We can say that our whole life is built on a skill. Acquiring skills is an ongoing process. At the beginning of life we ​​learn to walk, then we learn to hold a spoon, then we learn to dress...
Over time, we need more serious skills (attention, communication, social behavior, professional skills, etc.). All this determines the quality and standard of our life. It is important to understand that skills are not given initially. They are acquired, a person works on them personally and purposefully.

A skill is an action that:
a) is developed over time;
b) is brought to automaticity.

A skill is considered developed if a person no longer thinks about how to act, does not divide the action into parts, but simply does it.
In this case, a number of small movements merge into a single one. Extra, unnecessary movements are eliminated, the pace of action is accelerated. A person no longer controls the transition from one movement to another. This happens as if by itself, without special planning.

Why skills are so important for life.

Even the ancient sages said:
If you sow a thought, you will reap an action,
If you sow an action, you will reap a habit,
If you sow a habit, you will reap a character,
If you sow character, you will reap destiny.

Four links of one chain. Four consecutive moments. Four important steps in building a destiny.

It is skill that is the brick from which the foundation of our subsequent life is built. It is the skills that determine its quality. And most importantly, the dynamic course of life constantly requires us to acquire skills and develop them.

As children, we learn with pleasure. But for some reason people lose this enthusiasm with age. Some people are scared to start something new, others are ashamed to seem incompetent, some people think. that I have already achieved everything...

No matter how important skills are to our lives, the fact that you have developed them does not guarantee that you will achieve the desired result.

Experience shows that often those who already have the appropriate skill and even know that it is necessary and important to do this do not always do it. For example, morning exercises. Everyone knows about its benefits; they also know simple exercises. But not everyone does them every day.

For every skill, a habit must be developed.

So, basic skills are the basis of our whole life. But still, without subsequent links in the chain, they are nothing. Therefore, today we will talk about the second component - habit. How to make habits improve our lives.

What is a habit
A habit is a way of human behavior that becomes a need in a certain situation. For example, the habit of doing exercises in the morning, the habit of washing hands before eating, the habit of turning off the light when leaving home... When a person, for some reason, cannot act according to habit, he has a feeling of dissatisfaction.
The basis of a habit is a skill, like the ability to do something. However, unlike a skill, for the formation of a habit it is important not to master the skill, but to form a new need for its implementation under certain conditions.
Habits are important for all areas of our activities and our entire lives. A habit can become a character trait, for example, the habit of walking quickly, speaking quietly, etc.

Skills and habits
The skill allows you to perform an action easily and quickly. Habit not only allows you to perform an action, but also ensures the very fact of its implementation.
Like a skill, a habit refers to partially automatic actions. The acquisition of a habit most often begins with the development of a primary skill. Then it becomes a habit if it is constantly repeated under the same (or similar) conditions.
For example, children are taught to brush their teeth before bed. They first develop the ability to do it, and then a habit arises. As an adult, this persistent habit will no longer allow you to go to bed without brushing your teeth.
And if you use initial skills from time to time, then the habit will not form.

Power of Habit
Habits are very strong. They force a person to act in a certain way under any circumstances.
Habits build character. For example, the habits of making one’s bed, folding clothes, and keeping the room in order develop neatness and neatness in a person. The habit of greeting creates politeness.
Much in our life begins with habit. Habits take root, persist and become second nature.
Since habits and skills become automatic, they are very difficult to change. That is why it is very important from the very beginning to learn to perform the action correctly and to develop the correct initial skills.
Of course, it is still possible to change an incorrect initial skill. But correcting it is more difficult than immediately developing the correct one. And here it is extremely important to have someone nearby who would show how to act, point out mistakes, and explain exactly what you are doing wrong. And then I would also monitor how correctly you are performing this action now.

The principles of achieving goals and acquiring skills are discussed in detail by Josh Waitzkin in his book The Art of Learning. Moreover, all of Waitzkin’s conclusions are not just words, they are based on his real experience. The author is a coach to several world financial leaders, he won numerous Tai Chi championships, and became an eight-time national chess champion. In the process of achieving success, Josh Waitzkin has developed a number of principles that will positively affect your improvement and the development of new skills. The author teaches his readers how to achieve real heights in life, make it more interesting and vibrant.

No shortcuts
When setting a goal, each person must understand the problem and comprehend it gradually. This is the essence of the learning process. The result will be achieving the goal and acquiring new skills. If you constantly limit yourself with labels, trying to force yourself into certain frameworks that you have come up with for yourself, then it will be incredibly difficult to achieve success. All these established clichés in which you are accustomed to acting significantly reduce motivation. Moreover, labels can be not only negative, but also positive. If you hang the cliché “lucky” on yourself, then there will be no movement forward, there will only be waiting for the message of fate. And this is wrong.

Negative experience is also experience
Some believe that the loser is not formally a loser, because he receives additional experience, the opportunity to evaluate the situation and find alternative solutions. Therefore, under no circumstances should you give in to failures and losses. If you do nothing, success will not come, but if you try and go through defeats, you can gain invaluable life experience. And he will help in overcoming subsequent difficulties.

