What about special abilities. Capabilities. General and special abilities

Ability and personality.

Development of abilities in younger students.

What are abilities

One of the most complex and interesting problems in psychology is the problem of individual differences. It is difficult to name at least one property, quality, trait of a person that would not be included in the circle of this problem. Mental properties and qualities of people are formed in life, in the process of education, upbringing, activity. With the same educational programs and teaching methods, we see individual characteristics in everyone. And that's great. That's why people are so interesting because they are different.

The central point in the individual characteristics of a person is his abilities, it is the abilities that determine the formation of the personality and determine the degree of brightness of its individuality.

Capabilities- these are the internal conditions for the development of a person, which are formed in the process of his interaction with the outside world.

“Human abilities that distinguish a person from other living beings constitute his nature, but the very nature of a person is a product of history,” wrote S.L. Rubinstein. Human nature is formed and changed in the process of historical development as a result of human labor activity. Intellectual abilities were formed as, by changing nature, a person cognized it, artistic, musical, etc. were formed along with the development of various types of art” 1 .

The concept of "ability" includes three main features:

First of all, abilities are understood as individual psychological characteristics that distinguish one person from another. These are features of sensations and perception, memory, thinking, imagination, emotions and will, relationships and motor reactions, etc.

Secondly, abilities are not called individual characteristics in general, but only those that are related to the success of performing an activity or many activities. There is a huge variety of activities and relationships, each of which requires certain abilities for its implementation at a sufficiently high level. Properties such as irascibility, lethargy, indifference, which are undoubtedly the individual characteristics of people, are usually not called abilities, because they are not considered as conditions for the success of any activity.

Thirdly, abilities are understood as such individual features that are not limited to the available skills, abilities or knowledge of a person, but which can explain the ease and speed of acquiring this knowledge and skills 2 .

Based on the above, the following definition can be derived.

Abilities are such individual psychological characteristics of a person that meet the requirements of this activity and are a condition for its successful implementation.

In other words, abilities are understood as properties, or qualities, of a person that make him suitable for the successful performance of a certain activity. You can't just be "capable" or "capable of everything", regardless of any particular occupation. Every ability is necessarily the ability to something, to any activity. Abilities both manifest themselves and develop only in action.

1 Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology: In 2 vols. - M., 1989. - T. 2. -S. 127.

2 See: Warm B.M. Selected works: In 2 volumes - M., 1985. - V.1. - C.16.ness, and determine the greater or lesser success in the implementation of this activity.

Indicators of abilities in the process of their development can be the pace, ease of assimilation and speed of advancement in a particular area of ​​human activity.

A person is not born with the ability for this or that activity. Only inclinations that form the natural basis for the development of abilities can be innate.

Inclinations are structural features of the brain and nervous system, sense organs and movements, functional features of the body, given to everyone from birth.

The inclinations include some innate features of the visual and auditory analyzers, typological properties of the nervous system, on which the speed of formation of temporary nerve connections, their strength, the strength of concentrated attention, the endurance of the nervous system, and mental performance depend. The level of development and correlation of the first and second signal systems should also be considered as inclinations. I.P. Pavlov distinguished three specifically human types of higher nervous activity: artistic type with the relative predominance of the first signal system, thinking type with the relative predominance of the second signal system, third type - with relative balance of signaling systems. For people of the artistic type, the brightness of direct impressions, the imagery of perception and memory, the richness and liveliness of the imagination, and emotionality are characteristic. Thinking type people tend to analyze and systematize, to generalized, abstract thinking.

Individual features of the structure of individual sections of the cerebral cortex can also be inclinations. But inclinations are only prerequisites for the development of abilities, they are one, albeit very important, of the conditions for the development and formation of abilities. If a person, even with the best inclinations, does not engage in relevant activities, his abilities will not develop. A favorable environment, upbringing and training contribute to the early awakening of inclinations. For example, from the age of two, Rimsky-Korsakov could clearly distinguish all the melodies that his mother sang, at the age of four he already sang everything that his father played, soon he himself began to pick up the pieces he heard from his father on the piano. Igor Grabar tells about himself: “When a passion for drawing began, I don’t remember, but suffice it to say that I don’t remember myself not drawing.

Ability cannot arise without a corresponding specific activity. It is impossible to understand the matter in such a way that the ability exists before the corresponding activity has begun, and is only used in the latter. Absolute pitch as an ability does not exist in a child before he first faced the task of recognizing the pitch of a sound. Prior to this, there was only a deposit as an anatomical and physiological fact. And a subtle ear for music can be unrealized if a person does not specifically study music. Therefore, music lessons with young children, even if the kids do not show bright musical talents, are of great importance for the development of their musical abilities.

Abilities are not only manifested in activity, but are also created in this activity. They are always the result of development. By its very essence, ability is a dynamic concept - it exists only in motion, only in development.

The development of abilities takes place in a spiral: the realization of the possibilities that the ability of one level represents opens up new opportunities for further development, for the development of abilities of a higher level (S.L. Rubinshtein).

Thus, the child's abilities are formed gradually by mastering him in the process of learning the content of material and spiritual culture, technology, science, and art. The initial prerequisite for this development of abilities is innate inclinations (we note that the concepts of "innate" and "hereditary" are not identical).

It should not be thought that each ability corresponds to a special deposit. The inclinations are ambiguous and can be realized in various types of abilities; on their basis, different abilities can be developed depending on how a person’s life goes, what he learns, what he is inclined to. Inclinations can, to a greater or lesser extent, determine the originality of a person's development, the style of his intellectual or other activity.

It is impossible to indicate in advance the exact boundaries in the development of certain abilities, to determine the "ceiling", the limit of their development. This is due to the fact that any activity requires for its implementation not one, but several abilities, and they can, to a certain extent, compensate, replace each other. Learning and mastering what has been created by mankind throughout the history of its existence, we develop our natural qualities, our inclinations, and turn them into abilities for activity. Every person is capable of something. Abilities develop in a person as he masters some activity, field of knowledge, academic subject.

