A truly scientific explanation of temperaments is provided by the teachings of I.P. Pavlova on the types of higher nervous activity.

I.P. Pavlov discovered three properties of the processes of excitation and inhibition: 1) the strength of the processes of excitation and inhibition; 2) balance of excitation and inhibition processes; 3) mobility of excitation and inhibition processes.

The strength of nervous processes characterizes the performance and endurance of the nervous system and means its ability to withstand either long-term or short-term, but very strong excitation or inhibition. The opposite property - weakness of nervous processes - characterizes the inability of nerve cells to withstand prolonged and concentrated excitation and inhibition.

The balance of nervous processes is the ratio of excitation and inhibition. For some people, these two processes are mutually balanced, while for others there is no balance: the process of inhibition or excitation predominates.

The mobility of nervous processes is the ability to quickly replace each other, the speed of movement of nervous processes (irradiation and concentration), the speed of emergence of a nervous process in response to irritation, the speed of formation of new conditioned connections.

Combinations of these properties of nervous processes formed the basis for determining the type of higher nervous activity. Depending on the combination of strength, mobility and balance of the processes of excitation and inhibition, four main types of higher nervous activity are distinguished.

I.P. Pavlov correlated the types of nervous systems he identified with psychological types of temperaments and discovered their complete similarity. Thus, temperament is a manifestation of the type of nervous system in human activity and behavior. As a result, the relationship between the types of the nervous system and temperaments is as follows: 1) a strong, balanced, mobile type (“live”, according to I.P. Pavlov - sanguine temperament; 2) a strong, balanced, inert type (“calm”, according to I P. Pavlov - phlegmatic temperament; 3) strong, unbalanced, with a predominance of excitement (“uncontrollable” type, according to I. P. Pavlov - choleric temperament); 4) weak type (“weak”, according to I.P. Pavlov - melancholic temperament). A weak type cannot in any way be considered a disabled or not entirely full-fledged type. Despite the weakness of nervous processes, a representative of a weak type, developing his own individual style, can achieve great achievements in learning, work and creative activity, especially since a weak nervous system is a highly sensitive nervous system.

Classification of temperaments.

Sanguine temperament. A representative of this type is a lively, inquisitive, active (but without sudden, impetuous movements) person. As a rule, he is cheerful and cheerful. Emotionally unstable, easily succumbed to feelings, but they are usually not strong or deep. He quickly forgets insults and experiences failures relatively easily. Very team-oriented, easily establishes contacts, sociable, friendly, friendly, quickly gets along with people, easily establishes good relationships.

With proper upbringing, a sanguine person is distinguished by a highly developed sense of collectivism, responsiveness, and an active attitude towards academic work, work and social life. Under unfavorable conditions, when there is no systematic, purposeful upbringing, a sanguine person may exhibit a frivolous, carefree and careless attitude to business, scattered thoughts, inability and unwillingness to complete things, a frivolous attitude towards learning, work, other people, and an overestimation of oneself and one’s capabilities.

Phlegmatic temperament. A representative of this type is slow, calm, unhurried. In his activities he demonstrates thoroughness, thoughtfulness, and perseverance. He is inclined towards order, familiar surroundings, and does not like changes in anything. As a rule, he brings the job he starts to completion. All mental processes in a phlegmatic person proceed slowly. This slowness can interfere with his educational activities, especially where he needs to quickly remember, quickly understand, figure out, and do quickly. In such cases, a phlegmatic person may show helplessness, but he usually remembers for a long time, thoroughly and firmly.

In relationships with people, a phlegmatic person is always even-tempered, calm, moderately sociable, and has a stable mood. The calmness of a person of phlegmatic temperament is also manifested in his attitude towards the events and phenomena of life: a phlegmatic person is not easily enraged and emotionally hurt, he avoids quarrels, he is not unbalanced by troubles and failures. With proper upbringing, a phlegmatic person easily develops such traits as perseverance, efficiency, and perseverance. But in unfavorable circumstances, a phlegmatic person may develop such specific negative traits as lethargy, inertia, passivity, and laziness. Sometimes a person of this temperament may develop an indifferent, indifferent attitude towards work, the surrounding life, people and even towards himself.

Choleric temperament. Representatives of this type are distinguished by speed (sometimes feverish speed) of movements and actions, impetuosity, and excitability. Their mental processes proceed quickly and intensely. The imbalance characteristic of a choleric person is clearly reflected in his activities: he gets down to business with enthusiasm and even passion, takes initiative, and works enthusiastically. But his supply of nervous energy can quickly be depleted in the process of work, especially when the work is monotonous and requires perseverance and patience, and then cooling may set in, elation and inspiration disappear, and the mood drops sharply. The predominance of excitement over inhibition, characteristic of this temperament, is clearly manifested in communication with people with whom the choleric person tolerates harshness, hot temper, irritability, emotional restraint (which often does not give him the opportunity to objectively evaluate people’s actions) and on this basis sometimes creates conflict situations in the team .

The positive aspects of the choleric temperament are energy, activity, passion, initiative. Negative manifestations - general lack of restraint, rudeness and harshness, short temper, tendency to affect - often develop in unfavorable conditions of life and activity.

Melancholic temperament. In representatives of this temperament, mental processes proceed slowly, people have difficulty reacting to strong stimuli; prolonged and strong stress causes them to slow down their activity, and then stop it. They get tired quickly. But in a familiar and calm environment, people with this temperament feel calm and work productively. Emotional states in people of melancholic temperament arise slowly, but are distinguished by depth, great strength and duration; melancholic people are easily vulnerable, they have a hard time withstanding insults and grief, but outwardly these experiences are expressed weakly in them.

