satisfy needs a person uses those methods and techniques that have historically developed in a given social environment and are necessary under certain conditions.

Needs may take a different form.

For example, they may be perceived differently by people. In this case they take the form of attraction. This is an incentive to activity, which is an undifferentiated, insufficiently realized need.

Attraction is the primary emotional manifestation of a human need for something, a motivation not yet mediated by conscious goal setting. In Russian psychology, attraction is considered as a stage in the formation of a motive for behavior, that is, it acts as a transitory phenomenon: the need presented in it either passes or is realized in the form of a specific desire. Thus, attractions are determined not only by biological, but also by social factors. Moreover, in home economics the prevailing opinion is that in a person with developed consciousness, drives do not play the main role as motives of behavior, but serve as “building material” for conscious motives. On the other hand, drive is one of the central concepts of psychoanalysis, which gives it a leading role in the activity and regulation of human behavior.

Another unconscious impulse is attitude. This is an unconscious state of a person’s readiness for a certain form of activity.

This may be readiness for activity, for behavior, for understanding or interpreting something. Attitudes manifested in the interpretation of events, phenomena and facts can take the form of prejudices or stereotypes.

Attitudes usually develop as a result of repeated situations in which a person reacts in a certain way.

D.N. Uznadze developed a theory according to which the needs and situations that arise during a meeting determine the direction of the subject's behavior until the behavior encounters certain obstacles. In these cases, unconscious behavior is interrupted and conscious mechanisms of objectification come into play. Obstacles that arise are noticed and realized. After consciously finding a new way of regulation, control over behavior is again exercised through unconscious attitudes. This continuous transfer of control ensures a harmonious and more economical interaction between the conscious and unconscious.

Classification of needs

In the history of psychology, there have been attempts to reduce all human needs to one - primary and basic (in the works of Freud and Adler these are libido and the “desire for power”, respectively).

At the same time, Murray's classification of needs includes more than 140 human needs.

Thomas asked himself in 1924: what are the minimum human needs? In response to his question, he listed 4: the need for security, recognition, friendship, new experiences (his answer was based on a study of prostitution among young people).

J. Peter (1938) argued that throughout human history the most frequently competing needs were: Food, freedom, sexual partners, faith (beliefs, ideals).

Directional qualities

The level of orientation
is the social significance of a person’s orientation (his beliefs and worldview).
The breadth of focus
characterizes the range of interests of an individual. It should be remembered that broad focus does not mean scatteredness and amateurism in all types of activities in which a person is engaged. Among a wide range of interests, there must be a central, main interest aimed at the professional activities performed by the individual.
The intensity of the focus
is related to its emotional coloring. It can have a wide range of expression, ranging from vague, fuzzy drives through conscious desires and active aspirations to deep convictions.
Stability of orientation
is characterized by the duration and preservation of impulses throughout life. This quality of personality orientation is associated, first of all, with the volitional characteristics of the individual: perseverance, determination.
The effectiveness of the individual’s orientation
determines the activity of realizing the goals of the orientation in activity.

Functions

Guide: indicates the path, where to go, what to strive for, how to develop. The problem is that many motives and needs remain unconscious, but even in this form they can influence a person’s choices and actions;
Encouraging: inspires, provokes active activity of the individual. After all, it is very difficult to force a person to do something that he does not want. And the results of such work will be sad;
The regulatory function is closely related to prioritization. What is more important in a given situation has greater significance;
Meaning-forming: gives value to what a person does.

Direction and motives of the individual’s activity

The degree of success in solving the assigned tasks largely depends on how well the individual himself is motivated to obtain a favorable result. There are several factors that have a huge impact on any activity carried out by a person.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

External motivation is called motivation aimed at external events and surrounding people. For example, if you need to immediately prepare a report on history just to get the manager’s approval and close the session, then there is external motivation. In the case when it is necessary to carry out research work because it represents the scientific or creative interest of the researcher himself, then we talk about internal motivation.

It must be said that internal motivation is much stronger than external motivation, because it encourages a person to self-development, some new achievements, discoveries.

Awareness – unawareness of motives

When there is a clear understanding of why this or that activity is being performed, the effectiveness of its implementation increases several times. Monotonous work, devoid of much meaning and significance, only brings melancholy and despondency. It happens that a person for a long time cannot realize the true motives of his actions and this leads him to error.

Interests and significant needs

Acting out of one's own interests, a person always increases his or her labor efficiency. In other words, when what we do excites the imagination, evokes pleasant feelings, and works much better. Satisfying the needs for recognition, approval from the team, and self-realization, the individual grows, learns and expands his own capabilities. New prospects for further advancement and development are emerging. When the activity being performed is in no way connected with the leading needs, the personal and spiritual components are not satisfied, a person gradually begins to doubt himself, his strength decreases over time.

