Socio-psychological characteristics of the individual, group, family

A socio-psychological characteristic is a set of certain socio-psychological phenomena that characterize the properties, characteristics and qualities of an individual, various social groups, groups, etc., caused either by factors of the social environment, its influence, or by factors of a psychological nature.

The formation and development of an individual, social groups, and collectives are influenced by relationships within groups and individuals with each other, activities, political situation, ideology, cultural heritage, religion, upbringing and much more.

Socio-psychological characteristics of personality

Personality is an individual with consciousness and activity, who has the opportunity to choose his own path and way of life. This choice depends on his innate and acquired personal characteristics, as well as psychological properties. The development of an individual as a member of society is influenced by his relationships that develop in the processes of consumption and production of various material goods.

The socio-psychological characteristics of personality and its formation depend on the political situation and ideology, the attitude of subjects in the social groups to which they belong. In the process of personal communication and interaction, there is a mutual influence of one subject of interaction on another, during which either a commonality in views and attitudes is formed, or it is not formed.

Also, in the process of functioning in social groups, the individual gradually acquires a certain authority, position, and plays a specific role. Equally important in personality formation are its physiological and anatomical characteristics, which have a huge impact on behavior, psyche, and susceptibility to the influence of circumstances or other people.

Social and psychological characteristics of personality according to Ananyev

Psychologist Ananyev argued that in order to correctly characterize an individual, a complete analysis of the situation in which he develops, his status and social position is necessary. If we assume that the subject’s personality is formed in the process of its activity, then this activity itself can only be carried out in a certain social situation. However, acting in this situation, any individual occupies a specific status, which can only be set by a system of social relations that has already developed. Such status is objective, but an individual’s awareness of it can be inadequate or adequate, passive or active.

Also, along with status, a person also occupies a specific position that characterizes the individual active side of his personal position in various social structures. Therefore, the personal position of an individual as a subjective active side of his status represents a certain system of relationships between the individual, the motives and attitudes that he follows in his ordinary activities, the values and goals towards which this very activity is directed. And the system itself is implemented through the roles inherent in the individual in certain social circumstances of development.

The socio-psychological characteristics of a person are a complex structure consisting of factors of the external and internal environment, which influence the formation of the individual in the process of his socialization, life activity and development.

Socio-psychological characteristics include not only certain specific mental processes and their combinations that appear in the process of activity, but also the properties of the psyche that characterize each person, her inclinations and interests, abilities, character and temperament.

There are absolutely no people with similar mental properties. Each subject differs from other people in a set of characteristics that, when combined, form the individual’s individuality.

The mental properties of individuals include significant and stable features. So, for example, if it is common for anyone to periodically experience irritation, this does not mean that irritability is a trait of his character.

A person does not receive mental properties in a ready-made version. All properties of an individual’s psyche (abilities, interests, character, inclinations) are developed throughout his life. Such features are to some extent stable, but this does not mean that they are immutable. There are no immutable mental properties. While an individual lives and develops, the properties of his psyche also change.

A socio-psychological characteristic is not innate. Only certain physiological and anatomical features are congenital. Features of an anatomical and physiological nature that form innate differences between subjects and are called inclinations. They are very important in the processes of formation and development of the individuality of individuals. However, one cannot assume that inclinations predetermine individuality. They are not the only and main factor determining individuality. Based on certain inclinations, various mental properties are formed depending on the living conditions of a person.

Pavlov divided the types of nervous activity into such characteristics as strength, balance and mobility. Strength determines the performance of brain cells (excitation and inhibition). Equilibrium determines the relationship between excitation and inhibition. Mobility characterizes the ability to change the processes of inhibition and excitation. Based on this, and depending on the combination of these signs, a typology of higher nervous activity has been developed.

It is the types of nervous activity that are the main characteristic of the subjective characteristics of the individual’s nervous system. Although the type of nervous activity is a congenital characteristic, this does not mean that it does not change during a person’s life, his upbringing and the influence of circumstances in the social environment. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between the types of higher nervous activity that are innate and those that have developed in the process of environmental conditions and upbringing.

