Types of temperaments, their psychological characteristics

Introduction.

Psychology is a very important subject in the field of social understanding, since we use many elements of psychology in life every day. In order to understand what kind of person is standing in front of you, you need to have a minimal understanding of his psyche and the psyche of his behavior. Some conclusions come from the subconscious, which allows us to make a preliminary assessment of a person. But as we know, “first impressions are often deceiving.” Psychology gives us a slightly greater chance of not making a mistake about what kind of person is in front of us.

The first thing you can often notice about people is how they behave in front of others and how they react to them. This is characterized by a person's temperament.

In this work, I set myself a goal - to find out about temperament, its types and characteristics.

I set myself the following tasks:

1. Expand the concept of temperament
2. Understand the types of temperaments
3. Find out how to determine your temperament
4. Find out at what age temperament is formed
5. Understand how temperament can affect the people around you and the person himself

At the end of the analysis, I want to find out whether temperament is the primary aspect by which a person should be understood and judged, or whether it is one of those factors of an individual that shows part of his shell, and not the inner content as a whole.

Constitutional typologies of temperament

Subsequently, many typologies of temperament were put forward. But the greatest interest is caused by those among them where the properties of temperament, interpreted as innate or hereditary, are associated with individual characteristics in physique. Such typologies are called constitutional (typology by W. Sheldon, typology by E. Kretschmer and others). But, of course, such concepts have been criticized by psychologists. And their main drawback is that they underestimate, and often completely lose sight of, the influence of the environment and social conditions on the formation of a person’s psychological properties.

The concept of temperament and its characteristics.

It’s worth first understanding the definition of temperament and its characteristics. What is temperament?

Temperament is a stable set of individual psychophysical properties of a person associated not with the content, but with the dynamic aspects of activity.

If you look at the definition, then temperament is understood as a person’s ability to react to external stimuli and move from one reaction to another. Temperament is determined by the type of higher nervous activity, which consists of three components:

1. "Power" of the nervous system
2. "Mobility"
3. "Equilibrium"

Temperament is just one of many systems that describe types of human activity. At one time it was the only such system. The doctrine about them was developed by the ancient doctors Hippocrates and Galen, who were sure that the type of character of a person depends on the predominance of certain “vital juices” in his body - blood, lymph, yellow and black bile.

Translated from Latin, the word “temperament” means “mixture” - that is, a mixture of these very “vital juices”.

In the next chapter of the essay I will analyze in which type of temperament one or another “life juice” predominates.

How to determine your personality type

Neurotic depression - what is it?

Determining your personality type is quite simple. To do this, you can use different methods and tests. In addition, to save effort and time, you can take them online. The main goal of such questionnaires is to understand exactly how a person will react to a particular situation.

To obtain objective results, psychologists recommend giving quick and clear answers. You don’t need to think a lot about solving this or that issue; you need to act depending on the emotions that arise first. It is worth noting that there are no right or wrong questions in such tests. There is no good or bad answer here.

Melancholic people can only work in a calm and familiar environment

Types of temperaments and their differences.

A person’s temperament directly depends on the fluid (humor) that predominates in the body of a particular person. According to the theory of Hippocrates, the types of temperament were distributed as follows:

• The predominant fluid is blood (sanguine) – sanguine type of temperament. This is an energetic, cheerful, fast and sociable type who quite easily endures all the difficulties and failures that arise in life.
• The predominant liquid is bile (chole) – choleric type of temperament. Irritable, bilious, excitable, unrestrained, extremely mobile, with rapid mood swings.
• The predominant liquid is mucus (phlegm) – a phlegmatic type of temperament. A calm, balanced, slow type, very slowly and with great difficulty switching between two types of activity, adapting rather poorly to other living conditions.
• The predominant liquid is black bile (melena chole) – a melancholic type of temperament. To some extent painfully shy, impressionable type, prone to sadness, withdrawal, timidity, tires quite quickly, very sensitive to troubles.

This is where the types of temperament known to many come from:

1. Sanguine
2. Choleric
3. Phlegmatic person
4. Melancholic

And each of them has its own “liquid”, its own “life juice”.

This classification of temperament types has not lost its meaning today, however, pure melancholics, cholerics, sanguines and phlegmatics are quite rare. Usually it makes sense to talk only about a mixed type of temperament.

The classical system is widely in demand in culture - literature, science, art. Of course, modern scientists understand that there is no “predominance of vital juices”, and the type of temperament is determined by an imbalance in the neurochemical system of the body. If the imbalance reaches an extreme degree, then the temperaments flow into the so-called psychiatric profiles, and each of them can develop into a specific mental disorder:

• choleric people suffer from impulsive personality disorder (an illness that has signs that distinguish it from a number of other mental disorders, and a person suffering from impulsive personality disorder is characterized by excessive temperament, which often arises out of nowhere),
• sanguine people - hypomania (a condition similar to mania, but less severe in its manifestations. It is characterized by a light, constantly elevated mood that lasts for at least several days, as well as a feeling of well-being, physical and mental productivity, increased energy and activity ),
• phlegmatic people – schizoid personality disorder (a personality disorder characterized by a tendency to avoid emotionally intense relationships through excessive theorizing, withdrawing into oneself, and retreating into fantasy)
• melancholics – anxiety disorder (a mental disorder characterized by general persistent anxiety not associated with specific objects or situations).

Many researchers note that the classical understanding of the type of temperament consists of two components: behavioral activity and emotionality. Based on this, improved classifications were built. And the fact that a person’s temperament depends on the type of higher nervous activity was first proven by the great Russian scientist I. P. Pavlov. He established that higher nervous activity has a similar structure in humans and higher animals. Thus, a certain type of temperament is characteristic not only of humans, but also of the most developed mammals.

