How the character is classified in psychology

Character in psychology is treated ambiguously. It is difficult to distinguish it from temperament. He is too connected with the concept of "personality". In the special literature on psychology these terms are used as synonyms. Character depends on personality, and personality influences character. But these concepts should not be confused.

Character in psychology has a narrower definition. This is a set of human properties, which reflect ways of behavior and response to different situations. You can say that these are the features of an individual that determine his attitude towards other people or to work. And if an assessment is made of the character of a person and his personality, then it may not be the same for these concepts, and in some cases be directly opposite. The terminology of everyday life suggests that these are completely different educations.

As an example, you can take prominent personalities who have had a "hard" or "cool" character. But this did not prevent them from becoming "creative" and "outstanding" people. And this proves that these two concepts are not the same. It is said that the results of the creation of a person are used by descendants, but the character that encounters the person who surrounds the person.

Authors who study the character in psychology emphasize that it can be less or more pronounced.

There are three types of intensity of human behavior. It forms the following types of character in psychology:

- "normal";

- pronounced (accentuation);

- strong abnormalities (psychopathy).

The first two definitions are normal. Accentuation can be explicit and hidden. Such characteristics of the character are not found constantly, but only in a certain situation, in the current situation, and under normal conditions they do not manifest themselves. The third type is pathology. Of course, these boundaries are blurred, but nevertheless there are criteria that allow us to determine whether we belong to this or that intensity.

Concerning psychopathy, the character in psychology can be considered a pathology, if during a lifetime it is stable, changes little with time. The second sign is that the same manifestations of behavior are found everywhere: at home, at work, among friends, under any circumstances. If a person is at home alone, but in public - another, then he can not be considered a psychopath. An important sign of this pathology is considered social disadaptation. A person constantly finds himself in difficult situations, he has problems, he is experiencing difficulties, which can affect the people around him.

In the history of psychology , attempts have repeatedly been made to create typologies of characters. One of the first scientists in this field was the German scientist E. Krechmer. Among our domestic colleagues, A. Licko was involved in the classification of human behavior. His field of study was psychology, the theme of "The character of a teenager."

Strengthening some features of behavior that do not go beyond the norms, but border on the pathology, most often can be observed in adolescence and adolescence. Such manifestations reveal weaknesses and allow timely fixing of preventive measures. Accentuation develops mainly in the period of character formation and is smoothed out when a person grows up.