Book: Kretschmer Ernst “Body structure and character. Book: Kretschmer Ernst “Body structure and character Types of body structure
The German psychiatrist E. Kretschmer adhered to exactly the opposite initial principles to which K. Sigo adhered when creating his scheme.
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He believed that heredity, and not environmental factors, is the only source of morphological diversity.
E. Kretschmer was born in 1888 in Germany. He was the director of the neurological clinic in Marburg, and the head of the clinic at the University of Tübingen. In 1939, he refused to take the post of president of the German Psychiatric Association, expressing disagreement with the theory of racial inferiority preached by the official psychiatry of Hitler's Germany. Died in 1964
E. Kretschmer published in 1921. a work entitled “Body structure and character” (in Russian translation, the book was published in 1924, the last reprint was in 1995). He noticed that each of the two types of diseases - manic-depressive (circular) psychosis and schizophrenia - corresponds to a certain body type. This allowed him to argue that body type determines the mental characteristics of people and their predisposition to corresponding mental illnesses. Numerous clinical observations prompted E. Kretschmer to undertake systematic research into the structure of the human body. Having made many measurements of various parts, the author identified four constitutional types.
1. Leptosomatic(Greek leptos – “fragile”, soma – “body”). He has a cylindrical body, fragile build, tall stature, a flat chest, an elongated egg-shaped face (full face). The long thin nose and undeveloped lower jaw form the so-called angular profile. The shoulders of a leptosomatic person are narrow, the lower limbs are long, the bones and muscles are thin. E. Kretschmer called individuals with extreme expression of these characteristics asthenics (Greek astenos - ʼʼweakʼʼ).
2. Picnic(Greek pγκnos – ʼʼthick, denseʼʼ). He is characterized by excessive obesity, small or medium height, a bloated body, a large belly, and a round head on a short neck. Relatively large body perimeters (head, chest and abdomen) with narrow shoulders give the body a barrel-shaped shape. People of this type tend to stoop.
3. Athletic(Greek athlon – ʼʼstruggle, fightʼʼ). He has good muscles, a strong physique, tall or medium height, a wide shoulder girdle and narrow hips, making the frontal appearance of the body form a trapezoid. The fat layer is not expressed. The face is in the shape of an elongated egg, the lower jaw is well developed.
4. Displastic(Greek dγs – ʼʼbadʼʼ, plastos – ʼʼformedʼʼ). Its structure is shapeless and irregular. Individuals of this type are characterized by various physique deformations (for example, excessive growth).
The identified types do not depend on a person’s height and thinness. We are talking about proportions, not absolute body sizes. There may be fat leptosomatics, frail athletes and thin picnics.
The majority of patients with schizophrenia, according to E. Kretschmer, are leptosomatic, although there are also athletes. Picnics form the largest group among patients with cyclophrenia (manic-depressive psychosis) (Fig. 5.2.). Athletes, who are less prone to mental illness than others, show some tendency towards epilepsy.
German psychiatrist and psychologist, creator of a typology of temperaments based on body features
Biography
In 1906 he began studying philosophy, world history, literature and art history in Tübingen, but after two semesters he changed his specialization and began to study medicine, first in Munich, where he was particularly influenced by the psychiatric studies of Emil Kraepelin, then during an internship at a hospital "Eppendorf" in Hamburg and Tübingen, with Robert Eugen Gaupp, under whose leadership he prepared and defended his doctoral dissertation in 1914 on the topic "The development of delirium and the manic-depressive symptom complex."
Upon entering military service, he was involved in organizing the neurological department of the military hospital in Bad Margentheim. In 1918, he moved to Tübingen, where he worked as a privatdozent, at which time he published his work “Der sensitive Beziehungswahn” (“Der sensitive Beziehungswahn”, B., 1918), which Karl Jaspers praised as “close to genius” . In 1926, Kretschmer was invited as a full professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Marburg. From 1946 to 1959 he worked as professor and director of the Neurological Clinic at the University of Tübingen. After transferring the clinic to his students, Kretschmer organized his own laboratory of constitutional and occupational psychology, which he directed until his death.
Contribution to science
Among Kretschmer’s publications (there are more than 150), works on the relationship between physique and character occupy a special place. In the early 20s, he experienced a special creative upsurge, and at that time his main work appeared, which brought him worldwide fame - “Body structure and character” (“K?rperbau und Charakter”, 1921 (24. Aufl., 1964; Russian translation “Body structure and character”, 2nd ed., M.-L., 1930)). Here, an examination of about 200 patients was described - based on many calculations of the ratio of body parts, Kretschmer identified the main types of body strain (clearly defined - leptosomal, or psychosomatic, picnic, athletic, and less defined - dysplastic). He correlated these body types with the mental illnesses described by Kraepelin - manic-depressive psychosis and schizophrenia, and it turned out that there is a certain connection: people with a pyknic type of constitution are more prone to manic-depressive psychosis, and people with a leptosomal type are more prone to schizophrenia.
He further made the assumption that the same characteristics of temperament that are leading in mental disorders can be found, only with less severity, in healthy individuals. The difference between illness and health, according to Kretschmer, is only quantitative: any type of temperament is characterized by psychotic, psychopathic and healthy variants of mental makeup. Each of the main psychotic diseases corresponds to a certain form of psychopathy, as well as a certain temperament of a healthy person.