A person's abilities develop and work out on what he does. One can cite as an example P.I. Tchaikovsky. He did not have an absolute pitch, the composer himself complained of a poor musical memory, he played the piano fluently, but not so well, although he had been playing music since childhood. Composer activity P.I. Tchaikovsky first took up, having already graduated from the School of Law. And despite this, he became a brilliant composer.

There are two levels of ability development: reproductive and creative. A person who is at the first level of development of abilities reveals a high ability to master a skill, acquire knowledge, master an activity and carry it out according to the proposed model, in accordance with the proposed idea. At the second level of development of abilities, a person creates a new, original.

In the process of mastering knowledge and skills, in the process of activity, a person "transfers" from one level to another. Accordingly, the structure of his abilities also changes. As you know, even very gifted people began with imitation, and then, only as they gained experience, they showed creativity.

“Scientists have established that it is not individual abilities as such that directly determine the possibility of successfully performing any activity, but only that peculiar combination of these abilities that characterizes a given person.

One of the most important features of the human psyche is the possibility of an extremely wide compensation of some properties by others, as a result of which the relative weakness of any one ability does not at all exclude the possibility of successfully performing even such an activity that is most closely related to this ability. The missing ability can be compensated within very wide limits by others highly developed in the given person. B.M. Teplov emphasized the importance of the advancement and development by a number of foreign psychologists, and primarily by V. Stern, of the concept of compensation for abilities and properties.

Separate abilities do not just coexist with each other. Each ability changes, acquires a qualitatively different character, depending on the presence and degree of development of other abilities. L.S. Vygotsky wrote: “Each of our ‘ability’ actually works in such a complex whole that, taken by itself, it does not even give an approximate idea of ​​the real possibilities of its action. A person with a weak memory when we study it in isolation may turn out to be better at remembering than a person with a good memory, simply by virtue of the fact that memory never appears on its own, but always in close cooperation with attention, general attitude, thinking - and the combined effect of these various abilities may turn out to be completely independent of the absolute value of each of the terms" 1 .

A peculiar combination of abilities that provides a person with the opportunity to successfully perform any activity is called giftedness.

The problem of giftedness is primarily a qualitative problem (S.L. Rubinshtein). The first, main question is what are the abilities of a person, what are his abilities for and what is their qualitative originality. But this qualitative problem also has its quantitative aspect.

A high level of development of abilities is called talent.

Talented people are able to solve complex theoretical and practical problems in some field of knowledge or practice, they are able to create material or spiritual values ​​that are new and have progressive significance. In this sense, we are talking about talented scientists, writers, teachers, artists, designers, managers, etc.

Talent can manifest itself in any human activity, and not just in the field of science or art. The attending physician, and the teacher, and the skilled worker, and the head, and the farmer, and pilot, etc.

1 Vygotsky L. S. Pedagogical psychology. - M., 1991. - S. 231. Talented people are also called those who are able to quickly acquire knowledge and correctly apply them in life and in their activities. These are talented pupils and talented students, talented violinists and pianists, talented engineers and builders.

Genius- this is the highest degree of manifestation of the creative forces of man. This is the creation of qualitatively new creations that open a new era in the development of culture, science, and practice. So, A.S. Pushkin created works, with the appearance of which a new era begins in the development of Russian literature and the Russian literary language.

We can say this: a genius discovers and creates something new, and talent understands this new thing, quickly assimilates it, applies it to life and moves it forward.

Brilliant and talented people are people with a very developed mind, observation, imagination. M. Gorky remarked: "Great people are those who have better, deeper, sharper developed abilities of observation, comparison and conjecture - guesswork and" estimates "".

Creative activity requires the so-called broad outlook, familiarity with many areas of knowledge and culture. Anyone who is "up to his ears" immersed in a narrow scientific field deprives himself of a source of analogies.

Many outstanding people showed high abilities in various fields of knowledge. Many of them were versatile in their abilities. For example, Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, M.V. Lomonosov. Here is what Sofia Kovalevskaya wrote about herself: “I understand that you are so surprised that I can study literature and mathematics at the same time. Many who have never had a chance to learn more about mathematics confuse it with arithmetic and consider it a dry and barren science. In essence, however, this is a science that requires the most imagination, and one of the first mathematicians of our century says quite rightly that one cannot be a mathematician without being at the same time a poet at heart. Only, of course, in order to understand the correctness of this definition, one must abandon the old prejudice that a poet must compose something that does not exist, that fantasy and fiction are one and the same. It seems to me that a poet must see what others do not see, to see deeper than others. And so should a mathematician.” 3.2. General and special capabilities

Distinguish abilities general, that appear everywhere or in many areas of knowledge and activity, and special, that appear in one area.

A fairly high level of development general abilities - features of thinking, attention, memory, perception, speech, mental activity, curiosity, creative imagination, etc. - allows you to achieve significant results in various areas of human activity with intensive, interested work. There are almost no people in whom all the abilities listed above are evenly expressed. For example, Ch. Darwin noted: "I surpass average people in the ability to notice things that easily escape attention, and subject them to careful observation."

Special abilities - these are the abilities for a certain activity that help a person achieve high results in it. The main difference between people is not so much in the degree of giftedness and quantitative characteristics of abilities, but in their quality - what exactly is he capable of, what are these abilities. The quality of abilities determines the originality and originality of the giftedness of each person.

Both general and special abilities are inextricably linked with each other. Only the unity of general and special abilities reflects the true nature of a person's abilities. V.G. Belinsky subtly remarked: “No matter how you split life, it is always one and whole. They say: for science you need mind and reason, for creativity - fantasy, and they think that this has decided the matter completely ... But art does not need mind and reason? Can a scientist do without fantasy?

Special abilities have developed in the course of the development of human society and human culture. “All the special abilities of a person are, after all, various manifestations, aspects of his general ability to master the achievements of human culture and its further advancement,” noted S.L. Rubinstein. - A person's abilities are manifestations, aspects of his ability to learn and work.

1 Rubinshtein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. - M., 1946. - P.643. The development of the special abilities of each person is nothing more than an expression of the individual path of his development.