There are classifications that divide individuals according to their properties. One of the popular classifications is the division of people into extroverts and introverts proposed by Carl Jung.

Extroverts: choleric and sanguine people. Aimed at interacting with external stimuli.

Introverts: phlegmatic and melancholic. Turned to your inner life.

The theory of I. P. Pavlov

The fact that the course of mental processes and the behavior of an individual depends on the work of the nervous system, which plays a dominant role in the body, has been known for a long time. But the theory of the connection between temperament types and certain general properties of nervous processes was first proposed by the Russian physiologist I. P. Pavlov. It was subsequently developed by his followers.

In the understanding of Academician Pavlov, the type of nervous system is innate and is least subject to any changes under the influence of upbringing or environment. The properties of the nervous system, according to his ideas, form the physiological basis for temperament, which is a mental manifestation of the general type of the nervous system. Pavlov's subsequent studies on animals made it possible to identify types of nervous systems, which he proposed to extend to humans as well.

The time of the birth of temperament.

Scientists have been trying for a long time to understand at what stage of human development his temperament is formed, as well as what factors influence its formation. Recently, the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity published an article, the authors of which claim that the composition of the intestinal microflora influences the behavior of children associated with a particular type of psyche.

The study involved 77 children aged 18 to 27 months. Their parents filled out detailed questionnaires containing questions about their children's behavior in various situations, including communication with others and reactions to external stimuli. The scientists themselves studied the microflora of the gastrointestinal tract of children.

The results of the work showed that microorganisms living in the intestines - the number of their species usually varies from 400 to 500 - really influence the psyche and, accordingly, the behavior of the child, and in the case of boys this dependence is more pronounced.

Researchers were able to find out: if bacteria from the families Rikenellaceae and Ruminococcaceae, as well as the genera Dialister and Parabacteroides, predominate in the boy’s digestive tract, then the child will combine the characteristics of a choleric and a sanguine person. If we talk about girls, here scientists have found that the lower the number of various types of bacteria in the child’s digestive tract, the more restraint and concentration are expressed in his character, and the high concentration of microorganisms from the Rikenellaceae family increases the child’s fearfulness. The study authors warn that parents should not try to change the composition of their child's gastrointestinal microflora through medications, as this may lead to unforeseen negative health consequences. In addition, scientists have not yet been able to find out the essence of the processes that provide a connection between the composition of the intestinal microflora and the character of the child.

The latest work by British and Italian researchers proves that if it is better not to try to change a child’s temperament, then it can be predicted immediately after birth. Scientists have been able to discover a direct relationship between the ability of a newborn child to concentrate his gaze on any object and his future character.

The participants in the experiment were 80 newborns (44 boys and 36 girls) aged from one to four days. The children were shown a variety of pictures, using cameras to record the time during which they concentrated their gaze on each image. It is generally believed that looking at the same object for too long indicates that a person's brain activity is slow. However, in the case of young children, it is very important to determine the line separating a quick meaningful glance and an inability to concentrate.

Over the next few years - until the children reached the ages of 5-9 years - parents regularly filled out questionnaires, the purpose of which was to record the stages of the child's psychological development. After analyzing all the data collected during the work, it turned out that it is possible to predict the future psychological development of a child immediately after his birth. Scientists have found: if a child at the age of several days is able to focus attention on an object, then in the future he will have a less impulsive and expressive character, characteristic of phlegmatic and melancholic people. Those newborns who, at the age of several days, were unable to concentrate on an image, after a few years more often suffered from hyperactivity, were easily excitable and nervous, that is, they showed the characteristics of choleric and sanguine people.

The main features of the human psyche are formed even before birth.

Components of temperament types

Every person has their own type of nervous system. Its manifestations (these are the characteristics of temperament) are an important part of individual psychological differences. The manifestations of any one type of temperament are very diverse; they can be traced in the manner of behavior, and also manifest themselves in the nature of mental activity, actions, sphere of feelings, motives, cognitive activity, characteristics of a person’s speech, etc.

To compose a psychological characteristic of one of the generally accepted types of temperament, they usually resort to the following basic properties:

• Emotional excitability - the speed of occurrence of an emotional reaction and the force of influence necessary for its occurrence;
• Introversion/extroversion – features of the dependence of a person’s reaction and activity. If they depend on external stimuli, then the person is an extrovert, if they depend on internal ones, then he is an introvert;
• Rate of reactions - the speed with which mental reactions and processes occur, speed of mind, rate of speech, etc.;
• Rigidity and plasticity – a person’s ability to adapt to external influences;
• Reactivity - the degree of involuntary reactions to internal or external stimuli of the same intensity;
• Activity – the intensity of a person’s impact on the outside world and the ability to overcome obstacles on the way to achieving a goal;
• The ratio of reactivity and activity is the dependence of human activity on internal or external circumstances, as well as beliefs, intentions, goals;
• Sensitivity is the level of the lowest intensity of external influence necessary for the occurrence of a mental reaction.

In connection with these properties, the outstanding Polish psychologist and doctor of science Jan Streliau gives the most popular characteristics of temperament types.

The influence of one's own temperament.

How do people with different personality characteristics work?

Choleric people have a very high performance capacity, but they tend to get carried away too much, which is why they waste their energy. Sanguine people also have a tremendous capacity for work, but they realize it only if they like the work; if they don’t like it, they begin to be indifferent to their work and get bored. Phlegmatic people work slowly, but are distinguished by equanimity, calmness and perseverance, thanks to which they perform their work conscientiously. Melancholic people tend to react sharply to external stimuli; they are absorbed in their internal experiences; They can conscientiously fulfill their duties only in the most calm and positive environment in the presence of any positive impressions.