The most predisposed to mental illness are picnics and psychosomatics. Cyclothymic character, when excessively expressed, can reach, through an already abnormal cycloid variation of character, manic-depressive psychosis. With the schizothymic form of temperament, in case of deviation from the norm, schizoidia occurs, which is transformed, when painful symptoms increase, into schizophrenia.
The main ideologist of constitutional typology was the German psychiatrist E. Kretschmer (1995), who published a work in 1921 entitled “Body Structure and Character.” He noticed that each of the two types of diseases - manic-depressive (circular) psychosis and schizophrenia - corresponds to a certain body type. He argued that body type determines the mental characteristics of people and their predisposition to corresponding mental illnesses. Numerous clinical observations prompted E. Kretschmer to undertake systematic research into the structure of the human body. By taking many measurements of different parts of the body.
E. Kretschmer identified four constitutional types:
1. Leptosomatic(Greek leptos - fragile, soma - body). It has a cylindrical body shape, a fragile build, tall stature, a flat chest, an elongated face, and an egg-shaped head. The long thin nose and undeveloped lower jaw form the so-called angular profile. The shoulders of a leptosomatic person are narrow, the lower limbs are long, the bones and muscles are thin. E. Kretschmer called individuals with extreme expression of these characteristics asthenics (Greek astenos - weak).
2. Picnic(Greek pyknos - thick, dense). He has rich adipose tissue, excessive obesity, small or medium height, a bloated torso, a large belly, a round head on a short neck. Relatively large body parameters (head, chest and abdomen) with narrow shoulders give the body a barrel-shaped shape. People of this type tend to stoop.
3. Athletic(Greek athlon - fight, fight). He has good muscles, a strong physique, tall or medium height, a wide shoulder girdle and narrow hips, making the frontal appearance of the body form a trapezoid. The fat layer is not expressed. The face has the shape of an elongated egg, the lower jaw is well developed.
4. Dysplastic(Greek dys - bad, plastas - formed). Its structure is shapeless and irregular. Individuals of this type are characterized by various physique deformations (for example, excessive growth).
The identified types do not depend on a person’s height and thinness. We are talking about proportions, not absolute body sizes. There may be fat leptosomatics, frail athletes and thin picnics.
The majority of patients with schizophrenia, according to E. Kretschmer, are leptosomatic, although there are also athletes. Picnics form the largest group among patients with cyclophrenia (manic-depressive psychosis) (Fig. 3.2). Athletes, who are less prone to mental illness than others, show some tendency towards epilepsy.
E. Kretschmer suggested a relationship between physique and psyche also in healthy people. He argued that healthy people carry within themselves the germ of mental illnesses and have a certain predisposition to them - Hence, people with one or another body type develop mental properties similar to those that are characteristic of the corresponding mental illnesses, but in a less pronounced form.
Depending on the propensity for different emotional reactions, E. Kretschmer identified two large groups of people. The emotional life of some is characterized by a diadetic scale (i.e., their characteristic moods are located on a scale whose poles are “cheerful-sad”). This group of people has a cyclothymic type of temperament. The emotional life of other people is characterized by a psycho-aesthetic scale (“sensitive - emotionally dull, inexcitable”). These people have a schizothymic temperament.
Schizothymia (the name comes from schizophrenia) has a leptosomatic or asthenic physique. In case of mental disorder, a predisposition to schizophrenia is detected. Closed, prone to fluctuations in emotions from irritation to dryness, stubborn, difficult to change attitudes and views. Has difficulty adapting to the environment, prone to abstraction.
Cyclothymic (the name comes from circular, or manic-depressive psychosis) is the opposite of schizothymic. Has a picnic build. If there is a mental disorder, it reveals a predisposition to manic-depressive psychosis. Emotions fluctuate between joy and sadness, easily contacts the environment, and is realistic in his views.
E. Kretschmer explained the connection between body type and certain mental properties or, in extreme cases, mental illness by the fact that both body type and temperament have the same reason; they are determined by the activity of the endocrine glands and the associated chemical composition blood and thus depend primarily on certain characteristics of the hormonal system.
The basis of Sheldon's views, whose typology is close to Kretschmer's concept, is the assumption that the structure of the body determines temperament, which is its function. But this dependence is masked by the great complexity of our body and psyche, and therefore the disclosure of the connection between the physical and mental requires the identification of such physical and mental properties that reveal this dependence to the greatest extent.
W. Sheldon proceeded from the hypothesis of the existence of basic body types, which he described using specially developed photographic equipment and complex anthropometric measurements. Evaluating each of the 17 dimensions he identified on a seven-point scale, W. Sheldon came to the concept of somatotype (body type), which can be described using three main parameters. Borrowing terms from embryology, he named these parameters as follows: endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy. Depending on the predominance of any parameter (a score of 1 point corresponds to the minimum intensity, 7 points to the maximum) W. Sheldon identifies the following body types:
1. Endomorphic type(7-1 -1). The name of the type is given based on the fact that predominantly internal organs are formed from the endoderm, and in people of this type their excessive development is observed. The physique is relatively weak, with excess adipose tissue.