Ability to set a goal

Whatever we strive for, it is extremely important from the very beginning to correctly determine the direction, the final goal, and understand what we want to achieve as a result. It is also necessary to set the appropriate rhythm to the movement and maintain it throughout the entire period - then any work will be effective

The ability to see the end result of an activity will help you predict possible difficulties in advance in order to cope with them in a timely manner. It would be a good idea to keep in mind the so-called ideal of achievement, that is, to track how much the current reality corresponds to a given model.

Self confidence

No business can be accomplished if a person is not confident in his own abilities. Even if a person has rare and exceptional talents, he will not be able to achieve success as long as he engages in self-flagellation and doubts that he will succeed. Self-confidence is an essential tool for building strong and trusting relationships with the outside world. It is possible to cultivate self-confidence, but only when a person is ready to devote time to working with feelings, studying educational issues, and gaining new knowledge - this cannot be avoided.

27.4. Focus

DIRECTION is a property of a personality, which is a system of interconnected internal drives that direct and orient its life path in social space and time.

Direction is understood as a system of dominant motives. Leading motives subordinate all others and characterize the structure of the entire motivational sphere of a person. The emergence of a hierarchical structure of motives is a prerequisite for the stability of the individual.

What are the main components of personality orientation? The structure of orientation includes, first of all, conscious motives of behavior: goals, interests, ideals, beliefs of the individual. Their stable hierarchy allows, within certain limits, to foresee the general orientation of the individual and his actions. However, human behavior is influenced not only by conscious, but also by poorly informed motives. Their relationship determines a person’s behavior in a new situation.

Most people move in social space and time in a directional manner. They are encouraged to move and be active by their stated needs, goals and other factors. But not every goal that arises in front of a person becomes what pushes him to action. Only a goal that has an attractive force for a person can direct her mental activity, reflections, and thoughts over a certain period of life. A person develops a rather strong internal need for action, a powerful impulse arises that pushes her to the appropriate action. Consequently, the orientation of the individual is determined by a number of relevant motives. Let's look at some aspects of motivation.

The main theories of motivation are usually divided into two groups: semantic and procedural. In substantive theories, the emphasis is on identifying and studying internal motivations (needs, motives) that underlie people’s behavior and their professional activities. Process theories reveal the patterns of organization of holistic motivated behavior, taking into account the interaction of motives with other processes of perception, cognition, and communication.

An example of a semantic approach is the concept of the “hierarchy of motives” by A. Maslow. She admits that the basis of motives are needs that form a pyramid. According to this concept, all personal needs are divided into five main groups:

• Physiological needs (A) necessary for the survival of the organism. They underlie homeostatic regulation. This is the need for food, water, rest, sexual satisfaction, shelter, etc.
• Self-preservation needs (B) include the need for protection from physical and psychological dangers, confidence that physiological needs will be satisfied; in protection from disorder, pain, anger, fear.
• Social needs (B), i.e. needs for social connections. They indicate the need for: social unity with and belonging to a group; social contacts, love, positive attitude from others, social interaction as such.
• Respect needs (D) include, firstly, the need for respect from others - for their recognition of personal achievements, competence, personal qualities and virtues; secondly, the need for self-esteem.
• Self-actualization needs (D) indicate the need for an individual to realize his potential and abilities, to carry out “personal growth”, that is, the development of his own personality, understanding, comprehension and development of his own “I”.

The five groups of needs are at the same time the five main levels of needs, arranged in the form of a clear hierarchical structure of subordination.

This means that the needs of each higher level arise (are actualized) only when the needs of all lower levels are satisfied. For example, if a person experiences severe hunger (level A), then this is the main motivating factor in behavior. Only after this need is satisfied does a person begin to strive to satisfy the needs of other levels - in particular, security, social recognition, etc.

Satisfying the needs of lower levels is a prerequisite and reason for updating the needs of higher levels. For example, only after security is guaranteed do the needs of social order arise. After a person achieves their satisfaction (social recognition), she begins to experience the need for respect, self-esteem, and personal improvement.

The lower needs (levels A and B) are designated as “deficit needs,” and the higher ones (levels D and E) are designated as “growth needs”: the former ensure survival, and the latter ensure personal development.

Since with the development of a person as an individual, his potential capabilities expand, the need for self-improvement can never be fully satisfied. Therefore, the process of developing motivation is not limited.

Consequently, the basis of the motivational sphere of the individual is made up of needs - the mental phenomenon of the individual’s need for the means and conditions of his existence.