Achieving goals with passion
Any acquisition of new skills should be interesting, a person should really want it. Enthusiasm is the ability not to look at others, to take the initiative into your own hands and not to take into account the opinions of strangers. You just move forward, being open to the whole world. In this regard, we need to focus on children who are learning to walk. They examine the surrounding reality with great interest, trying to take their first steps. When achieving success, you need to develop your own style, pay attention to little things and details that seem invisible at first glance.

Don't complain about fate
Sometimes fate can present unpleasant surprises, but the key to success is a transparent view of all the vicissitudes. If you are influenced by emotions, you may not notice a rational solution or way to solve a problem. Any troubles should be taken lightly.

Look to the root
The solution to any issue depends on complete immersion. If you don't understand what you're dealing with, it's impossible for a person to learn new skills. Moreover, awareness should come not only at the last moment. Try to stay informed at all times throughout the entire process. This will strengthen your self-control. Also, don't look at others. Just because no one is checking your progress and knowledge of the issue doesn’t mean you should ignore them.

Control stressful situations
You cannot completely immerse yourself in work, otherwise this will cause stress, fatigue, and weakness. You should always leave time for self-healing and rest. Without good rest there is no good work. Choose any leisure method - exercise, games or meditation. After some time, you will need less time to rest, then you will be able to give your all without feeling tired. This way you can develop the ability to easily gather your strength and concentrate on an important task when necessary.

Golden mean
Working too hard didn't do anyone any good. Try to work hard, but not overdo it. You should feel like you've done a lot without being exhausted. The main thing in any successful job is satisfaction. If you constantly feel tired, the desire to learn new skills will gradually fade away. Explore your individual preferences so you can find the perfect balance.

Start with Fundamental Teachings
In any business, it is important to start with the basics. If you know the basics exactly, you can easily move on. Fundamental principles will allow you to realize creative ideas and implement a non-standard approach. Each problem must be approached in detail, starting from the very beginning.

Prioritization
Every business hides its true purpose and superficial aspects. Pay attention to the true goal so as not to waste time on trifles. Use only the necessary information, studying it from all sides. When achieving goals, you should use your own methods of work. With the right information, you can get to the bottom of it faster. First you need to pay special attention to this, and then this approach will become a habit.

If you follow these principles when it comes to acquiring new skills, then success and a desire to move forward will definitely await you.

And in conclusion, four more simple rules to successfully develop a skill with minimal effort.

Rule 1: Practice only one type of behavior at a time
Typically, when people are working to improve their skills, they try to do as much as possible at the same time. However, people who have successfully mastered complex skills achieved this result by practicing only one type of behavior at a time, and not two, and certainly not a dozen at the same time.
Choose only one type of behavior to practice. Don't move on to the next one until you're sure you've understood the first one correctly.

Rule 2. Train a new behavior at least three times
When you try something new, you are bound to feel awkward at first. It's not just the new shoes that sting. Any new type of behavior should be trained several times in order to feel comfortable and work successfully. New skills need to be worn in like shoes.
No matter what skill you try to improve, it will be terrible at first.

Never judge whether a new behavior is successful until you have practiced it at least three times.

Rule 3. Quantity before quality
Don't worry about quality indicators (such as fluency or the best phrasing in language learning) - these are all barriers to successful mastery of a skill.
Try to use a new type of behavior often, and the quality will soon follow.

Rule 4: Practice in safe situations
Always try new behaviors in safe situations until you feel comfortable. Don't use important meetings to practice new skills.

These rules together form a simple strategy for learning or improving your skills. These four basic rules will help you improve any skill, from making love to flying an airplane:

• Choose only one type of behavior to work with.
• Choose safe meetings with a (insert your own) goal to practice a new type of behavior.
• Try to use a new skill more often, without paying attention to the quality of its performance at first.
• Try your chosen behavior at least three times before judging whether it works.

And now you will turn your tongue to say that you do not have the ability to dance?

The product of our cognitive activity is knowledge. They represent the essence reflected by human consciousness and are remembered in the form of judgments, specific theories or concepts.

Knowledge, skills and abilities - interconnection

What is knowledge?

Knowledge determines our abilities and skills; they represent the basis of a person’s moral qualities, form his worldview and views on the world. The process of formation and assimilation of knowledge, skills, and abilities is fundamental in the works of many scientists and psychologists, but the concept of “knowledge” is defined differently among them. For some, it is a product of cognition, for others, it is a reflection and ordering of reality or a way of consciously reproducing a perceived object.

Representatives of the animal world also have elementary knowledge; it helps them in their life activities and the implementation of instinctive acts.

Knowledge acquisition is the result

The assimilation of knowledge largely depends on the chosen path; the completeness of the student’s mental development depends on it. Knowledge itself cannot provide a high level of intellectual development, but without it this process becomes unthinkable. The formation of moral views, strong-willed character traits, beliefs and interests occurs under the influence of knowledge, therefore they are an important and necessary element in the process of developing human abilities.

