We often call people who spend a long time and thoroughly doing some work or carefully trying to understand any seemingly unworthy issue either scrupulous or pedantic. For many, these are essentially synonymous words. Not everyone thinks about what exactly these words mean, but only, roughly guessing, pronounce them in a given situation. However, be careful, the meanings of the words pedantry and scrupulousness, although slightly similar in meaning, have different meanings. And in order not to be branded uneducated people, let's clarify this issue and figure out who is a pedant and who is meticulous!
If we explain in a nutshell what pedantry is, it will sound something like this – petty precision. People who belong to the category of pedants strictly follow the rules and fulfill the norms. They do this, often to the detriment of common sense. It is sometimes very difficult to go through life with such people. They will not become full-fledged assistants or advisers. On the other hand, if you ask such a person to perform some task, he will complete it (if, of course, his soul is there) thoroughly. Only while the pedant is busy fulfilling your instructions, you will have to solve the remaining vital issues yourself.
How to recognize a pedantic person? Among the employees, this may be the one who is ready to sit at night doing reports, double-checking data that has already been verified for a long time, in other words, performing some absolutely far-fetched rituals. Sometimes, it is unpleasant to observe the manifestation of pedantry in people in relation to outfits and appearance in general. Such a person not only always looks too smart and pomaded (because he spends too much time on his appearance), but is also not averse to making a public remark to someone who is dressed more simply. And he will always find something to complain about. Such tediousness, of course, irritates others.
As you yourself understand, a person prone to pedantry does not have enough time for everything. He delves into some issues too deeply, and others, which most often deserve even more attention- does not notice. So, for example, the same colleague, bogged down in reports, may completely forget about his appearance, friends, weather, etc. This is precisely “to the detriment of common sense”, as mentioned above.
By the way, pedantry is most often characteristic of people who are engaged in scientific or pedagogical activities.
Now, let's talk about scrupulousness. Everything is much simpler here. The word scrupulousness means extreme precision. So, if, for example, they tell you that some person was meticulous in translating the text, this means that he did not translate professional terms in general, but made their exact translation. Scrupulousness can also be equated with a heightened sense of responsibility. This trait is sometimes simply a necessity for people in certain professions, where accuracy and clarity are important and the slightest inaccuracies are not acceptable. Scrupulous people, as a rule, do not get hung up on one thing, and even more so, they are not boring. Over the years, they become so accustomed to performing certain actions in the most thorough manner that it simply becomes automatic, and at the same time they do not tend to conflict with common sense.
As you can see, without delving into the intricacies of these two concepts, sometimes you can even offend a person by calling him a pedant for quality work. Or you may fail to convey the main meaning by calling him scrupulous - a petty bore.
Voluntary actions that a person performs in Everyday life are called skills. A skill is the ability to perform one or another action without conscious control.
A person acquires skills in the process of growth and development, in social, labor and everyday activities. New skills created in new types of activities when they are repeated in similar conditions lives are gradually learned and subsequently easily reproduced. If an actor has not mastered the skills and abilities inherent in his stage hero, he will not be able to convey in his actions the characteristic physical features of this hero, his general motor appearance, i.e. he will not be able to create a plastic characteristic actor. That is why it is so important for a future actor (as well as a director) to master a huge number of very diverse skills and abilities, i.e. gain vast motor experience.
For ease of analysis, skills in relation to physical behavior in a role should be divided into simple (individual) and complex (representing combinations of simple skills).
The logical and consistent execution of movements that make up a “fractional action” is a “simple skill,” and the combination of “fractional actions” is represented as a “complex motor skill.” Everything that an actor performs in physical actions is a manifestation of different, but logically interconnected motor skills.
Skills are performed various combinations locomotor, working, semantic, illustrative movements. Only emotional movements and gestures that arise involuntarily are not motor skills: they exist independently and in parallel with skills.
Emotional condition The actor gives both simple and complex skills an expressive coloring, which is expressed in specific tempo-rhythms of physical action.
The emergence of a new skill
Every new life situation requires one or another action from a person. Changes in the environment cause a certain response in the human brain; Thus, the need to act consciously and productively is inextricably linked with the process of understanding the situation, and therefore with the activity of consciousness.
The formation of motor skills in humans is associated with the activity of the second signaling system. But skill is only created through practice and repetition. This circumstance directly indicates the possibility of consciously developing them during the rehearsal process. It is very important that the actor learns to create new motor skills, i.e. mastered the ability to string together a continuous chain of physical actions, spending less rehearsal time on it.
Today we will talk about human performance. I will tell you what performance is, what it depends on, what are the main factors of a person’s performance, and will also dwell on what time a person is most productive, based on his biological characteristics. I think this will be useful to know for my work.
What is performance?
Let's start with a definition. If we turn to dictionaries, we will read something like the following.