Special abilities are classified in accordance with various areas of human activity: literary abilities, mathematical, constructive and technical, musical, artistic, linguistic, stage, pedagogical, sports, abilities for theoretical and practical activities, spiritual abilities, etc. All of them are a product of the prevailing in the history of mankind, the division of labor, the emergence of new areas of culture and the allocation of new activities as independent activities. All kinds of special abilities are the result of the development of the material and spiritual culture of mankind and the development of man himself as a thinking and active being.

The abilities of each person are quite wide and varied. As already noted, they both manifest themselves and develop in activity. Any human activity is a complex phenomenon. Its success cannot be ensured by only one ability, each special ability includes a number of components, which in their combination, unity form the structure of this ability. Success in any activity is ensured by a special combination of various components that make up the structure of abilities. Influencing each other, these components give the ability individuality, originality. That is why each person is capable, talented in his own way in the activity in which other people work. For example, one musician may be talented in playing the violin, another in the piano, and a third in conducting, showing his individual creative style in these special areas of music.

The development of special abilities is a complex and lengthy process. Different special abilities are characterized by different time of their revealing. Earlier than others, talents in the field of arts, and above all in music, are manifested. It has been established that at the age of up to 5 years, the development of musical abilities occurs most favorably, since it is at this time that a child’s ear for music and musical memory are formed. Examples of early musical talent are V.A. Mozart, who discovered extraordinary abilities already at the age of 3, F.J. Haydn - at 4 years old, Ya.L.F. Mendelssohn - at 5 years old, S.S. Prokofiev - at the age of 8. Somewhat later, abilities for painting and sculpture are manifested: S. Raphael - at 8 years old, B. Michelangelo - at 13 years old, A. Dürer - at 15 years old.

Technical abilities are revealed, as a rule, later than abilities in the field of arts. This is explained by the fact that technical activity, technical invention require a very high development of higher mental functions, primarily thinking, which is formed at a later age - adolescence. However, the famous Pascal made a technical invention at the age of 9, but this is one of the rare exceptions. At the same time, elementary technical abilities can be manifested in children as early as 9-11 years old.

In the field of scientific creativity, abilities are revealed much later than in other areas of activity, as a rule, after 20 years. At the same time, mathematical abilities are detected earlier than others.

It must be remembered that any creative abilities in themselves do not turn into creative accomplishments. In order to get a result, you need knowledge and experience, work and patience, will and desire, you need a powerful motivational basis for creativity.

3.3. Abilities and personality

Capabilities cannot be understood and cannot be considered outside the personality. The development of abilities and the development of personality are interdependent processes. This is what psychologists pay attention to, emphasizing that “the development of ability gives not only a practical effect, improving the quality of activity, but also a personal effect of satisfaction from its process, which, acting as a reinforcement, turns out to be, in turn, a condition of ability” (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya).

Success or failure in an activity that is significant for a person affects the development of his personality, forms his personal dignity. Without the development of abilities, there can be no development of personality. Abilities underlie the individuality, uniqueness of a person. Genius and talent are expressed not only in the strong development of the intellect. A sign of high abilities and giftedness is sustained attention, emotional ! passion, strong will. All brilliant people were distinguished by ardent love and passion for their work. So, A.V. Suvorov was all devoted to military affairs, A.S. Pushkin - poetry, I.P. Pavlov - science, K.E. Tsiolkovsky - to the study of interplanetary space flights.

A passionate attitude to work contributes to the concentration of all cognitive, creative, emotional and volitional forces.

It is wrong to think that capable people everything comes easily, without much effort. As a rule, the people whom we call talented have the ability for one activity or another always combined with industriousness. Many talented scientists, writers, artists, teachers and other figures emphasized that talent is work multiplied by patience. The great scientist A. Einstein once said in a joking manner that he achieved success only because he was distinguished by "stubbornness of a mule and terrible curiosity." M. Gorky said about himself: "I know that I owe my success not so much to natural talent as to the ability to work, love of work."

In the development of a person's abilities, his own work on oneself. The life of famous people shows that the most important thing in their creative activity is the ability to work continuously, the ability to achieve the intended goal for months, years, decades, and tirelessly look for ways to achieve it.

Let us recall the life and work of the great Russian commander A.V. Suvorov. His brilliant abilities developed not only in the process of active military activity, but also as a result of his own hard work on himself. Suvorov from childhood was fond of military affairs, read the descriptions of the campaigns of the great commanders of antiquity: Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar. By nature, he was a weak and sickly child. But from his youth, he himself managed to create what nature did not give him - health, endurance, iron will. He achieved all this by constant training and hardening of his body. Suvorov himself invented various gymnastic exercises for himself and constantly practiced them: doused himself with cold water all year round, swam and swam until frost, overcame the steepest ravines, climbed tall trees and, having climbed to the very top, swayed on the branches. At night, on a bare horse, he rode without roads through fields and forests. Constant physical exercises tempered Suvorov so much that even as a 70-year-old man he did not know fatigue.

The development of human abilities is closely related to the development of interests.

Interest is an individual feature of a person, its focus on what a person considers in the world and in his life to be the most significant, most valuable.

Distinguish direct and mediated interest. The first is related to the amusement, fascination, pleasantness of what aroused our interest. For example, we are talking about an interesting performance, a meeting with an interesting person, an interesting lecture, etc. This interest is manifested mainly in involuntary attention and is very short lived.

The second is mediated by our conscious desire to learn more and more about an object, person, phenomenon. This interest is arbitrary, i.e. we express our will, our desire to penetrate deeper into the essence of what interests us. The mediation of interest is expressed in a more or less long-term, stable orientation of the individual to a certain subject, to a certain area of ​​reality and life, to a certain activity. It is the presence of such an interest that constitutes an individual feature of a person.

People's interests differ primarily in content, which is determined by those objects or areas of reality to which these interests are directed.

People's interests differ by latitude. Narrow interests are considered to be directed only to one limited area of ​​reality, wide and versatile - aimed at several areas of reality. At the same time, in a person with diverse interests, usually some interest is central, main.