What types of knowledge are there?

• The everyday type of knowledge is based on worldly wisdom and common sense. This is the basis of human behavior in everyday life; it is formed as a result of a person’s contact with the surrounding reality and the external aspects of existence.
• Artistic is a specific way of assimilating reality through aesthetic perception.
• Scientific knowledge is a systematic source of information based on theoretical or experimental forms of reflecting the world. Scientific knowledge may contradict everyday knowledge due to the limitations and one-sidedness of the latter. Along with scientific knowledge, there is also pre-scientific knowledge that preceded it.

The child receives his first knowledge in infancy

Knowledge acquisition and its levels

The assimilation of knowledge is based on the active mental activity of students. The whole process is controlled by the teacher and consists of several stages of assimilation.

1. At the first stage - understanding, the perception of an object occurs, that is, its isolation from the general environment and the determination of its distinctive qualities. The student has no experience in this type of activity. And his understanding informs about his ability to learn and perceive new information.
2. The second stage - recognition, is associated with the comprehension of the received data, the understanding of its connections with other subjects. The process is accompanied by the execution of each operation, using hints, a description of the action, or hints.
3. The third level – reproduction, is characterized by active independent reproduction of previously understood and discussed information; it is actively used in typical situations.
4. The next level of the process of acquiring knowledge and developing skills and abilities is application. At this stage, the student includes the perceived knowledge into the structure of previous experience and is able to apply the acquired set of skills in atypical situations.
5. The final fifth level of assimilation is creative. At this stage, the scope of activity for the student becomes known and understandable. Unforeseen situations arise in which he is able to create new rules or algorithms for resolving the difficulties that have arisen. The learner's actions are considered productive and creative.

The formation of knowledge continues almost throughout life.

Classification of levels of knowledge formation allows us to qualitatively assess the student’s mastery of the material.

Student development occurs starting from the first level. It is clear that if the student’s level of knowledge is characterized by the initial stage, then their role and value is small, however, if the student applies the information received in unfamiliar situations, then we can talk about a significant step towards mental development.

Thus, the assimilation and formation of skills is realized through comprehension and repetition of information, understanding and application in familiar or new conditions or areas of life.

What are skills and abilities, what are the stages of their formation?

There are still heated debates among scientists about what is higher in the hierarchical scheme of the formation of new knowledge, skills and abilities that characterize mental development. Some emphasize the importance of skills, others convince us of the value of skills.

How skills are formed - diagram

A skill is the highest level of formation of an action; it is performed automatically, without awareness of the intermediate stages.

Skill is expressed in the ability to act, performed consciously, without reaching the highest degree of formation. When a student learns to perform any purposeful action, at the initial stage he consciously performs all intermediate steps, while each stage is recorded in his consciousness. The whole process is unfolded and realized, so skills are first formed. As you work on yourself and systematically train, this skill improves, the time required to complete the process is reduced, and some intermediate stages are performed automatically, unconsciously. At this stage, we can talk about the formation of skills in performing an action.

Formation of skills in working with scissors

As can be seen from the above, a skill develops into a skill over time, but in some cases, when the action is extremely difficult, it may never develop into it. A schoolchild, at the initial stage of learning to read, has difficulty combining letters into words. This process of assimilation takes a lot of time and takes a lot of effort. When reading a book, many of us control only its semantic content; we read letters and words automatically. As a result of long-term training and exercises, the ability to read has been brought to the level of skill.

Formation of skills and abilities is a long process and takes a lot of time. As a rule, this will take more than one year, and the improvement of skills and abilities occurs throughout life.

Skill Development Theory

Determining the level of students' mastery of an action occurs through the following classification:

• Zero level – the student does not master this action at all, lack of skill;
• The first level - he is familiar with the nature of the action; sufficient help from the teacher is required to perform it;
• The second level - the student performs the action independently according to a model or template, imitates the actions of colleagues or a teacher;
• The third level - he independently performs the action, every step is realized;
• The fourth level – the student performs the action automatically, the formation of skills has occurred successfully.

Conditions for the formation and application of knowledge, skills and abilities

One of the stages of assimilation is the application of knowledge, skills and abilities. The nature and specificity of the educational subject determines the type of pedagogical organization of this process. It can be implemented through laboratory work, practical exercises, and solving educational and research problems. The value of applying skills and abilities is great. The student’s motivation increases, knowledge becomes solid and meaningful. Depending on the uniqueness of the object being studied, various methods of their application are used. Subjects such as geography, chemistry, physics involve the formation of skills using observation, measurement, problem solving and recording all data obtained in special forms.

Development of skills in labor lessons

The implementation of skills in the study of humanitarian subjects occurs through the application of spelling rules, explanations, and recognition of a specific situation where this application is appropriate.

The conditions for the formation of knowledge, skills and abilities are generalization, specification and ensuring the sequence of operations. Working through these tasks allows you to avoid the formalism of knowledge, since the basis for solving problems is not only memory, but also analysis.

