Character and temperament in psychology are completely different concepts. In ordinary life, the terms are easy to confuse. Not every person has a character, but temperament is given to everyone from birth.
Material Content:
What is temperament
Temperament is an innate, stable form of any mental and psychomotor processes. It in a special way organizes in a person attention, memory, communication, perception, etc. According to the generally accepted classification that arose about 2.5 thousand years ago thanks to Hippocrates and Galen, there are such types of temperament:
- choleric;
- sanguine;
- phlegmatic;
- melancholic.
It is interesting that each person is characterized by all of the above types in a certain ratio. In the modern world, theory has been developed thanks to the work of Western and Russian researchers.
Definition of a term in psychology
Temperament is a formally dynamic behavior characteristic of a child that is congenital and stable throughout life and is manifested in energy and time parameters. From the definition you can see that the type of temperament does not depend on external influences and does not change with age.
A more substantial individual personality trait that always answers the question of how a person achieves life goals is character. It is informative, and temperament is formal. The latter, however, constitutes an important prerequisite for the formation of personality and character.The ways of behavior will depend on how much a person is inclined to switch attention, the fast or slow pace of his activity, etc. That is, innate mental properties affect the formation of personality, but temperament and character may not coincide.
The main mental properties
Temperament is characterized by energy and time parameters. The former include reactivity and activity.
Reactivity is the dependence of the reaction on the strength of the stimulus. When a strong nervous system is stimulated for a certain period, while the force of action increases, there will be no reaction at all. When the strength of the stimulus reaches a certain level, a reaction will appear for the first time. It will increase, and then gradually fade away, until beyond the limit of inhibition.
If the nervous system is characterized by low strength, it is highly sensitive, therefore, excitation occurs much faster. With low levels of stimulation, a person already reacts. The voltage rises and the reaction breaks off at significantly lower load levels. Depending on the strength of the nervous system, some people are highly sensitive, therefore impressionable and vulnerable, while others have little susceptibility, but are hardy.
The second energy parameter of temperament is activity. The more significant it is, the more the individual commits spontaneous, outwardly unconditioned actions. This value depends on the work of the cerebral cortex. The less intense it is, the more active a person is in the external manifestations of his activity. With intense work of the cerebral cortex, the individual, on the contrary, tries to fence himself off from external influences so that the level of activation decreases.
It remains to mention the temporal characteristics in which temperament flows:
- pace - how fast is the activity;
- rhythm - stability or variability of tempo;
- mobility or switching speed of attention, etc.
Some authors characterize the definition of temperament with such mental properties as activity behavior and emotional reaction.
Famous theories
From ancient ideas about the mixing of 4 life juices, psychologists have come to modern scientific theories about the nature of temperament. It is caused only by the biological inclinations of the individual, regardless of social influence. In their pure form, they are never traceable, but are significant in the organization of the human person.
According to the theory of Hippocrates and Galen, the biological basis of temperament is the predominance of one of the "life juices" in the body:
- bile (choleric);
- lymph (phlegmatic);
- black bile (melancholic);
- blood (sanguine).
The second explanation of the nature of temperament belongs to Kretschmer and Sheldon. They linked the stable congenital features of the psyche with the physique or constitution of the body, highlighting three psychotypes:
- endomorph or picnic;
- mesomorph or athletic;
- ectomorph or asthenic.
Attention deserves the modern theory of temperament, based on numerous studies and experimentally confirmed. Among them, the doctrine of extroverts and introverts, the founder of which is Carl Jung, is the most popular.
I.P. Pavlov, G. Yu. Aizenk, B. M. Teplov, Jan Strelyau and other scientists associate temperament with the activity of the central nervous system. As studies have shown, the biological structure that defines the main psychotypes is much more complicated, and the options and forms of its existence are much larger. But for clarity, you can use 4 types of Hippocrates-Galen, as a generalized means of studying the individual.
Characterization of types of temperament
Choleric people are active, assertive, and confident people. They are able to "punch your head wall." If you are interested in completing a task, they will go to the last, use all the opportunities.People with this type of temperament have a strong nervous system, they are completely insensitive, can work in several directions at the same time. Choleric people strive for superiority, they need constant movement and search.
Sanguine people are strong, active and agile people. But, unlike choleric people, they are very cheerful and joyful, they always find people who will work for them, they are interested in new projects. Often they do not finish the job, because it becomes boring. Sanguine excellent organizers, sellers, actors, speakers. They like to be in full view of everyone, cannot stand loneliness, always talk about their successes. Sanguine and choleric are extroverts. Their opposite and complement are introverts - phlegmatic and melancholic.
Phlegmatic people belong to strong, but inactive people. They are calm, conservative, creative, strong-willed, reliable, responsible, balanced, know their job. Phlegmatic people are very hardworking, do not want to stand out, think over every word before saying something, they know how to organize a business, calculate everything and correctly implement it. For them, public opinion is very important. From phlegmatic people they make excellent economists, accountants, diplomats and teachers.
Melancholy - these are individuals with a weak nervous system. They are shy, do not like groups, try to always be in the shade. They have a quiet voice and slow motion. The melancholy has a calm temperament, closed and slightly detached from the world. These are creative people, the professions of a musician, artist, philosopher, psychologist, sociologist are perfectly suited to them.
How to determine what type you belong
There are special tests to determine temperament. The system of A. Belov and G. Eysenck is of interest. When passing various checks, the results may not coincide, therefore, the final assessment must be approached critically.
To work with schoolchildren, it is best to use the test of G. Yu. An adult with normal sensitivity can independently assess his temperament without undergoing psychological tests. On the other hand, such an analysis helps to better understand people, it is necessary when applying for a new job, to get to know the team.