The same interests in different people are manifested with different by force. Strong interest is often associated with strong feelings and manifests itself as a passion. It connects with such personal qualities as perseverance, endurance, stamina, patience.

The interests of this or that force differ from person to person according to sustainability or by degree of persistence.

Interest as an individual feature of a person covers the entire human psyche. It is the interests to a large extent that determine many of the traits of his character and determine the development of his abilities.

Interest is manifested in a person's tendency to engage in activities primarily related to the subject of interest, in the constant experience of pleasant feelings caused by this subject, as well as in the tendency to constantly talk about this subject and about matters related to it.

inclination It is expressed in the fact that a person, at his own request, intensively and constantly engages in a certain type of activity, prefers it to others, and associates his life plans with this activity. Most of the researchers involved in this problem define propensity as a focus on the corresponding activity or need for activity (N.S. Leites, A.G. Kovalev, V.N. Myasishchev, A.V. Petrovsky, K.K. Platonov, S. L. Rubinshtein, B. M. Teplov, K. D. Ushinsky, G. N. Shchukina, etc.).

The development of abilities is primarily associated with an active positive attitude towards the relevant activity, interest in it, a tendency to engage in it, often turning into passion. Interests and inclinations for a certain activity usually develop in unity with the development of abilities for it.

The upbringing of creative abilities in children, schoolchildren, students is largely associated with the development of their personality: independence, enthusiasm, independence in judgments and assessments. High academic performance is not always combined with a high level of creative abilities. The scientists were able to identify the relationship between academic achievements, the level of students' abilities and the level of teacher's creative abilities.

If the teacher has a high creative potential, then gifted students achieve brilliant success, and students with less developed creative abilities are “in the pen”, their academic results are usually not great. If the teacher himself is somewhere at the bottom of the “creativity” scale, the success of students who are deprived of creative brilliance is higher than in the first case. And brightly gifted schoolchildren do not open up, do not realize their potential. The mentor, as it were, gives preference to psychological type, to which 1 itself belongs.

Teachers try to capture their experience in developing the creative potential of students in various types of rules. As an example, let's take the "10 Commandments" compiled by one teacher high school:

1. Disagree with the student's answer if the answer is simply confirmed and taken for granted. Require proof.

2. Never resolve a student dispute in the easiest way, ie. simply by telling them the right answer or the right way to solve it.

3. Listen carefully to your students, catch every thought they express, so as not to miss the opportunity to reveal something new to them.

4. Always remember - teaching should be based on the interests, motives and aspirations of students.

5. The class schedule and school bells should not be the determining factor in the educational process.

6. Respect your own "crazy ideas" and instill in others a taste for out-of-the-box thinking.

7. Never tell your student: "We don't have time to discuss your stupid idea."

8. Do not skimp on an encouraging word, a friendly smile, friendly encouragement.

9. In the learning process, there cannot be a permanent methodology and a once-for-all established program.

10. Repeat these commandments every night until they become part of you.

Ability is a psychological feature of a person and is not an innate quality, but is a product of development and formation in the process of any Activity. But they are based on congenital anatomical and physiological features - inclinations. Although abilities develop on the basis of inclinations, they are still not their function, inclinations are prerequisites for the development of abilities. Inclinations are considered as non-specific features of the nervous system and the organism as a whole, therefore, the existence of its own pre-prepared inclination for each ability is denied. On the basis of different inclinations, different abilities develop, which are equally manifested in the results of Activity.
Based on the same inclinations, different people can develop different abilities. Domestic psychologists talk about the inseparable connection of abilities with activity. Abilities always develop in Activity and represent an active process on the part of a person. Types of Activity in which abilities are formed are always concrete and historical.
Abilities is a concept that serves to describe, streamline the possibilities that determine a person's achievements. Abilities are preceded by skills that are their condition for acquisition in the learning process, frequent exercises and training. Achievements in Activity depend not only on abilities, but also on motivation, mental state.
General abilities are intellectual and creative abilities that find their manifestation in many different types of Activities.
Special abilities - are determined in relation to individual special areas of Activity.
Most often, the ratio of general and special abilities is analyzed as the ratio of the general and the special in the conditions and results of the Activity.
The abilities of people are divided into types, primarily according to the content and nature of the activity in which they find themselves. Distinguish between general and special abilities.
The general is called the ability of a person, which in one way or another is manifested in all types of its activity. These are the ability to learn, the general mental abilities of a person, his ability to work. They are based on the general skills required in each field of activity, in particular, such as the ability to understand tasks, plan and organize their execution using the means available in human experience, reveal the connections of those things to which the activity relates, master new methods of work, overcome difficulties on the way to the goal.
Under special understand abilities that are clearly manifested in separate, special areas of activity (for example, stage, musical, sports, etc.).
Permissions for general and special abilities are conditional. Actually, we are talking about general and special aspects in human abilities that exist in interconnection. General abilities are manifested in special, that is, in abilities for some specific, specific activity. With the development of special abilities, their general aspects also develop. High special abilities have in
based on a sufficient level of development of general abilities. Thus, high poetic, musical, artistic, technical and other abilities always rely on a high level of general mental abilities. At the same time, for approximately the same development of general abilities, people often differ in their special abilities. Students who have high general abilities to learning, they are often found equally in all school subjects. However, often one of the students turns out to be especially capable of drawing, the second - to music, the third - to technical design, the fourth - to sports. Among outstanding people, there are many personalities with a versatile development of general and special abilities (N. V. Gogol, F. Chopin, T. G. Shevchenko, Each ability has its own structure, it distinguishes between leading and auxiliary properties
There are specific ways of developing special abilities. For example, abilities to music, mathematics are shown earlier than others. There are the following levels of abilities:
1. Reproductive - provides a high ability to assimilate knowledge, master activities;
2. Creative - ensures the creation of a new, original. However, it should be taken into account that each reproductive activity has elements of creativity, and creative activity also includes reproductive activity, without which it is impossible.
A person's belonging to one of the three human types - "artistic", "thinking" and "intermediate" (in the terminology of IP Pavlov) - determines the features of her abilities.
The relative advantage of the first signal system in the mental activity of a person characterizes the artistic type, the relative advantage of the second signal system - mental, a certain balance - the average type of people. These differences in modern science are associated with the functions of the left (verbal-logical type) and right (figurative type) hemispheres of the brain.