The process of forming new knowledge is inextricably linked with the following conditions:

• Group 1 – conditions for motivating students’ actions;
• Group 2 – conditions for ensuring the correct execution of actions;
• Group 3 – conditions for practicing, nurturing the desired properties;
• Group 4 – conditions for transformation and step-by-step development of the action.

General educational skills and abilities are those skills and abilities that are formed in the process of learning many subjects, and not just one specific one. This issue should be given a lot of attention, but many teachers underestimate the importance of this task. They believe that during the learning process, students acquire all the necessary skills on their own. This is not true. The processing and transformation of the information received by the student can be carried out in one way or another, using various methods and methods. Often the child’s way of working differs from the teacher’s standard. Control of this process by the teacher is not always carried out, since he usually records only the final result (whether the problem is solved or not, whether the answer is meaningful or uninformative, whether the analysis is deep or superficial, whether the conditions are met or not).

Training and education - differences

The child spontaneously develops some skills and techniques that turn out to be irrational or erroneous. The subsequent development of the child becomes unthinkable, the educational process is significantly slowed down, and the comprehension of new knowledge and its automation becomes difficult.

Methods

The correct methods of developing knowledge, skills and abilities should be given great importance in the learning process. Two main points can be noted. This is setting goals and organizing activities.

In cases where the teacher discovers that a student lacks a specific skill, it is important to realize whether the goal was set for the student and whether he realized it. Only selected students with a high level of intellectual development can independently determine and realize the value of the educational process. Lack of purpose is considered the most common drawback in organizing educational work. Initially, the teacher can indicate one or another goal that the student should strive for when solving the problem. Over time, each student acquires the habit of setting goals and motives independently.

The motivation of each student is individual, so the teacher should focus on a wide range of motives. They can be social, aimed at achieving success, avoiding punishment, and others.

What is motivation - definition

Organization of activities consists of compiling a list of basic processes associated with knowledge, skills and abilities. This list should include the most important issues, without which further progress is impossible. Next, you need to develop an algorithm for solving the problem or a sample, using which the student, independently or under the guidance of a teacher, can develop his own system of rules. By comparing the task with the received sample, he learns to overcome the difficulties and difficulties encountered along the educational path. Deepening and consolidation of knowledge occurs in the case of generalization, analysis and comparison of work completed by students in the class.

School education is the beginning of the comprehensive formation of knowledge, skills and abilities

The learning process is related to the ability of students to distinguish between the main and the secondary. To do this, various tasks are offered in which you need to highlight the most significant part of the text or words of secondary importance.

When training necessary to develop a skill, it is important to ensure its versatility and normal intensity. Over-processing one skill can prevent it from being used correctly and integrated into a holistic learning system. There are often cases when a student who has perfectly mastered a certain rule makes mistakes in dictation.

An integrated approach and pedagogical work are conditions that guarantee the full education of the younger generation.

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Introduction

Meeting various people in life, observing them at work, comparing their achievements, comparing the pace of their spiritual growth, we are constantly convinced that people differ markedly from each other in their abilities. Every ability is an ability for something, for some activity. The presence of a certain ability in a person means his suitability for a certain activity. Any more or less specific activity requires more or less specific qualities from the individual. Abilities exist only for certain activities, and therefore, until it is unclear what kind of activity a person will engage in, nothing can be said about his abilities for this activity. Thus, abilities are a set of personality properties that determine the success of learning and improving in any activity. Abilities are formed in the course of people's lives, change with changes in objective conditions, and therefore are educated and transformable. All other things being equal (level of preparedness, knowledge, skills, abilities, time spent, mental and physical abilities), a capable person receives maximum results compared to less capable people. Unlike character and all other personality properties, ability is a personality quality that exists only in relation to one or another, but necessarily certain activity. The problem of human abilities is one of the main theoretical problems of psychology and the most important practical problem. Although abilities, like personality as a whole, are studied by philosophy, sociology, medicine and other sciences, none of them studies them as deeply and comprehensively as psychology.

1. Concept of abilities

Capabilities- these are individual psychological characteristics of a person that are manifested in activity and are a condition for the success of its implementation. The speed, depth, ease and strength of the process of mastering knowledge, skills and abilities depend on abilities, but they themselves are not limited to them.

In Russian psychology, many authors gave it detailed definitions. In particular, S.L. Rubinstein understood abilities as “... a complex synthetic formation, which includes a whole range of data, without which a person would not be capable of any specific activity, and properties that only in the process in a certain way organized activities are developed."

The psychological dictionary defines ability as quality, opportunity, skill, experience, skill, talent. Abilities allow you to perform certain actions at a given time.

Ability is an individual's readiness to perform an action; suitability is the existing potential to perform any activity or the ability to achieve a certain level of development of ability.

The high achievements of a capable person are the result of the compliance of the complex of his neuropsychic properties with the requirements of his activity.

Unlike skills, abilities are the results of consolidating not methods of action, but mental processes (“activities”) through which actions and activities are regulated.”