The famous Soviet psychologist B. M. Teplov established that workers with different temperaments differ not in the final results of their activities, but in the ways of achieving these results. That is, the individual style of activity of a particular employee primarily depends on a specific temperament. Knowing this allows you to organize the work of the organization in such a way as to get maximum performance from each employee.

For example, for melancholic people you can set a flexible schedule, you can put them in a room with a minimum amount of irritating factors; Phlegmatic people should not be required to complete work within a strictly established time frame, especially a short one; instead, it is better to focus on the quality of the product. Sanguine people need to be interested in work by creating conditions in which they can demonstrate their abilities and demonstrate their skills to others.

Temperament is a set of innate human properties. And when they say that these innate, initially inherent properties influence the behavior, work of a person and his activity in general, then this can cause bewilderment among the unprepared: after all, it is known that a person is a teachable being, and he learns everything throughout his life. Indeed, a person learns many things, but the limits of learning are still influenced by the innate properties of the individual.

The standard of the educational process is the school, and it is enough to look at any school class to identify conscientious and immersed in study phlegmatic people (often they are “nerds”), and choleric people who skip classes for the sake of sports achievements, and those who attract everyone’s attention, artistic sanguine people, and melancholic people. who are often “difficult teenagers” and also experience learning difficulties due to their nature. Of course, one cannot say that a phlegmatic person will necessarily be an excellent student, and the destiny of a melancholic person is correctional education, but for success in educational activities, each student needs an individual approach, and not every school can provide this.

Among the outstanding people were representatives of all temperaments and their combinations. Thus, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was described as a typical melancholic person. Yesenin, Chekhov, Gogol, Chopin were the same. Beethoven, Pushkin, and Byron were choleric. Typical phlegmatic people are Ivan Krylov, Kutuzov, Galileo, Kant. Sanguine people - Mozart, Prokofiev, Balzac, V.I. Lenin.

Temperament types

According to J. Strelyau, the four main types of temperament are characterized by the following features:

Melancholic

A melancholic person is a person with high sensitivity and low level of reactivity. High sensitivity often leads to the fact that even a minor reason can cause tears. A melancholic person is painfully sensitive and very touchy. He has inexpressive movements and facial expressions, a quiet voice, poor movements, and a low energy level. As a rule, he is timid, unpersistent, unsure of himself, quickly gives up when doing things, has little ability to work and gets tired easily. The attention of such a person is unstable, all mental processes are slowed down. Most melancholic people are introverts.

Choleric

A choleric person is not particularly sensitive, has high activity and reactivity, and reactivity dominates, which is why he is quick-tempered, impatient, unrestrained, unbridled. Facial expressions, gestures and speech are rich and reflect the mood. His aspirations are stable, his interests are unshakable. The choleric person is persistent and sometimes has difficulty switching attention. In the vast majority of cases, choleric people are extroverts.

Phlegmatic person

A phlegmatic person is characterized by high activity, which dominates over low reactivity. He is insensitive and little emotional. External stimuli have a very weak effect on it; able to remain calm in unexpected situations. Also, phlegmatic people have slow and inexpressive movements, the same speech, and poor facial expressions. He has difficulty switching his attention, rebuilds habits and skills very slowly, but he has energy and high performance. Most phlegmatic people are introverts.

Sanguine

A sanguine person is a person with high reactivity, which is on par with activity. It is characterized by lively facial expressions, a wealth of gestures, a quick response to external circumstances, and ease of switching attention. Very sensitive, active, can work for a long time without getting tired. Disciplined, resourceful, has good ability to concentrate and self-control. His interests, moods and hobbies can change quickly. Almost all sanguine people are extroverts.

Bibliography.

1. Batarshev, A.V. Temperament and character: Psychological diagnostics / A.V. Batarshev. - M.: VLADOS PRESS, 2001. - 336 p.
2. Golubeva, E. A. Abilities. Personality. Individuality / E. A. Golubeva. - Dubna: Phoenix+, 2005. - 512 p.
3. Gusev, V.V. Empathic model in the formation of translation strategy / V.V. Gusev // Bulletin of MSLU. Vol. 480: translation as a cognitive activity. - M.: MSLU, 2003. - P. 26-41.
4. Maklakov, A. G. General psychology / A. G. Maklakov. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2000. - 592 p.
5. Shkuratova, I. P. Personality psychology: Methodological manual / I. P. Shkuratova. - Rostov n/D, 2006. - 52 p.
6. Shkuratova, I. P. Stylistic approach to personality research: problems and prospects / I. P. Shkuratova, L. I. Gabdulina // Applied psychology. — No. 6. 2002. - pp. 29-45.

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Abstract on the academic discipline “Psychology”

on the topic: “Human temperament, its types and characteristics”

Plan

1. Introduction.

2. The concept of temperament, history of origin and its physiological basis.

3. Types of temperament and their characteristics.

4. The influence of temperament on a person’s position in society.

5. Conclusion.

6. List of references.

1. Introduction.

The problem of temperament, associated with the obviousness of individual differences between people, has been of interest to world society for more than 25 centuries.

The psyche of each individual is exceptional and unique. Its uniqueness is associated with the characteristics of the development of the body, physiological and biological structure, as well as with the unique structure of social communication. In the biological interdependent substructures of personality there is, initially, temperament. When discussing temperament, we mean many mental differences between people - differences in intensity, depth, stability of emotions, energy of action, sensitivity, tempo and other individually stable, dynamic features of mental activity, life and behavior.

And yet, temperament is also currently recognized as a largely ambiguous and unresolved problem. However, with all the diversity of approaches to the problem, practitioners and scientists believe that temperament has a general biological root that shapes a person as a social subject.

Temperament is a reflection of the dynamic aspects of behavior, mostly of a genetic nature, therefore the properties of temperament are particularly constant and stable in comparison with other mental characteristics of the individual. The most specific feature of temperament is that the different properties of a person’s temperament have a natural connection between each other, forming a distinct organization that characterizes 4 temperaments.