A person’s performance is his ability to perform certain work with specified quality parameters in a specified period of time. Despite apparent simplicity, this concept is quite complex, and here's why. On the one hand, performance is an indicator of certain biological functions a person, and on the other hand, an indicator of his mental abilities, professionalism in a particular matter, the presence of certain knowledge, skills and business qualities.
Factors of human performance.
Let's highlight the main factors influencing human performance.
- Physical and physiological characteristics. How better person physically developed, the higher his performance. Features of his physiology also play a role, which may interfere with performing certain work, Current state human health as a whole or its individual organs.
- Psychological characteristics. In particular, resistance to stress, determination, level of motivation, etc., right down to mood. The more developed all these qualities are, the higher the person’s performance, and vice versa.
- Level of mental and intellectual development. Development of creative and logical thinking, resourcefulness. A person’s performance largely depends on how intellectually developed he is. Moreover, even if he does physical work: clever man can find a way to do it faster and with less effort.
- Work environment. For example, the equipment of the workplace, the availability of all necessary accessories for work and their quality, lighting of the workroom, air temperature, noise level, etc. All these are also factors in human performance.
- Knowledge, skills, abilities. The level of professionalism in the work that a person performs, naturally, also has an impact on his performance.
- Self-discipline and self-organization. Important factors in a person’s performance are his ability to organize himself and his work process.
- Fatigue. And, finally, we must admit that a person’s performance decreases in proportion to his fatigue and exhaustion. How stronger man gets tired while doing this or that work, the lower his performance falls.
Time of maximum human performance.
Now let's talk about the time of highest human performance. It is determined by the physiological functions of the body, which are inherent in it by nature. As you know, according to their characteristic biological lifestyle, people are divided into 2 types: “owls” and “larks”, and time maximum performance It will also be different for these types of people.
For early risers, the hours of highest performance coincide with the first half of the traditional working day - from 9 to 14 hours, then their performance gradually decreases, and by 17-18 hours it becomes the lowest. For “night owls” everything is different: the time of their highest performance shifts significantly in proportion to the hours of their sleep in comparison with “larks”. For the most notorious night owls, the time of peak performance is from 18 to 24 hours. But, please note, the night hours from 0 to 5 am are not workable for anyone.
Next, I want to bring to your attention a few more interesting observations, obtained by scientists who studied human performance (they are relevant for people leading a traditional lifestyle: sleeping at night, staying awake during the day).
- From 6 to 7 o'clock in the morning, a person's “hour” comes long-term memory” – at this time he is able to remember the information received for the most a long period time;
- From 8 to 9 o'clock in the morning a person functions maximally logical thinking, so this hour is optimally used to conduct some analytical actions, active thinking, making plans;
- From 9 to 12 am is the optimal time for engaging in active mental work; during these hours a person’s performance in intellectual work is highest.
- From 2 to 6 p.m., on the contrary, is the ideal time to engage in physical labor, in which you don’t need to think a lot. Of course, if you have not been doing this work since the morning, and are not tired by this time. It is better to plan heavy physical labor for the afternoon.
Stages of human performance.
As you can see, a person’s performance varies throughout the working day. Therefore, we can distinguish several stages of performance that any person goes through during his working day:
- Entering the work process. This period lasts the first half hour to an hour from the moment work begins, less often – 2 hours. This time is necessary for a person to “activate” his performance and prepare for its maximum stage.
- Maximum performance (stage 1). For the next 2-3 hours, a person’s performance is at its maximum, and during this time he is able to effectively perform the most complex work.
- Decreased performance (stage 1). Next, performance will begin to decline and will drop to zero or until the person takes a break from work. This rest is usually a lunch break.
- Lunch break. To normalize performance, a person needs to eat and rest for at least an hour.
- Maximum performance (stage 2). After the break, the person returns to work with renewed vigor, and can again work quite effectively, however, his performance here will be slightly lower than in the first, morning stage, and this stage will also be shorter in time (1-2 hours).
- Decreased performance (stage 2). Then, after about 1-2 hours, the person’s performance will begin to decline again.
- Exit the workflow. During the last half-hour to an hour of working time, a person’s performance will be minimal, since he will already psychologically expect the end of the working day, and by this time fatigue will be maximum.
Human performance throughout the week.
It should also be noted that throughout working week A person’s performance also varies, which is also related to entry into the work process, exit from it and the level of general fatigue of the body.
- Monday– in the context of a week, it is the day of entry into the work process. A person’s performance on this day is not the highest, he only “accelerates”, “activates” it.
- Tuesday Wednesday– days of maximum human performance; on these days it is best to plan the solution of the most important work tasks.
- Thursday– performance begins to decline, the “equator” of the week has passed, fatigue increases, and the weekend is approaching.
- Friday- the day of a person’s least productivity; he already “lives out” this day at work with thoughts about the weekend.
