If we translate the word "character" from ancient Greek, we will just get the definition of the term. This is a distinctive feature, a sign, a sign, the ancient Greeks very correctly called this phenomenon. The character leaves its imprint on every thought, action, word. Actually, it is a group of entrenched personality traits that manifest themselves from birth. At the same time, character is not an innate property, but an acquired one.
Human traits develop on the basis of the innate nervous system (temperament), habitat, upbringing, and physiological characteristics of a person.
Probably, even before the very concept of "character" appeared, people tried to classify what kind of character a person has. The first significant contributions to the study of our behavior and character were made by ancient Greek physicians and philosophers, physician Galen, then Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and now their followers - T. Dobson, E. Wagle, K. Hurley and others.
Looking for character traits
In order to determine the characteristics of the character of a person, it is necessary to give a response according to the four evaluation criteria:
- the relation of man to himself;
- attitude towards other people;
- attitude to work;
- strong-willed personality.
Attitudes toward oneself are called self-criticism or self-esteem, other people can manifest themselves as selfishness, indifference, rudeness, kindness, sensitivity. As for work, it's laziness, organization, hard work, passivity, slovenliness, accuracy, etc. A strong-willed personality - it's all to the pain of a certain willpower or lack of it, as well as discipline, perseverance, determination.
Modern classification
Psychologists contemporaries give a new, unusual classification of what people are like in nature. The type of character is determined by means of a figure with nine points - enneagrams, in the end, we get nine types:
- observer;
- assistant;
- perfectionist;
- fighter;
- individualist;
- romantic;
- peacekeeper;
- follower;
- adventurer.
Why, in fact, are we so interested in the type of our character? The centuries-old, and even many thousands of years of monitoring a person by the same person, led to the fact that we realized that only by better understanding ourselves, having studied and determined what the character of a person can be, we will be able to improve our understanding of the world.
Accents in nature
The properties of a person's character can not be justified by an innate temperament. People with any type of nervous system can develop in themselves or suppress the desired qualities, however, different people are given different traits more difficult.
Another thing - accentuation. These are some traits of character that have developed excessively. Because of this, a person has difficulties with society, especially when the accentuation is pronounced and visible to all. The extreme cases of accentuation are psychopathy, that is, a painful distortion of character. And this is an excuse for applying to a psychologist.
Most popular accentuations:
- hyperactivity - high spirits, there is no sense of proportion, energy beats it with a fountain, there is no sense of risk;
- extraverted - increased need for communication, lack of independence and low organization;
- dysthymic - in other words, a pessimist, he is reserved, silent, avoids conflicts and stresses ;
- introverted
- a person "inside" himself, unsociable and withdrawn; - cycloid - lives in cycles, this affects both communication and mood;
- anxious - insecure, hesitant, inactive;
- emotional - excessive sensitivity, vulnerability, pettiness;
- pedantic - demanding of small things;
- demonstrative - aspiration is in the center of attention;
- excitable - easily "flammable", ready for a conflict over the first case.