People have long tried to realize and highlight the classical features of the mental formation of different personalities, trying to reduce many images to their smallest number of schematic images. Since ancient times, such schematic images have been called types of temperaments.

Typologies of this kind were useful in practice, thanks to them they predicted the behavior of a person with a specific temperament in any current situation in his life.

2. The concept of temperament, history of origin and its physiological basis.

Temperament is a complex of typological characteristics of a person that manifest themselves during the development of his psychological processes: in the emotional activity of his life, in the strength and speed of his reaction.

Temperament is the awakening of the genuine type of nervous activity in the human psyche. As a result of this, the characteristics of temperament include, first of all, individually unique and innate personality traits.

The word “temperament” is translated from Latin as “proper ratio of parts”; equally important, the Greek word “krasis” was introduced by the ancient Greek healer and physician Hippocrates; he believed that temperament is the individual psychological, anatomical and physiological characteristics of a person.

For one person, mental activity is invariably smooth. Such a person is outwardly calm, balanced and, in a sense, slow all the time. He rarely laughs, his gaze is always cold and stern. In difficult circumstances or a funny situation, he remains outwardly calm. His gestures and facial expressions are not distinguished by their expressiveness and variety, his gait is firm, and his speech is calm. In another person, psychological activity proceeds unevenly. He is extremely active, restless and noisy. His speech is passionate and impetuous, his facial expressions are rich and varied, his movements are chaotic. Often such a person waves his arms and stomps his feet when talking. He is impatient and fussy. The properties of temperament are natural properties that determine the dynamic side of an individual’s mental activity. In other words, the nature of the course of mental activity is determined by temperament, or more precisely:

- the speed of emergence of mental processes and their constancy - speed of perception, long-term concentration of attention, mental alertness;

- mental tempo and rhythm;

- the degree of manifestation of mental processes - the activity of the will, the strength of emotions;

- the focus of mental activity on any specific objects - a person’s constant desire for fresh impressions of reality, for new contacts, or the individual’s focus on himself, on his ideas and images.

In addition, the dynamics of mental activity are determined by the mental state and motives. Each individual, of course depending on the characteristic features of his temperament, works faster and more energetically when there is interest than when there is no interest. For every person, a happy event creates an increase in physical and mental strength, and an unhappy event creates a decline in strength. Conversely, the properties of temperament are expressed identically in a variety of activities and for a variety of purposes. For example, if a student is nervous in anticipation of an exam, anxious before speaking at an open lesson, or nervous before starting a sports competition, this means that increased anxiety is a property of his temperament. The properties of temperament are particularly constant and stable in comparison with other mental characteristics of a person. Different properties of temperament are determined by the connection between themselves, creating a certain structure that outlines the type of temperament.

When compiling psychological characteristics of the common four types of temperament, the following basic properties of temperament are distinguished:

Sensitivity is determined by the minimum force of external influences necessary for the formation of a particular psychological response.

Reactivity is characterized by the magnitude of impulsive reactions to internal or external influences of the same type of force - unpleasant words, rude tone, strong sound, critical remarks.

Activity determines how intensely an individual influences the outside world and overcomes barriers to achieving a goal - focus, concentration, assertiveness.

The correspondence of activity and reactivity establishes, to one degree or another, the dependence of human activity - incidental internal or external factors (state of mind, random phenomenon) or goals, intentions, beliefs.

Rigidity and plasticity determine the pliability of a person’s adaptation to external influences or the extent to which his behavior is rigid and inert.

The pace of reactions represents the speed of passage of various mental processes and reactions - speed of mind, rate of speech, activity of gestures. Introversion and extraversion determine the predominant dependence of an individual’s activity and reaction on external impressions - those that arise in the present - an extrovert, or on images, thoughts, ideas that are associated with the future and past - an introvert. Emotional excitability is how little influence is needed to form an emotional reaction and what is the speed of its formation.

Hippocrates, followed by Galen, defined temperament as behavior characteristics, with the predominance of one of four elements in the body:

- the prevalence of yellow bile - the person is impulsive, “hot” - choleric;

- prevalence of lymph - the person is calm and slow - phlegmatic;

- predominance of blood - a person is active and cheerful - sanguine;

- prevalence of black bile - the person is sad and fearful - melancholic.

Undoubtedly, the paradigm of I.P. turned out to be a turning point in the history of natural scientific research on temperaments. Pavlova on the types of nervous system common to humans and higher mammals. I.P. Pavlov confirmed that the physiological basis of temperament is the type of higher nervous activity, which is determined by the correlation of the fundamental properties of the nervous system - the balance and mobility of the processes of inhibition and excitation, the strength that occurs in the nervous system. In turn, the type of nervous system is determined by the genotype - the hereditary type. I.P. Pavlov emphasized four clearly described types of the nervous system, otherwise determined by complexes of basic properties of nervous processes.

The subtle type is characterized by the subtlety of excitatory and inhibitory processes - melancholic. A strong, hot-tempered type is characterized by a powerful nervous process and a relatively powerful process of inhibition - choleric people are an indomitable type. A strong, balanced, dynamic type - sanguine people - a lively type. A strong, reserved type, but with inert nervous processes - phlegmatic people - a calm type.

Strength is the ability of nerve cells to maintain normal functionality at high intensity of excitation and inhibition processes, the ability of the central nervous system to carry out deterministic work without the need to regenerate its capabilities. A strong nervous system can withstand significant stress over a long period of time, and, on the contrary, a fragile nervous system cannot tolerate immeasurable and long-term stress. It is believed that individuals with the strongest nervous systems are more resistant to stress. The strength of the nervous system in terms of excitability is expressed in the relatively easy performance of work by a person in a difficult environment; a short break is enough for him to renew his strength from hard work; he can work hard, does not get lost in an unfamiliar situation, and is assertive. The power of the nervous system to inhibit is a person’s ability to limit his activity.