Abilities are characterized by qualitative and quantitative aspects.

In a qualitative aspect, they are considered as a symptom complex of a person’s psychological properties, ensuring the success of his activities.

Quantitative characteristics involve determining the level of ability.

The concept of “ability” in the general structure of psychological concepts occupies an “intermediate place” between the categories of activity and personality.

Today, the study of abilities is carried out from different angles:

In general psychological terms, their socio-historical essence is revealed;

Their development in specific types of activities is studied;

The general mechanisms of ability formation are studied.

Abilities are a possibility, and the required level of skill in a particular matter is a reality. The musical abilities revealed in a child are in no way a guarantee that the child will be a musician. In order for this to happen, special training, perseverance shown by the teacher and the child, good health, the presence of a musical instrument, notes and many other conditions are necessary, without which abilities can die out without developing.

Psychology, denying the identity of abilities and essential components of activity - knowledge, skills and abilities, emphasizes their unity.

Abilities are revealed only in activity, and, moreover, only in such activity that cannot be carried out without the presence of these abilities.

It is impossible to talk about a person’s ability to draw if they have not tried to teach him to draw, if he has not acquired any skills necessary for visual activity. Only in the process of special training in drawing and painting can it be determined whether the student has abilities. This will be revealed in how quickly and easily he learns working techniques, color relationships, and learns to see beauty in the world around him.

Abilities are revealed not in knowledge, skills and abilities, as such, but in the dynamics of their acquisition, i.e. in how quickly, deeply, easily and firmly the process of mastering knowledge and skills that are essential for a given activity is carried out, other things being equal. And it is here that the differences are revealed that give us the right to talk about abilities.

Thus, abilities are individual psychological characteristics of a person, which are the conditions for the successful implementation of a given activity and reveal differences in the dynamics of mastering the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for it. If a certain set of personality qualities meets the requirements of an activity that a person masters over the course of time pedagogically justifiably allotted for its development, then this gives grounds to conclude that he has the ability to do this activity. And if another person, all other things being equal, cannot cope with the demands that an activity places on him, then this gives reason to assume that he lacks the corresponding psychological qualities, in other words, a lack of abilities.

2.Types of abilities

In addition to levels, types of abilities should be distinguished depending on their focus or specialization. In this regard, psychology usually distinguishes between general and special abilities.

2.1 General abilities

Under general abilities is understood as such a system of individual-volitional properties of a person, which ensures relative ease and productivity in mastering knowledge and carrying out various types of activities. General abilities are a consequence of both rich natural talent and comprehensive development of the individual.

Under special abilities understand a system of personality traits that helps to achieve high results in any special field of activity, for example literary, visual, musical, technical, etc.

An attempt to systematize and analyze abilities was made by V.N. Druzhinin. He defines general abilities as the ability to obtain, transform and apply knowledge. And in this the following components play the most important role:

1. Intelligence (the ability to solve problems based on the application of existing knowledge),

2. creativity (the ability to transform knowledge with the participation of imagination and fantasy),

3. learning ability (ability to acquire knowledge).

Intelligence Many researchers consider it as equivalent to the concept of general talent, as the ability to learn and work in general, regardless of their content. The most complete, from a substantive point of view, is Wechsler's definition of intelligence; he understands intelligence as the ability for purposeful behavior, rational thinking and effective interaction with the outside world.

The second factor of general ability is creativity, creative capabilities, understood as a person’s ability to solve problems in a non-standard, unconventional way. Let's consider the relationship between creativity and intelligence. A lot of work has been devoted to establishing connections between creativity and intelligence, but they provide very contradictory data; apparently, these relationships are characterized by great individual originality and at least 4 different combinations can occur. The uniqueness of the combination of intelligence and creativity is manifested in the success of activities, behavior, personal characteristics, and methods (forms) of social adaptation.

Creativity is not always amenable to development; moreover, it has been noted that in the process of school education, which is associated with routine and solving standard algorithmic problems, the number of highly creative schoolchildren decreases. The development of creativity is facilitated by attention to the child, a wide range of demands, including uncoordinated ones, little external control of behavior, encouragement of non-stereotypical behavior and the presence of creative family members. Sensitive periods for the development of general creativity are noted at the age of 3-5 years, specialized creativity at 13-20 years.

Learning ability - this is the general ability to assimilate knowledge and methods of activity (in a broad sense); indicators of the pace and quality of assimilation of knowledge, skills and abilities (in the narrow sense). The main criterion for learning ability in a broad sense is the “economy” of thinking, that is, the shortness of the path in independently identifying and formulating patterns in new material. The criteria for learning ability in the narrow sense are: the amount of dosed assistance that the learner needs; the ability to transfer acquired knowledge or methods of action to perform a similar task. Implicit learning ability is distinguished as an “unconscious” primary general ability and explicit “conscious” learning ability.

Abilities are those individual psychological characteristics of a person that are a condition for the successful performance of a particular activity.