2. Mesomorphic type(1-7-1). The mesomorphic type has a well-developed muscular system, which is formed from the mesoderm. A slender, strong body, which is the opposite of the baggy and flabby body of an endomorph. The mesomorphic type has great mental stability and strength.
3. Ectomorphic type(1-1-7). Skin and nervous tissue develop from the ectoderm. The body is fragile and thin, the chest is flattened. Relatively weak development of internal organs and physique. The limbs are long, thin, with weak muscles. The nervous system and feelings are relatively easily excitable.
If individual parameters have the same severity, W. Sheldon classifies this individual as a mixed (average) type.
Eysenck (1916 1997), using factor analysis, created a four-level hierarchical model of personality. Eysenck suggested that the lower level is the level of specific actions or thoughts. It can be quite random and does not indicate personality traits. The second level is the level of habitual actions or thoughts. This level is more diagnostic of the personality as a whole. The third level is personality traits. Eysenck defined a trait as “an important, relatively permanent personal characteristic.” A trait is a bundle of interconnected habitual reactions. This level approximately coincides with the 35 primary features in Cattell’s concept. The fourth, highest level is the level of types. A type is formed from several interconnected traits. In fact, types in Eysenck's concept are the results of factorization of primary traits.
Factor Extraversion/Introversion (E) includes sociability, liveliness, impulsiveness, optimism, activity, dominance, self-confidence, carelessness, courage on the positive pole. The negative pole of this factor includes isolation, pessimism, passivity, self-doubt, thoughtfulness, and good control over behavior. Eysenck believed that the main reason for the difference between extroverts and introverts is the different level of excitability of the cerebral cortex. Because extroverts have a lower level, they are less sensitive to sensory stimulation. Extroverts seek out exciting experiences to increase arousal, while introverts, on the other hand, try to avoid situations that may cause too much arousal. It can be predicted that extroverts will enjoy activities such as driving fast, skydiving, traveling, and using stimulants. Introverts, on the other hand, will prefer quiet activities such as reading, quiet walks, etc.
The Neuroticism/Stability (N) factor on the positive pole includes high anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, a tendency to strong reactions to stress, and frequent pain of a psychogenic nature. At the negative pole of this factor is low anxiety, high self-esteem, and resistance to stress.
The Psychoticism/Super-Ego (P) factor includes, at the positive pole, egocentrism, emotional coldness, aggressiveness, hostility towards others, suspicion and often a tendency towards antisocial behavior. Negative pole
This factor describes the tendency to cooperate with other people, prosocial moral standards, and the desire to care.
Since, as stated above, G. Eysenck’s factors are independent, personality as a whole can be described only by taking into account the contribution of all three factors. Thus, the personality of a person, schematically presented in Fig. 75, is characterized by a high level of extraversion, a high level of emotional stability and a strong superego. In other words, this is an active, sociable person, not inclined to worry about trifles, with high self-esteem and strong moral principles.
18. Character. Basic components of character. Structure, content and form of character.
Character in the narrow sense of the word is defined as a set of stable properties of an individual, which express the ways of his behavior and methods of emotional response.
With this definition of character, its properties, as well as the properties of temperament, can be attributed to the formal-dynamic features of behavior. However, in the first case, these properties, if possible,
expressed, are extremely formal, but in the second they bear signs of somewhat greater content, formality. So, for the motor sphere, adjectives describing temperament will be “fast”, “agile”, “sharp”, “sluggish”, and character qualities will be “collected”, “organized”, “neat”, “lax”. To characterize the emotional sphere in the case of temperament, words such as “lively”, “impulsive”, “hot-tempered”, “sensitive” are used, and in the case of character - “good-natured”, “closed”, “distrustful”. However, as already mentioned, the boundary separating temperament and character is quite arbitrary. It is much more important to understand more deeply the difference between character and personality (in the narrow sense).
Let's look at how these concepts are used in everyday speech. First of all, let's pay attention to how different the sets of adjectives that are used to describe personality and character are. They speak of a personality as “high”, “outstanding”, “creative”, “gray”, “criminal”, etc. In relation to character, adjectives such as “heavy”, “cruel”, “iron”, “soft” are used. , "golden". After all, we do not say “high character” or “soft personality”.
Thus, an analysis of everyday terminology shows that there are different formations. But the following considerations are even more convincing of this: when assessments of the character and personality of the same person are given, then these assessments can not only coincide, but also be opposite in sign.
Let us recall, for example, the personalities of outstanding people. The question arises: Are there any great men of bad character known to history? Yes, as much as you like. There is an opinion that F. M. Dostoevsky had a difficult character, and I. P. Pavlov had a very “cool” character. However, this did not stop both of them from becoming outstanding personalities. This means that character and personality are far from the same thing.
In this regard, one statement by P. B. Gannushkin is interesting. Stating the fact that high talent is often combined with psychopathy, he writes that for the assessment of creative individuals, their character flaws do not matter. "History," he writes,
interests only creation and mainly those of its elements that are not personal, individual, but general, enduring in nature."