In the process of activity, the development of the individual and the transformation of the environment in which a person lives occurs. So, needs are the driving force behind the development of personality and its activity. On the one hand, it is given to a person by the conditions of her biosocial existence and those associated with the emergence of a deficit in normal life activity - social or biological. On the other hand, needs determine activity aimed at eliminating this deficit.

Need has subjective and objective aspects, which arise as a unity of opposites.

The subjective aspect is characterized by several points:

• specific disadvantage, need;
• subjective environment of needs, background, that is, the internal system of needs, the level of their development and states at this moment, which strengthen or weaken the impulse to action;
• subjective means of satisfying needs;
• subjective value - the importance of satisfying a need and the effort required to satisfy it.

Objective aspect:

• object of lack, need;

• objective environment - a situation that does or does not contribute to its satisfaction;

• objective ways - means, opportunities to satisfy needs;
• objective value - the significance of satisfying a need and the effort required to satisfy it.

The state of need is characterized by a clear subject orientation. Moreover, this focus on the external world presupposes the inclusion of this external in a certain role in the internal system of human life. The need for the subject is felt for the sake of mastering it as a necessary, but currently missing component of the system as a whole. Need is always a feeling of lack of something specific.

The needs of the individual are related to the needs of society; they are formed and developed in the context of the development of the latter. They cannot be understood without studying the historical development of society. When analyzing the needs of an individual, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the communities to which he belongs. Belonging to a community is one of the most important determinants of the motivational sphere of an individual.

However, needs can be classified according to other criteria, namely as biological, material, sociocultural.

The needs inherent in a person can be divided into basic, derivative and higher:

BASIC NEEDS are the needs for material conditions and means of life, for communication, knowledge, activity and recreation; they are dictated by the objective laws of an individual’s life in society and his development as an individual. Each of the basic needs can have different levels of development, associated primarily with certain stages of personality development.
DERIVATIVE NEEDS are formed on the basis of basic ones. These include aesthetic needs and the need for learning.
HIGHER NEEDS include primarily the needs for creativity and creative work.

The need, mediated by the complex psychological process of motivation, reveals itself psychologically in the form of a motive for behavior.

MOTIVE is a mental phenomenon that encourages a person to set a goal and act to achieve it.

Need is when the subject lacks something specific, and motive is the rationale for the decision to satisfy or not satisfy this need in a certain objective and subjective environment. Before a need leads to action, a person experiences a complex psychological process of motivation, which consists of awareness of one or another degree of the subjective and objective aspects of the need and action aimed at satisfying it.

Only a conscious need can become a motive and only if the satisfaction of this specific need, repeatedly passing through the stage of motivation, directly goes into action.

From this point of view, any mental phenomena can arise as motives of behavior only if, in the appropriate subjective and objective environment, each of them turns into a need, and its satisfaction becomes a habit.

Rice. 27.2. Scheme of transition of need to motive

Human behavior has a poly-need determination. Diverse needs can coexist or contradict each other. From a purely cognitive perspective, a person may be interested in one profession, from a material perspective – in another, from a position of prestige – in a third, etc. Having chosen one of them, a person probably does a lot of work to realize the privileges of that need (or their system), the satisfaction of which is most significant for her.

So, motive is the result of motivation and represents internal psychological activity that organizes and plans activities and behavior, which are based on the need to satisfy needs.

In the process of motivation, the need acquires one of its essential properties - objectivity. The item that can satisfy the need is not predetermined. Before the first pleasure, the need does not have its own object. The entry by the need of its object, its objectification, determines the transformation of the need into a specific motive for activity.

The motives of human activity are related to its goals. Goals and motives for actions may coincide. The interdependence of a person’s goals and motives is obvious, since the goal of an activity always depends on its motive.

In order for an object or phenomenon of reality to become the goal of our activity, a person must first realize that this object is related to the satisfaction of his need, and the need for it prompts him to take appropriate action.

Motive directs a person's forces in the direction of satisfying her needs. Unlike goals, a person is not adequately aware of all motives. Along with well-conscious interests, aspirations, and beliefs in a person’s mental life, there are also personal tendencies and attitudes that are not adequately realized, which predetermines distortions in worldview and behavior.

The basis of any action is a need, which psychologically turns out to be a MOTIVE, which can be realized in a number of psychological variables: interests, aspirations, beliefs and attitudes.

Interests are understood as motives that embody the emotionally charged cognitive needs of an individual.

INTEREST is an emotionally charged selective orientation of a personality, which is expressed primarily in its selective attitude towards certain phenomena, objects or relevant activities. Interests combine the emotional and the rational.

The ratio of these components allows us to distinguish direct and indirect interests. Direct interests are associated primarily with the emotional appeal of activities aimed at the corresponding object. Indirect interests relate to the results of activities. The mental component predominates in them. Direct and indirect interests are closely related.