B.M. Teplov identified 3 features of the very concept of ability:

• 1. Abilities are understood as individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another.
• 2. Abilities are not called all individual characteristics, but only those that are related to the success of performing any activity or many activities.
• 3. The concept of “ability” is not limited to the knowledge, skills and abilities that have already been developed by a given person.

B.M. Teplov believed that abilities cannot exist except in constant development. An ability that does not develop is lost over time. The presence of any abilities cannot guarantee the comprehensive development of the individual.

A person’s abilities act as a certain possibility in relation to knowledge, skills and abilities, and the reality will be the achieved level of mastery.

Psychology, denying the identity of abilities and knowledge, abilities and skills, emphasizes their unity. If you have abilities, knowledge, skills and abilities are acquired faster. Abilities are revealed only in activity, and, moreover, in such activity that cannot be carried out without the presence of these abilities.

Classification of abilities.

• a) Natural (or natural) abilities are those that are basically biologically determined. b) Specifically human, having a socio-historical origin.
• a) General - these are those that determine success in a variety of activities, for example, mental, precision of manual movements, developed memory, speech. b) Special determine success in specific types of activities. This requires a special kind of inclinations and their development. These are musical, mathematical, technical, etc. Often general and special coexist, mutually complementing and enriching each other.

Theoretical and practical abilities.

Theoretical ones predetermine a person’s tendency to abstract theoretical thoughts, and practical ones to specific practical actions. These often do not combine with each other and are found together only in gifted, talented people.

Educational and creative.

Educational ones determine success in learning, mastering knowledge, skills and abilities, and creative ones - the creation of objects of material and spiritual culture, the production of new ideas and inventions.

Abilities for communication, interaction with people and subject-related activities. These abilities are largely socially conditioned. The first ones include human speech as a means of communication, the ability of interpersonal perception and evaluation of people, the ability to come into contact with various people, influence them, and win them over. The second is the ability to perform various types of theoretical and practical activities. Both interpersonal and subject abilities complement each other.

Another classification divides abilities into 4 groups.

1. Basic general abilities.

They are inherent in all people, although in varying degrees of their severity. They are the main form of mental reflection, manifested in the ability to feel, experience, and think.

• 2. Elementary private abilities. They are characteristic of all people and indicate their individuality. Musical ear, critical mind, eye, determination, etc.
• 3. Complex general abilities. To one degree or another, inherent in all people are the abilities for universal human activities - work, play, communication, learning, etc.
• 4. Complex private abilities. They are also called professional. These are pedagogical, mathematical, etc. Abilities for a particular activity.

There is practically no activity in which success is determined by only one ability. What is important is their combination and exactly what is necessary for this activity. On the other hand, the relative weakness of one ability does not exclude the possibility of successfully performing an activity, because it can be compensated by others included in the complex. Example: poor vision is partially compensated by the special development of hearing and skin sensitivity, the lack of absolute hearing is compensated by the development of timbral hearing.

Among the properties and characteristics of a person that form the structure of specific abilities, some occupy a leading position, while others occupy an auxiliary position. So, for example, in the structure of pedagogical abilities, the leading qualities will be pedagogical tact, observation, love for children, the need to transfer knowledge, and a complex of organizational and communication abilities. Auxiliary skills include: artistry, oratory skills, etc. All these abilities form a unity.

Abilities and inclinations. Ability Levels

Like all individual psychological characteristics of a person, abilities are not acquired by a person in a ready-made form, but are formed in life and activity. Denial of the innateness of abilities is not absolute, i.e., the innateness of the structural features of the brain, which may be a condition for the successful performance of any activity, i.e., inclinations, is not denied.

Makings are morphological and functional features of the structure of the brain, sensory organs and movement, which act as natural prerequisites for the development of abilities.

B.M. Teplov said that abilities are the makings of development.

A person has two types of inclinations: congenital and acquired. The former are sometimes called natural, and the latter social. All abilities in the process of their development go through a number of stages, and in order for some ability to rise in its development to a higher level, it is necessary that it has already been sufficiently developed at the previous level. This latter, in relation to a higher level, acts as a kind of inclination. For example, in order to master higher mathematics, you need to know elementary mathematics, and this knowledge acts as a deposit and is an acquired ability.

The fact that the inclinations are contained in the structural features of the nervous system suggests the possible genetic heritability of inclinations. At the same time, the hypothesis of the possible heritability of inclinations should not be identified with the idea of ​​inheritance of abilities.

The makings are multi-valued. Based on the same inclinations, different abilities can develop.

Ability Levels:

• 1. Incapable or ability available (in varying degrees of its development).
• 2. Reproductive or creative level of existing ability.

The reproductive level of ability is determined when a person works well with material that is well known to all other people, but does it more deftly, more confidently.

The creative level in turn is divided into the following levels:

giftedness;

genius.

Giftedness is a qualitatively unique combination of abilities that give a person the opportunity to successfully engage in one or more types of activity.

The term “Giftedness” has many meanings. Giftedness can be general or special. General is sometimes called mental. The range of special gifts is quite large.

When they talk about giftedness, they most often mean children, since it is a little late to talk about the available opportunities in relation to the activities of an adult; it’s time to turn them into talent.

Talent is a high level of development of abilities, primarily special ones in their totality, which makes it possible to create original results in human activity, distinguished by fundamental novelty.

Most talented people had several highly developed abilities. Lermontov and Pushkin painted, the chemist Borodin wrote music, etc.

Genius is the highest level of development of abilities, which allowed an individual to achieve such results of creative activity that constitute an era in the life of society, in the development of culture, have historical significance and create new directions in science, art, and technology.

Geniuses are characterized by working in a large number of directions, where they create their works (Leonardo da Vinci, M.V. Lomonosov).

Characteristics of a genius:

• 1) work in different areas of science and art and the creation of completely new discoveries and works of art;
• 2) high labor productivity (their productivity is colossal);
• 3) extensive knowledge of scientific and creative heritage, i.e. a genius grasps and extracts the essence from everything that was discovered before them;
• 4) a genius always creatively reworks the basic ideas and concepts of previous generations and, if necessary, very harshly discards outdated ideas and concepts. He can always prove his point of view and explain why he rejects it. Unrecognized geniuses cannot convince people that they are right, do not recognize any authorities and often deny without knowing the depth of the issue.
• 5) the results of the creativity of a genius should help the progress of humanity (in order to discard the “evil genius”). But this sign is not required.

Development of abilities

All theories of abilities can be reduced to three groups:

• 1. Heritability of abilities. Already in the genetic apparatus this or that level or area of ​​abilities is transmitted. (Galton)
• 2. Acquired abilities. The dependence of the emergence of abilities and the degree of its development on the method of learning.
• 3. The ratio of natural and acquired. Abilities are formed and developed through activity.

Any inclinations must go through a long development path before developing into abilities. In the process of developing abilities, a number of stages can be distinguished:

• 1. The anatomical and physiological basis of future abilities is being prepared.
• 2. The makings of a non-biological plan are being formed.
• 3. The required ability develops and reaches the appropriate level.

All these processes can occur in parallel, overlapping each other to one degree or another.

Rubinshtein S.L. said that the development of abilities occurs in a spiral: realized opportunities that represent abilities at one level open up opportunities for further development of abilities at a higher level.

The development of abilities is directly dependent on specific techniques and techniques aimed at developing relevant skills, abilities and knowledge transfer. The most effective way to develop abilities is to develop the child’s personality, his needs, interests, levels of aspirations, etc., i.e. impact on the whole personality of the child. It is necessary to take into account sensitive periods that favor the development of certain abilities. Most abilities begin to develop in preschool age.

Requirements for activities that develop abilities: a) the creative nature of the activity, b) the optimal level of difficulty for the performer, c) proper motivation and d) ensuring a positive emotional mood during and after the completion of the activity.

The role of education in personality development

Personal development in education

In fact, in domestic education, personal development means the improvement of those qualities of students that do not relate to intellectual abilities, knowledge, skills and abilities. This is due to the main tasks (or areas of activity) that are set for educational organizations in relation to a particular student: he must a) be educated, b) trained.

Education consists of training and education. As the law “On Education in the Russian Federation” states: “Education is a single, purposeful process of education and training, which is a socially significant benefit... Education is an activity aimed at personal development, creating conditions for self-determination and socialization of the student on the basis of sociocultural, spiritual, moral values ​​and rules and norms of behavior accepted in society in the interests of the individual, family, society and the state... Training is a purposeful process of organizing the activities of students to master knowledge, abilities, skills and competence, gain experience, develop abilities, gain experience in applying knowledge in everyday life and the formation of students’ motivation to receive education throughout their lives.”

Thus, the development of a student’s personality (upbringing) is not someone’s whim or fantasy. This is one of the two main tasks of educational organizations. Should every teacher be involved in education? It turns out that he should, because his responsibilities include: “To develop in students cognitive activity, independence, initiative, creativity, to form a civic position, the ability to work and live in the modern world, to form a culture of healthy and safe lifestyle in students.” (in the same law).

Based on this specificity, it turns out that personality in education is understood as something that does not belong to the intellectual sphere. If in modern psychology this usually means the social face of a person, which provides him with an “image” and inclusion in certain social relationships, then in the field of education, personality is an alloy of certain qualities that ensures socialization and self-determination. Accordingly, the more developed a person is, the more successful he is in terms of social adaptation and finding his own place in life. As well as vice versa.

Psychologists, in general, have long moved away from the question that smacks of scholasticism: “Who can be called a more developed personality, and who less?” A criminal, for example, from a psychological point of view, can also have his own personality, and a fairly developed one (if he has an interesting, original image, a wealth of social connections). Educators (here we mean especially theoretical workers) are unlikely to agree that a criminal can have a developed personality. In pedagogy, a developed personality is a person rich in various kinds of positive virtues (the so-called “comprehensively developed personality”). These advantages include:

Responsibility,

Purposefulness and perseverance,

Patriotism,

Honesty,

Curiosity,

Friendliness and responsiveness,

Collectivism,

The ability to self-sacrifice

Ability for independent activity,

Creative skills,

Hard work,

Civil position (social obedience) and more. If there is no dignity or it has the opposite polarity (not hard work, say, but laziness), then a person can no longer claim the title of “comprehensively developed personality.”

The difference in the understanding of personality in pedagogy and psychology is also visible in the following. Temperament is not and cannot be included in the above list of advantages. It is impossible to develop temperament: there are no good and bad temperaments, and temperament is influenced to a large extent by congenital and some acquired physiological characteristics. Nevertheless, in psychology, temperament is considered an important element of a person’s personality.

Be that as it may, the social order for personal development is clearly formulated, and it must be fulfilled somehow.

The main problems of personal development in an educational organization

The first problem that school teachers face is that a child coming to school already has a more or less formed personality. This formation was influenced by family, kindergarten, friends and other familiar people. The formation of a little person’s personality could also be influenced by films watched or scenes that the child observed directly in the lives of strangers. Some preschoolers are good readers, and books may have already influenced them.

Children from different families come to school. Some parents are not shy about using obscene language, some constantly lie, some like to fight, some steal, etc. Of course, with a high degree of probability, these behavioral characteristics can be passed on to the child. At the same time, they can be transmitted not only at 6-7 years of age, but also later. The teacher must take all this into account and try to reverse the unpleasant trend in the child’s behavior.

In many cases, the team helps. Firstly, the child himself quickly notices that his behavior is different from the behavior of the majority. Secondly, the teacher himself can point out this contradiction if the child does not see it. Thirdly, the student body itself can put pressure on a “problem” student. The team should not be idealized. However, a bad teacher is one who does not use the capabilities of the team.

The second problem is methodological ambiguity: how and what qualities need to be developed? Other questions are related to this: how to determine the effectiveness of certain educational measures? How to determine the effectiveness of individual teaching staff? With training it is more or less clear: there are various types of testing activities. There is even a unified state exam that allows the achievements of students and, on this basis, the work of teachers to be assessed as accurately as possible. There are no such evaluation procedures in education, there are no clear standards for personal development at all. Most teachers therefore rely mainly on their life experience and intuition. Often teachers focus their attention on only one or two qualities to be developed. Often the role of such a “beacon” is the development of creative abilities. In this case, educational work is distinguished by entertainment and ostentatious effectiveness.

The third problem of personality development has legal grounds. According to the Constitution, we have quite a lot of rights, for example to:

Privacy, personal and family secrets,

Freedom of thought and speech.

The teacher therefore needs to be quite careful in eliciting information that can be classified as personal and family secrets. And in general, it turns out that the entire process of education should be purely voluntary, without any pressure. Not only adults, but also children have freedom of thought and speech. Inside himself, every person can be a scoundrel, think whatever he wants. As long as it doesn’t come out, it doesn’t interfere with other people’s lives. It turns out that even phrases like this: “You must always tell the truth, otherwise you will be a bad boy” can compromise the teacher.

As they age, the younger generation understands their rights more and more clearly. Therefore, educational efforts (at least directive ones) are less and less likely to achieve their goals. Education of a student is a completely questionable thing. To the directive: “You must love your Motherland,” you can often get the answer: “I don’t owe anyone anything.” Therefore, universities usually limit educational work to the development of creativity and wit.

How to deal with this problem? The answer is quite obvious: it is necessary to replace directives with clarifications. Don’t say phrases like: “Good girls don’t swear” or simply “You have to love your homeland.” It is best to explain how this or that behavior will affect your life and attitude towards you:

If you lie, no one will believe you anymore.

Hardworking people take pride in their success.

A brave person will not be afraid of every bush.

As a last resort, you can limit yourself to vague phrases like this: “If you don’t love your Motherland, then your Motherland won’t love you.”

Educational opportunities of an educational organization

Of all social institutions, only the family can compete in educational opportunities. There is a very narrow circle of people in the family, but communication with them is very close, very trusting, very long-term. Many life attitudes, and in general the way of life, are passed down “by inheritance.” Educational organizations, however, have other opportunities: competent personnel, a team, and broad social connections.

Teachers can notice deviations in development and behavior that even parents do not notice. They can not only notice, but also give competent advice. In difficult cases, an educational psychologist who understands both developmental psychology and methods of correction and development can participate in the process of personality development.

As already noted, the team has a very strong influence on the child. This influence is so strong that with its help you can overcome all the shortcomings of family upbringing.

Broad social connections mean that the school gradually socializes the student. She introduces him to a wide range of new faces. These include other students (including from other classes), teachers, administrative workers, and various kinds of social partners. By interacting with each new person, the student expands his understanding of:

a) people in general,

b) the impression he makes on others,

c) points of intersection of interests - one's own and others'.

All this certainly contributes to personal development. Therefore, an important strategic consideration can be put forward: every effort should be made to ensure that each child has direct contact with a wide range of people, and not just with his friends and teacher.