The character and individuality, abilities and interests of a person are always determined by his life path. Only in the process of overcoming various difficulties does character and will develop; in the process of engaging in any type of activity, abilities and interests are formed.

The main thing in the process of formation of the individuality of the subject, his inclinations, interests and character is the worldview - the systematic views of individuals on the surrounding phenomena of society and nature.

Beliefs that are determined by the subject’s life path also directly influence the course of such a path, the subject’s activities and his way of life.

At an early age, the main thing in the formation of the characteristics of the human psyche is upbringing in the family, society and education. The socio-psychological characteristics of the individual include inclinations and interests that express the individual’s orientation. Interest is the tendency to pay attention to a certain object. Attention is the focus of consciousness at a specific moment on a specific object. The difference between interests and inclinations is that interest is directed towards a particular subject, while inclination is directed towards engaging in a particular type of activity.

The main thing in the formation of interests and inclinations of an individual are his needs. But not every need is capable of generating an interest characterized by stability, which expresses the individual’s orientation. For example, when a person is hungry, his need for food prevails and his main interest will be food, but such interest will be temporary until it is satisfied, i.e. it will not be a characteristic feature of the individual.

The most important reason for acquiring various knowledge and expanding one’s horizons is interest. When describing the orientation of individuals, first of all, you should pay attention to the breadth of interests and their content. The full development of individuals depends on the breadth of interests. However, this does not mean the absence of any one main interest.

Purposefulness and life path are determined by the central interest of the individual, which constitutes the core around which other interests are grouped and manifested. Another important characteristic of interest is its stability. In the absence of stability in interests, a person is not able to achieve great success in any field of activity.

Another characteristic feature of interests is their strength or effectiveness. Effective interest encourages a person to actively seek satisfaction and is formed into the strongest motive for activity.

The next socio-psychological characteristic of a person is giftedness and ability.

Ability is a mental property responsible for the successful performance of any activity or several types of activity. And the totality of inclinations that make up the natural condition for the development of abilities is called giftedness. The main significance among the inclinations are the signs that underlie the differences in types of nervous activity (mobility, strength, balance of the processes of inhibition and excitation). Consequently, an individual’s talent is closely related to the innate type of higher nervous activity of the individual.

Nervous processes that characterize the type of nervous activity that has developed as a result of development are the most important factor for understanding the physiological basis of abilities. Abilities, although they depend on inclinations, are still only a consequence of development. Their development is realized only in the process of such activities for which these abilities are necessary, as well as in the process of teaching this activity. The combination of abilities that provide the opportunity for creative manifestation in performing an activity is called talent for a given type of activity.

The next psychological characteristic is temperament. Since ancient times, and to this day, there has been a certain typological characteristic of temperament (sanguine, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic).

Temperament is the subjective characteristics of an individual, which are expressed in emotional excitability, a tendency to strong expression of feelings (for example, in gestures, facial expressions), and in mobility. Based on this: a sanguine person is characterized by weak feelings, but quickly arising, a choleric person - strong and quickly arising, a melancholic person - strong and slowly arising, a phlegmatic person - weak and slowly arising.

In addition, sanguine and choleric people are characterized by speed of movements and mobility, while phlegmatic and melancholic people are characterized by slow movements and mobility. The main features of temperament also depend on the properties of higher nervous activity described above. Temperament is characterized by stability throughout life. Each type of temperament has negative and positive manifestations. Therefore, in the process of life, a person needs to learn to “master” manifestations of temperament and subjugate them to himself.

The next socio-psychological characteristic is character. It means a set of basic properties of the human psyche that leave an imprint on all his actions and actions under various circumstances. Character traits are the properties of an individual’s psyche that make up character, for example, hard work, initiative, laziness, cowardice.