Quantitative characteristics of interests are their breadth, depth and stability.

The breadth of interests is determined by the number of objects, spheres of reality that have significant significance for the individual. Separation of interests in combination with the number of floors is a negative personality trait. A breadth of interests is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the harmonious development of an individual.

The depth of interests shows the degree of penetration of the individual into the content of the cognizable object. Sometimes the depth of interests negatively correlates with their breadth, and then a person is said to have a little bit of everything. Superficial knowledge from many branches of reality leads to amateurism.

The stability of interests is expressed in the duration of maintaining a relatively intense interest. Stable interests are those that most fully correspond to the basic needs of the individual and therefore become essential features of his psychological make-up.

Aspirations are the motives in which the needs of the individual are identified in the conditions of his specially organized activities.

Moreover, this activity can be dominant for quite a long time in a person’s life. In particular, students’ activities demonstrate their desire to graduate from an educational institution and begin working in their specialty.

Sometimes - depending on the content of the goal and the degree of its awareness - the desire can take on the form of attraction or desire.

TRAIN is a simple motive in which only dissatisfaction with the real state is realized, but the goals of the actions are not realized. It is experienced as a vague emotional outburst, dissatisfaction with the existing state of affairs.

There is something that does not suit a person in life, but she still does not know exactly what, because the train does not have a clearly identified commitment to the goal. Therefore, trains do not encourage a person to engage in purposeful activity. They can only serve as the basis for orienting activity, which forces the subject to at least in general terms determine the “search zone” for what he lacks, to objectify his undifferentiated state, which manifests itself on the train.

DESIRE is a motive that constitutes a more or less clear awareness of the goal.

In their highest manifestations, which in psychology are often called desires, they encourage volitional actions aimed at achieving significant goals.

A factor that has motivational significance and reveals a person’s setting of certain goals is the level of a person’s aspirations - the desire to achieve goals of the degree of complexity that a person considers himself capable of. The level of aspirations is based on self-esteem, the maintenance of which has become a need for a person.

The level of a person’s aspirations can be adequate or inadequate (underestimated, overestimated) relative to the individual’s capabilities. A person with a low level of aspiration is characterized by the conflict of the so-called ugly duckling, who finds himself unsure of his strengths, capabilities, and abilities. An inflated level of aspirations gives rise to contradictions between the constant growth of needs and the real possibilities of satisfying them, and in the process of implementation is accompanied by increased criticism, maximalism in assessing reality and emotional tension.

What is decisive in determining the level of aspirations is not objective success or failure, but the subject’s experience of his achievements as sufficient or insufficient.

According to American psychologists, the level of aspirations depends on the relationship between two opposing motivational tendencies - the desire for success and the avoidance of failure, which are included in the structures of achievement motivation.

In other words, goal-oriented behavior determines the relationship between two tendencies - the desire for success and the avoidance of failure.

The tendency to strive for success is a multiplicative function of three variables: the motive for striving for success, the subjective probability of achieving success, and its attractiveness in a certain situation. The motive of striving for success is a stable disposition of an individual to experience pride and pleasure when achieving success.

The tendency to avoid failure is a multiplicative function of the motive for avoiding failure (the desire to avoid failure and shame) and its unattractiveness in a certain situation.

The attractiveness of success is stronger, the lower the subjective probability of success (i.e., the more difficult it is to achieve), and conversely, the attractiveness of avoiding failure is weaker, the higher the subjective probability of success.

The predominance of one or another motivational tendency (the motive of striving for success or the motive of avoiding failure) is always determined by the choice of the degree of difficulty of the task. It should be noted that although there are many situations of achievement in life (for example, in educational, professional activities), the difference in motives reveals itself in the fact that some people look for such situations, while others avoid them.

A person chooses a goal that corresponds to the level of his aspirations, a strategy for its implementation and performs appropriate actions. A person evaluates the result of his actions (successful or unsuccessful) by comparing them with the level of aspirations. The result can negatively or positively affect self-esteem.

Appropriate attribution (explanations of the reasons for the result) is a compensation mechanism, which allows us to weaken the negative or enhance the positive impact on self-esteem.

When an achievement situation cannot be realized immediately, but requires significant effort over a long period of time (for example, the growth of professional achievements), each individual person evaluates the result from the point of view of approaching the final goal.

BELIEFS is a system of motives of an individual that encourages him to act in accordance with his views and principles.

The basis of beliefs is knowledge that is true, indisputable for a person, in which she is absolutely confident. Beliefs form the basis of sociogenic motives and embody the conscious needs of the individual to act in accordance with his internal position, views, and theoretical principles. The basis of such needs is the body of knowledge about nature, society and man, that is, a worldview, which, first of all, expresses a conscious attitude towards the world, which covers knowledge, assessment, and actions in their unity. Worldview and associated beliefs have a complex psychological structure, which contains three main components: cognitive (knowledge); emotional (assessment, attitude); behavioral (will).