So, the “creation” of a person is primarily an expression of his personality. Descendants use the results of the personality, not the character. But it is not descendants who confront a person’s character, but the people immediately around him: family and friends, friends, colleagues. They bear the burden of his character. For them, unlike descendants, a person’s character can become, and often becomes, more significant than his personality.
If we try to very briefly express the essence of the differences between character and personality, we can say that character traits reflect what How a person acts, and personality traits are what for what he acts. At the same time, it is obvious that the methods of behavior and the orientation of the individual are relatively independent: using the same methods, you can achieve different goals and, conversely, strive for the same goal in different ways.
However, first I will dwell on the question of varying degrees of character expression.
Almost all authors emphasized that character can be more or less expressed. Imagine an axis on which the intensity of character manifestations is depicted. Then the following three zones will be indicated on it (Fig. 14): the zone of absolutely “normal” characters, the zone of expressed characters (they are called accentuations) and a zone of strong character deviations, or psychopathy. The first and second zones refer to the norm (in a broad sense), the third - to the pathology of character. Accordingly, character accentuations are considered as extreme variants of the norm. They, in turn, are divided into obvious And hidden accentuations.
The distinction between pathological and normal characters, including accentuations, is very important. On one side of the line separating the second and third zones are individuals subject to the care of psychology, on the other - minor psychiatry. Of course, this “line” is blurred. Nevertheless, there are criteria that allow it to be approximately localized on the character intensity axis. There are three such criteria, and they are known as criteria for psychopathy Gannushkina - Kerbikova.
Character can be considered pathological, that is, regarded as psychopathy if he relatively stable in time, that is, it changes little throughout life. This first the sign, according to A.E. Lichko, is well illustrated by the saying: “As in the cradle, so in the grave.”
Second sign - totality of manifestations character: with psychopathy, the same character traits are found everywhere: at home, at work, on vacation, among friends and among strangers, in short, in any circumstances. If a person, let’s say, is alone at home and another “in public,” then he is not a psychopath.
| № | Type of character accentuation according to the classification of A.E. Lichko | Type of accentuated personality according to K. Leonhard (1968). Comparison carried out by V.V. Yustitsky (1977) | Type of accentuated personality according to K. Leonhard (1976). The comparison was carried out by the research group of A.E. Lichko |
| Schizoid | Introverted | Introverted | |
| Hyperthymic | - | Hyperthymic | |
| Hysterical | Demonstrative | Demonstrative | |
| Cycloid | - | Affectively labile | |
| Psychasthenic | Super punctual | Pedantic | |
| Unstable | Weak-willed | - | |
| Labile | Hyperactive Emotive | Affective-exalted Emotive | |
| Sensitive | timid | Anxious (fearful) | |
| Asthenoneurotic | Unconcentrated (neurasthenic) | - | |
| Epileptoid | Rigid affective Uncontrollable | Excitable | |
| Conformal | extroverted | - | |
| Labile cycloid | Labile | - | |
| Conformally hyperthymic | - | Extroverted | |
| - | - | Stuck | |
| - | - | Dysthymic |
21.Typologies of character (K. Horney, E. Fromm).
In her book Our Inner Conflicts (1945), Horney divided her list of ten needs into three main categories. Each of the categories represents a strategy for optimizing interpersonal relationships in order to achieve a sense of security in the world around us. In other words, their effect is to reduce anxiety and achieve a more or less acceptable life. In addition, each strategy is accompanied by a certain basic orientation in relationships with other people. People-oriented: compliant type. People orientation involves a style of interaction characterized by dependence, indecisiveness, and helplessness. The person Horney classifies as the compliant type is driven by the irrational belief: “If I yield, I will not be touched” (Horney, 1937, p. 97). The compliant type needs to be needed, loved, protected and led. Such people enter into relationships with the sole purpose of avoiding feelings of loneliness, helplessness, or uselessness. However, their politeness may mask a repressed need to behave aggressively. Although such a person seems to be embarrassed in the presence of others and keeps a low profile, this behavior often hides hostility, anger, and rage. Orientation from people: isolated type. Orientation from people as a strategy for optimizing interpersonal relationships is found in those individuals who adhere to the defensive attitude: “I don’t care.” Such people, whom Horney classifies as the detached type, are guided by the mistaken belief: “If I withdraw, I will be all right” (Horney, 1937, p. 99). The isolated type is characterized by the attitude of not allowing oneself to be carried away in any way, whether it is a love affair, work or leisure. As a result, they lose true interest in people, get used to superficial pleasures - they simply go through life dispassionately. This strategy is characterized by a desire for privacy, independence and self-sufficiency. Orientation against people: hostile type. Anti-people orientation is a style of behavior characterized by dominance, hostility and exploitation. The hostile person acts from the illusory belief: “I have power, no one can touch me” (Horney, 1973, p. 98). The hostile type holds the view that all other people are aggressive and that life is a struggle against everyone. Therefore, he considers any situation or relationship from the position: “What will I get from this? ", regardless of what we are talking about - money, prestige, contacts or ideas. Horney noted that the hostile type is capable of acting tactfully and friendly, but his behavior is ultimately always aimed at gaining control and power over others. Everything is aimed at increasing one’s own prestige, status or satisfying personal ambitions. Thus, this strategy expresses the need to exploit others and gain social recognition and admiration. Like all 10 neurotic needs, each of the three interpersonal strategies is designed to reduce feelings of anxiety caused by social influences in childhood. From Horney's point of view, these are fundamental strategies in interpersonal relationships that each of us uses at some time. Moreover, according to Horney, all these three strategies are in a state of conflict with each other in both a healthy and a neurotic personality. However, in healthy people this conflict does not carry such a strong emotional charge as in patients with neuroses. A healthy person is characterized by great flexibility, he is able to change strategies according to circumstances. And the neurotic is unable to make the right choice between these three strategies when he solves problems that confront him or builds relationships with others. He uses only one of three coping strategies, whether it is suitable in this case or not. It follows from this that a neurotic person, compared to a healthy person, behaves less flexibly and is not as effective in solving life problems.