• General abilities- these are the abilities that all people have, but developed by everyone to varying degrees (general motor, mental). It is they who determine success and achievements in many activities (sports, learning, teaching).
• Special abilities- these are abilities that are not found in everyone and for which, in most cases, certain inclinations are required (artistic, graphic, literary, acting, musical). Thanks to them, people achieve success in specific activities.

It should be noted that the presence of special abilities in a person can be harmoniously combined with the development of general ones, and vice versa.

Theoretical and practical

• Theoretical ability- these are the abilities that determine the inclination of the individual to abstract-logical thinking, as well as the ability to clearly set and successfully complete theoretical tasks.
• Practical Ability- these are abilities that are manifested in the ability to set and perform practical tasks related to specific actions in certain life situations.

Educational and creative

• Teaching ability- these are abilities that determine the success of training, the assimilation of knowledge, skills and abilities.
• Creative skills- these are abilities that determine the ability of a person to create objects of spiritual and material culture, as well as influencing the production of new ideas, making discoveries, etc.

Communicative and subject-activity

• Communication skills- these are abilities that include knowledge, skills and abilities related to communication and interaction with other people, interpersonal assessment and perception, establishing contacts, networking, finding a common language, disposition towards oneself and influencing people.
• Subject-activity abilities- these are abilities that determine the interaction of people with inanimate objects.

All types of abilities are complementary, and it is their combination that gives a person the opportunity to develop most fully and harmoniously. Abilities have an impact both on each other and on the success of a person in life, activity and communication.

In addition to the fact that the concept of “ability” is used to characterize a person in psychology, such terms as “genius”, “talent”, “giftedness” are also used, indicating more subtle nuances of the personality of a person.

• giftedness- this is the presence in a person from birth of inclinations for the best development of abilities.
• Talent- these are abilities that are revealed to the fullest extent through the acquisition of skills and experience.
• Genius- this is an unusually high level of development of any abilities.

As we mentioned above, a person's life outcome is very often related to his abilities and their application. And the results of the vast majority of people, unfortunately, leave much to be desired. Many people start looking for solutions to their problems somewhere outside, when the right solution is always inside a person. And you just have to look into yourself. If a person in his daily activities does not do what he has inclinations and predispositions, then the effect of this will be, to put it mildly, unsatisfactory. As one of the options to change things, you can use the exact definition of their abilities.

If, for example, you have an innate ability to lead and manage people, and you work as a goods receiver in a warehouse, then, of course, this occupation will not bring moral, emotional, or financial satisfaction, because you are doing something completely different deed. In this situation, some kind of managerial position is more suitable for you. You can start at least with a job as a middle manager. Innate Abilities to leadership with their systematic use and development will take you to a completely different level. Set aside time in your schedule to identify your inclinations and abilities, study yourself, try to understand what you really want to do and what will bring you pleasure. Based on the results obtained, it will already be possible to draw a conclusion on the topic in which direction it is necessary to move further.

To determine the abilities and inclinations, there is now great amount tests and methods. You can read more about abilities here.

An aptitude test will appear here soon.

Along with abilities, as one of the main personality traits, temperament can be distinguished.

Character

character called acquired in certain social conditions, ways of human interaction with the outside world and other people, constituting the type of his life.

In the process of communication between people, character is manifested in the manner of behavior, ways of responding to the actions and actions of others. Manners can be delicate and tactful or rude and unceremonious. This is due to the difference in the nature of people. People with the strongest or, conversely, the weakest character always stand out from the rest. People with a strong character, as a rule, are distinguished by perseverance, perseverance, and purposefulness. And weak-willed people are distinguished by weakness of will, unpredictability, randomness of actions. The character includes many features that modern experts divide into three groups: communicative, business, strong-willed.

Communicative traits - are manifested in a person's communication with others (isolation, sociability, responsiveness, anger, goodwill).

Business features - are manifested in everyday work activities (accuracy, conscientiousness, diligence, responsibility, laziness).

Volitional traits are directly related to the will of a person (purposefulness, perseverance, perseverance, lack of will, compliance).

There are also motivational and instrumental character traits.

Motivational traits - induce a person to action, guide and support his activity.

Instrumental features - give the behavior a certain style.

If you can get a clear idea of ​​the traits and characteristics of your character, this will allow you to understand the motivating force that guides your development and self-realization in life. This knowledge will allow you to determine which of your features are most developed and which need to be improved, as well as to understand through which features of yours you interact with the world and others to a greater extent. An in-depth understanding of yourself provides a unique opportunity to see how and why you react in this way to life situations and events, and what you need to cultivate in yourself so that your lifestyle becomes as productive and useful as possible and you can fully realize yourself. If you know the features of your character, its pros and cons, and begin to improve yourself, you will be able to respond in the best possible way in a given situation, you will know how to respond to harmful or beneficial influences, what to say to another person, responding to his actions and words .

Soon there will be a test to determine the traits of character.

One of the most important personality traits that have the most serious impact on the process of human life and its result is will.

Feel

Feel- These are mental processes that are mental reflections of individual states and properties of the external world, arising from direct impact on the sense organs, subjective perception of external and internal stimuli by a person with the participation of the nervous system. In psychology, sensations are usually understood as the process of reflecting various properties of objects in the surrounding world.

Feelings have the following properties:

• Modality is a qualitative indicator of sensations (for vision - color, saturation, for hearing - loudness, timbre, etc.);
• Intensity - a quantitative indicator of sensations;
• Duration is a temporal indicator of sensations;
• Localization is a spatial indicator.

There are several classifications of sensations. The first one belongs to Aristotle. They identified five basic senses: touch, hearing, sight, taste and smell. But in the 19th century, due to the increase in the types of sensations, the need arose for a more serious classification of them. To date, the following classifications exist:

• Wundt classification - depending on the mechanical, chemical and physical properties irritants;
• Sherrington classification - based on the location of the receptors: exteroceptive, interoceptive and proprioceptive sensations;
• Head's classification is based on origin: protopathic and epicritical sensitivity.

Read more about sensations in the Wikipedia article.

Perception

Perception is a cognitive process that forms a picture of the world in the subject. A mental operation that reflects an object or phenomenon that affects the receptors of the sense organs. Perception is the most complex function that determines the reception and transformation of information and forms the subjective image of the object for the subject. Through attention, the whole object is revealed, its special features and content are distinguished, and a sensual image is formed, i.e. comprehension takes place.

Perception is divided into four levels:

• Detection (perceptual action) - formation of an image;
• Discrimination (perceptual action) - the very perception of the image;
• Identification (identification action) - identification of an object with existing images;
• Identification (identifying action) is the categorization of an object.

Perception also has its own properties: structure, objectivity, apperception, selectivity, constancy, meaningfulness. Read more about perception here.

Memory

Memory is a mental function and a type of mental activity designed to store, accumulate and reproduce information. The ability to store data about the events of the surrounding world and the reactions of the body for a long period of time, and use it.

The following memory processes are distinguished:

• memorization;
• Storage;
• playback;
• Forgetting.

Memory is also divided into typologies:

• By sensory modality - visual, kinesthetic, sound, taste, pain;
• By content - emotional, figurative, motor;
• According to the organization of memorization - procedural, semantic, episodic;
• According to temporal characteristics - ultra-short-term, short-term, long-term;
• According to physiological characteristics - long-term and short-term;
• According to the availability of funds - unmediated and indirect;
• By the presence of a goal - involuntary and arbitrary;
• According to the level of development - verbal-logical, figurative, emotional and motor.

You will find methods and techniques for developing memory in a separate training on our website.

Thinking

In general psychology, there are many definitions of the process of thinking. According to one of the most popular definitions:

Thinking- this is the highest stage of human information processing and the process of establishing links between phenomena and objects of the external world.

It is the highest stage of human cognition, as a process of reflection in his brain of the surrounding reality.

Thinking is divided into:

• Abstract-logical;
• Visual-figurative;
• Specific subject;
• Visually effective.

And the main forms of thinking are:

• Concept - thoughts that single out and generalize phenomena and objects;
• Judgment is the denial or affirmation of something;
• Inference is a conclusion.

These and other components of the thought process are discussed in our training on logical thinking.

Speech

speech called a form of communication between people through language constructions. In this process, thoughts are formed and formulated with the help of language, as well as the perception of the received speech information and its understanding. Speech is a form of existence of human language, because speech is language in action.

Language (speech) performs the following functions:

• Intellectual activity tool;
• Way of communication;
• A way of existence, as well as the assimilation and transfer of experience.

Speech is the most important part of human activity, which contributes to the knowledge of the world, the transfer of knowledge and experience to others. Being a means of expressing thoughts, it is one of the main mechanisms of human thinking. It depends on the form of communication and, thus, is divided into oral (speaking/listening) and written (writing/reading).

Speech has the following properties:

• Content - the number and significance of expressed aspirations, feelings and thoughts;
• Clarity - correctness;
• Expressiveness - emotional coloring and richness of the language;
• Effectiveness - the impact on other people, their feelings, thoughts, emotions, etc.

You can read more about oral and written speech in our trainings on public speaking and writing skills.

Each person differs from others by a huge, truly inexhaustible number individual features, that is, the features inherent in him as an individual. The concept of "individual features" includes not only psychological, but also somatic ("soma" - in Latin "body") features of a person: eye and hair color, height and figure, development of the skeleton and muscles, etc.

An important individual feature of a person is the expression of his face. It manifests not only somatic, but also psychological characteristics of a person. When they say about a person: "he has a meaningful expression on his face, or" he has cunning eyes, "or" a stubborn mouth, "they mean, of course, not an anatomical feature, but an expression in facial expressions of the psychological characteristics characteristic of this individual.

Individual psychological characteristics distinguish one person from another. The branch of psychological science that studies the individual characteristics of various aspects of the personality and mental processes is called differential psychology.

The most common dynamic personality structure is a generalization of all its possible individual psychological characteristics into four groups that form the four main aspects of the personality:
1. Biologically determined features (temperament, inclinations, simple needs).
2. Socially determined features (orientation, moral qualities, worldview).
3. Individual characteristics of various mental processes.
4. Experience (volume and quality of existing knowledge, skills, abilities and habits).

Not all individual psychological characteristics of these aspects of the personality will be character traits. But all character traits, of course, are personality traits.

First of all, it must be said about the fundamental differences between character traits and common features, which were discussed above.

Team and its functions A team is an association of people created on the basis of common goals, aspirations, and tasks. The purpose of such social groups is to achieve a certain mission or perform specific functions.-

The collective as a constituent element of an organized society plays an important role. Its main functions are: Educational - the team regulates the behavior of all its members. Organizational - each team is a subject that manages its activities, and any process with proper organization becomes more efficient. Stimulating - the formation of moral incentives for socially useful deeds. Economic - a function of the team that allows you to combine labor activity, as a result of which cultural and material values ​​\u200b\u200bare arising.

Team structure

The formal structure of the group reflects the official distribution of service roles among the members of the team. This distribution is determined by the technology of production or the position of workers. A clear definition of the service functions of employees increases their personal responsibility, thereby ensuring the success of the entire enterprise as a whole.