Worldview is structurally related to interests, aspirations and attitudes. This predetermines the resistance of the worldview to the life experience of the individual and the individual characteristics of its reflection of reality. Attitude plays an important role in the motivational sphere of the individual and represents a certain organization of his unconscious experience. It is a factor that regulates the appropriate activity and behavior of an individual.

ATTITUDE is the individual’s readiness for a certain form of response, with the help of which one or another need can be satisfied.

An attitude encourages a person to orient his activity in a certain direction and act consistently in relation to all objects and situations with which it is connected. It reflects the state of the individual, which arises on the basis of the interaction of its needs and the corresponding situation of their satisfaction, ensures ease, almost automaticity, and purposefulness of behavior. At the same time, attitude can be a fundamental factor mediating the active interaction of the individual and the environment, primarily social. Thanks to the repetition of founding situations, “fixed attitudes of the individual” are gradually formed, which, unbeknownst to her, influence her life positions.

It is also advisable to dwell on the consideration of a phenomenon that American psychologists drew attention to when studying social influences that arise within small social groups and affect the psychology of an individual. According to the theory of cognitive dissonance by A. Festinger, a feature of a person’s mental life is the desire to ensure that in the entire system of behavior - views, opinions, spontaneous behavior - there is a certain correspondence between all components. Festinger noted that there is a correspondence between what a person knows, what she believes, and what she does. An individual has certain thoughts, views, emotional attitudes towards the phenomena of life and strives for their internal conformity.

When a discrepancy between individual elements arises in our knowledge of reality, this causes a psychological process aimed at weakening or removing this dissonance. Dissonance then creates a state of human discomfort and directs his behavior to reduce it. It can be determined by new information, which a person either accepts and changes his behavior in accordance with new data, or does not accept (prevents it), or changes the objective conditions themselves.

Dissonance and the strength of its pressure on the individual reveal exactly which elements do not correlate with each other. If the contradictory elements of our knowledge are very significant for us - for example, we learn about such actions of a person we like that contradict our expectations - then the influence of dissonance on our behavior will be intense, in other cases it will be weak.

Based on a person's dominant motivation, there are three main types of orientation: interaction orientation, task orientation (business orientation) and self-direction (personal orientation).

A focus on interaction is observed in cases where a person’s actions are determined by the need for communication, the desire to maintain good relationships with colleagues, etc.

Task orientation, or business orientation, reflects a preference for motives that are generated by activity: interest in the labor process, a selfless desire to master new skills and abilities. A person with such an orientation focuses on cooperation with the team, achieves the highest productivity - his own and other people, and tries to reasonably prove his opinion, which he considers useful for completing the task.

Self-direction, or personal focus, is characterized by the predominance of motives for achieving personal goals.

Self-awareness plays a significant role in shaping a person’s orientation. A person’s self-awareness of the changes that occur in him contributes to deeper self-knowledge, objectivity, and criticality of their assessment.

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Structure

Finding yourself begins with the first step - with attraction. This is a primitive form, here the need still remains unconscious.
When it becomes conscious, attraction develops into desire. Already at this stage, a person begins to think through methods for its implementation. Directly through desires a person comes to a goal.
If an individual becomes able not only to dream, but also to make certain efforts, desire turns into aspiration. Quite often at this stage the individual has a plan of action.
Against the backdrop of the desire to learn new things, interest is born. It gives meaning to any activity of an individual. You can already judge by interests what a person is like.
When serious work is added to interest, it turns into addiction. A person does not want to leave this type of activity and constantly returns to it, feeling a burning desire to engage in it. He is ready to spend a lot of time on mastering new skills and will strive to achieve impeccable performance.
An ideal is a picture, a perfect image in a person’s head, to which he strives and what he wants to achieve in the chosen direction.
The next step is worldview. These are the laws that a person relies on in life. With their help, he makes plans for the future and chooses a style of behavior in different circumstances. Worldview is a view of the people around you, the world as a whole and your place in it.
According to psychology dictionaries, the highest form of human orientation is conviction.

Volitional personality traits - what is it in psychology, their formation

Belief

All these steps of the substructure are strongly interconnected; it is difficult to say where exactly the line between attraction and desire is, when desire turns into interest. Direction begins with an unconscious attraction and develops into a conviction. However, it cannot be said that the components of a personality’s direction are formed once and for all; they do not stand still, change, and develop throughout human life.

Focus structure

The structure of a person’s orientation includes needs, motives, interests, value orientations, ideals, beliefs, worldview, and goals.

Needs

A feeling that a person needs something to achieve comfort, harmony and health. A need is a desire, the fulfillment of which is necessary for the well-being of an individual.

Motives

These are deep-rooted, objectified needs that encourage their satisfaction, that is, activity. Motives are closely related to needs. There may be a semantic or external connection between them. The external one is characterized by the influence of stereotypes, that is, society. If there is a discrepancy between the internal sense of needs and motives and the external connection, then a personality crisis occurs.

Sometimes motives come into confrontation, and then several directions appear to be formed. Competition between orientations or their subordination is dangerous due to intrapersonal conflicts and disharmony.

Interests

This is a selective attitude towards an object due to its significance or value for the individual. It could be something material or spiritual.

Value orientations

They are characterized as a system of relations to established norms of society. An individual may or may not accept the social, political and moral values of society.

Ideals

These are samples, examples that guide a person, on which he relies when performing any activity or in life itself.

Beliefs

Theses, provisions, facts, ideas about the structure of the world and society, which a person unquestioningly believes in and subordinates his activities to them. These are provisions that represent a kind of guide to life.

Worldview

A system of stable views on the world, nature and oneself. The activity and specificity of relationships with the environment are a manifestation of the individual’s worldview. Beliefs and ideals both flow from a worldview and influence its formation.

Target

An image of the anticipated result of an activity. These are concrete needs.

The problem of personality in psychology - as scientists see it

The problem of personality has occupied many famous psychologists.
Thus, the greatest contribution was made by L. I. Bozhovich and A. N. Leontiev. L.I. Bozhovich argued that at a certain moment a person can reach the maximum of his development and harmonize with the world around him. This is how personality is formed. After this, a person begins to interact not only with the people around him, but also with the world as a whole. It is necessary to track the stages at which personality is formed, and also consider factors that can influence its development.

A. N. Leontiev was able to prove that the human personality is capable of being born twice. The first time this happens is in preschool age, and the second time in adolescence. During this period, basic beliefs, worldview, attitude towards the world, and values are formed. They determine what a person will become and how he will relate to the world.

Types of personality orientation

Psychologists talk about the presence of several directions that determine how a person behaves in different situations. Each type affects one area of activity, so it cannot be called good or bad.

Personal focus

It is characterized by the desire for one’s own self-realization, the implementation of personal goals and aspirations. Such people are often called selfish, because they seem to care little about others, but think more about themselves, build constructive plans in their heads and meaningfully move towards their implementation

Character traits characteristic of such people: self-confidence, determination, the ability to focus on an important problem, organization, responsibility for the actions performed. People of this orientation will never blame others for their own failures

They do not expect help from others, but prefer to take everything into their own hands. Sometimes they develop a so-called desire for loneliness and have difficulty entrusting their affairs to anyone. This difficulty is dictated by the individual’s lifestyle, his strong-willed character (read the article “Strength of Character”). These are inherently incredibly strong individuals who are able to move forward, relying only on their own support, counting on their own strength.

Focus on other people

Characterized by an increased need for communication and approval from other people. Such a person is too focused on the opinions of others, and therefore is not able to make his own plans and realize individual aspirations and dreams. Before taking any action, a person will mentally or vocally coordinate his actions with the opinion of society. He is afraid to go beyond what is considered acceptable or normal in society, so he most often does not express his own opinion.

Focus on other people is also accompanied by a great desire to participate in public life, to fulfill requests at the request of relatives, friends and colleagues. Such people are very popular in teams - they are trouble-free, easily get along with almost any person, and are ready to help at the right time. A healthy psychological climate in the team and at home is a fundamental component for them.

Business orientation

Characterized by high demands on one’s own personality, the ability to organize affairs in such a way that both the individual himself and the society in which he lives are in an advantageous position. Such a person is distinguished by a businesslike approach to everything that surrounds him. He does not necessarily seek to engage in business or develop his own business. The ability to find benefits in different situations (not only for oneself, but also for other people) puts a person in an advantageous position in front of colleagues and friends. As a rule, this is a sociable person who really loves the company of other people, however, at the same time, he is quite freedom-loving and always plays by his own rules.

Emotional orientation of the individual

Characterized by a tendency to worry about everything. Such a person is most often responsive and not indifferent to the sorrows of other people. His ability to empathize is developed to a fairly large extent, so those who are in great need of it at the moment often turn to him for advice. People of this type are characterized by increased impressionability, emotional instability, and their mood often changes. Any minor incident can throw them out of their state of mental balance and give rise to a lot of anxiety.

In addition to the above, they are well versed in art, in particular music and literature, as they have a bright, unique ability to feel the experiences and moods of fictional characters.