Fromm identified five social character types that prevail in modern societies (Fromm, 1947). These social types, or forms of establishing relationships with others, represent the interaction of existential needs and the social context in which people live. Fromm divided them into two large classes: unproductive (unhealthy) and productive (healthy) types. The category of unproductive ones includes receptive, exploiting, accumulating and market types of character. The category of productive represents the type of ideal mental health in Fromm’s understanding. Fromm noted that none of these character types exists in a pure form, since unproductive and productive qualities are combined in different people in different proportions. Consequently, the influence of a given social character type on mental health or illness depends on the ratio of positive and negative traits manifested in the individual. 1. Receptive types are convinced that the source of everything good in life is outside of themselves. They are openly dependent and passive, unable to do anything without help, and think that their main task in life is to be loved rather than to love. Receptive individuals can be characterized as passive, trusting and sentimental. In extremes, people with a receptive orientation can be optimistic and idealistic. 2. Exploitative types take whatever they need or dream of through force or ingenuity. They, too, are incapable of creativity, and therefore achieve love, possession, ideas and emotions by borrowing all this from others. The negative traits of an exploitative character are aggressiveness, arrogance and self-confidence, self-centeredness and a tendency to seduce. Positive qualities include self-confidence, self-esteem and impulsiveness. 3. Accumulating types try to possess as much material wealth, power and love as possible; they strive to avoid any attempts on their savings. Unlike the first two types, “hoarders” gravitate toward the past and are scared off by everything new. They resemble Freud's anal-retentive personality: rigid, suspicious and stubborn. According to Fromm, they also have some positive characteristics - prudence, loyalty and restraint. 4. The market type is based on the belief that personality is valued as a commodity that can be sold or profitably exchanged. These people are interested in maintaining a good appearance, meeting the right people, and are willing to demonstrate any personality trait that would increase their chances of success in selling themselves to potential clients. Their relationships with others are superficial, their motto is “I am what you want me to be” (Fromm, 1947, p. 73). In addition to being extremely aloof, market orientation can be described by the following key personality traits: opportunistic, aimless, tactless, unscrupulous, and empty-handed. Their positive qualities are openness, curiosity and generosity. Fromm viewed the “market” personality as a product of modern capitalist society, formed in the USA and Western European countries. 5. In contrast to unproductive orientation, productive character represents, from Fromm’s point of view, the ultimate goal in human development. This type is independent, honest, calm, loving, creative and performs socially useful actions. Fromm's work shows that he viewed this orientation as a response to the contradictions of human existence inherent in society (Fromm, 1955, 1968). It reveals a person’s ability for productive logical thinking, love and work. Through productive thinking, people learn who they are and therefore free themselves from self-deception. The power of productive love enables people to passionately love all life on Earth (biophilia). Fromm defined biophilia in terms of caring, responsibility, respect, and knowledge. Finally, productive work provides the ability to produce the necessities of life through creative self-expression. The result of the implementation of all the above forces, which are characteristic of all people, is a mature and holistic character structure.
22. The concept of personality. Levels of personality functioning.
In modern psychology, there are seven main approaches to the study of personality. Each approach has its own theory, its own ideas about the properties and structure of personality, and its own methods for measuring them. That is why we can only offer the following schematic definition: personality is a multidimensional and multi-level system of psychological characteristics that provide individual originality, temporary and situational stability of human behavior.
· Personality is a multidimensional and multi-level system of psychological characteristics that provide individual originality, temporary and situational stability of human behavior.
Personality theory is a set of hypotheses or assumptions about the nature and mechanisms of personality development. Personality theory tries not only to explain, but also to predict human behavior (Kjell A., Ziegler D., 1997). The main questions that personality theory must answer are:
1. What is the nature of the main sources of personality development - congenital or acquired?
2. Which age period is most important for personality formation?
3. What processes are dominant in the personality structure - conscious (rational) or unconscious (irrational)?
4. Does a person have free will, and to what extent does a person exercise control over his behavior?
5. Is a person’s personal (inner) world subjective, or is the inner world objective and can be identified using objective methods?
Each psychologist adheres to certain answers to the questions posed above. In the science of personality, seven fairly stable combinations of such answers, or personality theories, have emerged. There are psychodynamic, analytical, humanistic, cognitive, behavioral, activity and dispositional theories of personality.