At the same time, in addition to the roles determined by the staffing table, there are also roles associated with the production process itself, its needs for various activities. Workers who take on these roles are conditionally classified as follows:

- "idea generators" with non-standard, creative thinking;

- performers, having a reproductive mindset and being conscientious executors of other people's ideas and ideas;

Experts who are able to predict and calculate how the proposed idea will "work" - its pros and cons, possible consequences;

Critics, people with a special, critical mindset, often incapable of productive activity, but on the other hand, they identify negative moments and "bottlenecks" in the production process that other workers do not notice;

- "pea jesters" (a conditionally joking name) - some leaders recognize the need to have people in the team who are light, inoffensive, contactable, able to cheer up or defuse the conflict situation in the team.

The head reveals what type this or that employee belongs to and, accordingly, determines his place in the team. It is unproductive and unprofitable, for example, to use an "idea generator" in performing work, and vice versa, it is useless to reproach the "critic" - they say, it is always easier to criticize, but you try it, do it yourself, etc.

Interestingly, what role type should the leader, manager, manager belong to? Here the opinions of experts are divided. Some believe that the leader must be able to "play" all the roles. Others believe that only a person capable of performing a special, specific role - a "man-director" or "man-conductor" - can lead. That is, the task of the manager is the skillful and clear distribution of roles within the team, the organization of the performance by each employee of his official functions, as well as the control and evaluation of their performance.

The system of official and social functions of employees (formal structure) is the basis on which informal group structure.

The informal structure is a set of psychological connections and relationships that develop between people who are in direct contact with each other in the process of performing their production functions. These relationships are less stable than official ones, since they arise on the basis of personal, subjective perception of each other by people. However, for the people themselves, members of the collective, they are of great importance and have a strong psychological impact on them. The fact is that, depending on the nature of informal relations in the team, one or another moral and psychological climate(or microclimate).

The moral and psychological climate of the team determines the attitude of people to the work performed, as well as their attitude to each other. This is the emotional coloring of the psychological ties of the members of the team, arising on the basis of their relationships, likes or dislikes, differences in characters, inclinations and interests. Psychologists say that everyone contributes his own to the atmosphere of the team, and everyone inhales the common air. Indeed, the nature and state of the psychological climate of the entire team largely depends on each employee.

The psychological climate of the group can be different: benevolent and unfriendly, persistent and less stable, positive and negative, healthy and unhealthy.

A positive, stable, healthy and friendly microclimate in the team creates a feeling of psychological comfort and well-being in people, contributes to the preservation of life optimism, gives rise to a sense of satisfaction from their work.

The moral and psychological climate exists on two levels- at the level of the entire institution or enterprise and at the level of a small group of people who directly and constantly come into contact in the process of work. Both levels are important, but each in its own way. For example, the trouble that exists in a "large" team can be compensated to a certain extent by a good, friendly climate in the micro-collective. But it is unlikely that in this case people will be particularly active at the level of the entire team - at production meetings, at public work, in cultural events.

The moral and psychological climate of any team is determined by several parameters, among which the following play a special role:

1) leadership style, which is determined by the ratio of democracy and authoritarianism;

2) the style of relations in the group, which ranges from the most personally saturated to the most impersonal, formal, dry, bureaucratic. Measure is also important here, since one cannot build work on smiles and personal connections. Too much in this case begins to depend on personal likes and dislikes, the general level of organization and discipline decreases, the importance of the formal moments necessary in any business decreases;

3) degree of personal independence, those. the breadth of the sphere within which the employee has the opportunity to act and make decisions independently;

4) help and goodwill in relationships;

5) degree of tolerance tolerance for different points of view and opinions on issues of an official, and even more so non-productive nature;

6) actually applied scale of rewards and punishments, its flexibility and fairness, a positive impact on the motivational sphere of team members. For a person, it is very important not only how much he did and how much he received, but also the consciousness of the fairness of the assessment of his contribution to the common cause in comparison with the contribution and "reward" of colleagues at work.

The moral and psychological commonality of the team just ensures the coherence and cohesion that characterize a workable and creative team. They appear on three levels:

how unity of purpose;

how community of values;

how emotional communion, based on personal likes and dislikes.

A special form of manifestation of group cohesion can be conformism - the adoption by individuals of certain standards of behavior and assessments, subordination to group opinion. Conformism, on the one hand, makes it easier for the leader to manage the team: a conformist person tends to act "like everyone else" without entering into a dispute with the authorities and the team. But, on the other hand, the leader should not exaggerate the positive role of conformism, since it often prevents the use of new, non-standard solutions, prevents the team from finding its own original development path.

The informal structure of a group can be viewed in several ways.

1. The predisposition of group members to perform various "roles".

Being implemented in the personnel policy of a skilled leader in the form of positions, staffing, etc., it becomes the basis of the formal structure of the team, contributing to the optimization of the microclimate. At the same time, not being realized or being misinterpreted, this predisposition of people often becomes the cause of their discontent, irritability, envy, etc., which naturally leads to a state of psychological discomfort in the team.

In addition, due to the nature of the meetings are divided into the following types:

dictatorial - characteristic of an authoritarian type of management, when only the leader leads the meeting and has the actual right to vote, the rest of the participants are only given the opportunity to ask questions, but not to express their own opinion;

autocratic - based on the leader's questions to the participants and their answers to them, as a rule, there are no discussions, only dialogue is possible;

segregative - the report is discussed only by the participants chosen by the head, the rest listen and take into account the information presented;

debatable - free exchange of opinions and development of a common solution; the right to make a decision in the final wording remains with the head;

free - it does not adopt a clear agenda, sometimes there is no chairman, sometimes it ends with a decision, but basically it comes down to an exchange of views.

Gathering together, the participants of the meeting have the opportunity to express their point of view on the topics under discussion, to bring the information they have to all participants in the meeting, to discuss controversial issues, to consider alternative solutions. After all, it is not in vain that they say that truth is born in a dispute.

The meeting is one of the most important forms of management activity.

Meeting - a meeting, a meeting dedicated to the discussion of some special issue or several issues.

Within a particular organization, depending on the main task, the following types of meetings are distinguished:

§ operational;

§ instructive or informational;

§ problematic.

An operational meeting is held to obtain information about the current state of affairs for management, make operational decisions and control their use.

In the internal affairs department, an operational meeting is one of the forms of collective consideration of current issues of their activities that require prompt resolution.