What conclusion can be drawn from all this?
When working a week, it is necessary to take into account the time of day and days of a person’s highest performance. That is, all the most important things must be planned for the period of your highest performance, and follow this plan. This way, the efficiency of your work will always be maximum. And in no case should you spend hours of your highest performance on it - this will be the biggest mistake.
Now you have a certain understanding of what human performance is, what the main factors of performance are, at what time of day and on what days a person’s performance is maximum. In the next article we will talk about how to improve your performance.
Stay tuned for updates. See you again on the pages of the site!
§ 2. Character and temperament of a person
The essence of character.Character person - this is the totality of it relatively sustainable properties, which are manifested in actions and deeds. Character is determined not only by what a person does, but also by how he does it, what goals he sets for himself.
Not every action or intention of a person fully and accurately expresses his character. A person does different things. Many of them are random, not characteristic of him. So, if you once did not give up your seat on the bus to an elderly person, this does not mean that you disrespected him. Perhaps you weren't feeling well. But if in similar situations If you always do this, then this is already a characteristic action for you, which has become a bad habit, indicating bad manners. Words, gestures, actions, if treated carefully, tell about behavior as a whole and allow us to understand a person’s character.
Types and character traits. Every era, every culture gives rise to its own characters. Typical features character, common to many people, are determined by the historical conditions in which they live and act. At the same time, character as an individual feature of a person is generated by peculiar, unique situations in which a person’s life passes, his upbringing and self-education are carried out.
Properties and stable relationship a person is usually called features his character. Human character includes two main groups of traits. The first group includes those features in which a person’s relationship to the surrounding reality, to other people and to himself, to the assigned task is manifested. The second group of character traits includes volitional traits that determine the ability and willingness to manage one’s behavior.
The famous Swiss psychologist C. G. Jung (1875-1961) identified two main types of characters. They differ in their predominant focus on the external or on inner world person. The first type is extroverts (from Latin extra - outside, outside and verto - I turn) - people whose main interests are directed to external world and activities in it. Such people are distinguished by activity, sociability, the desire to achieve success and public recognition, and primary attention to surrounding objects and their properties.
The second type is introverts (from Latin intro - inside and verto - I turn), the main interest of which is aimed at the inner world of human life, at the course of thoughts and experiences. Such people try to avoid excessive communication and are prone to self-absorption; things and external signs they have little interest in success. In their “pure” form, extroverted and introverted characters are rare; usually the corresponding character traits predominate in one respect or another.
Depending on the degree of development of strong-willed traits, strong and weak types character. Weakness of character - negative quality, even if it is combined with good intentions and correct understanding challenges. Without proper persistence, consistency and even perseverance, not a single goal will be achieved.
Ways of character formation. Character is not given to a person completely ready by nature. True, it begins to manifest itself in young children, who, as a rule, try to do everything their own way. Stubbornness is common in children, especially around the age of three years, is the first sprout of a future character. Of course, empty stubbornness is an unpleasant trait, but the important thing is that in stubbornness the child emphasizes his independence. Over time, it can develop into such an important character trait as persistence in achieving a goal.
Strength of character means a person's ability to withstand external influences, produce own understanding what needs to be done and consistently achieve what is planned. This character allows a person to be an independent person.
A person with an established strong character is capable of self-formation; he can identify his own shortcomings and will try to eliminate them, while simultaneously strengthening those positive traits, which are given to him by nature. Thus, the famous Russian commander A.V. Suvorov was very sick from birth. By hardening and training, he was able to strengthen his health and at the same time cultivate in himself the courage, determination and resourcefulness that allowed him to become a talented military leader.
Thus, a person's character is based on natural inclinations and is formed in specific life circumstances. At the same time, the main role in the formation of a person’s character is played by her conscious and responsible attitude towards herself, and the ability to set clear constructive tasks for herself. These tasks are related to study, work, establishing good relationships with people, as well as developing one’s abilities, and tirelessly working on oneself.
Character formation occurs in the process of activity. Our actions influence our lifestyle, our habits. Once established, these habits become character traits.
They say, “habit is second nature.” Changing habits is not easy at all. Therefore, it is better to prevent bad, negative habits from becoming established. And this applies not only to smoking or foul language, but also to optionality, irresponsibility, frivolity, a tendency to empty, meaningless pastime, etc. We ourselves are what our habits are. Our character is largely formed from them, and what our life will be like depends on it. In this sense, each person is the master of his own destiny, since he himself determines his actions and can influence his habits, and through them his character.
The concept of temperament. All people differ from each other in their behavioral characteristics: some are active and energetic, others are slow; some are emotional, others are calm. Such signs of personality behavior are called dynamic. Dynamics human behavior can be compared to the flow of a river. It happens that a river carries its waters slowly and smoothly, its flow is barely noticeable. Another river flows quickly, the water in it boils and rumbles, hitting the stones. Actions and behavior are also different. different personalities, the dynamic characteristics of which largely depend on temperament.