There are three levels of analysis of personality as a psychological formation: the properties of individual “elements” of personality, components (“blocks”) of personality and properties of the entire personality. The relationship between personality traits and blocks of all three levels is called personality structure. Some theories, and sometimes different authors within the same theory, pay attention not to all levels, but only to one of them. The names of personality elements and blocks vary greatly. Individual properties are often called characteristics, traits, dispositions, character traits, qualities, dimensions, factors, personality scales, and blocks are called components, spheres, instances, aspects, substructures.
Each theory allows you to build one or more structural models of personality. Most models are speculative, and only a few, mostly dispositional, are constructed using modern mathematical methods.
Let's look at each approach in more detail. At the end of the presentation of each theory, we will try to give a more detailed definition of personality within each approach and answer the following question: “Why are some people more aggressive than others?”
23. Psychodynamic theory of personality .
The founder of the psychodynamic theory of personality, also known as “classical psychoanalysis,” is the Austrian scientist Z. Freud.
According to Freud, the main source of personality development is innate biological factors (instincts), or rather, general biological energy - libido(from lat. libido- attraction, desire). This energy is aimed, firstly, at procreation (sexual attraction) and, secondly, at destruction (aggressive attraction) (Freud Z., 1989). Personality is formed during the first six years of life. The unconscious dominates in the personality structure. Sexual and aggressive drives, which make up the main part of libido, are not recognized by a person.
Freud argued that the individual has no free will. Human behavior is completely determined by his sexual and aggressive motives, which he called the id (it). As for the inner world of the individual, within the framework of this approach it is completely subjective. A person is captive of his own inner world; the true content of the motive is hidden behind the “façade” of behavior. And only slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, dreams, as well as special methods can provide more or less accurate information about a person’s personality.
The basic psychological properties of individual “elements” of personality are often called character traits (Freud 3., 1989). These properties are formed in a person in early childhood.
In the first, so-called “oral” phase of development (from birth to 1.5 years), a sharp and rude refusal of the mother to breastfeed the child forms in the child such psychological properties as mistrust, hyper-independence and hyperactivity, and vice versa, long-term feeding (more than 1 .5 years) can lead to the formation of a trusting, passive and dependent personality. In the second (from 1.5 to 3 years), “anal” phase, rough punishment of a child in the process of learning toilet skills gives rise to “anal” character traits - greed, cleanliness, punctuality. A permissive attitude of parents towards teaching a child toilet skills can lead to the formation of an unpunctual, generous and even creative personality.
At the third, “phallic”, most important stage of child development (from 3 to 6 years), the formation of the “Oedipus complex” in boys and the “Electra complex” in girls occurs. The Oedipus complex is expressed in the fact that the boy hates his father because he interrupts his first erotic attractions to the opposite sex (to his mother). Hence the aggressive character, law-abiding behavior associated with rejection of family and social norms, which the father symbolizes. The Electra complex (craving for the father and rejection of the mother) creates alienation in girls in the relationship between daughter and mother.
Freud identifies three main conceptual blocks, or levels of personality:
1) eid(“it”) - the main structure of the personality, consisting of a set of unconscious (sexual and aggressive) impulses; The id functions according to the pleasure principle;
2) ego(“I”) - a set of cognitive and executive functions of the psyche that are predominantly conscious by a person, representing, in a broad sense, all our knowledge about the real world; the ego is a structure that is designed to serve the id, functions in accordance with the principle of reality and regulates the process of interaction between the id and the superego and acts as an arena for the ongoing struggle between them;
3) superego(“super-ego”) - a structure containing social norms, attitudes, and moral values of the society in which a person lives.
The id, ego and superego are in constant struggle for psychic energy due to the limited volume of libido. Strong conflicts can lead a person to psychological problems and diseases. To relieve the tension of these conflicts, the individual develops special “defense mechanisms” that function unconsciously and hide the true content of the motives of behavior. Defense mechanisms are integral properties of the individual. Here are some of them: repression (translation into the subconscious of thoughts and feelings that cause suffering); projection (the process by which a person attributes his own unacceptable thoughts and feelings to other people, thus placing blame on them for his own shortcomings or failures); substitution (redirecting aggression from a more threatening object to a less threatening one); reactive education (suppression of unacceptable impulses and replacing them in behavior with opposite impulses); sublimation (replacing unacceptable sexual or aggressive impulses with socially acceptable forms of behavior for the purpose of adaptation). Each person has his own set of defense mechanisms formed in childhood.
Thus, within the framework of psychodynamic theory, personality is a system of sexual and aggressive motives, on the one hand, and defense mechanisms, on the other, and the structure of personality is an individually different ratio of individual properties, individual blocks (instances) and defense mechanisms.
To the control question “Why are some people more aggressive than others?” within the framework of the theory of classical psychoanalysis, one can answer as follows: because human nature itself contains aggressive drives, and the structures of the ego and superego are not developed enough to resist them.
· Libido is general biological energy.
Related information.
Attempts to construct a typology of characters have been made repeatedly throughout the history of psychology. One of the most famous and early was the one that was proposed by the German psychiatrist and psychologist E. Kretschmer at the beginning of our century. Somewhat later, a similar attempt was made by his American colleague W. Sheldon, and today by E. Fromm, K. Leongard, A. E. Lichko and a number of other scientists.
All typologies of human characters were based on a number of general ideas. The main ones are the following:
1. A person’s character is formed quite early in ontogenesis and throughout the rest of his life it manifests itself as more or less stable.
2. Those combinations of personality traits that make up a person’s character are not random. They form clearly distinguishable types that make it possible to identify and build a typology of characters.
Most people, according to this typology, can be divided into groups.
Typology according to E. Kretschmer and A.E. Lichko
E. Kretschmer identified and described the three most common types of human body structure or constitution: asthenic. athletic and picnic. He associated each of them with a special type of character:
The asthenic type, according to Kretschmer, is characterized by a small body thickness in profile with average or above average height. An asthenic person is usually a thin and thin person, who, because of his thinness, seems somewhat taller than he actually is. An asthenic person has thin skin of the face and body, narrow shoulders, thin arms, an elongated and flat chest with underdeveloped muscles and weak fat accumulations. This is basically the characteristic of asthenic men. Women of this type, in addition, are often short.
The athletic type is characterized by a highly developed skeleton and muscles. Such a person is usually of medium or tall height, with broad shoulders and a powerful chest. He has a dense, high head.
The picnic type is distinguished by highly developed internal body cavities (head, chest, abdomen), a tendency to obesity with underdeveloped muscles and the musculoskeletal system. Such a person is of average height with a short neck sitting between the shoulders.
He associated each of them with a special type of character. The type of body structure, as was shown by Kretschmer and partly confirmed by the latest research in the field of psychogenetics, in a certain way correlates with a tendency to mental illness. For example, manic-depressive psychosis most often affects people with extremely pronounced picnic features. Asthenics and athletes are more prone to schizophrenic diseases. Although Kretschmer's typology was constructed speculatively, it contained a number of vitally true observations. Subsequently, it was indeed discovered that people with a certain type of body structure have a tendency to diseases that are accompanied by accentuations of the corresponding character traits.
Later classifications of characters were based mainly on the description of these accentuations. One of these classifications of character types belongs to the domestic psychiatrist A.E. Lichko.
Accentuation of character, according to Lichko, is an excessive strengthening of individual character traits, in which deviations in human psychology and behavior that do not go beyond the norm are observed, bordering on pathology. Such accentuations as temporary mental states are most often observed in adolescence and early adolescence. The author of the classification explains this fact as follows: “Under the influence of psychogenic factors that address the “place of least resistance,” temporary adaptation disorders and deviations in behavior may occur.” As a child grows up, the characteristics of his character that appeared in childhood remain quite pronounced, lose their severity, but with age they can again clearly appear (especially if a disease occurs).
The above classification of characters proposed by A.E. Lichko should be treated in the same way as the classification. E. Kretschmer. It is also built on the basis of observational results and their generalization and in this sense is not scientifically accurate.
KRETCHMER ERNST.
Ernst Kretschmer was born on October 8, 1888 in Wüstenroth near Heilbronn (Germany). In 1906, he began studying philosophy, world history and art history at the University of Tübingen, but soon changed his specialization and studied medicine in Munich, including attending classes in psychiatry taught by E. Kraepelin. Kretschmer also interned at the Eppendorf hospital in Hamburg and in Tübingen with R. Gaupp, under the patronage of the latter he defended his doctoral dissertation in 1914 on the topic “The development of delirium and the manic-depressive symptom complex.”
With the outbreak of the First World War, Kretschmer was in military service at the neurological department of a military hospital. In 1918 he became a privatdozent at the University of Tübingen; publishes the work “Sensitive Delusions of Attitude,” which was highly appreciated by Karl Jaspers. In 1926 he was invited to become a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Marburg. In 1946-1959 He holds the position of Director of the Neurological Clinic at the University of Tübingen.
Ernst Kretschmer died on February 9, 1964 in Tübingen, until the last days of his life directing the laboratory of constitutional and labor psychology he created.
The main focus of Kretschmer's work can be defined as a comprehensive study of physical morphology, i.e. structural features of the human body. The predecessors of this author, who began the study of physical morphology by considering individual areas of the human body in their connection with the characteristics of the psyche, were Travaglino, Verschuer, Friedemann, Kerper, Lederer and others.
In particular, Kretschmer himself mentions in his main work “Body Structure and Character” that the connection between mental phenomena and conditions with the racial characteristics of people, with the structure of the hands, as well as with age differences was examined separately.
The thought that forced Kretschmer to take up such a global consideration of the connection between physicality and psyche was the following: is it possible to “distinguish, when studying the forms of body structure, only ... fat and thin”, singling out people with average, i.e., as an intermediate class between them. e. athletic build. With such a division, after numerous studies and comparisons, it turns out that all three groups of individuals who fit the main categories of “fatness” or “thinness” differ significantly from each other in biological indicators, for example, in the characteristics of neuropsychic reactions, the endocrine system, the state of the skeleton and even the shape of the head. For example, people prone to obesity always have problems with metabolism, those with an average build have coarser skeletal bones, and asthenic individuals are most often endowed with an egg-shaped face.