In relation to temperament, we cannot use the words “bad” or “good”, but we can say that a person knows how to control his temperament poorly or, conversely, well. In relation to character, such words are applicable. This means that character is directly expressed in behavior and actions.

The same way you can evaluate character traits. Some refer to positive, others to negative manifestations of character. Character is determined by goals and methods of achieving them, by the attitude that is experienced and expressed by feelings towards society, the world, and activities, depending on the individual’s worldview and his beliefs.

Maturity

Social maturity , the ability of a person living in society to take responsibility and make decisions.

A mature person is characterized by integrity of character, predictability, and positive behavior.

A mature person is always clearly aware of his goals and strives to achieve them, without violating the interests of other members of society. Such people evaluate themselves and the people around them extremely objectively and make decisions in accordance with the circumstances.

Achieving social maturity does not eliminate the need for other people . A mature person continues to learn new experiences, reconsider his views and work on himself throughout his life. But other people for him are advisers and interlocutors, and not teachers and mentors.

Social characteristics of personality

Despite the importance of the natural qualities of an individual, one should not forget that the essence of personality is social. An individual is not born a personality, he becomes one in the process of his socialization. The nature of the transformation of an individual into a personality directly depends on the society in which he lives.

The development and formation of personality is facilitated by its relationship with subjects who play various social roles, as well as the participation of the individual in such a repertoire. Depending on how many social roles an individual is able to reproduce, he may be less adapted to life or less. Therefore, the process of personal development often acts as the dynamics of mastering social roles.

There are two types of social roles: interpersonal and conventional. Standardized duties and rights, for example, father, boss, are conventional roles. Rights and responsibilities, the implementation of which depend on the personal characteristics of individuals, are called interpersonal roles.

Personal and business relationships have a greater influence on the formation of an individual’s personality. A person’s position in society, his duties and rights determine the status of the individual.

What types of statuses are there?

In a circle of acquaintances, you can introduce a person by listing some of his main social statuses. One of the most striking examples can be recalled how, in the Soviet film “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” Uncle Dzhabrail described his niece Ninochka to Comrade Saakhov - “a student, a Komsomol member, an athlete, and finally, she is simply beautiful!” There is a very wide range of statuses, obtained for completely different reasons. In sociology there are three main groups:

Innate status - this refers to the position a person is given at birth. This includes nationality, race, gender, religious denomination, and finally sexual orientation;
Acquired status is a position in society that a person was able to achieve using his own mental and physical abilities. For example, this could be the title of master of sports, or a leadership position at work. Social status of this type is achieved through one’s own efforts. Natural status, of course, can play an important role in this. However, there are cases when the position acquired at birth can act as an obstacle to achieving the goal. An example is the caste system in Indian society. It is extremely difficult for representatives of the lowest caste of Shudras to “break into the people”, because from time immemorial, people from this group have been engaged in the dirtiest work;
Prescribed status - a person acquires it regardless of his own desires or efforts, however, such status tends to change over time. For example, a child may be the third in the family, and until the birth of the fourth child, he will be considered the youngest. The same goes for age. A person grows up, and each age in society is prescribed its own model of behavior.

Social and psychological characteristics of the group

The behavior and psychology of an individual as a person directly depends on the social environment. And the social environment itself is a society in which all subjects are connected to each other in various numerous or not very stable associations, which are called groups.

A group is a number of subjects (at least two) that are involved in joint activities and have similar goals, motives, and tasks, interconnected by a certain systematic relationship.

A small group is a direct way of influence of society or large social groups on an individual. Such groups are medium-sized associations of subjects (no more than 30) that are engaged in a common action or business and are in relationships with each other. In such groups, each individual spends a huge part of his life, i.e. they are unique cells of society. Therefore, personality depends directly on the relationships that have developed in small groups. Examples of the most important groups in the process of development and formation of personality are: school class, family, team, friends, etc.

Groups are characterized by the psychological and behavioral community of members, which isolates and distinguishes the group, making the group a relatively autonomous and socio-psychological formation. Such a community can manifest itself in various ways, ranging from external (for example, common territory) to very deep internal (family members).