Temperament (from Latin temperamentum - proportionality, ratio) - this is the totality individual characteristics, which give originality to a person’s behavior and activity, characterize the degree of his vital activity.
The doctrine of temperament originates in the distant past. Also in Ancient Greece The physician Hippocrates taught that there are four fluids in the human body: blood (in Latin “sanguis”), mucus (in Greek “phlegma”), yellow bile (in Greek “chole”) and black bile (from Greek “melas”) "- black, "chole" - bile). The mixing of these liquids, and the predominance of one of them, as Hippocrates argued, underlies the types of temperaments: sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic.
Temperament is an innate characteristic of a person. It manifests itself from birth and hardly changes throughout life. The outstanding Russian physiologist I. P. Pavlov gave scientific explanation the origin of temperament. In his opinion, the basis of temperament is the type nervous system which a person inherits from his parents. The work of the nervous system is determined primarily by the relationship between its basic processes - excitation and inhibition. Processes of excitation and inhibition in different people unequally strong. Depending on this, he identified two types of nervous system: strong and weak. An important role is also played by such features of the nervous system as its balance or imbalance, as well as mobility or inertia. Depending on the relationship between these characteristics, the types of temperament differ.
Table: characteristics of temperament types.
A sanguine person is an active, cheerful, sociable person. Gets along with people easily. In a big company strangers feels “like a fish in water.” He is distinguished by kindness and a desire to help. He is active, energetic, and easily adapts to new living conditions. Willingly takes on a task, but may not complete it. Tense mental and physical labor he gets tired quickly. I.P. Pavlov called him: “An ardent, productive worker,” but only when there were a lot of interesting things to do. IN otherwise he becomes dull and lethargic.
Choleric is a fast, impetuous person with a big vital energy. I.P. Pavlov defined this temperament this way: “A combative, perky, easily irritated type.” His feelings flare up quickly and brightly, but also quickly fade away. The mood changes often. When communicating with people, choleric people can be quick-tempered, unrestrained, and loud. A person with such a character gets down to business with passion and enthusiasm, but he doesn’t have enough strength for long, and then everything is unbearable for him. Does not like to do work that requires long-term concentration of attention, a calm, slow pace.
Phlegmatic - a calm, slow person; he's in no hurry. His feelings and emotions are restrained; It’s hard to “get him out of his mind.” Movements and facial expressions are inexpressive; does not like new acquaintances, it is more important for him to communicate with the same people in narrow circle old acquaintances. He is a persistent and hard worker. I.P. Pavlov called him that: “A persistent worker of life.”
A melancholic person is a very sensitive person, even anxious, touchy, and easily vulnerable. The voice is quiet. Movements are inexpressive. Cries quietly. Rarely laughs out loud. It has little variety emotional experiences, but if he worries, then for a long time, strongly and deeply. It is difficult to endure failures and insults. He is restrained and does not throw words into the wind, he values good relations with the people around you. Copes best with uninteresting, monotonous work and maintains performance while doing it high performance. In a familiar, calm environment, he works very productively, but does not adapt well to anything new. At the slightest difficulty he gives up. I. P. Pavlov spoke about him like this: “The melancholic person gets lost in the new conditions of life.”
So, we have characterized the types of temperaments. Perhaps now you can easily determine both your own temperament and those close to you.
It should be borne in mind that not all people are “pure” representatives of any one of the basic temperaments. Most of them combine the characteristics of one temperament with characteristic features another. In some life situations, a person manifests, for example, a sanguine type, and in others - a phlegmatic one. Or, let's say, a person can be choleric, but strive to act like a sanguine person.
Each type of temperament has positive and negative sides. Research by psychologists has shown that people with different temperaments. With any temperament, there is a danger of developing undesirable personality traits. For example, a choleric person may develop incontinence and harsh behavior; a sanguine person may experience frivolity, instability in affairs and actions; a melancholic person may experience excessive isolation and shyness; a phlegmatic person may experience passivity, lethargy, and indifference.
One should not justify by temperament what is the result of bad manners. For example, anyone can become unrestrained and tactless, regardless of their temperament, but this should not be allowed. Therefore, it is important to find an application positive aspects your temperament and learn to restrain or overcome the associated negative traits.
Some conclusions
1. Character is manifested in human actions and actions.
2. Depending on whether a person’s attention is directed primarily to the external world or to his own inner world, two types of characters are distinguished - extroverts and introverts.
3. Strong-willed man is able to overcome the negative traits of his character, to prevent the occurrence bad habits. 4. The uniqueness of a person’s behavior and activity and the degree of his vital activity depend on temperament.
Questions and tasks
What do we mean by human character? Can any feature of a person be considered a character trait?