Having examined many comparative tables, Kretschmer came to the conclusion that the entire mass of studied individuals can be divided into two types: schizothymic and cyclothymic. Moreover, both groups act as a kind of deviation from the norm, which is the so-called picnic, i.e. a person with an average build. With the presence of a person’s predisposition to one or another group, the psychologist also associates a kind of causally determined mental picture with physiology, unambiguously linking the cyclothymic body type with a predisposition to cyclic mental illnesses, and the schizothymic type with schizoid forms of manifestation of mental pathology.
Kretschmer sees the presence of a predisposition to a particular body type (and, accordingly, to a particular mental illness) in heredity, i.e. in the physical and mental state of the older generations of the family. Here it is necessary to say a few words about why it was the possibility of mental illness and the presence of their symptoms that interested psychologists and psychiatrists of the 19th century so strongly and vividly.
When industrial production reached a fairly high level of development in the era of capitalism, science was faced with the problem of studying the physical and mental state of not only workers, but also those who are now commonly called the middle class. The psyche of the wealthy bourgeoisie, left to their own devices due to secure leisure and the absence of the need to work to feed themselves and their families, turned out to be more than fertile ground for the development in its depths of numerous neuroses and psychoses. This phenomenon has spread so widely that it has necessitated the development of psychiatry and more and more increasing the number of doctors who can provide all possible assistance to those suffering from nervous ailments.
However, let's return to Kretschmer's teaching. In his main book, the psychologist came to the conclusion that it is quite possible to assume the presence of a number of diseases in individuals with a certain body structure. Thus, for schizothymic subjects, he considered schizophrenia, periodic paranoia and paraphrenia to be the most likely. For the cyclothymic body type, the classic version of dementia and manic-depressive psychosis, as well as a tendency to depression, are more typical.
A very interesting observation is the idea that representatives of the proletariat and peasantry, i.e. people whose whole day is occupied with physical labor are overwhelmingly asthenic, i.e. They are thin, have long faces, pronounced aggressiveness and a quick mind. At the same time, obese subjects are more often good-natured, their reactions are slow, their faces are round, they are more likely to go bald. Indeed, already in ancient times, observant people noticed a connection between human character and physiology. Here are some examples Kretschmer himself gives: a person prone to intrigue often slouches and coughs, an old woman with an evil eye has a bird-like face, a vulgar and drunkard is most often fat and red-nosed, a woman from the common people is short, round, with wide hips, and the aristocrat is tall, thin and narrow-boned. Thus, if even centuries-old observations of people with each other show the existence of such a connection between the body and character, then scientific data cannot but confirm this. After all, it is quite likely that the images that are deposited in the memory of the people can become objective evidence of actual phenomena and patterns.
In order to support his conclusions with the results of research by psychiatrists, Kretschmer borrowed from Kraepelin the division of all mental illnesses into two main groups: circular, or manic-depressive, and schizoid. On their basis, Kretschmer imposed his own division of physiological characteristics into cyclothymic and schizothymic, resulting in a rather harmonious system, confirmed by data from studies of real mental patients. The psychologist believed that body structure types not only correspond to both psychiatric types, but also have a closer connection with psychological types that are considered normal, also associated with heredity.
Kretschmer built in his book “Body Structure and Character” a truly grandiose diagram of the human bodily constitution according to the following parameters:
1. Face and skull.
2. Body structure.
3. Body surface.
4. Glands and viscera.
5. Dimensions.
6. Time of onset of mental disorder.
7. Summary of physical status.
8. Personality type.
9. Heredity.
The scientist suggested that the use of the created classification will make it possible to quickly obtain more accurate data regarding the confirmed correspondence of physiological and psychological characteristics, as well as to greatly simplify and facilitate the compilation of catalogs for each of the diseases presented.
Based on the data collected during clinical studies using the table above, Kretschmer collected a huge archive of data, on the basis of which he made the following conclusions: over the past few years (his contemporary era), in Germany, representatives of four types were most often identified, the definitions of which were borrowed from French psychiatrist colleagues (cerebral, respiratory, muscular and digestive types). The last two types closely approximate what has been defined by scientists as the athletic and picnic types of constitution. However, many of the positions of French scientists regarding the first two types were criticized, in particular, for reflecting in them the idea of racial superiority (for example, in relation to the second type, there was an opinion that nationalities and individuals with a highly developed lower jaw are closer to ours prehistoric ancestors - gorillas, which indicates poor mental development, a tendency towards immorality and criminal behavior). The third type was interpreted in the same way, which was considered uniquely an indicator of enlightenment and civilization, high spirituality due to the particularly large size of the head.
In contrast to such one-sided conclusions, Kretschmer came up with an idea that changed the entire essence of the approach to physical morphology: the type presented in the classification covers the entire person as a whole, his body and psyche, even his social connections, therefore unambiguous statements are possible only when the all natural relationships between body type and complex mental phenomena and characteristics of a given particular organism. At the same time, the proposed types are not ideal and have the opportunity to be constantly improved, remaining a basic program for the researcher.
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