Social orientation of the individual

Characterized by increased attentiveness to the outside world and people. Such individuals always notice what is happening around them and delve into the essence of social and political changes. As a rule, people of this type cannot live outside society. They can be both managers and subordinates, the main thing is that their activities develop within society.

Professional orientation by personality type

Psychologist J. Holland identified several types of professional orientation of an individual.

They depend on what type of person the person is.

Realistic type
. Such people prefer to work with real objects. They are practical-oriented and want to achieve quick results. They have well-developed practical thinking; however, they prefer professions based on manual work. These are drivers, beekeepers, signalmen, radio installers, etc. As a rule, communication skills are not required here.
Intellectual type
. Such people are observant, intelligent, and at the same time they are independent and have original thinking. People of this type prefer scientific professions.
Social type
. Its representatives are active, sensitive, emotional, and need constant communication with other people. The content of the professions of such people is interaction with people. Preferred professions are teaching, service, information activities.
Conventional type
. Such people have high perseverance, they are disciplined and careful. They can do their job well when they have clear and precise instructions. They are best at performing typical tasks, but difficulties may arise with non-standard ones. The preferred professions for such people are clerical ones: accountant, notary, economist, etc.
Entrepreneurial type
. Its representatives are active, mobile, have unconventional thinking, and are prone to risk. They strive to take initiative and take leadership. People of this type prefer tasks where they need to make quick decisions, and do not like work that requires perseverance and attentiveness. Loves and knows how to interact with other people. The professions of such individuals are politicians, entrepreneurs, journalists, etc.
Artistic type
. Such people have imaginative thinking and creative imagination, they are very sensitive and emotional. They build communication with people on the basis of their intuition and personal feelings. Representatives of this personality type are artists, musicians, designers, actors, translators, etc.

This classification can be used in tests to determine professional suitability, choice of profession, and educational institution.

What else does understanding the mechanisms of personality orientation give us? Through their study, it becomes clear to us that the foundations of all our civilized life are rooted in innate qualities and attitudes formed in the early years of life. In the future, they can be changed and adjusted many times, but they do not appear “out of nowhere.”

Personality orientation in psychology - what determines a person’s desires

The paradox is that human life begins to dramatically acquire meaning only when faced with limitations. You cannot desire opposite things (like driving a good car and walking). It's all quite easy to explain. Initially, a person resembles an ordinary radio receiver. When all waves are received simultaneously, the result is white noise. However, when all unnecessary channels are eliminated, it begins to transmit and receive information. With all this, something is laid down initially, despite the fact that these same channels can sometimes change very much, the core will always remain the same.

Basic forms of focus

It is worth highlighting the main forms of personality orientation in psychology:

Settings. As a rule, these are unconscious states that characterize a person’s readiness for any activity. Usually they arise when a situation is repeated several times; it is also called installation. During it, a person reacts in one way or another in a certain, natural way. The setting can be maintained for a long time. However, it lasts for a different period of time for each person. The same goes for formation.
Attractions. These needs are partially recognized, but their reason for the person may remain unclear. Drives can be understood as a kind of transitional stage, where the need can intensify or fade away altogether.
Interest. This denotes an orientation towards learning new information or a selective attitude towards a specific object. The manifestation of the need for knowledge is called interest. A person can simultaneously have a huge number of interests, and they can differ in content and depth.
Tendencies. Further development of interests. Expressed as a strong need for a particular activity.
Desires. Motives based on conscious needs are called desires. Desires can characterize a person’s attitude towards an object that he cannot achieve and understands this.
Aspirations. These are desires that have a deliberate plan and a way to achieve them. Can be expressed in the form of a dream, an ideal, a passion.
Intentions. In this case, the person sees not only the desired conditions, but also all the ways to achieve them.
Beliefs. They represent a set of needs that encourage a person to act in accordance with his principles, views and ideas. Typically, beliefs are based on a person's knowledge of the world.
Worldview. A system of views on the world with the help of which social existence is formed. Refers to the main regulators of human behavior.

All these forms in one way or another form personality traits in psychology. Personality is characterized by motives, secondary and dominant. The latter determine human behavior, which is why they are the most stable.

General characteristics of a person’s motivational sphere

One of the most important concepts of motivational psychology is the concept of the “motivational sphere” of the individual (more precisely, the motivational system).

Motivation is a system of factors that determine human behavior; characteristic of a process that stimulates and maintains behavioral activity at a certain level.

In other words, motivation is a set of psychological reasons that cause an individual’s activity, determine its direction and explain human behavior. Motivation can be viewed as a cyclical process of continuous mutual action and transformation of the situation by the individual, the result of which is his actual observable behavior as a process of continuous choice and decision-making.

Motivation explains the purposefulness of actions, orderliness and sustainability of holistic activities to achieve a specific goal.

Like any other system, the human motivational world includes a certain set of its components, as well as regular and stable connections between them.

The main components of the motivational sphere of the individual are the following basic psychological formations and structures: needs, drives, attitudes, motives, interests, ideals, intentions, social norms and roles, stereotypes, etc.

All these components have a basic common feature: they have two main sides, two aspects - content and dynamic.

The content aspect consists in the representation of external - reflected - reality and usually appears in the form of certain knowledge.

The dynamic aspect is due to the fact that each of the listed components of the motivational sphere has a certain potential to initiate, maintain and change the activity of the subject. Based on this, all of the listed components are combined in the motivational sphere of the individual.

The motivational sphere of a person can be assessed in its development according to the following parameters:

1) Breadth is a parameter that reflects the diversity of motivational factors - motives, needs and goals. The more motives, needs, and goals a person has, the more developed his motivational sphere is;

2) Flexibility - the area of motivation is more flexible, where more motivational stimuli are used to satisfy needs (for example, one person learns only from TV, and another from books, TV, newspapers);

3) Hierarchization - the greater the differences in the strength and frequency of actualization of motivational formations at a given level, the higher the hierarchization of the motivational sphere.

There are the following 2 types of motivation:

1) Situational motivation - includes motivating factors that force a person to act from the external environment. These factors include certain situational characteristics, actions and actions of surrounding people, culture, social position occupied by a person, etc.;

2) Dispositional motivation - a person’s internal motivation.

It includes a goal - a conscious idea of the expected result towards which a person’s actions are aimed. The basis for the formation of a person’s goals is his subjective-material labor activity aimed at transforming the external world. The process of setting and achieving goals includes the following steps:

a) formation of gates;

b) taking actions to achieve the goal;

c) emotional and cognitive (cognitive) assessment of the course of actions and their final result.

The image of the expected result acquires a motivating force, becomes a goal, begins to guide action and determine the choice of possible ways to realize the goal. The formation of a goal, the emergence of a goal, is a central moment in the process of implementing an action and the main mechanism for the formation of new human actions. The psychophysiological basis of the goal is the “picture of the required future” encoded in the brain (N.A. Bernstein), an acceptor of the results of action (P.K. Anokhin), which regulates the program of physiological execution of the action with the help of anticipatory and authoritarian (providing information about the correspondence of the achieved result to the desired ) commands.

Correct goal setting and self-confidence

In order to achieve success, a person needs to decide on his desires and goals.

It is also important to come up with a plan to achieve them. To increase your work efficiency, you should present the result of your work and the achievement of your goal.

Also, in order to achieve success, you need to be confident in your abilities. Only a self-confident person can take concrete steps towards achieving a goal. Self-confidence can be developed, because it is also necessary for building relationships with others.

The orientation of the individual is formed from childhood during training and upbringing. Each personality develops in society and is influenced by it, while some later develop independence from the opinions of others. Personality orientation is the motives, desires and goals of a person that influence his activities and behavior. Therefore, the orientation of a person determines how successful he will be and how he will achieve his goals.

Directional forms

A person's ideals, inclinations, goals, interests, impulses, desires, motives, aspirations, sympathies, attachments and positions, aversions and values, tastes and needs - all these are forms of orientation.

Important! In psychology, direction is a set of motivations that characterize an individual and describe his progress towards a goal. This is not only the desire for results, but also the choice of path

The highest form of focus

The highest form is conviction. It is understood as a set of motives (based on worldview and ideals) that dictate a person’s ways of reacting in various situations. It is based solely on conscious needs that form motivation. It is human nature to strive to convey our beliefs to others.

The concepts of belief and knowledge are different from each other. A person may understand what is the right thing to do in a given situation, but do it differently. It's just knowledge. When a person has information and cannot do otherwise, this is a belief.

Afterword

Thus, personality orientation is a psychological property that implies a set of internal attitudes, aspirations and life goals. Some people see the purpose of life in creativity, some in work, some in crimes. The orientation of a person stems from beliefs and determines a person’s actions.

Orientation reflects the content of a person as a participant in public life. It reflects what a person does and how, how he relates to his responsibilities, what value and usefulness he represents to society.

Focus and motivation

The result of an individual’s activity depends on motivation, which can be external and internal. Extrinsic motivation may involve gaining approval from others. Intrinsic motivation lies in the interest of the individual himself to complete a specific task. Internal motivation has a much better effect on a person, because in this way he develops himself. The better motivated a person is, the more he believes in his own abilities and the more desire he has to work to achieve his goal.

It is extremely important that a person understands why he is doing his work, only in this case he will do it efficiently. If work does not provide any benefits and does not bring you closer to the goal, then any person will quickly get bored with it