An informational or briefing meeting is used to transfer service information. It is advisable to use them in the absence of time for written orders or if the leader wants to emotionally influence subordinates. If time permits, it is better to provide information in writing, as it takes less time to master it. In addition, the read information is absorbed better than the perceived by ear.

Problem meetings are meetings aimed at finding optimal solutions, bringing up economic problems for discussion, considering promising development issues, and discussing innovative projects.

The classification of meetings can be based on other criteria, for example, the frequency: scheduled, unscheduled. Psychologists have noticed that meetings held strictly on schedule with a predetermined date and hour are more productive. At the same time, it is recommended to schedule meetings for the first half of the working day.

verbal communication. Verbal communication is carried out with the help of words. Speech is considered a verbal means of communication. We can communicate through written or spoken language. speech activity divided into several types: speaking - listening and writing - reading. Both written and oral speech are expressed through language - a special system of signs. To learn how to communicate effectively and use verbal means of communication, you need not only to improve your speech, know the rules of the Russian language or learn foreign languages although it is certainly very important. In this regard, one of the main points is the ability to talk also in a psychological sense. Too often people have various psychological barriers or fear to establish contacts with other people. For successful interaction with society, they need to be identified and overcome in time. Language and its functions. Language acts as a tool for expressing people's thoughts and feelings. It is necessary for many aspects human life in society, which is expressed in the following functions: Communicative (interaction between people). Language is the main form of full-fledged communication of a person with his own kind. Accumulative. With the help of language, we can store and accumulate knowledge. If we consider a certain person, then these are his notebooks, notes, creative works. In the context of the global fiction and monuments of writing. Cognitive. With the help of language, a person can acquire knowledge contained in books, films, or the minds of other people. Constructive. With the help of language, it is easy to form thoughts, to clothe them in a material, clear and concrete form (either in the form of an oral verbal expression or in the form of a written one). Ethnic. Language allows you to unite peoples, communities and other groups of people. Emotional. With the help of language, one can express emotions and feelings, and here it is their direct expression with the help of words that is considered. But basically this function, of course, is performed by non-verbal means of communication.

Non-verbal communication. Non-verbal means of communication are necessary for people to be clear in understanding each other. Naturally, non-verbal manifestations concern only oral communication. Since the external non-verbal expression of emotions and feelings performed by the body is also a certain set of symbols and signs, it is often called "body language". "Body language" and its functions. Non-verbal expressions are very important in human interaction. Their main functions are as follows: Complementing the spoken message. If a person reports victory in some business, he may additionally throw his hands over his head in victory or even jump for joy. Repetition of what has been said. This enhances the oral message and its emotional component. So, when answering “Yes, this is so” or “No, I don’t agree”, you can repeat the meaning of the message also in a gesture: with a nod of the head or, conversely, by shaking from side to side as a sign of denial. An expression of the contradiction between word and deed. A person can say one thing, but feel completely different at the same time, for example, joking out loud and feeling sad in the shower. It is non-verbal means of communication that make it possible to understand this. Focus on something. Instead of the words "attention", "note", etc. you can show a gesture that attracts attention. So, a gesture with an extended index finger on a raised hand shows the importance of the text spoken at the same time. Word replacement. Sometimes some gestures or expressions of facial expressions can completely replace a certain text. When a person shrugged his shoulders or indicated a direction with his hand, it is no longer necessary to say “I don’t know” or “left-right”.

Conflict- this is the disagreement of the parties or the conscious behavior of one side in conflict with the other side. Conflicts are designed to help meet people's needs. In a conflict situation, each of the parties seeks to achieve its goal, solve its problems, approve and accept its point of view. In practice, this is often done by infringing on the interests of opponents and eliminating the positions of opponents. Conflict is the highest stage in the development of contradictions, it is the absence of agreement between two or more parties, which may be specific individuals or groups.

Reasons for conflicts:

• Resource allocation . R-s are always limited and the management must decide how to distribute them among the various groups in order to achieve the goals of the organization in the most efficient way. To allocate a larger share of resources to any one leader, subordinate, or group means that others will receive a smaller share of the total.
• Task Interdependence . The possibility of conflict exists wherever one person or group is dependent on another person or group for a task. Since all organizations are systems of interconnected elements, if one department or person does not work adequately, the interdependence of tasks can become a cause of conflict.
• Differences in purpose. Specialized units formulate their own goals and may pay more attention to their achievement than the goals of the entire organization.
• Differences in perceptions and values . The idea of ​​a situation depends on the desire to achieve a certain goal. Instead of assessing a situation objectively, people may consider only those views, alternatives, and aspects of the situation that they believe are favorable to their group and personal needs.
• Differences in behavior and life experiences . Differences in life experience, values, education, seniority, age and social characteristics reduce the degree of mutual understanding and cooperation between representatives of different departments.
• Poor communications . Poor communication is both a cause and a consequence of conflict. It can act as a catalyst for conflict, making it difficult for individuals or groups to understand the situation or the perspectives of others.

Types of conflicts

1. intrapersonal conflict . It can take various forms

o role conflict, when conflicting demands are made to one person about what the result of his work should be

o production requirements are not consistent with personal needs, interests, values,

o response to work overload or underload.

2. interpersonal conflict . The most common and manifests itself in different ways:

o management struggles to limit resources, capital or labor, time to use equipment, or project approval. This group includes the well-known conflicts between two candidates for promotion in the presence of one vacancy,

o clash of personalities. People with different personality traits, attitudes and values ​​are sometimes just not able to get along with each other.

3. Conflict between the individual and the group .

o if the expectations of the group are in conflict with the expectations of the individual,

o The leader may be forced to take disciplinary actions that may be unpopular in the eyes of subordinates.

4. Intergroup conflict theory .

o In organizations, there may be conflicts between formal and informal groups. Informal groups that believe that the leader is treating them unfairly can rally more strongly and try to "pay off" with him by a decrease in productivity or a conflict between the trade union and the administration.

1. Structural conflict resolution methods: