The concepts of "personality" and "individual" are widely used by people. However, not everyone understands how they differ from each other, so they often confuse them. The properties of the personality and the individual are studied by psychology.

The difference between personality and individual

If you want to understand how a person differs from an individual, you need to know the statement of the famous psychologist A.G. Asmolova: " An individual is born, a person becomes, individuality is defended". This saying speaks perfectly about the differences between the concepts of "personality" and "individual".

An individual is characterized by the uniqueness that a person receives from birth (skin color, hair, eyes, facial features, physique). According to this, all people are individuals: an unintelligent newborn, an aborigine of a primitive tribe, a mentally ill person, and even identical twins, who, despite their similarities, have their own unique ones (for example, moles).

Personality, unlike the individual, is not a biological, but a socio-psychological concept. The individual becomes a personality in the process of growing up, learning, development, communication. Personal differences are especially noticeable in identical twins who grew up far from each other.

Personality Properties:

Another important quality personality, different from the individual - the need for recognition by society. For example, in the Indian tribes, a person was given a name only when he performed some important act.

The main motive that determines the activity of the individual is interest. The process of cognition in this case depends on the desire or unwillingness of a person to know the properties of the object, to understand it. Personality is more often guided by beliefs, which are the basis of the principles and worldview of a person.

The concepts of "man", "individual", "individuality", "personality"

In psychological science, the categories man, individual, personality, individuality refer to basic categories. The problem of personality is central in modern psychology, and this is no coincidence; the most important theoretical task is to discover the objective foundations of those psychological properties that characterize a person as an individual, as an individuality and as a person.

Personality is the main mystery of the human world, its secret, bewitching thought and feeling of a thinking person, on the other hand, a working concept that is actively used in the business language of almost all professions, in everyday communication. All this sets us up to the fact that it is necessary to perceive this phenomenon and work with the system of concepts in which it is reflected, respectfully and professionally competently.

Figure 1 - The system of personal concepts

Man is born into the world as a man. concept human is the broadest, it is the main, initial element of this structure, without which there is and cannot be any social actions, connections and interactions, or social relations, communities and groups, nor social institutions and organizations.

Human- this is a socio-biological being, embodying the highest stage in the evolution of life and being the subject of socio-historical activity and communication.

The main characteristics of a person:

The special structure of the body;

Ability to work;

The presence of consciousness.

The concept of "man" is used as a limiting general concept to characterize the universal qualities and abilities inherent in all people. Using this concept, psychologists emphasize that a person is biological (natural) and social being at the same time, which by its vital activity influences the environment.

The basis and starting point of the indicated analysis is human as a social phenomenon.

Natural vector of human development: view in biological classification the evolution of life on earth; a natural being belonging to the class of mammals; species - primates; classification categorization - Homo sapiens.

Man, as a being belonging to society, humanity, represents humanity in himself, and this is his essence. Humanity (human race, human world) - a special, historically developing social, socio-psychological and spiritual community, which differs from all other material systems on the planet in its inherent way of life.

The main socio-psychological characteristic of this way of life is the “SELF…” mechanism: self-organization, self-knowledge, self-awareness, self-regulation, self-development, self-movement, etc.

Man as a separate representative of humanity is defined by the concept of "individual".

Individual- a single representative of the human race, a specific carrier of all the psychophysical and social features of mankind.

General characteristics of the individual:

The integrity of the psychophysical organization of the body;

Stability in relation to the surrounding reality;

Activity.

An individual is a biological organism, a carrier of common hypothetical hereditary properties of a given biological species. The process of such internal “coordination” is well known, it was noted by Charles Darwin…

An individual is, first of all, a genotypic formation. But the individual is not only a genotypic formation, its formation continues, as is known, in ontogenesis, in vivo. Therefore, the characteristics of an individual also include properties and their integration, which are formed ontogenetically. We are talking about the emerging "alloys" of congenital and acquired reactions, about changing the subject content of needs, about the emerging dominants of behavior.

Most general rule consists here in the fact that the higher we climb the ladder of biological evolution, the more complex the vital manifestations of individuals and their organization become, the more pronounced the differences in their innate and life-acquired characteristics become, especially since, so to speak, individuals become individualized.

Among these concepts, personality is a narrower concept and emphasizes the social essence of a person. Otherwise, one can say that individual is a "concrete person" from birth to death.

Individual- the initial state of a person in phylogenetic and ontogenetic development. Personality is considered as the result of the development of the individual, the embodiment of proper human qualities.

Personality is the social essence of a person. The word "personality" English language comes from the word "person". It originally referred to the masks worn by actors during a theatrical performance in ancient Greek drama. Thus, from the very beginning, the concept of "personality" included an external superficial social image, which a person takes when he plays certain life roles, is a kind of “mask”, a public face addressed to others. It follows that the concept of "personality", first of all, is associated with the social essence of a person.

Personality- this is a specific person who is a carrier of consciousness, capable of knowing, experiencing, transforming the world around him and building certain relationships with this world and with the world of other personalities.

Personality is considered as the embodiment in a particular person of social qualities that are acquired in the process of activity and communication with other individuals.

Individuals are not born, individuals are made.

That is why we are not talking about the personality of a newborn or the personality of an infant, although the traits of individuality are manifested at the early stages of ontogenesis no less clearly than at later age stages.

Personality is a relatively late product of the socio-historical and ontogenetic development of man...

The concepts of personality and individuality are close in meaning. Individuality is one of the sides of the personality, therefore it is more difficult to define the concept of “individuality”, because in addition to personal characteristics, which are the main components of individuality, it includes biological, physiological and other characteristics of a person.

Individuality- a combination of the psychological characteristics of a person that make up his originality and his difference from other people.

We can give the following definition of individuality.

Individuality is a specific person who differs from other people by a unique combination of mental, physiological and social characteristics manifested in behavior, activity and communication.

If a person is an individual by the fact of his birth, then the individuality is formed and modified in the process of his life.

Individuality is manifested in the traits of temperament, character, habits, as cognitive processes (ie, in thinking, memory, imagination, etc.). With the help of the concept of “individuality”, the uniqueness and uniqueness of each person is most often emphasized. On the other hand, in individuality we meet those personal qualities and individual properties that everyone has, but have a different degree of expression and form combinations.

All individual qualities are manifested in various ways behavior, activity, communication. A person will become a personality when he begins to improve the social factor of his activity, that is, that side of it that is aimed at society. Therefore, the foundation of the personality is social relations, but only those that are realized in activity.

Realizing himself as a person, having determined his place in society and his life path (fate), a person becomes an individual, gains dignity and freedom, which allow him to distinguish him from any other person, to distinguish him from others.

The specificity of the social conditions of life and the way of human activity determines the features of its individual features and properties. All people have certain mental traits, attitudes, customs and feelings, each of us has differences in the cognitive sphere of personality, which will determine our individuality.

The psychological structure of personality is a holistic model, a system of qualities and properties that fully characterizes psychological features personality (person, individual) (Fig. 2).


Figure 2 - Man - Individual - Individuality - Personality

NOVOSIBIRSK STATE ARCHITECTURAL

CONSTRUCTION UNIVERSITY (Sibstrin)


Faculty of Evening and distance learning


Correlation of the concepts "man", "individual", "personality", "individuality" and "subject"


Sayapov Yaroslav

scientific adviser:

candidate historical sciences, associate professor L.I. Scriabin


Novosibirsk 2013


Introduction


Human

Individual- a specific person with all the features given to him by nature (gender, age, height, weight, nervous system etc.). It manifests itself in properties transformed in the course of individual development. The individual is the smallest unit in the Homo sapiens species system.

Personality

Individuality

Subject

Above were given scientific definitions concepts: "man", "individual", "personality", "individuality" and "subject". These concepts can be classified as eternal. Each new generation of people, each person rediscovers them, formulates them for himself, tries to give his own version of the answer. These concepts are close, but do not coincide, they cannot be identified. In my work, I tried to consider each concept separately and in more detail.

.Consider each concept separately;

.Find the relationship between concepts.


. Human


Human- this is a biological creature belonging to the class of mammals of the species Homo sapiens, endowed with consciousness, i.e. the ability to perceive the essence outside world and his own nature, and in accordance with this to act and act reasonably. Man is the bearer of consciousness, which in itself is a social product. The pinnacle of the development of human consciousness is its self-consciousness.

Let's start from this definition. Indeed, the structure of the body of a baby born into the world has the ability to walk upright, the structure of the brain - a potential developed intellect, the structure of the hands - the prospect of using tools, etc., and with all these possibilities the baby differs from the cub of an animal and its belonging to the human race is affirmed . As mentioned above, a person is a living biological being, and like all living things, has an organism, a body, is in relationship with the outside world, obeys biological and physiological laws.

Man is a multilateral, multidimensional, complexly organized being. He is endowed with consciousness, speech, the ability to work, create value, and so on. These properties are not inherited by a person, but are formed by him during his life, in the process of assimilation by him of the culture created by previous generations. The development of mankind is impossible without the active transmission of human culture to new generations. Without society, without assimilation of the socio-historical experience of mankind, it is impossible to become a person, to acquire special human qualities, even if a human being has a biological full value. There is evidence that suggests that if children from the very early age develop outside of society, they remain at the level of animal development, they do not form speech, consciousness, thinking, they do not have an upright gait. No personal experience a person cannot lead to the fact that he independently develops a system of concepts. Participating in work and various forms social activities, people develop in themselves those specific human abilities that have already been formed in humanity. But, on the other hand, without having the biological fullness inherent in man as a biological species, it is impossible even under the influence of society, upbringing, education to achieve the highest human qualities.

A person is a carrier of consciousness, which means that he is aware, since awareness is the result of turning on consciousness to what is happening. In turn, awareness as a way of life is the ability, ability and habit to accompany with consciousness one's actual states, one's actions, one's activities, the course of one's life.

And finally self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is the study of one's own mental and physical features, self-understanding. It begins in infancy and continues throughout life. It is formed gradually as the reflection of both the external world and the knowledge of oneself.

From the foregoing, we can conclude that a child born into the world is a person, since he has everything external signs Homo sapiens. It is small, defenseless, but has a huge development potential. It is inherent in nature the desire for improvement and self-knowledge, which develop as it matures.


. Individual


An individual is a specific person with all the features given to him by nature (sex, age, height, weight, nervous system, etc.). It manifests itself in properties transformed in the course of individual development. The individual is the smallest unit in the Homo sapiens species system.

So, let's figure out what the concept of an individual means. The concept of the individual contains an indication of the likeness of a person to all other people, to his commonality with the human race. It follows that each person is an individual. But it is also said that he differs from others in such features as height, skin color, weight, eye color, etc. Also in question about how he manifests himself anywhere, taking into account his individual development. Indeed, there are no people with the same external data, just like people with the same characters. There may be some similarities, but a perfect match, simply - simply does not happen. From the foregoing, we can conclude that an individual is a single (concrete) representative of the species "homo sapiens". Individuals differ from each other not only morphological features(such as height, bodily constitution and eye color), but also psychological properties (abilities, temperament, emotionality). Another question is when a person is considered an individual. There is an opinion that a Man is born and then becomes an individual, but is it true? There is evidence that in the second month of the mother's pregnancy, the central and peripheral nervous system begins to form in the fetus, the embryo begins to respond to pain and tries to move away from the light that is directed directly to the mother's stomach. A five-month-old embryo is able to hear loud sounds, respond to caresses and words, get scared or angry. Thus, the behavior of the fetus depends entirely on the mood of the pregnant mother, as a result of which the formation of the emotional and intellectual life of the child begins at this stage. So, the individual develops in the prenatal period. Thus, we can conclude that the concept of an individual is formed at birth.


3. Personality

personal individual psychological

Personality- a conscious individual who occupies a certain position in society and performs a certain social role. The position of the individual is manifested through the system of its social relations. A person is constantly playing a role. A role is a social function of an individual. Each person is formed as a person only in society and manifests itself in communication with other people. There is no individual outside of society. It is characterized by five potentials: cognitive, value, creative, communicative, artistic.

Translating into simple language, we can say that a person is a person who builds and controls his own life, a person as a responsible subject of will. Personality is one who is not equal to his natural inclinations, who may not be their slave, be above them. Normal children, having gone through the crisis of three years, can already subordinate their immediate impulses to social norms: to what is needed.

A person is one who is capable of consciously directing his own behavior. Obedient children have “spontaneous morality”: a person, especially a child, may not be aware of what exactly made him act in a certain way, nevertheless act quite morally. This is how he was brought up, these are his habits. But it was not he who acted, but his habits guided him.

Personality is the one who has his own Self. A large number of people live mechanically, following the inclinations of their body and thoughtlessly, according to patterns, reacting to external requirements. If the body is well disposed, the external requirements are reasonable and the social habits are adequate, we will have a quite decent socialized person. But not a person. He has no self.

A person is called a person who is not just strong, but internally strong. Not just a person who knows a lot, but a smart person. Not just interesting in communication, but a person with a wealth inner world. Not just gifted by nature, but "self made" - a person who has made himself. Not just lucky, but able to be successful.

The formation of a personality is a process of socialization of a person, which consists in the development of a generic, social essence. This development is always carried out in the concrete historical circumstances of a person's life. The formation of personality is connected with the acceptance by the individual of social functions and roles developed in society, social norms and rules of behavior, with the formation of skills to build relationships with other people. A formed personality is a subject of free, independent and responsible behavior in society.

At all times, people who stood out from the masses due to their internal qualities. A person is always a person who stands out, although not everyone who stands out is a person. Despite the fact that each of us has personal characteristics, not everyone is called a "personality". They say about a person with respect: "This is a personality!" when he stands out from other people with his internal features that make him worthy.

Let's summarize. From the above, it is clear that the Personality is the same person, but taken from the side of his social significance and social activity. Personality is the most important thing in a person, his most important social attribute.

In the personality, first of all, its social essence stands out. Outside of society, outside of a social and professional group, a person cannot become a person; Nature creates man, and society forms him. depending on manifestation personal qualities a person can be judged on his positive and negative moral and spiritual qualities.

And the most important thing is that you are not born a Personality, you become a Personality! Or they don't become...

Individuality.

Individuality- this is a personality in its originality, which distinguishes a person from other people due to the originality and uniqueness of the personality. Individuality is described by individual life history, experience, the totality of personal characteristics, the significance of the products of activity. Individuality - a form of existence of personality. Motivation, temperament, abilities and character? basic parameters of individuality.

Individuality, as well as personality, does not appear in a person, literally, from birth. A newly born child is an individual that does not have a human individuality, since it is not capable of independent individual activity. Acquired with age social personality and the ability to independently choose a life path and develop by individual methods. The essence of individuality lies in the independence of each individual and his ability to be himself in the sphere of the social system. The most important role congenital inclinations and features of the development of each individual is the mediation social factors. In the process of dynamic impact of many qualities, personal characteristics of all spheres of life are formed. In itself, the development of individuality is a necessity for the movement of progress in the history of mankind. The improvement and individualization of the individual are associated with the transformation of society, mutual assistance in society and the conditions for cooperation. Individuality is understood as the originality of each person, originality is manifested in the totality of personality traits that are inherent only this person.

Individuality is an indispensable and most important sign of personality. Individuality characterizes the personality more concretely, in more detail, more fully. It is a constant object of research in the study of personality psychology and other areas of psychology. Usually, the word "individuality" defines some dominant feature of a person that makes him different from others. Each person is individual, but the individuality of some is manifested very clearly, others - hardly noticeable.

So, it turns out that individuality is a combination characteristic features and properties that distinguish one individual from another. And it certainly does not grow on the basis of biological prerequisites or from scratch.


4. Subject


Subject- an active and cognizing individual. It is characterized by a set of activities and their productivity. Subject activity? a person's ability to produce socially significant transformations in the world based on the appropriation of material and spiritual culture, manifested in creativity, volitional acts, and communication.

A person is always a subject (participant, executor) of the historical and social process as a whole, a subject of specific activity, in particular, a source of knowledge and transformation of objective reality. At the same time, the activity itself acts as a form of human activity, which allows him to improve the world and himself.

The subject can show initiative and independence, make and implement a decision, evaluate the consequences of his behavior, self-change and improve himself, determine the perspective of his multidimensional life activity. The subject is able to give an account to himself of his actions, is capable of self-knowledge, self-awareness and self-responsibility. He can correlate his past, present and future. The subject changes in the process of life in the direction inherent in it. There are significant individual differences between subjects.


Conclusion


The concepts of "man", "individual", "personality", "individuality" and "subject" are inextricably linked. All of them relate, one way or another, to a person. The only thing that distinguishes them from each other is that each concept separately characterizes a person on a certain life path or some life situations. So, for example, the concept of man. A child is born, and he is already a man, as he has all his external signs. He is also an individual. In the future, when growing up, a person becomes a person. Individuality is, one might say, a description of the personal qualities of a person or personality. The subject is an actively acting and cognizing individual.


Literature


1. Psychology and Pedagogy / Ed. A.A. Radugin. ? M.: Publishing House CENTER, 1997. ? 256 p.

2.Psychology and pedagogy: tutorial/ Ed. E.V. Ostrovsky. - M.: Vuzovsky textbook, 2006. - 384 p.


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Individual and individuality are two words with the same root that have different meaning. Despite this, they are often confused or misunderstood.

The word individual comes from the Latin individual” and is translated as indivisible or individual. Based on this origin of the word, it is easy to conclude that an individual is an belonging to a particular species. To put it even more simply, an individual is a certain species, for example, a person, a mammal, a bird, and so on. But such a definition is not entirely correct, since the term individual refers more to a person and is of little use to other living beings.

In fact, each person is an individual and this belonging is given to him by the fact that he was born human. General definition this term lies in the word itself, namely the root “view”, which in this case should be taken literally.

A very similar word, which, in fact, consists of the previous one, but at the same time it has a radically different meaning and to some extent carries the opposite meaning. Individuality is a combination or set of any social, biological qualities that distinguish one person from all others. If we talk about individuality, then it is a category of difference, and an individual is a category of similarity. Individuality appears in a person in the process of his life path and in currently we can say that some people cannot boast of such a characteristic, since they do not differ in anything from their fellow tribesmen.

Despite the fact that individuality can also be characterized by biological differences, it would be more correct and logical in this matter to pay attention to the social aspects of a person’s personality. It is they that can make a person different from others, give him a certain personality, and such biological differences as black hair or a long nose does not yet make that person different from other members of his species.

Comparison of terms

So, despite resemblance in writing and reading, the terms individual and individuality are completely different.

An individual is a class and belonging to a species. Individuality is a characteristic or sign that just distinguishes a person from his species. All people are individuals, and individuality still needs to be acquired, and not everyone succeeds in this. In addition, individuality says about a person that he is to some extent “above” others, because he is not like everyone else.

Despite their differences, the concepts of individuality, individual, person, personality are interconnected and to some extent flow from each other. So, a person is automatically an individual, then in order to get individuality, he must stand out from all individuals, for example, by his judgments, outlook on things, having a point of view, worldview. If an individual has such, then he receives individuality, which means that he becomes a person. In fact, a person without individuality is not a person, but at the same time they are not synonymous.

Personality is the characteristics that distinguish a person from other people, but to some extent they are innate. It is not for nothing that epithets bright, creative and others can be applied to this word. These are not acquired, but innate qualities, but at the same time they can and should be developed. Personality is also the difference between a person and others, but it contains the work that a person himself does on himself, and this is the main difference.

An interesting point is the fact that in psychology there are two uses of the term individuality:

  • Individual psychological differences - here individuality is seen as the difference between a person and others at the level of the psyche.
  • Hierarchy of psychological properties - here individuality is a category, and it is on a higher level than a person or an individual.

There is an interesting expression that gives an excellent understanding of these terms: "An individual is born, a person becomes, and individuality is defended."

In psychology, there is an opinion that individuality is formed in a person depending on his environment, upbringing, treatment of a child, experience gained by him in childhood. Although opinions on this subject may differ, and some psychologists are inclined to believe that personality can be formed under the influence of other factors and not necessarily in childhood, although from the point of view that an adult cannot be remade, it is difficult to imagine a situation in which a person lived up to a certain age without having pronounced individual characteristics, and then suddenly acquired them.

Such cases occur only after major changes in a person's life, for example, traumatic experience or under the influence of a strong influence. But the reverse process is quite real. A person could have a certain individuality, but under the influence of surrounding people or a hostile environment, he can abandon these features and become like everyone else.

Output

The terms individual and individuality belong to the field of psychology and have a similar sound, but a different meaning. Despite the differences in interpretation, these two terms are closely related and individuality is not possible without the existence of an individual.

Individuality is a qualitative characteristic, and an individual is a concept or definition, it is an belonging to a kind of people. Individual is a term that refers to both humans and animals. And individuality applies only to people.