What are the differences between a strong and a weak character?
What are the main personality traits of an extrovert and an introvert?
It is known that an important role in the successful self-education of a person is played by such qualities as determination, self-criticism, self-demandingness, self-control, and receptivity to education. Illustrate each of these traits with specific examples.
Check out the list of the main character traits of people: sociability, isolation, truthfulness, deceit, tact, rudeness, responsiveness, callousness, complaisance, intolerance, democracy, tendency to dictate, self-criticism, self-confidence, timidity, modesty, pride, immodesty, self-deprecation, responsibility, irresponsibility, love of work, laziness, initiative, determination, passivity, optimism, pessimism, interest, indifference, accuracy, courage, perseverance, determination, endurance, indecisiveness, inconsistency, lack of restraint, lethargy.
Classify these traits according to the headings in the following table:
Character traits
Person's attitude: | Positive | Negative | Neutral | |
a) to other people | ||||
b) to yourself | ||||
d) to life, to surrounding objects |
6. Continue the list fairy tale characters and determine their temperament: The Snow Queen is phlegmatic, The Little Robber - ..., Cinderella - ..., Thumbelina - ..., Tortilla Turtle - ..., Matroskin the Cat - ..., Princess Nesmeyana - ..., Cippolino - ....
7. Describe the main types of temperament. Which of these types of features have a positive effect on the performance of work, and which ones are more likely to hinder its successful completion?
Motives. In life we perform many actions, perform various types of activities. All these are manifestations of personality activity. The activity is based on various motives. Motive is something for which a person performs certain actions. And it is important to find out where the activity is directed, what it is focused on. Thus, many students, after graduating from school, aim to enter a university. However, they may have different motives for the same goal. For one it is the desire to become good specialist, for another - the prestige of a profession or university, for a third - obtaining a diploma higher education. As you can see, the goal is outwardly the same. However, if it is achieved, then yesterday’s schoolchildren who have become students will have different directions of activity. Some will strive to deeply master the knowledge and skills needed to work in their specialty, others will not put much effort, hoping for “maybe.” If the guiding motive does not change during their studies, then some of these students will have to leave the university.
Personality orientation – is a set of stable motives that orients the activity and behavior of an individual in different situations. So, it may happen that after graduating from school you choose a certain profession, and your parents do not agree with this choice because they see your future differently. If, despite this, you continue to strive to achieve your goal, then the direction of your personality is manifested in this stable line of behavior.
Stable motives include beliefs, interests, attitudes.
Belief - this is a person’s firm confidence in something, encouraging him to act in accordance with his views, judgments about what is important and unimportant, worthy and unworthy. If you are able to keep your promises, act as you consider necessary and correct, actively defend your rightness, proving it in word and deed, this means that your beliefs correspond to and guide your behavior. If your words and deeds diverge, if you plan one thing and do something completely different, then your belief system is unstable, ineffective, and you cannot always explain the reasons for your actions and decisions. As a result, your activities and behavior in general become incomprehensible to others. It turns out that you do not know what you want to achieve, and how much what you proclaim as your intentions is really important to you. Only by understanding yourself and taking into account the opinions of others about what you say and do, can you develop effective beliefs.
Interests and needs. In the process of practical activity, as well as in understanding the world around us, human interests play an important role. Interest (from Latin interest - matters, important) - this the real reason, which is realized by us and directs cognitive and practical activities. Remember situations in which you encountered something new and unusual. The question that you immediately pose to yourself (“What is this?” or “What is it?”) is a manifestation of interest in what has attracted your attention. If in your life there is practical problem, then, having realized it, you immediately show interest in the ways and means of solving it.
Have you ever wondered why people choose different professions? Probably, the advice of your parents, the desire to be like a person who is authoritative for you, and the prestige of the profession are important here. Special interest in a certain type of activity also influences.
A special interest is an inner urge to do something. specific activity. It can develop into a tendency to professionally engage in one’s chosen occupation. In general, interests represent a very important source of development of abilities. They direct our attention, encourage activity, make life meaningful and vibrant, while their absence impedes the development and realization of abilities.
Our interests can be “egocentric,” that is, aimed primarily at our own personality (from the Latin ego - I, centrum - center). Egocentric interest is characterized by the fact that a person is concerned not so much with the quality and effectiveness of the work he performs, but with the impression he makes, demonstrating his superiority, and achieving leadership. Cognitive interest has a completely different character, interest in new phenomena of life, the desire for new impressions, for the creation of new useful things.
Interests are based on needs . Need is understood as a need for something, the absence of something important, necessary for life. We are not always clearly aware of our needs. In the case when we have realized them, that is, we have figured out what we really need, needs turn into interests.