The boundary of psychological community is determined by the cohesion of the group. Group cohesion is one of the main and most significant socio-psychological characteristics of its level of development.

Groups differ in the structure and nature of the relationships that exist directly between its members, in size, in subjective composition, qualitative features of values, rules and norms of relationships that are shared by participants, interpersonal relationships, content and goals of activity. The composition of a group, which is characterized precisely by its members, is called composition. And size is the quantitative composition, i.e. composition is a quality composition.

The structure of interpersonal interaction and the exchange of personal and business information are called communication channels. An important point is the characteristics of verbal communication, the predominance of one or another communication style. For example, communication is expressed in the form of orders, suggestions (typical of work groups) or in the form of threats (family). This characterizes the characteristics of interactions in groups and can lead to the isolation of certain members, a reduction in communication, etc.

Another important characteristic of a group is the psychological climate of the group. The characteristic of the socio-psychological climate lies in the given moral and emotional tone of interpersonal interactions. There are also two more types of climate in teams. The first is the social climate, which is determined by the group members’ awareness of common goals and objectives. The second is the moral climate, determined by the morality of the group, values, and accepted norms.

The highest stage of group development is the collective, the characteristic features of which are manifested in activities and in interpersonal relationships.

Peculiarities

From a socio-psychological point of view, the personality has the following characteristic features:

is not only an object, but also a subject of social relations, since it has freedom of choice,
is unique because it has an individual set of social and psychological characteristics,
is formed under the influence of society (socialization process),
understands his attitude to various events, phenomena, social attitudes,
understands his needs, desires and goals,
strives for self-realization,
independently forms an opinion about members of society with whom he enters into various communications,
fully involved in relations with the surrounding reality,
engages in specific activities that allow one to satisfy material needs and occupy a certain place in society.

Social and psychological characteristics of the team

A team is a certain social group that has a high level of development, in which interpersonal relationships and interactions are determined by the personally significant and socially valuable content of their joint activities.

The team is an integral unity, which presupposes the presence of main components, substructures, and members that interact from within such an integral structure. The basic factor in establishing a psychological structure is its reflection in life as a whole. Substructures reflect various spheres of such life activity.

The characteristics of the socio-psychological climate are a certain set of phenomena that have a significant impact on the behavior of members of such a team and determine their interaction, climate, etc. Among such phenomena are: public opinion (social views, judgments, attitudes), public moods and social feelings, collective customs, traditions, habits, various phenomena that arise in the processes of interaction between subjects (mutual assessments and demands, authority). Group psychology significantly influences the behavior of individuals in a group.

Depending on how some members of the team express themselves in activity, cognition and communication, the nature of interpersonal relationships in the team is formed, collective norms of behavior and interests are formed, and a public judgment about such a team is formed (for example, friendly or not, quarrelsome, proactive, etc.) .d.). The main role in the development and formation of any team is given to communication. Thanks to communication, relationships in a team can be trusting or not, friendly, supportive of each other, etc.

Therefore, a separate point in the description of various groups is always the socio-psychological characteristics of communication. The most significant and basic socio-psychological characteristics of a team are its discipline, awareness, organization, activity and cohesion.

Discipline plays a role in regulating behavior in a team and ensuring consistency of actions within it. Informativeness determines one of the basic circumstances for the formation of consciousness in the behavior of an individual, corresponding to his goals and the state of the collective. Organization is manifested by the nature of the reactions of a particular team to changes in external circumstances and external information data.

Activity is an activity performed by an individual not out of necessity to fulfill his official duties, but as a free expression. Cohesion is a mental unification that connects absolutely all members of a team in the process of their joint activities and creates the integral unity of the entire team. Cohesion is influenced by the individual psychological compatibility of all participants.

The complexity of socio-psychological characteristics creates an idea of the internal state of the team, which has a name - the moral climate of the team. In order to assess the moral climate of the team, you can use information about staff turnover, labor productivity, quality and quantity of products produced, etc.