The balance of nervous processes reflects the correlation, the balance between inhibition and excitation. Moreover, balance means identical explicitness of nervous processes. The mobility of the nervous system is expressed in the possibility of rapid change from one process to another, from one activity to another. A person with a predominantly mobile nervous system is distinguished by dexterity of behavior and adapts better to a different atmosphere. Describing the characteristics of different temperaments helps to understand the qualities of an individual’s temperament, when clearly expressed. People with clearly manifested qualities of a certain temperament are rare; mixed temperaments in different combinations are more common. At least, the dominance of qualities of a certain type of temperament makes it possible to correlate a person’s temperament with one or another type.

3. Types of temperament and their characteristics.

Sanguine.

A cheerful sanguine person is open to communication, quickly moves from one activity to another, but he does not like the monotony of work. He freely maintains control of his emotions, quickly adapts to an unusual situation, and is active when interacting with people. His speech is loud, fleeting, intelligible, and is accompanied by eloquent gestures and facial expressions. However, this temperament is characterized by some duality. In the case when stimuli change rapidly, innovation and interest in impressions are maintained throughout the entire time, the sanguine person goes into a state of intense excitement and positions himself as an enterprising, enterprising, dynamic person.

In the case of prolonged and monotonous exposure to stimuli, the state of excitement and activity is not maintained, the sanguine person loses interest in the matter, lethargy, indifference, and despondency arise. A sanguine person quickly manifests such feelings as fun, sadness, likes and dislikes, but these manifestations are unstable, fleeting and superficial. They are due to their transience both during manifestation and disappearance; they are even replaced by the opposite ones. There is a rapid change in mood, but, as a rule, a good mood dominates.

Choleric.

A person of this temperament is impetuous, hyperactive, unbalanced, easily excitable, all mental processes are intense and rapid. The dominance of excitation over inhibition inherent in this type is distinguished by a clear expression of incontinence, impulsiveness, hot temper, and nervousness of the choleric person. As a result, there is a manifestation of vivid facial expressions, hasty speech, harsh gestures, and intemperate movements. A person of choleric temperament exhibits strong feelings, which, as a rule, are expressed vividly and arise rapidly; in some cases there is a sharp change in mood. The inherent imbalance of a choleric person is strongly manifested in his work: he gets down to business with increasing intensity and passionate desire, while demonstrating impulsiveness and swiftness of movements, he works with inspiration, overcoming obstacles.

However, in some cases, in a choleric person, the resource of nervous energy quickly runs out during activity, and then a sharp decrease occurs: passionate desire and enthusiasm disappear, and the mood suddenly worsens. When making contacts in society, a person of the choleric type allows himself to be rude, quick-tempered, and can be emotionally unrestrained; this often prevents him from adequately perceiving the actions of people; on this basis, he has disagreements in the team. Excessive directness, ardor, rudeness, and intransigence sometimes make it difficult and unpleasant for such a person to be in the company.

Phlegmatic person.

Phlegmatic people are slow, serene, unhurried, calm. They show seriousness, reasonableness, and assertiveness in their activities. They usually finish what they start. In people of this type, all mental processes proceed at a slow pace. The emotions of a phlegmatic person are weakly detected in appearance; as a rule, they are inexpressive. This factor is self-control, calmness and weak mobility of nervous processes. When making contacts in society, a person of phlegmatic temperament is constantly restrained, balanced, knows when to stop when communicating, and has a stable mood.

The balance and equanimity of a phlegmatic person is expressed in his attitude towards the phenomena and events of life; it is difficult to disturb his emotional calm, to touch a nerve. It is not difficult for a person of this type of temperament to develop self-control, calmness, and self-control. Also, a phlegmatic person needs to develop qualities that he lacks - greater mobility, initiative, and not allow indifference to work, weakness, contemplation, which are easily formed under certain circumstances, to manifest themselves. Occasionally, a phlegmatic person may experience indifference to work, to the world around him, to society and to himself.

Melancholic.

In people of melancholic temperament, mental processes proceed slowly, and it is difficult for them to react to fundamental stimuli. Long and very significant tension contributes to the slowdown of their activities, and then to their completion. Melancholic people are usually inactive at work and rarely show interest, since this requires intense nervous tension. Emotional states and feelings in a person with a melancholic temperament manifest themselves slowly, but have significant strength, depth and duration. Melancholic people are vulnerable, they have a hard time dealing with insults and troubles, although you can’t tell by their appearance.

People of a melancholic nature are withdrawn and lonely, avoid contact with unfamiliar people, are often shy, and express great embarrassment in an unfamiliar situation. Something exceptional, unusual, provokes a state of inhibition in them. However, in a calm and familiar environment, melancholic people feel peaceful and perform their work very effectively. It is easy for melancholic people to develop and improve their inherent stability and depth of emotions, and high sensitivity to external influences.

4. The influence of temperament on a person’s position in society.

The characteristic features of a person, determined by temperament, are manifested in emotional agitation, to a certain extent, an orientation toward the external manifestation of feelings, haste in movements, general activity, sensitivity, and restraint.

In research by Russian scientists, sociability is associated with types of temperament. According to the paradigm of A.G. Kovalev, the sanguine type of temperament sets the pace of entry into relationships, when there is no constraint in contact with people unconditioned by their social status, easy adaptation to the new environment is observed. A person of a melancholic type of temperament, on the contrary, is unsociable, lost and fearful in new conditions, and prone to loneliness.