Our interests can be aimed at satisfying material needs, primarily those related to providing the necessary living conditions. We are interested in receiving a comfortable home, high-quality and balanced nutrition, etc. But we all understand that not only a variety of food is important in life material goods. Or rather, the consumption of many of them is not associated with an urgent need of life; rather, it serves the interests of self-affirmation (for example, having an expensive car) or self-realization, the development of one’s abilities. Thus, a musician needs instruments, often very expensive ones; Some sports also require good and expensive equipment and equipment.
Along with material interests, our activities are guided by social and spiritual interests. They may be concentrated in one area; everything else in this case is less interesting and is done as if mechanically. But they can also be distributed between different types of activities. Then we can talk about the versatility of a person, bearing in mind the richness of her interests. True, here there is a danger that interests become superficial, because it is usually not possible to engage deeply and thoroughly in various matters.
Individual interests may vary in the degree of their stability and depth. Sustained and deep interest in some business allows you to hope for significant results. When an outstanding English physicist I. Newton (1643-1727) was asked how he managed to discover the law universal gravity, the answer was: “I thought about it constantly for many years.”
Interests may change throughout life. This is connected not only with the degree of satisfaction of needs. A person is an active subject of activity. The wider a person’s area of knowledge, the higher his achievements, the more actively he participates in public life, the more dynamic and varied his interests are, the more intense and interesting his life is.
Settings.Installation - this is a state of readiness of a person to do something, a predisposition to active actions in a certain situation. Personality setting greatly influences results. For example, for an athlete participating in important competitions, the goal of achieving the highest result, of winning, is very important. During the lesson, it is important for the student to be attentive to completing assignments and to perceive new material. As soon as the attitude is lost, the effectiveness of work in the lesson decreases sharply.
Our attitude influences the mood in which we do things; it affects communication with others. If there is an attitude towards benevolent, friendly relations, then people immediately feel it and usually themselves begin to treat us kindly. Attitudes towards performing a certain activity or achieving a certain result are closely related to our past experience, which tells us what and how to do. Such a hint is not necessarily clearly formulated, clearly expressed in words, but it is necessary as an internal readiness to act.
Self-education. If a person strives to live meaningfully, to realize his abilities more fully, he can consciously move along the path of personal self-development. Probably all people want to become better, but few systematically engage in self-education. Why is this happening? To work on oneself, a person needs a certain readiness associated with the presence of such qualities as purposefulness, self-criticism, self-demandingness, self-control and sensitivity to education.
Purposefulness presupposes the presence life goal, the ability to subordinate one’s actions and actions to its achievement.
Self-criticism provides objective self-assessment. When a person knows exactly what is positive in his character and what is negative and what needs to be gotten rid of, he chooses a goal more reasonably and determines a program of self-education.
Being demanding of oneself helps to translate comments, instructions, and advice coming from other people into one’s own requirements for behavior; it creates a need to become better.
Self-control, which is also called self-control or composure, is required in order not to panic or fuss, and to be a strong-willed person. And receptivity to education means the ability to correctly understand and accept educational influences teachers, parents, other people who are authoritative for you, the ability to use existing conditions for your spiritual growth and improvement.
For successful self-education moral and volitional readiness is required. You should be as sympathetic as possible to the demands of teachers, advice and wishes of parents to study conscientiously.
Self-education is designed to ensure the continuity of culture, work experience and moral values people. Even in childhood, a person learns from fairy tales about good and evil, about heroes and sages. This is how it is created ideal - picture of highest degree perfection, which is an important factor in self-education.
In a constantly changing world, only those who find their place in life, successfully realize themselves, who constantly change themselves, improve their strengths and abilities. Self-education is a way to ensure consistency between the processes of development of society and the formation self. Self-education is, first of all, necessary for the person himself for constructive social and personal self-determination and self-affirmation, in order not to get confused in difficult situations, not to be tempted false values, but choose the right one life guidelines and become a worthy citizen of your country.
Person in society and in the system of socio-economic relations. This... -spiritual world society, to be his “spiritual integrator”. Later, in Soviet social science this concept...
PSYCHOLOGY
TUTORIAL
BASICS OF ACTIVITY PSYCHOLOGY
Knowledge, skills and abilities
Carrying out any activity requires a person to master the necessary means for it. First of all, it involves developing a person’s skills and abilities to use them to achieve a goal.
Skill exists where knowledge of a particular activity is combined with dexterity in performing the actions that make up this activity. Someone who, adhering to the established rules, does it skillfully, clearly and flawlessly, who has skills in this matter, knows how to drive a car. A student who has developed certain skills in working with text can draw up a plan. So is the ability to play musical instrument, drawing, performing physical exercises and other tasks rely on certain skills. Therefore, skill is a person’s readiness to successfully perform a certain activity, which is based on knowledge and skills.