Representatives of a melancholic temperament tend to be withdrawn, avoid communicating with unfamiliar, new people, are often embarrassed, and show great awkwardness in a new environment. In unfavorable conditions of life and activity, based on a melancholic temperament, traits such as painful vulnerability, depression, gloominess, suspiciousness, and pessimism can develop. Such a person alienates the team, avoids social activities, and immerses himself in his own experiences. But in favorable conditions, with proper upbringing, the most valuable personality traits of a melancholic person are revealed. His impressionability, subtle emotional sensitivity, acute sensitivity to the world around him allow him to achieve great success in art - music, drawing, poetry. Melancholic people are often distinguished by softness, tact, delicacy, sensitivity and responsiveness: those who are vulnerable themselves usually subtly feel the pain that they themselves cause to other people.

1. General concept of temperament. Definition of temperament.
It is impossible to find two people who are identical in their mental properties. Each person differs from others in many ways, the unity of which forms his individuality.

In the psychological differences between people, the so-called dynamic features of the psyche occupy a significant place. As you know, people differ markedly from each other in the strength of their response to environmental influences, in the energy they display, in the pace and speed of mental processes. These kinds of features significantly characterize the mental activity of the individual, his motor skills, and emotional manifestations. So, for one person passivity is more characteristic, for another - tireless initiative, one is characterized by the ease of awakening feelings, and the other - composure, one is distinguished by sharp gestures, expressive facial expressions, the other - restraint of movements, very low facial mobility.

Of course, a person’s dynamic manifestations may depend on the requirements of the situation, on educated attitudes and habits, etc. But mental differences also appear under other equal conditions: in the same circumstances, with relative equality of motives of behavior. These individual characteristics manifest themselves even in childhood, are characterized by particular constancy, and are found in a wide variety of areas of behavior and activity, i.e. they are not just something external. Many experimental studies have proven that the basis of this kind of dynamic manifestations is the individual, natural, innate properties of a person.

The dynamic traits inherent in an individual are internally interconnected and constitute a unique structure. An individually unique, naturally determined set of dynamic manifestations of the psyche and called temperament person.

Types of temperaments.

Temperament is a set of properties that characterize the dynamic features of the course of mental processes and human behavior, their strength, speed, occurrence, cessation and change. The properties of temperament can only be classified conditionally among the actual personal qualities of a person; they rather constitute his individual characteristics, since they are mainly biologically determined and innate. However, temperament has a significant impact on the formation of a person’s character and behavior, sometimes determines his actions, his individuality, so it is impossible to completely separate temperament from personality. It acts as a connecting link between the body, personality and cognitive processes.

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

temperaments of feeling and temperaments of activity. In general, “only four simple temperaments can be established:

sanguine, melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic." Of these four types of temperament, the feeling temperaments include sanguine and its opposite, melancholic. The first is characterized by the fact that with it sensations arise in the nervous system and in the human mind quite quickly and outwardly manifest themselves strongly, but internally they are not deep enough and long-lasting. With a melancholic temperament, external manifestations of sensations are less vivid, but internally they are quite deep and lasting.

Sanguine temperament activity characterizes a person of a very cheerful disposition. He seems to be an optimist, full of hope, a humorist, a joker, a jokester. He quickly ignites, but cools down just as quickly, loses interest in what quite recently excited him very much and attracted him to himself. A sanguine person promises a lot, but does not always keep his promises. He easily and gladly comes into contact with strangers , is a good conversationalist, all people are his friends. He is distinguished by his kindness and willingness to help. Intense mental or physical work quickly tires him.

Melancholic temperament activity, according to Kant, is characteristic of a person of the opposite, mostly gloomy, mood. Such a person usually lives a complex and intense inner life, attaches great importance to everything that concerns him, has increased anxiety and a vulnerable soul. Such a person is often reserved and especially controls himself when making promises. He never promises what he is unable to do; he suffers greatly from the fact that he cannot fulfill this promise, even if its fulfillment depends little on him directly.

Choleric temperament activity characterizes a hot-tempered person. They say about such a person that he is too hot, unrestrained. At the same time, such an individual quickly cools down and calms down if they yield to him or meet him halfway. His movements are impetuous, but short-lived.

Phlegmatic temperament activity refers to a cold-blooded person. It expresses a tendency toward inactivity rather than intense, active work. Such a person slowly comes into a state of excitement, but for a long time. This replaces his slowness in getting to work.

Note that in this classification of temperaments according to Kant, properties are repeatedly mentioned that relate not only to the dynamic characteristics of a person’s psyche and behavior, but also to the nature of the typical actions he performs. This is not accidental, since in the psychology of an adult it is difficult to separate temperament and character. In addition, the properties of temperament exist and are manifested not on their own, but in a person’s actions in various socially significant situations. A person's temperament definitely 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 (if you do not connect temperament and character). Manifesting itself in the dynamic characteristics of the human psyche and behavior, each type of temperament can have its own advantages and disadvantages. People of sanguine temperament have a quick reaction, easily and quickly adapt to changing living conditions, have increased performance, especially in the initial period of work, but towards the end they reduce their performance due to. Fatigue and loss of interest. On the contrary, those who are characterized by a melancholic type of temperament are distinguished by their slow entry into work, but also by greater endurance. Their performance is usually higher in the middle or towards the end of work, rather than at the beginning. In general, the productivity and quality of work of sanguine people and melancholic people are approximately the same, and the differences relate mainly only to the dynamics of work in different periods. The choleric temperament has the advantage that it allows one to concentrate significant efforts in a short period of time. But when working for a long time, a person with such a temperament does not always have enough endurance. Phlegmatic people, on the contrary, are not able to quickly gather and concentrate their efforts, but in return they have the valuable ability to work long and hard to achieve their goal. The type of person’s temperament must be taken into account where the work makes special demands on the specified dynamic features of the activity.

Physiological bases of temperament.

I.P. Pavlov, studying the work of the cerebral hemispheres, found that all traits of temperament depend on features of human higher nervous activity. He proved that among representatives of different temperaments, typological differences in the strength, balance and mobility of the processes of excitation and inhibition in the cerebral cortex change.

The strength of nervous processes - This is the ability of nerve cells to tolerate strong excitation and prolonged inhibition, i.e. endurance and performance of nerve cells. The strength of the nervous process is expressed in the appropriate reaction to strong stimuli: strong stimuli cause strong processes of excitation in a strong nervous system, and weak processes of excitation and inhibition in a weak nervous system.

Equilibrium assumes a proportional relationship between these nervous processes. The predominance of excitation processes over inhibition is expressed in the speed of formation of conditioned reflexes and their slow extinction. The predominance of inhibition processes over excitation is determined by the slow formation of conditioned reflexes and the speed of their extinction.

Mobility of nervous processes- this is the ability of the nervous system to quickly, in response to the demands of environmental conditions, replace the process of excitation with the process of inhibition and vice versa.

Various ratios of these properties of nervous processes were used as the basis for determining type of higher nervous activity.

The relationship between these processes is presented in the diagram:

Depending on the combination of strength, mobility and balance of the processes of excitation and inhibition I.P. Pavlov identified four types of nervous system, which correspond to four temperaments:

1. Sanguine – strong, balanced, mobile.

2. Phlegmatic- strong, balanced, sedentary (inert).

3. Choleric- strong, but unbalanced, with inhibitory processes weak compared to excitation.

4. Melancholic - weak processes of excitation and inhibition.

We all know that people differ from each other in temperament. You can easily determine the temperament of your friends and acquaintances, but determining your own temperament is much more difficult. And this is no coincidence.

Not all people are “pure” representatives of basic temperaments. In life there are many mixed and intermediate types of higher nervous activity, and, consequently, temperaments. In most cases, there is a combination of features of one temperament with features of another. It is not uncommon for temperament to change somewhat with age.

Psychological characteristics of temperaments.

Sanguine- a person is fast, agile, responds emotionally to all impressions; however, his joy, grief, sympathy and other feelings are bright, but unstable and are easily replaced by opposite feelings. I.P. Pavlov characterized such people as follows:

“A sanguine person is an ardent, very productive figure, but only when he has a lot of interesting things to do, i.e. there is constant excitement. When there is no such thing, he becomes bored and lethargic.”

A sanguine person quickly establishes social contact. He is almost always the initiator in communication, immediately responds to the desire to communicate on the part of another person, but his attitude towards people can be changeable and fickle. He feels like a fish in water in a large company of strangers, and a new, unusual environment only excites him (for example, Steve Oblonsky in Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”).

phlegmatic person- a slow, balanced and calm person, who is not easily emotionally affected and cannot be enraged; his feelings hardly manifest themselves on the outside. In relationships with other people, they are calm and stable in their emotions. I.P. Pavlov noted: “A phlegmatic person is a calm, always even, persistent and persistent worker of life.” Let us remember Pierre Bezukhov from the novel by L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" But under certain conditions, indifference to work, to the surrounding life, lack of will can develop (for example, Oblomov in the novel of the same name by I. Goncharov). The phlegmatic establishes social contacts slowly, shows little of his feelings and does not notice for a long time that someone is looking for a reason to get acquainted with him. But he is stable and constant in his attitude towards people: He loves to be in a narrow circle of old acquaintances, in a familiar environment.

Choleric- a person is fast, impetuous, with other, igniting feelings that are clearly reflected in expressive facial expressions, gestures, and speech. He is often prone to violent emotional outbursts. Cholerics experience rapid mood swings and imbalance, which is explained by the predominance of excitation processes over inhibition in higher nervous activity. I.P. Pavlov defined this type of temperament this way: “The fighting type, perky, easily and quickly irritated” (a striking example of this type is the old Prince Bolkonsky in L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”).

Having started a business with enthusiasm, the choleric quickly cools down, interest in the work disappears, and he continues without inspiration, and sometimes even abandons it.

People of choleric temperament can be difficult to communicate with.

Melancholic- does not respond emotionally to everything. He has a small variety of emotional experiences, but these experiences are distinguished by significant depth, strength and duration. He does not respond to everything, but when he does respond, he experiences it strongly, although he expresses little of his feelings outwardly (for example, Princess Marya in L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”). I.P. Pavlov noted that a melancholic person, “finding himself in new living conditions, becomes very lost.” In a familiar, calm environment, people of this type work very productively and are distinguished by the depth and content of their emotional and moral behavior and attitude towards the people around them. Melancholic people are very touchy and have a hard time dealing with failures and insults. They are prone to isolation, loneliness, feel awkward in a new, unusual environment, and are often embarrassed.
Bibliography:

1. Merlin V.S. Essay on the theory of temperament. - M, 1964.
2. Belous V.V. Temperament and activity. Textbook. - Pyatigorsk, 1990.
3. Gippenreiter Yu.B. Introduction to general psychology. Course of lectures.-M.: “Yurait” 2002.-336 p.
4. Rusalov V.M. Subject and communicative aspects of human temperament // Psychological Journal. - 1989. - Vol. 10, - No. 1. - P. 12.

Physiological basis of temperament

People have long tried to find the organic basis of temperament. There are three main systems of explanation of its essence, where the first two are currently only of historical interest and are based on biological ideas about temperament. Let us first consider how ideas about the biological foundations of temperament have changed.

The idea and doctrine of temperament in its origins go back to the works of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. He described the main types of temperaments, gave them characteristics, but connected temperament not with the properties of the nervous system, but with the ratio of various fluids in the body: blood, phlegm (from the Greek phlegma - mucus) and bile. It was believed that each liquid has a special property and a special purpose. The property of blood is warmth, and its purpose is to warm the body. The property of phlegm is cold and it serves to cool the body. The property of yellow bile is dryness. The purpose is to maintain dryness in the body, to “dry” it. Mine

The quality of black bile is dampness. It makes it possible to maintain dampness and moisture in the body. Based on this theory, the most famous physician of antiquity after Hippocrates, Claudius Galen, developed the first typology of temperaments, which he outlined in the famous treatise “De temperamentum” (from the Latin temperamentum - proportionality, the correct measure). This first classification of temperaments was called humoral.

Humoral the theory connected the state of the body with the ratio of various fluids in it, in connection with which four types of temperament were distinguished. It was believed that if blood predominates (Latin “sanguis”), then the temperament will be sanguinistic, if bile (“chole”) - choleric, if mucus (“phlegm”) - phlegmatic, and black bile (“melana chole”) determines melancholic temperament. Despite the fact that this terminology and description of various types of temperament arose in the 5th century. BC. (Galen, Hippocrates) they have survived to this day. Despite the naivety of the explanation of the phenomenon of temperament, such a feature was correctly noted as the combination in the human psyche of all types of temperament with the predominance of one of them.

The humoral (fluid) theory of temperament reflected some elements of true knowledge and became a kind of prototype, a model of modern, more developed ideas about the natural prerequisites for individual differences. The ancient Greeks did not know and could not know the entire wealth of natural characteristics of a person: the structure of his brain, the properties of the nervous system, etc. However, based on ideas about the integrity and unity of the organism, they brilliantly foresaw a possible connection between the properties of the organism and the properties of the psyche.

Second - constitutional system, which arose in the twentieth century (E. Kretschmer, W. Sheldon). Its essence was to explain temperament on the basis of associating temperament with a person’s physique. The main idea of ​​this theory: the structure of the body determines temperament, which is its function.

E. Kretschmer identified four constitutional types: leptosomatic, athletic, picnic and dysplastic.

Leptosomatic characterized by a fragile physique, tall stature, and a flat chest. The shoulders are narrow, the legs are long and thin.

Athletic- a person with developed muscles, a strong physique, characterized by high or average height, broad shoulders, narrow hips.

Picnic- a person with pronounced adipose tissue, excessively obese, characterized by small or medium height, a bloated body with a large belly and a round head on a short neck.

Dysplastics- people with a shapeless, irregular body structure. Individuals of this type are characterized by various physique deformations (for example, excessive height, disproportionate physique).

With the first three types of body structure, E. Kretschmer correlated the three types of temperament he identified, to which he gave the following names: schizothymic, ixothymic and cyclothymic.

Schizothymic, having a leptosomatic (asthenic) physique, is closed, prone to fluctuations in emotions, stubborn, difficult to change attitudes and views, and has difficulty adapting to a new environment.

Unlike him, ixothymic, Having an athletic build, he manifests himself as a calm, unimpressive person with restrained facial expressions and gestures, and low flexibility of thinking. It is often characterized by pettiness.

U cyclothymic who has a picnic physique, emotions fluctuate between joy and sadness, he easily connects with people and is realistic in his views.

American researcher W. Sheldon also proposed to derive a certain type of temperament from body type. He assessed the physique based on the development of three main human tissues: ecto-, meso- and endomorphy. According to W. Sheldon, ectomorphs –. people who have a predominance of ectomorphic tissues (skin, hair, nervous system) are characterized by a cerebrotonic temperament, namely: a craving for aesthetic pleasures and coldness in communicating with people. Endomorphs – people with well-developed internal organs, they are distinguished by a lively, sociable temperament. Persons with well-developed bone and muscle tissue ( mesomorphs) is characterized by a craving for competition and aggressiveness.

As soon as they emerged, constitutional concepts became the object of sharp scientific criticism. The main disadvantage of this approach is that it underestimates and sometimes simply ignores the role of the environment and social conditions in the formation of an individual’s mental properties.

The third approach to explaining the essence of temperament connects types of temperament with activity of the central nervous system.

A decisive shift in understanding the basis of temperament occurred in the early 30s. XX century, thanks to the works of I.P. Pavlov (I.P. Pavlov, 1951). He was the first to express the idea that temperament is based not on the properties of fluids or bodily tissues, but on the peculiarities of the functioning of the nervous system.

In the teachings of I.P. Pavlov on the influence of the central nervous system on the dynamic features of behavior, three main properties of the nervous system are distinguished - strength, balance, mobility excitatory and inhibitory processes. Excitation strength And braking force The scientist considered two independent properties of the nervous system. I.P. Pavlov clearly linked the properties of the nervous system - a combination of strength, balance and mobility - with one or another type of temperament.

Excitation strength reflects the performance of the nerve cell. It manifests itself in functional endurance, i.e. in the ability to withstand long-term or short-term, but strong excitation, without passing into the opposite state of inhibition. Braking force is understood as the functional performance of the nervous system during the implementation of inhibition and is manifested in the ability to form various inhibitory conditioned reactions.

Talking about balance of nervous processes, I.P. Pavlov meant the balance of the processes of excitation and inhibition. The ratio of the strength of both processes determines whether a given individual is balanced or unbalanced, where the strength of one process exceeds the strength of the other.

Third property nervous system - the mobility of excitatory and inhibitory processes - manifests itself in the speed of transition from one process to another. The mobility of nervous processes is manifested in the ability to change behavior in accordance with changing living conditions. A measure of this property of the nervous system is the speed of transition from one action to another, from a passive state to an active one, and vice versa. The opposite of mobility is the inertia of nervous processes. The nervous system is more inert the more time or effort it takes to move from one process to another.

The properties of nervous processes identified by I.P. Pavlov form various combinations that determine the type of nervous system. Four main typical combinations of them are presented in the form four types higher nervous activity:

o strong, balanced, agile ( sanguine);

o strong, balanced, inert ( phlegmatic person);

o strong, unbalanced ( choleric);

o weak ( melancholic).

These types of nervous system, not only in quantity, but also in basic characteristics, correspond to the four classical types of temperament.

In the 50s In the USSR, laboratory studies of temperament were carried out under the leadership of first B.M. Teplov, then V.D. Nebylitsin and subsequently V.M. Rusalov, as a result of which I.P. Pavlov’s typology was supplemented with new elements. Based on numerous techniques for studying the properties of the human nervous system, two more properties of nervous processes were experimentally isolated and described: lability And dynamism.

Lability of the nervous system manifests itself in the speed of emergence and cessation of nervous processes. Essence dynamics of nervous processes constitute the ease and speed of formation of positive (dynamic stimulation - excitation) and inhibitory (dynamic inhibition) conditioned reflexes.

In accordance with this, the traditional psychophysiological assessment of temperament changes and instead of two parameters - activity and sensitivity - already includes four components: ergicity (endurance), plasticity, speed and emotionality (sensitivity). All these components of temperament, according to V.M. Rusalov, are biologically and genetically determined. Temperament depends on the properties of the nervous system, and they, in turn, are understood as the main characteristics of functional systems that provide integrative, analytical and synthetic activity of the brain and the entire nervous system as a whole.

Thus, temperament is a psychobiological category, consisting in the fact that its properties are neither completely innate nor dependent on the environment. They, as the author puts it, represent a “systemic generalization” of the initially genetically specified individual biological properties of a person, which, “being included in a variety of activities, are gradually transformed and, regardless of the content of the activity itself, form a generalized, qualitatively new individually stable system of invariant properties” .

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

One more circumstance characterizing the connection between temperament and the properties of the nervous system should be paid attention to. The psychological characteristics of temperament are not the properties of the nervous system themselves or their combination, but the typical features of the course of mental processes and behavior that these properties give rise to.

Let us consider these properties in relation to cognitive processes, objective activity and human communication. The corresponding properties include activity, productivity, excitability, inhibition and switchability.

The active side of perception, attention, imagination, memory and thinking is characterized, respectively, by the extent to which a person is able to concentrate, concentrate his attention, imagination, memory and thinking on a certain object or its aspect. Pace is manifested in how quickly the corresponding mental processes work. For example, one person remembers, recalls, considers, imagines, thinks about solving a problem faster than another.

The productivity of all of the listed cognitive processes can be assessed by their products, by the results obtained over a certain period of time. Productivity is higher where you manage to see, hear, remember, remember, imagine, and decide more in the same amount of time. Productivity should not be confused with performance. A person who has highly productive (in the indicated sense of the word) cognitive processes does not necessarily have increased performance, that is, the ability to maintain a given pace of work for a long time.

Excitability, inhibition and switchability characterize the speed of occurrence, cessation or switching of a particular cognitive process from one object to another, the transition from one action to another. For example, some people take longer than others to engage in mental work or switch from thinking about one topic to another. Some people remember or recall information faster than others. It should also be kept in mind here that these differences do not define people's abilities.

In relation to objective activity, activity means the strength and amplitude of the movements associated with it. They are instinctively wider in an active person than in a less active person. For example, increased temperamental activity in sports gives rise to wider and stronger movements in an athlete, included in various exercises, than in someone whose temperamental property is weakly expressed. A more active person has a more extensive handwriting, his letters are taller, and the distance between them is greater than that of a less active individual. A person with increased activity finds it more difficult to perform weak, subtle, small-amplitude movements, while a person with reduced activity finds it more difficult to perform strong and sweeping movements.

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

The productivity of actions associated with movements depends on the activity and pace of work, if no additional requirements, other than frequency and intensity, are imposed on the corresponding actions.

In human communication, the discussed properties of temperament manifest themselves in a similar way, only in this case they relate to verbal and non-verbal interaction between person and person. In an individual with increased activity, speech, facial expressions, gestures, and pantomime are more pronounced than in a person with reduced activity. More active people tend to have a stronger voice. The rate of their speech, as well as the rate of emotionally expressive movements, is quite high.

The communication style of highly and weakly excitable people differs significantly. The former react faster, make contact more easily, and adapt better in communication than the latter. Inhibited individuals stop communication more easily and are less talkative than those whose inhibitory reactions are slow. These latter are often distinguished by the fact that they talk a lot, do not let go of the interlocutor and create the impression of being annoying.

They have difficulty switching in communication from one topic to another, from one person to another. The “productivity” of their communication, i.e. the ability to communicate and perceive information per unit of time, is also greater than that of people of the opposite type - inactive and slow-paced.

In foreign countries, most psychologists are characterized by an empirical focus on temperament research, which is expressed in the so-called “factorial” approach to understanding the structure of temperament. The most famous studies in this regard are G. and M. Ayzenkov. Their characteristic feature is their reliance on vast (more than thirty years of experimental material), which has confirmed the existence of such fundamental traits of temperament (personality - in Eysenck’s terminology) as extraversion - introversion, neuroticism (emotional stability - emotional instability) and psychoticism. According to Eysenkov, it is these three fundamental dimensions of temperament that are universal, inherent in all representatives Homo sapiens and which can be used as the basis for a typology of temperament (G. Yu. Eysenck, 1993).

Thus, in the history of the development of the doctrine of temperament, two aspects are clearly distinguished: the first is associated with the transformation of ideas about the biological foundations of temperament, the second is with a change in the understanding of the psychological components of temperament themselves.

Science has long known the dependence of the course of mental processes and human behavior on the functioning of the nervous system, which plays a dominant and controlling role in the body. The theory of the connection between some general properties of nervous processes and types of temperament was proposed by I.P. Pavlov and received development and experimental confirmation in the works of his followers.

I.P. Pavlov, studying the features of the development of conditioned reflexes in dogs, drew attention to individual differences in their behavior and in the course of conditioned reflex activity. These differences manifested themselves, first of all, in such aspects of behavior as the speed and accuracy of the formation of conditioned reflexes, as well as in the characteristics of their attenuation. This circumstance made it possible for I.P. Pavlov to put forward the hypothesis that they cannot be explained only by the variety of experimental situations and that they are based on some fundamental properties of nervous processes - excitation and inhibition. These properties include the strength of excitation and inhibition, their balance and mobility (changeability).

I.P. Pavlov distinguished between the strength of excitation and the force of inhibition, considering them two independent properties of the nervous system.

Excitation strength reflects the performance of the nerve cell. It manifests itself in functional endurance, i.e. in the ability to withstand long-term or short-term, but strong excitation, without passing into the opposite state of inhibition.

Braking force is understood as the functional performance of the nervous system during the implementation of inhibition and is manifested in the ability to form various inhibitory conditioned reactions, such as extinction and differentiation.

Equilibrium- balance of excitation and inhibition processes. The ratio of the strength of both processes decides whether a given individual is balanced or unbalanced, when the strength of one process exceeds the strength of the other.

Mobility nervous processes manifests itself in the speed of transition from one nervous process to another. The mobility of nervous processes is manifested in the ability to change behavior in accordance with changing living conditions. A measure of this property of the nervous system is the speed of transition from one action to another, from a passive state to an active one, and vice versa.

Inertia- the opposite of mobility. The nervous system is more inert the more time or effort it takes to move from one process to another.

The properties of nervous processes identified by I.P. Pavlov form certain systems, combinations, which, in his opinion, form the so-called type of nervous system, or type of higher nervous activity. It consists of a set of basic properties of the nervous system characteristic of individual individuals - strength, balance and mobility of processes, distinguishing between strong and weak types.

Representatives weak type The nervous system cannot withstand strong, prolonged and concentrated stimuli. The processes of inhibition and excitation are weak. When exposed to strong stimuli, the development of conditioned reflexes is delayed. Along with this, there is a high sensitivity (i.e., a low threshold) to the actions of stimuli.

A further basis for the division is the balance of nervous processes, but only for strong types, which are divided into balanced and unbalanced, while the unbalanced type is characterized by a predominance of excitation over inhibition. Strong, balanced types are divided into mobile and inert, when the basis of the division is the mobility of nervous processes.

U strong balanced mobile type the processes of inhibition and excitation are strong and balanced, but their speed, mobility, and rapid turnover of nervous processes lead to relative instability of nerve connections.

Strong balanced inert type. Strong and balanced nervous processes are characterized by low mobility. Representatives of this type are always outwardly calm, even, and difficult to excite.

The types of nervous system identified by I.P. Pavlov not only in quantity, but also in basic characteristics correspond to 4 classical types of temperament:

strong, balanced, agile - sanguine;

strong, balanced, inert - phlegmatic;

a strong, unbalanced type with a predominance of excitement - choleric;

weak type - melancholic.

I.P. Pavlov understood the type of nervous system as innate, relatively weakly susceptible to changes under the influence of environment and upbringing. According to I.P. Pavlov, the properties of the nervous system form the physiological basis of temperament, which is a mental manifestation of the type of nervous system. Pavlov proposed to extend the types of nervous system established in animal studies to humans.

Pavlov's teaching about the types of nervous activity is essential for understanding the physiological basis of temperament. Its correct use involves taking into account the fact that the type of nervous system is a strictly physiological concept, and temperament is a psychophysiological concept and it is expressed not only in motor skills, the nature of the reaction, their strength, speed, etc., but also in impressionability, in emotional excitability, etc.

The mental properties of temperament are undoubtedly closely related to the bodily properties of the body - the innate structural features of the nervous system, etc. However, with all the importance of the innate features of the body, in particular its nervous system, for temperament they are only the starting point of its development, inseparable from the development of personality generally.

Currently, science has accumulated a lot of facts about the properties of the nervous system, and as they accumulate, researchers attach less and less importance to the types of the nervous system, especially the magic number (4), which appears in almost all of I.P. Pavlov’s works on temperament. First of all, the importance of research into individual fundamental properties of the nervous system is emphasized, while the problem of division into types recedes into the background. Since types are formed from combinations of these properties, only a deeper knowledge of the latter can ensure the understanding and implementation of typologies.

However, there is no doubt that each person has a very specific type of nervous system, the manifestation of which, i.e. Characteristics of temperament constitute an important aspect of individual psychological differences.

5. Types of temperaments and their psychological characteristics.

Specific manifestations of the type of temperament are diverse. They are not only noticeable in the external manner of behavior, but seem to permeate all aspects of the psyche, significantly manifesting themselves in cognitive activity, the sphere of feelings, motivations and actions of a person, as well as in the nature of mental work, features of speech, etc.

Currently, science has enough facts to give a complete psychological description of all types of temperament according to a certain harmonious program. However, to compile the psychological characteristics of the traditional 4 types, the following basic properties of temperament are usually distinguished:

Sensitivity is determined by what is the smallest force of external influences necessary for the occurrence of any mental reaction in a person, and what is the speed of occurrence of this reaction.

Reactivity characterized by the degree of involuntary reactions to external or internal influences of equal strength (a critical remark, an offensive word, a harsh tone - even sound).

Activity indicates how intensely (energetically) a person influences the outside world and overcomes obstacles in achieving goals (perseverance, focus, concentration).

Relationship between reactivity and activity determines on what a person’s activity largely depends: on random external or internal circumstances, mood, random events, or on goals, intentions, beliefs.

Plasticity and rigidity indicate how easily and flexibly a person adapts to external influences (plasticity) or how inert and inert his behavior is.

Extraversion, introversion determines on what a person’s reactions and activities primarily depend - on external impressions arising at the moment, or on images, ideas and thoughts associated with the past and future.

Extrovert is guided by an external object, his decisions and actions are subject not to subjective views, but to objective circumstances; his thoughts, feelings and actions depend on the objective conditions and requirements of the surrounding world; his inner world is subject to external demands; all his consciousness looks at the outside world, because... important and determining decisions come to him from the outside. Interest and attention are focused on objective incidents and, above all, on those that take place in the immediate environment. Interest is focused not only on faces, but also on things. Accordingly, his activity follows the influence of persons and things. Its activity is directly related to objective data and determinations and, so to speak, is exhaustively explained by them.

But such conditioning by objective factors does not at all mean ideal adaptation to living conditions in general.

The extravertive type owes its adaptability to the fact that it has adapted to certain conditions and does not go beyond the scope of objectively given possibilities. For example, he chooses an activity that has significance for a given place and time, or he produces what is most relevant to the environment at the moment, or he abstains from everything new that does not satisfy the interests of his environment.

This side of his high adaptability also has a weak side, because An extrovert orients his activities towards the factual side of his subjective needs and needs.

The danger is that he gets involved in objects and completely loses himself in them.

Introvert differs from an extrovert in that he focuses primarily not on the object, but on subjective data. Between his perception of an object and his own action, a subjective opinion is wedged in, which prevents the action from taking on a character corresponding to what is objectively given.

But this does not mean that the introvert does not see external conditions. It’s just that his consciousness chooses the subjective factor as the decisive one. Jung calls the subjective factor “that psychological act or reaction that merges with the influence of the object and thereby gives rise to a new mental act.” He says: “The subjective factor is the second world law, and he who is based on it has as true, lasting and meaningful a basis as he who refers to the object. The introverted attitude is based on the everywhere present, extremely real and absolutely inevitable condition of mental adaptation.”

Like the extroverted attitude, the introverted one is based on a hereditary psychological structure that is inherent in every individual from birth.

Taking into account all the listed properties, we can give the following psychological characteristics of the main classical types of temperament:

Sanguine. A person with increased reactivity, but at the same time his activity and reactivity are balanced. He responds vividly, excitedly to everything that attracts his attention, has lively facial expressions and expressive movements. From his face it is easy to guess his mood, attitude towards an object or person. For an insignificant reason he laughs, but an insignificant fact can make him angry. He has a high sensitivity threshold, so he does not notice very weak sounds and light stimuli. Possessing increased activity and being very energetic and efficient, he actively takes on new work and can work for a long time without getting tired.

He easily switches from one type of activity to another, but does not like monotonous work. He is able to concentrate quickly, is disciplined, and, if desired, can restrain the manifestation of his feelings and involuntary reactions. Without effort, he not only switches from one job to another, but also relearns, mastering new skills. He is characterized by fast movements, mental flexibility, resourcefulness, loud, fast, clear speech, which is accompanied by expressive facial expressions and gestures. A sanguine person actively makes contacts, easily meets new people, and quickly gets used to new requirements and surroundings. High plasticity is manifested in the variability of feelings, moods, interests and aspirations. If stimuli change quickly, all the time, maintaining the novelty and interest of impressions, a state of active arousal is created in a sanguine person, and he manifests himself as an active, active, energetic person. If the influences are long-lasting and monotonous, then they do not maintain a state of activity, excitement, and the sanguine person loses interest in the matter, he develops indifference, boredom, and lethargy. A sanguine person quickly and easily experiences feelings of joy, grief, affection and hostility, but all these manifestations of his feelings are unstable, do not differ in duration and depth. They arise quickly and can just as quickly disappear or be replaced by the opposite. The ease with which a sanguine person forms new temporary connections, the greater mobility of the stereotype, is also reflected in the mental mobility of sanguine people, and shows a certain tendency to instability. The mood of a sanguine person changes quickly, but, as a rule, a good, cheerful mood prevails. As a rule, a sanguine person responds more to external impressions than to subjective images and ideas about the past and future. He is an extrovert.

Phlegmatic person has high activity, significantly prevailing over low reactivity, low sensitivity and emotionality. It is difficult to make him laugh or sadden. When there is loud laughter around him, he can remain calm. In big troubles he remains calm. He is not easily angered or emotionally hurt. All mental processes in a phlegmatic person seem to proceed slowly. The feelings of a phlegmatic person are poorly expressed outwardly; they are usually inexpressive. The reason for this is the balance and weak mobility of nervous processes. A person of this temperament is slow, calm, unhurried, and balanced. Usually he has poor facial expressions, his speech is inexpressive and slow, as well as his movements. In his activities he demonstrates thoroughness, thoughtfulness, and perseverance. As a rule, he finishes what he starts. He is unresourceful, has difficulty switching attention and adapting to a new environment, and slowly rebuilds skills and habits. At the same time, he is energetic and efficient. Characterized by patience, endurance, self-control. In relationships with people, a phlegmatic person is always even-tempered, calm, moderately sociable, and has a stable mood. As a rule, he has difficulty meeting new people, responds poorly to external impressions, and is an introvert.

It is easy for a person of phlegmatic temperament to develop self-control, composure, and calmness. The disadvantage of a phlegmatic person is his inertia and inactivity. Therefore, a phlegmatic person should develop the qualities he lacks - greater mobility, activity, and not allow him to show indifference to activity, lethargy, inertia, which can very easily form under certain conditions. Sometimes a person of this temperament may develop an indifferent attitude towards work, towards life around him, towards people and even towards himself.

Choleric. Like a sanguine person, he is characterized by low sensitivity, high reactivity and activity. But in a choleric person, reactivity clearly prevails over activity. People of this temperament are fast, excessively mobile, unbalanced, excitable, all mental processes occur quickly and intensely in them. The predominance of excitation over inhibition, characteristic of this type of nervous activity, is clearly manifested in the incontinence, impetuosity, hot temper, irritability, and impatience of the choleric person. Hence the expressive facial expressions, hasty speech, sharp gestures, unrestrained movements. The feelings of a person with choleric temperament are strong, usually clearly manifested, and arise quickly; the mood sometimes changes dramatically. The imbalance characteristic of a choleric person is clearly reflected in his activities: he gets down to business with enthusiasm and even passion, showing impetuosity and speed of movements, works with enthusiasm, overcoming difficulties. But in a person with a choleric temperament, the supply of nervous energy can quickly be depleted in the process of work, and then a sharp decline in activity may occur: elation and inspiration disappear, and the mood drops sharply. In communicating with people, a choleric person admits harshness, irritability, and emotional incontinence, which often does not give him the opportunity to objectively evaluate people’s actions, and on this basis he creates conflict situations in the team. Excessive straightforwardness, hot temper, harshness, and intolerance sometimes make it difficult and unpleasant to be in a group of such people. He's more of an extrovert.

Melancholic. A person with high sensitivity and low reactivity. Increased sensitivity with great inertia leads to the fact that an insignificant reason can cause him to cry, he is overly touchy, painfully sensitive. He is easily vulnerable, has a hard time withstanding insults and grief, although outwardly all these experiences are poorly expressed. His facial expressions and movements are inexpressive, his voice is quiet, his movements are poor. Melancholic people have slow mental processes, they have difficulty reacting to strong stimuli; Prolonged and strong stress causes people of this temperament to slow down their activity and then stop it. Melancholic people are usually passive in their work, often with little interest (after all, interest is always associated with strong nervous tension). He is not energetic, not persistent, gets tired easily, has little capacity for work, and the slightest difficulty makes him give up. He is characterized by easily distracted and unstable attention. A melancholic person is usually unsure of himself, timid, indecisive, prone to isolation and loneliness, avoids communicating with unfamiliar, new people, is often embarrassed, and shows great awkwardness in a new environment. Everything new and unusual causes a state of inhibition in melancholic people. But in a familiar and calm environment, people with this temperament feel calm and work very productively. Feelings and emotional states in a melancholic person arise slowly, but are distinguished by depth, great strength and duration. Most melancholic people are introverts.

When talking about temperament, we usually mean the dynamic side of personality, expressed in impulsiveness and the pace of mental activity. It is in this sense that we usually say that a person has a large or small temperament, taking into account his impulsiveness, the swiftness with which his desires arise, etc. Temperament (lat. tempegamentum - proper ratio of parts) is a dynamic characteristic of an individual’s mental activity.

Temperament is indicative of the strength of mental processes. In this case, not only the absolute force at one moment or another is significant, but also how constant it remains, i.e. the degree of dynamic stability. With significant stability, the strength of reactions in each individual case depends on the changing conditions in which a person finds himself and is adequate to them: stronger external irritation causes a stronger reaction, weaker irritation causes a weaker reaction. For individuals with greater instability, the opposite is true.

Mental activity of the same force may differ in varying degrees of intensity, depending on the relationship between the strength of a given process and the dynamic capabilities of a given individual. Mental processes of a certain intensity can be carried out easily, without any tension in one person at one moment and with great tension in another person or in the same person at a given moment. These differences in tension will affect the nature of either smooth and smooth or jerky flow of activity.

An essential expression of temperament is the speed of mental processes. The pace of mental processes (the number of acts in a certain period of time, depending not only on the speed, but also on the size of the intervals between acts) must also be distinguished from the speed or speed of occurrence. For temperament, the amplitude of fluctuations characteristic of a given individual from the slowest to the most accelerated rates is also indicative. These features of temperament affect all the activities of the individual, in the course of all mental processes.

A person’s temperament is manifested primarily in his impressionability, characterized by the strength and stability of the impact that impressions have on a person. For some, the influence - strong or weak - that makes an impression on them spreads with great speed, for others with very low speed, into the deeper layers of the psyche. Finally, depending on the characteristics of their temperament, the stability of the impression varies among different people: for some, the impression - even a strong one - turns out to be very unstable, while others cannot get rid of it for a long time. Impressiveness is always an individually different affective sensitivity in people of different types. It is significantly connected with the emotional sphere and is expressed in the strength, speed and stability of the emotional reaction to impressions. Since ancient times, it has been customary to distinguish 4 types of temperament: choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic.

A choleric person can be described as fast, impetuous, capable of devoting himself to a task with passion, but unbalanced, prone to violent emotional outbursts and sudden changes in mood. He is characterized by increased excitability, strong emotionality, sometimes irritability, and affectivity.

A phlegmatic person can be described as slow, imperturbable, with stable aspirations and a more or less constant mood, with a weak external expression of mental states. It is characteristic that he develops new forms of behavior slowly, but persists for a long time, he rarely loses his temper, is not prone to emotions, he is characterized by evenness, calmness, self-control, sometimes lethargy, indifference to others, and laziness.

A melancholic person can be characterized as easily vulnerable, inclined to deeply experience even minor failures, but outwardly reacting sluggishly to his surroundings. He is inhibited, it is difficult for him to concentrate on one thing for a long time, strong influences lead to stupor, sometimes he is characterized by isolation, fearfulness, and anxiety.
A sanguine person can be described as lively, agile, quickly responding to surrounding events, and relatively easily experiencing failures and troubles. He quickly adapts to new conditions, quickly gets along with people, his feelings easily arise and are replaced by new ones, he is characterized by rich facial expressions, mobility, expressiveness, sometimes superficiality, and inconstancy.

The physiological basis of temperament is the neurodynamics of the brain, that is, the neurodynamic relationship of the cortex and subcortex. The neurodynamics of the brain is in internal interaction with the system of humoral and endocrine factors.

For temperament, the excitability of the subcortical centers, which are associated with the characteristics of motor skills, statics and autonomics, is essential. The tone of the subcortical centers also affects the tone of the cortex and its readiness for action. Due to the role they play in the neurodynamics of the brain, subcortical centers influence temperament. The subcortex and cortex are inextricably linked with each other. Therefore, one cannot be separated from the other. What is ultimately decisive is not the dynamics of the subcortex itself, but the dynamic relationship between the subcortex and the cortex, as Pavlov emphasizes in his doctrine of the types of the nervous system.

Pavlov based these types on 3 criteria: strength, balance and lability.
Based on these basic characteristics, as a result of his research into the methods of conditioned reflexes, he came to the definition of four main types of the nervous system.

1. Strong, balanced and agile - a lively type.
2. Strong, balanced and inert - a calm, slow type.
3. Strong, unbalanced with a predominance of excitation over inhibition - excitable, unrestrained type.
4. Weak type.

Pavlov's teaching about types of activity is essential for understanding the physiological basis of temperament. Its correct use involves taking into account the fact that the type of nervous system is a strictly physiological concept, and temperament is a psychophysiological concept and it is expressed not only in motor skills, in the nature of reactions, their strength, speed, etc., but also in impressionability, in emotional excitability, etc.

So, temperament is a dynamic characteristic of personality in all its effective manifestations and the sensory basis of character. Transforming in the process of character formation, the properties of temperament turn into character traits, the content of which is inextricably linked with the orientation of the individual.