A.I. Ilyina in her research confirms that the sanguine type of temperament is characterized by speed of reaction upon contact, ease of acquaintance, wide circle of friends, energy, but there is also variability in communication. People of phlegmatic temperament, on the contrary, express slowness in interaction, are inactive during contacts, have difficulty getting along with people, but are stable in maintaining communication.

Among the different types of interpsychic relationships, sympathies and antipathies occupy an important place, since during their formation a person’s individual traits play a significant role.

When forming interpsychic relationships in a group of girls, O.V. Lomtatidze discovered dominant directions in the expression of likes and dislikes, determined by the type of temperament.

The author identified the characteristic features of interpersonal relationships in girls with different types and qualities of temperament, more precisely, when expressing likes and dislikes. The focus on acceptance undoubtedly differs among the sanguine, choleric and phlegmatic types.

Sanguine people are distinguished by a greater zeal for acceptance, while phlegmatic people have a lower zeal. The average values ​​of the motive are fear of rejection; undoubtedly, the phlegmatic and choleric types differ from the sanguine type.

Choleric girls actively enter into interpsychic relationships with representatives of their sex with a dominant type of temperament - choleric, melancholic or sanguine.

Sanguine girls are distinguished by the abundance of relationships with choleric people. Mutual likes and dislikes are found to the least extent during contacts with melancholic people.

Interpsychic relationships in melancholic girls are found with representatives of the same sex of choleric and choleric-sanguine temperament types, while the latter have only antipathies.

There are consistent differences between the likes and dislikes of choleric people and other types of temperaments. Cholerics appear to be a dynamic principle in the creation of both positive and negative interpsychic relationships.

Extroverted girls keep their level of sympathy at an average level. In introverted girls, mutual expression of sympathy is manifested at a low level.

The most constant sympathies were found in pairs: sanguine-phlegmatic, sanguine-melancholic, melancholic-melancholic, the maximum instability in sympathies is expressed in pairs: phlegmatic-melancholic, choleric-choleric.

Characteristics of temperament are of significant importance in the process of harmony and comparability of people in joint activities. N.N. Obozov determined that maximum sociability of people in production is possible in teams and units, in addition, in family and marital relationships when combining people with polar temperaments. Thus, under other equal circumstances, it is easier for a phlegmatic person to act with a sanguine person, for a melancholic person - with a phlegmatic person, and for a sanguine person - with a melancholic person.

Types of temperament, as noted by R.M. Granovskaya, leave their own mark on communication methods, determining the level of initiative in establishing contacts.

This is how sanguine people instantly establish social contacts. They have no desire to become despondent, to surrender to the will of their fears and sad thoughts. In communication, they are initiators, easily enter groups, and are ready to win a dominant place in them.

Cholerics, who are distinguished by excessive activity and impulsiveness, also instantly establish interpsychic contacts. However, if people during communication for some reason do not meet the hopes of the choleric person, then he soon loses all interest in them and establishes new connections. The choleric person must be constantly occupied with useful work, otherwise he can become the basis of interpsychic conflict situations in the team.

Phlegmatic people make social contacts slowly. In the new society, they probably close themselves in their “shell”. Phlegmatic people express their emotions weakly, for a long time they do not feel that someone is actively attracting their attention, however, they are stable and constant in their connections, preferring to be in a small company of old friends, in a familiar atmosphere.

Melancholic people are distinguished by indecision, caution in contacts, and a high subconscious perception of the disposition of loved ones and others. Excessive sensitivity provokes in them a constant need for empathy. Actually, the feeling of empathy turns out to be a kind of impulse for a melancholic person to establish contacts in society.

Temperament reveals a person’s disposition to the phenomena occurring around him. Each person is obliged to always take into account the characteristic traits of the temperament of another person with whom he happens to work and come into contact. This is a successful interaction with them, reducing the likelihood of acute conflict situations. Efforts in contact with people should be a guideline not for changing the situation, but for the skillful use of worthy qualities and positive aspects of temperament while simultaneously eliminating negative manifestations. In accordance with the type of temperament, different people have different directions in likes and dislikes, in the consistency and collaboration of people, in establishing social contacts.

5. Conclusion.

Even today, researchers cannot definitely decide whether to consider temperament to be a genetic quality, or whether the role of the environment in the formation of temperament is key. All this points to the phenomenon of temperament as a complex process, the study of which has not given clear answers for a long time.

The conditioning of temperament by a single type of nervous system leads to the understanding that the psychological signs of temperament are only constant and persistent individual characteristics that persist over a long time.

What makes temperament so fascinating is that modification of at least some of its traits and specifics requires exceptional changes in living conditions and the most difficult situations. Thus, research into the characteristics of temperament can be useful, because understanding the type of temperament makes it easier to communicate with people and contributes to the beneficial building of relationships.

During this period, the interconnection of temperament with various individual characteristics of a person and style of activity was studied; the relationship of temperament with character, capabilities, emotionality, relationships between people.

In accordance with their temperamental characteristics, people differ not in the final outcome of their actions, but in the method of achieving results. At the basis of determining the properties of temperament and specific character, the professional suitability of an individual for various fields of activity is established.

6. Bibliography.

1. A. V. Batarshev, Temperament and character: Psychological diagnostics / A. V. Batarshev. - M.: Vlados press, 2001. - 336 p.

2. E.A. Golubeva, Abilities. Personality. Individuality / E. A. Golubeva. - Dubna: Phoenix+, 2005. - 512 p.

3. Differential psychology and differential psychophysiology today: materials of the conference dedicated to the 115th anniversary of the birth of B. M. Teplov, November 10-11, 2011 / ed. M.K. Kabardova. - M.: Smysl, 2011. - 380 p.

4. Differential psychophysiology: educational and methodological manual / Comp. O. V. Gribkova. — Samara: Samar. Human. acad., 2008. - 120 p.

5. A.D. Ishkov, Student’s educational activity: psychological factors of success: Monograph. - M.: ASV, 2004. - 224 p.

6. O.V. Lomtatidze, The influence of temperamental characteristics on the formation of likes and dislikes in girls. - Ekaterinburg, 2008. - 24 p.

Psychological characteristics of temperament

One of the spiritual qualities that characterize the mental sphere of an individual, namely his constitutional level, is temperament.

Temperature is a set of properties that characterize the dynamic features of mental processes and human behavior, their strength, speed, origin, completion and change. Temperature traits can be attributed only to a limited extent to the number of actual personality traits of a person; they are rather individual traits of a person, since they are mainly biological and innate. However, temperament has a significant influence on the formation of a person’s character and behavior, sometimes determines his actions, his personality, so it is impossible to completely separate temperament from personality. It acts as a link between the body, personality and cognitive processes.

The idea and doctrine of temperament are rooted in the work of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. He described the most important types of temperaments, gave them characteristics, but temperament is not associated with the characteristics of the nervous system, but with the ratio of various bodily fluids: blood, lymph and bile. The first classification of temperaments that Galen proposed, and it has remained virtually unchanged, has reached our days. The last known description of it, which is also used in modern psychology, was written by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). This is what we use.

I. Kant divided human temperament (manifestations of temperament can be seen in higher animals) into two types: temperature of sensations and temperaments of activity.

In general, only four simple temperaments can be set:

• Blood red;
• melancholy;
• choleric;
• phlegmatic person".

From these four types of temperament, the feeling temperament includes sanguine and its opposite - melancholy. The first is characterized by the fact that feelings appear quite quickly in the nervous system and consciousness of a person and are strongly manifested on the outside, but are not deep enough and strong enough from the inside. In the case of a melancholic temperament, external manifestations of feelings are less vivid, but inside they are quite deep and lasting.

The Sanvinsky temperament of activity characterizes a person of a very cheerful character.

I.P. Pavlov states the following characteristics of the sanguine temperament. "Blood Red" is a hot, very productive figure, but only when he has a lot of interesting things to do, that is, constant excitement. If there is no such occasion, he becomes boring, lethargic..."

He seems to be an optimist, a hopeful, a humorist, a prankster, a prankster. He quickly burns out, but just as quickly cools down and loses interest in things that only recently excited him and attracted him to himself. The purebred promises a lot, but does not always keep his promises. He easily and happily comes into contact with strangers, is a good conversationalist, and all people are friends with him. He is characterized by friendliness and goodwill. Strenuous mental or physical work quickly tires him.

The melancholic temperament of activity, according to Kant, is characteristic of a person of contrasting, predominantly gloomy mood. Such a person usually leads a complex and intense inner life, attaches great importance to everything that worries him, has increased anxiety and a vulnerable soul. Such a person is often silent and, above all, promises with reserve. He never promises what he cannot do, and suffers greatly from the fact that he cannot keep his promise, even if it does not depend directly on him. The choleric temperament of activity characterizes a passionate person. They say this man is too hot and unrestrained. But such a person quickly cools down and calms down when he admits to getting closer to himself. His movements are impulsive, but short. “Choleric,” notes I.P. Pavlov is obviously a fighting type, passionate, easy-going and soon irritable. “Engaged in some business, too much at the expense of his own resources and efforts, and ends up being torn apart, exhausted more than he should be, completed to such an extent that he is completely inactive.”

A phlegmatic activity temperament refers to a cold-blooded person. It expresses a tendency toward inaction rather than hard, active work. Such a person slowly enters a state of excitement, but for a long time. This replaces his slow entry into work. “A phlegmatic person is always an even, persistent, hardworking worker in life.”

It should be noted that in this classification of temperaments in Kant's work there are repeated references to characteristics that relate not only to the dynamic characteristics of a person's psyche and behavior, but also to the nature of his typical actions. This is not accidental, because in the psychology of an adult it is difficult to distinguish temperament from character. In addition, the characteristics of temperament exist and are manifested not by themselves, but in a person’s actions in various socially significant situations. A person's temperament undoubtedly influences the formation of his character, but character itself expresses a person not so much as a physical being, but as a spiritual being.

Each of the presented types of temperament in itself is neither good nor bad (unless it combines temperament and character). Any type of temperament, expressed in the dynamic characteristics of the human psyche and behavior, may have its advantages and disadvantages. People with a sanguine temperament react quickly, easily and quickly adapt to changing living conditions, have increased performance, especially at the initial stage of work, but eventually reduce their performance due to rapid fatigue and declining interest. On the contrary, those who are characterized by a melancholic temperament come to work slowly, but with greater persistence. Their productivity is usually higher in the middle or at the end of a job than at the beginning. In general, the productivity and quality of sanguine and melancholic work are approximately the same, and the differences relate mainly only to the dynamics of work in different periods.

The temperature of a choleric person has the advantage that it allows one to concentrate significant efforts in a short time. But in the long run, a person with this temperament is not always persistent enough. The phlegmatic person, on the other hand, is unable to quickly connect and concentrate his forces, but instead has the valuable ability to work long and hard to achieve a goal. The nature of a person's temperament must be taken into account when the job makes special demands on these dynamic performance characteristics.

Physiological basis of temperament

I.P. Pavlov suggested that everything depends on the characteristics of a person’s higher nervous activity. The basis of individual differences in increased nervous activity is the manifestation and correlation of the most important nervous processes - excitation and inhibition.

Three characteristics of the processes of excitation and inhibition have been identified:

1. the power of excitation and inhibition processes, expressed in the ability of nerve cells to tolerate longer or shorter, but very strong stimulation
2. balance of excitation and inhibition as a proportional relationship between them.
3. mobility of excitation and inhibition processes, which is expressed in the rapid change of these processes in response to irritation

According to these characteristics, the following types of increased neural activity were identified.

Among the characteristics of temperament, one can trace those distinctive individual characteristics of a person that determine the dynamic aspects of all his activities, characterizing the peculiarities of the course of mental processes, more or less stable in nature, persisting for a long time and appearing soon after birth (after the central nervous the system specifically takes human forms). It is assumed that the characteristics of temperament are mainly determined by the characteristics of the human nervous system.

Soviet psychologists (B. M. Teplov and others) note that the main scientific significance of I. P. Pavlov’s work is to clarify the main role of the properties of the nervous system as the primary and deep parameters of the psychophysiological organization of the individual. At the present stage of development of science, it is not yet possible to make final scientific conclusions about the number of main types of the nervous system and the number of typical temperaments. Research by Soviet scientists shows that the structure of the properties of the nervous system as a neurophysiological measure of temperament is much more complex than previously thought, and the number of basic combinations of these properties is much greater than I.M. assumed. Pushkin. P. Pavlov.

Psychophysiologist V.M. Rusalov, based on a new concept of the properties of the nervous system, proposed a more modern interpretation of the properties of temperament.

Starting with P.K. Anokhin’s theory of a functional system with four blocks of information storage, circulation and processing:

1. unit of afferent synthesis;
2. Unit for programming (decision making);
3. Execution block;
4. feedback block.

Rusalov identified four related characteristics of temperament that are responsible for the breadth or narrowness of afferent synthesis:

• degree of tension between the body and the environment
• easy switching from one behavioral program to another;
• the speed at which the current behavioral program is being executed;
• Sensitivity to discrepancies between the actual result of an action and its acceptor.

Accordingly, the traditional psychophysiological assessment of temperature changes does not consist of two parameters - activity and sensitivity, but of four components:

• Ergonomics (endurance);
• Plastic;
• Speed;
• Emotionality (sensitivity).

According to V.M. Rusalova, all these components of temperament are biologically and genetically determined. Temperature depends on the properties of the nervous system, and this, in turn, is understood as the main properties of functional systems that provide integrative, analytical and synthetic activity of the brain and the nervous system as a whole.

Temperature is a psychobiological category in the sense that its properties are neither completely innate nor dependent on the environment. According to the author, they represent a “systemic generalization” of the initially genetically specified individual and biological characteristics of a person, which, “including in various types of activities, are gradually transformed and form, regardless of the content of the activity itself, a generalized, qualitatively new, individually stable system invariant characteristics".

In accordance with the two main types of human activity - objective activity and communication - each of the selected characteristics of temperament should be considered separately, since it is assumed that they manifest themselves differently in activity and communication.

One more fact should be taken into account that characterizes the connection between temperament and the characteristics of the nervous system. Psychological characteristics of temperament are not characteristics of the nervous system as such or their combination, but typical features of the course of mental processes and behavior that give rise to these characteristics.

Let us consider these characteristics in the context of cognitive processes, subject activity and human communication.

Relevant properties may also include relevant characteristics:

• Activity;
• performance;
• Excitability;
• Brakes;
• Switchability.

The active side of perception, attention, imagination, memory and thinking in each case is characterized by the degree to which a person is able to concentrate, concentrate his attention, imagination, memory and thinking on a specific object or its aspect. Speed ​​is manifested in how quickly the corresponding psychological processes function. For example, one person remembers a task faster than another, remembers, reflects, imagines, thinks about it.

The productivity of all these cognitive processes can be assessed by their products, by the results achieved over a certain period of time. Productivity is higher where more can be seen, heard, remembered, imagined and solved at the same time. Productivity and productivity should not be confused. A person who has highly productive (in this sense) cognitive processes does not necessarily have increased efficiency, i.e. the ability to maintain a certain pace of work over a long period of time.

Excitability, inhibition, and switchability characterize the speed with which a cognitive process is generated, stopped, or switched from one object to another, as well as the transition from one action to another. For example, some people take longer than others to do mental work or switch from one subject to another. Some people learn information by heart or remember it faster than others. It should also be remembered that these differences do not determine people's abilities.

In the case of a subject's activity, activity means the strength and range of movements associated with it. They are instinctively wider in an active person than in a less active one. For example, increased temperamental activity in sports gives the athlete wider and stronger movements in various exercises than in those in which this characteristic of temperament is weakly expressed. A more active person has wider handwriting, the letters are taller, and the distance between them is greater than that of a less active person. A person with higher activity has a harder time making weak, subtle, small range of motion movements, while a person with a lower activity has more difficulty making strong, sweeping movements.

The pace of work in professional activity is determined by the number of operations, actions, movements per unit of time. One prefers to work at a fast pace, the other prefers to work at a slow pace.

The activity and tempo of work determine the productivity of movement-related activities, unless there are other requirements other than the frequency and intensity of the corresponding activities.

In the communication of the people under discussion, the characteristics of temperament manifest themselves in a similar way, except that in this case we are talking about verbal and non-verbal interaction between person and person. Speech, facial expressions, gestures and gestures are more pronounced in a person with increased activity than in a person with reduced activity. More active people tend to have a stronger voice. The speed of their speech, as well as the speed of emotionally expressive movements, is quite high.

Communication styles vary greatly between tall and easily excitable people. The former react faster, make contact more easily and adapt better in communication than the latter. Delayed people are more willing to interrupt communication and less willing to speak than those whose inhibitory reactions are slower. The latter are often distinguished by the fact that they talk a lot, do not let go of their interlocutor and create the impression of irritation. They find it difficult to switch from one topic to another, from one person to another. Productivity" of their communication, i.e. the ability to communicate and perceive information per unit of time is also higher than that of people of the opposite type, who are inactive and move slowly.