Since human activity, as a rule, consists of a number of different actions, the ability to perform them also consists of a number of private skills. For example, the ability to drive a car presupposes the ability to start the engine, regulate its operation, control the steering wheel, monitor the road, and monitor the operation of the car. A student’s ability to learn means the ability to plan his homework, highlight the main and secondary, establish cause-and-effect relationships between them, learn a given text in rational ways, etc. A complex of partial, closely interrelated skills covers everything that is called skill: driving a car, studying, playing a musical instrument, drawing.
Skills. By performing this or that action a certain number of times, a person practices its execution. She performs the action faster, easier, more freely, it requires less stress, effort and volitional control, the number of erroneous movements is reduced. In general, its implementation becomes automated to a certain extent. So, skills turn out to be automated execution of actions. They are formed through repeated exercises. Skills are components of skills.
Having skills makes it easier for a person to perform conscious tasks. Consciousness retains the ability to begin, regulate and complete an action, and the movement itself occurs without any further intervention of the will as a real repetition of what has already been done thousands of times (I. Sechenov). A person can also be aware of automated components, i.e. movements that make up certain activity. If necessary, she can direct her attention to the very technique of writing letters with the goal, for example, of writing them calligraphically, beautifully. Can be aware of the movements of the articulatory organs during the pronunciation of sounds, the habitual movements of the fingers while playing a musical instrument in order to control them, change something in them. A person begins to become aware of movements if complications or obstacles arise in their execution.
The process of developing skills and abilities. Skills and abilities are formed in a person in the process of learning. There are three main phases. The first begins with awareness of the task and how to perform it. Thus, an experienced master finds out and shows a novice how to perform certain production operations, and the latter becomes familiar with them. While teaching students to write, they are also introduced to how to write each letter. Then those who study try to apply the received explanations in practice, that is, perform appropriate actions.
Based on explanations, visual perception, and demonstration of the action, a first, general, schematic visual representation of the spatial and temporal features of the action is formed - the direction and amplitude of movements, their speed, coordination and sequence. The adjustment is accompanied by significant volitional efforts and a feeling of confidence, self-confidence or doubt, indecision, timidity. These experiences affect the effectiveness of the exercise, either promoting it or delaying it.
Based on training, that is repetition certain actions in order to consolidate and improve them, gradually the sequence of movements becomes coherent, and the actions become clearer and more coordinated. Dexterity moves into the second, highest phase of its perfection. Its physiological basis is strengthening in the cortex cerebral hemispheres brain temporary nerve connections, their specialization, development of the system, that is, the formation of a certain dynamic stereotype.
By training, a person speeds up the execution of actions. Unnecessary movements are eliminated and tension during execution is reduced. This means that the irradiation of excitation, which occurred at the beginning and caused a significant number of unnecessary movements, is changed by its concentration. Extra movements that do not find “business reinforcement” are gradually inhibited as inadequate certain situation. Adequate movements become more economical, clearer, and more accurate.
At the physiological level of improving the performance of an action, the ratio of analyzers that participate in this process changes. This change is manifested, in particular, in the fact that the role of visual sensations decreases and the role of motor sensations in the regulation of action increases. This can be observed during the formation of production, sports skills, abilities to play a musical instrument, etc.
However crucial in the formation of skills and abilities, it has regulation of movements based on self-control. Self-control contributes to the development of subtle visual, auditory and motor differentiations, and this, in turn, contributes to the accuracy of actions. In the process of increasing dexterity, visual control over the course of action, which is of leading importance at the beginning of the exercise, gradually decreases, giving way to control over movements, that is, control over the action of those organs that carry it out.
With an increase in the level of automation of movements, the role of visual perception in the process of performing an action changes. At first, visual perception and action coincide, for example, the perception of a letter is combined with its pronunciation. This combination is inevitable and necessary, but it greatly slows down the task.
Sometimes perception, as a result of realignment, begins to outpace action. Thus, in the case of fast, expressive reading, the pronunciation of what is read is preceded by the perception of only individual compounds, but also whole words that follow the word that is pronounced. The following items texts that are perceived prepare further movements and thus ensure a fast pace and high efficiency performing an action.
Each action consists of more or less movements. Skillful execution of an action requires combining these movements into a holistic act, and these acts into an even more complex action.
The physiological basis for combining movements into a holistic action is the formation of an “association of associations,” that is, chains of temporary nervous connections and certain systems of them. As they gain a foothold, the latter become stereotypical. This stereotyping is the basis for the automated execution of an action. In this regard volitional effort decreases significantly, slow concentration of attention on movements turns into a state of post-secondary attention, movements become more confident and accurate, conscious control over the process of the action being performed is facilitated.
This level of skill development is characteristic of the last, third phase of dexterity. At this phase, actions become memorized, which makes it possible to improve them, bring them to a certain level skill.
The continuous formation of skills and abilities usually begins with verbal explanations and the assimilation of rules of action. Evaluation of completed actions and awareness of their results are also carried out mainly with the help of words. The word, participating in the process of developing skills and abilities, contributes to the development of a clear sequence, tempo and rhythm of movements, their system.
The level of development of skills and abilities largely depends on conscious attitude, the individual’s readiness to develop skills and abilities, interest in better performance of actions related to solving the problem.
An important place in this process is occupied by taking into account the individual characteristics of a person: the type of nervous system, previous experience, theoretical knowledge, inclinations and abilities.
Transfer and interference of skills. The skills that we acquire to a certain extent rely on previously formed skills. This means that newly created dynamic stereotypes are layered in the cerebral cortex on previously established stereotypes, that they not only coexist, but also interact. Previously formed skills can both contribute to the development of new skills and slow down this process.
Often previously formed skills contribute to the acquisition of new ones, facilitating this process, or, on the contrary, complicating it.
This transfer phenomenon is due primarily to the presence of similar and identical patterns in already established and new skills, joint techniques for performing relevant actions. The elements of the formed skill are included in the structure of the skill being created and thereby facilitate the process of mastering it. Consequently, previously developed temporary neural connections, certain groups of them, are used in new situations, their generalization occurs.
Transfer also manifests itself in the fact that, having learned to perform specific action with one organ (for example, write with the right hand), a person can without special exercises perform this action (though less perfectly) with another organ, for example, with the left arm or leg or head.
However, previously developed skills sometimes have a negative, inhibitory effect on the formation of new skills, which is manifested in a decrease in the performance of actions, the occurrence of errors, etc. This phenomenon is called skill interference. Interference manifests itself as competition between some existing and newly created stereotypes.
Interference occurs when two or more different responses are produced to one stimulus.
INTERFERENCE manifests itself when previously developed methods of action are applied to a new situation without taking into account its differences. This happens, for example, when an operator switches from an old device design to a new device design in which the sequence of operations has been changed.
In general, interference occurs under certain conditions. Knowing these conditions and anticipating their effect in a particular situation, you can avoid it.
Skills are maintained at the appropriate level of excellence if they are used. And when they are not used for a certain time, they weaken. Systems of temporary nerve connections, what is their physiological basis, they begin to slow down. The implementation of appropriate actions slows down and their quality decreases. For example, a long break from driving in production, music, sports activities leads to a decrease in the level of perfection, a deterioration in the quality of performance of relevant actions. Therefore, specialists in any field of activity have to constantly train in order to maintain their skills at the proper level of perfection.
The less skills are formed and consolidated, the more likely they are weakened, which turns out to be de-automation of the actions performed.
Impairments and disorders of skills occur as a result of pathological changes in the functioning of the brain. In the case of pathological changes, the more complex and later developed skills are usually destroyed first, then the less complex and earlier formed ones.
Varieties of skills and abilities. Skills and abilities are part of any human activity. They are distinguished depending on the content of the activity and the human needs that are satisfied through them. Accordingly, self-service skills and abilities are distinguished, production, speech, mental, artistic, sports, etc.
The largest group consists of human production skills and abilities, which are differentiated by certain species production work.
Research on the formation of production skills shows that they can be divided into three groups:
CONSTRUCTIVE, associated with ideas about the products of labor, with the construction of the latter behind drawings, models, descriptions and with the manifestation of these ideas in words, models, projects, labor movements;
ORGANIZATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL, associated with the selection of the necessary tools and materials, with the determination of methods for their processing, with the planning and control of the work itself;
OPERATING, associated with the use of tools and materials for the manufacture of a certain product of labor, with the implementation of the necessary production operations.
A special group consists of language skills and abilities, which are compound speech a person aimed at satisfying her need to communicate with other people and exchange opinions. This group includes both oral and written communication skills. Mental skills and abilities are manifested in the execution various types mental activity(for example, memorizing certain material, solving arithmetic and other problems, performing mental operations, research tasks, theoretical work in one industry or another). Various skills and abilities are also combined into artistic, sports and other varieties.
Certain types of skills and abilities are closely interrelated and intertwined. Thus, thinking skills are always closely related to the ability to perform oral and written work. Complex production skills always have mental components. At the same time, the ability to perform, for example, research experimental work in a particular industry relies on the skills of practical operation of the necessary instruments, measuring and other tools.
All the skills and abilities a person has is her achievement. That’s why clever people are so valued in life. What in to a greater extent a person has skills and abilities in some field of activity, the more she is valued as a master of her craft.
Especially great importance skills and abilities have in creative activity person. The presence of skills and abilities is a necessary condition for her conscious creative activity. In the process of activity, they are increasingly improved. Skills and abilities, contributing to the development of human creative activity, thereby become one of the most important factors general mental development of a person. If a person were not capable of acquiring skills, she could not advance one stage of development, being delayed through constant countless complications.