A favorable positive moral climate of the team is a prerequisite for performance and further development.

E. Erikson's theory of psychosocial development

E. Erikson argued that a person develops throughout his life.

From birth to death, it goes through 8 stages, each of which is accompanied by a certain crisis :

infancy (0-1 year),
early childhood (1-3 years),
childhood (3-6 years),
school age (6-12 years),
adolescence and youth (12-20 years),
early maturity (20-25 years),
middle age (25-65 years),
late maturity (after 65 years).

Every crisis can end well or negatively .

If a person successfully overcomes it, then he moves on to the next stage of life with good prerequisites for further personal development.

If the crisis is not overcome, then the transition to the next level still occurs, but unresolved problems at the new level remain with the person.

Social and psychological characteristics of the child

When compiling a socio-psychological profile of a child, certain phenomena of his interaction with the surrounding society in the process of activity are examined. Initially, attention is paid to the composition of the child’s family: complete or partial, socially prosperous or disadvantaged, wealth. Next, you need to pay attention to children’s performance at school (for students) or behavior in a group for preschool children, and the behavior of children in the family. It is imperative to conduct a conversation with parents and other relatives, educators and teachers in order to draw up an accurate description.

You should also definitely pay attention to the child’s health and the presence of hereditary, congenital or acquired diseases. Communication skills are assessed and their level of formation is studied. Here you need to look at the socio-psychological status in groups, evaluate the characteristics of social interactions, both with peers and with educators or teachers.

When psychologically characterizing young children, they evaluate speech, play, communication, self-image, the world, etc. The content of the activities of young children should be the assimilation of cultural methods of using objects. During this period, an adult becomes a role model for a child. Now the adult not only gives the child a certain object, but also shows exactly how to use it. Early age is characterized by intensive assimilation of methods of operating with objects. By the end of this period, the child should learn to use them. During this period, intelligence, the personal sphere, psychophysiological characteristics, and the specifics of interpersonal relationships are explored.

At primary school age, children develop certain formations - voluntary behavior. At this age, the child becomes more independent. He begins to absorb certain moral values and tries to follow specific rules and laws. Often this can be associated with selfish needs, for example, attracting attention and approval from adults. Thus, the behavior of younger schoolchildren comes down to one dominant property - the motive for achieving success. It is necessary to assess whether the child is able to make an adequate assessment of his actions, whether he is able to overcome his desires. At this age, the child tends to actively think about his actions and hide personal experiences.

The development of younger schoolchildren directly depends on their performance at school, their assessment by adults, personal relationships, and their social roles. Children at this age become very susceptible to outside influence.

Adolescence for children is characterized by a period of self-determination. Social, professional, personal, spiritual self-determination becomes the leading task of this age. The leading type of activity is educational and professional.

In adolescence, adolescents strive for self-esteem, the formation of personal identity, the discovery of their inner self in all its manifestations, in integrity and uniqueness.

The psychological characteristics of a child’s personality should include a study of the individual characteristics of the individual’s mental processes, type of temperament, basic character traits, interests and inclinations of children.

Types

In modern science, it is customary to distinguish the following social personality types from the point of view of value orientations inherent in individuals:

Traditionalists . For them, law-abidingness, diligence, discipline and responsibility come first. Similar traits are observed against the background of a lack of desire for self-realization and independence.
Idealists . They are the exact opposite of traditionalists. They strive to prove themselves and act in accordance with their own attitudes and principles. They do not recognize authorities and traditional views on issues.
Frustrated type . These people do not feel involved in public life or in making important public decisions. They are characterized by low self-esteem, a constant state of depression and passivity.
Realists .
Such individuals competently combine the desire for self-realization with an awareness of a sense of duty. They are able to rationally approach problems and objectively assess the proposed circumstances.
Hedonistic materialists. They are typical consumers who strive for immediate pleasures without thinking about the future. Their own desires always come first for them.

Personality types: