Differential psychology occupies one of the important places in the field of psychological knowledge, and it appeared quite recently. It has connections with other branches of this science, as well as with sociology, philosophy and psychophysiology. With its help, the personal differences of people and the methods of their diagnosis are systematized.

What does differential psychology study?

The branch of science that deals with the study of the distinguishing features between people of different classes and groups is called differential psychology. With its help, the systematization of individual differences and the ways of their determination takes place. She helps you assess differences in many areas. The first scientist who began to conduct research on this topic was William Stern. Two main tasks of differential psychology: highlighting individual differences and explaining their development.

Currently, this science is engaged in cognition related to individuality, spirituality, general worldview, peculiarities of self-awareness and characteristic style of personality. Every year, the improvement and development of various methods and approaches is carried out, which make it possible to recognize a person and his characteristics. Modern differential psychology uses a developed mathematical and static apparatus.

Differential psychology - methods

Several different techniques are used, which are conventionally divided into several groups. General scientific methods can be called a modification of some popular methods used in other directions. These include observations, experiments and simulations. The second group is psychogenetic methods of differential psychology, which are aimed at determining environmental factors and heredity in certain variations of characteristics.

The next type is represented by historical methods devoted to the study of outstanding personalities and situations that became the impetus for their spiritual development. The last group is psychological methods, which are a kind of foundation for mastering this direction of psychology. They include the following modes of cognition: introspective, psychophysiological, socio-psychological, age-psychological and psychosemantic.

Differential psychology - personality

There are several industries that focus on the knowledge of certain areas. Differential studies the differences between people, their causes and consequences. The main methods of study are tests that make it possible to measure the level of development of an individual's properties. Behind such a concept as a person lies a certain set of properties that characterize each person, and there are three classes: character, temperament and abilities, such as cognitive, motivational-need and volitional.

A significant characteristic of an individual is his attitude towards the public and existing responsibilities. It is described by the level of understanding of their relationship and their stability. A person is not born with specific skills, interests, character and other characteristics, since they are formed throughout life, but at the same time having a certain natural basis.

Differential Psychology - Abilities

The individual psychological characteristics of an individual are usually called abilities. They are a prerequisite for the successful execution of various activities. Abilities in differential psychology are described using appropriate characteristics. They are endowed with qualities and quantity, that is, with a degree of severity. Skills on the first indicated basis can be of two types:

1. General... Describe a system of individual traits that are important for mastering knowledge and performing various jobs.
2. Special... They are used to describe the properties of an individual, with the help of which it is possible to reach certain heights in different areas.

As for the quantitative characteristics, they are determined by the degree of manifestation of opportunities. Tests and exercises are used to measure them. This industry is used to describe such criteria: by the type of functional systems and by the type of activity. An important part of the skill structure are the makings and operations for their implementation.

The concept of the norm in differential psychology

Terms allow you to better understand the topic by understanding some of the nuances. The norm is a static concept, and it is perceived as a kind of ideal, for the conventional designation of an existing phenomenon. There are different definitions of this concept that apply to numerous phenomena. The psychological norms of differential psychology are determined by social stereotypes, so if a person's behavior does not correspond to the existing canons, then this is perceived as a deviation. The norms are constantly updated and changed.

Differential Psychology Subject

Differential psychology - This is a section of psychological science that studies psychological differences, as well as typological differences in psychological manifestations in representatives of various social, class, ethnic, age and other groups. Differential psychology has 2 tasks: highlighting individual differences and explaining their origin.

Differential psychology has areas of intersection with various other branches of psychological knowledge. So, it differs from general psychology in that the latter focuses on the study of general laws of the psyche (including the psyche of animals). Comparative psychology (once this term was used as a synonym for differential psychology, which is a literal translation of the word) is currently studying the peculiarities of the psyche of living beings at different stages of the evolutionary ladder. She often uses the knowledge of animal psychology, deals with the problems of anthropogenesis and the formation of human consciousness. Developmental psychology studies the characteristics of a person through the prism of patterns inherent in the age stage of his development. Social psychology considers the features acquired by a person due to his belonging to a certain social group, large or small. Finally, differential psychophysiology analyzes the individual characteristics of the human psyche from the point of view of their conditioning by the properties of the nervous system.

Currently, differential psychology studies the individual, subject-meaningful and spiritual-worldview qualities of an individual, the peculiarities of self-awareness, stylistic characteristics of a person and the implementation of various types of activity.

Development stages of differential psychology

In its development, psychology, like all other scientific disciplines, went through three stages: pre-scientific knowledge, natural science paradigm of knowledge and humanitarian paradigm.

Pre-scientific knowledge is characterized by the predominance of the observation method, the accumulation of everyday knowledge and a low level of generalization. The natural science paradigm proclaims the need to establish causal patterns when relying on experimental data and generalizes these patterns. The dominance of the humanitarian paradigm testifies to the maturity of the scientific discipline and is noted not only in the sciences of society and man, but also in the sciences of nature. Modern psychology allows itself to strive for psychography, cognition - for understanding and description. Thus, differential psychology naturally stood out from general psychology, within which it existed for a long time under the name of the psychology of individual differences.

Directions of differential psychological research. Differential psychology methods

As indicated by V.M. Rusalov. , it is possible to distinguish two main directions of research of individual differences, one of which answers the question "What distinguishes people from each other?", the other - to the question "How do these differences manifest and form?" The first direction is associated with the study of the structure of psychological properties. The main task of this direction is to highlight the psychological properties that are most important for further comparative analysis. The solution to this problem is of fundamental nature for differential psychology, within the framework of this direction the main methodological disputes were conducted, the question of the status of differential psychology as a science was being resolved. An example of this is the discussion between the proponents of the idiographic approach, of which G. Allport was the brightest representative, and the adherents of the nomothetic approach (R. Cattell, G. Eysenck and their followers). The main subject of discussion was the position of Allport, according to which personality traits, being in themselves an abstraction, form in each case a unique individual combination, which makes it impossible to compare people with each other. Cattell, opposing Allport, emphasized that the problem of uniqueness is not a specific feature of personality research, the uniqueness of the subject of study is characteristic of all natural sciences: absolutely identical planets or stars have not been found in astronomy, two cars that rolled off the same conveyor can differ significantly from each other , even hydrogen atoms are not identical, etc. The uniqueness of the object, nevertheless, did not become an obstacle to the development of astronomy, physics, chemistry, and other natural sciences. Kettell, and after him Eysenck, saw the solution to this question in the consistent application of the natural-scientific approach in the study of personality. The main result of these studies was a variety of models of mental properties: temperament, intelligence, character, as well as the corresponding methods of psychological measurements. The range of issues related to the choice of parameters for describing individual differences is traditionally called the problem of a trait. The choice of psychological variables for a specific comparative study is primarily determined by the specifics of the personality model within which the researcher works. One of the first experiments in identifying stable individual psychological characteristics for describing features is the study of the biological foundations of individual differences. VM Rusalov characterizes this trend in personality psychology as follows: “Among the numerous areas of study of personality and individual differences, the biologically oriented approach is perhaps the most fruitful. Possessing a number of fundamental advantages, it allows to combine in itself not only objective methods of the natural-scientific approach and, first of all, evolutionary-biological concepts, but also concepts developed in other areas of psychology that study personality. " The tradition of a biologically oriented approach to personality, having its origins in ancient Greece, acquired the status of an independent scientific direction only in our century. Initially, temperament was mainly studied, but over time, the field of research has expanded, and today there is a wide range of biological theories of personality - from structural biochemical and neuropsychological theories of temperament (D.A. Gray, 6; P. Netter, 15) to evolutionary theories mechanisms of behavior (D. Bass). In Russian psychology, this approach is consistently implemented in differential psychophysiology, a scientific school founded by BM Teplov and VD Nebylitsyn. This direction was based on the ideas of I.P. Pavlov about the types of higher nervous activity. Research has focused on the study of the basic properties of the nervous system. The study of the properties of the nervous system was carried out using involuntary indicators of activity - electroencephalographic conditioned reflexes, parameters of reaction time to stimuli of different intensities and sensory indicators. As a result of the studies carried out, it was possible to identify the features of nervous activity closely related to psychological characteristics. Among the widespread concepts of this direction are H. Eysenck's model and M. Zuckerman's model. The latter includes the following characteristics: sociability, emotionality, activity, "impulsive unsocialized search for sensations", "aggressive search for sensations." The severity of the properties included in these personality models is assessed using questionnaires developed by the authors. Another approach to identifying psychological characteristics that have pronounced individual differences is the theory of traits. The main hypothesis of the theory of traits is the assumption that psychological characteristics can be described with the help of stable characteristics or traits that appear in different situations and differ in the degree of severity in different people. Most of the psychological traits are highlighted using the lexicographic method. This approach is based on F. Galton's idea of ​​reflecting the most significant individual psychological differences in the structure of natural language. One of the first and most common structural models is the 16-factor personality model developed by R. Cattell (16 PF), in which the initial set of personality traits is obtained by analyzing the words of the English language. When determining the initial set of structural elements, the author used a list of English words denoting stable characteristics of behavior and personality traits. As a result of factorization of L- and Q-data, Cattell identified 16 factors of the first order, the meaningful analysis of which allowed the author to interpret them as personality traits. As a result of the studies carried out to date, the low reproducibility of the structure of first-order factors proposed by Cattell in different samples has been shown. Another widespread factorial model of personality is proposed by W. T. Norman, the so-called "Big Five", which includes five factors: extraversion (extroversion); friendliness (agreableness); conscientiousness; neuroticism and culture. This model was revised in the studies of American psychologists R. McCrae and P. T. Costa (McCrae R., Costa P. T., 1987); they replaced the culture factor with opennes in the Five-Factor Inventory they developed. The second direction of differential psychological research is associated with a direct analysis of individual and group differences. Within the framework of this direction, groups of people identified on different grounds were studied, and questions about the sources of individual psychological differences were also resolved. Gender is one of the most obvious reasons for identifying groups of people. Indeed, in addition to the differences between races, ethnic groups and social classes, there is one that is primary in our consciousness and self-image - this is the difference between men and women. Anatomical differences, already evident at birth, increase from childhood to adulthood; in parallel with the anatomical development, a “I-image” is formed, specific to each sex. In any society, there is a division of labor depending on gender, there are “male” and “female” professions, fashion, and stereotypes of behavior. The universality of cultural distinctions between men and women in history has often served as evidence that social differences between the sexes are rooted in genes. It seems almost obvious that differences between sexes in behavior and social roles are part of the same biological differentiation that allows an obstetrician to determine the sex of a child born. However, the research results allow us to speak with confidence about the existence of significant differences between the sexes only in some psychological properties: 1. Boys begin to steadily surpass girls in aggressiveness starting from the age of 2. A significantly higher level of aggression is manifested in a variety of areas - verbal manifestations, games, fantasies. 2. Emotionality, measured by different methods - from observing the intensity and duration of emotional reactions in newborns to questionnaire scales of anxiety and emotionality, also demonstrates stable sex differences. Boys and men are more emotionally stable, less fearful, less anxious. 3. Beginning from the age of 2, girls demonstrate a higher level of verbal abilities - they communicate more with other children, their speech is more correct, the phrases used are more complex. To the beginning school age these differences are no longer valid; they reappear after graduation from primary school and are expressed in girls' greater fluency and reading speed. In old age, women retain their verbal functions longer. The listed characteristics do not depend on such parameters as the specifics of the situation, the level of education, professional status; in other words, they are sustainable. It should be emphasized that along with the biological conditioning of sex differences, processes in society play an essential role. The recent decrease in the manifestation of sex differences suggests a strong connection between sex differences and the education and upbringing of children. So, in recent decades, stereotypes have been crumbling, according to which, for example, technical specialties, mathematics and military science were considered "not a woman's business." Since the fifties of the XX century. systematic studies of individual psychological differences between representatives of different ethnic groups are being conducted. A fairly large number of studies are devoted to the study of differences in the development of newborns. American psychologist R. Friedman, comparing newborns from three ethnic groups - immigrants from northern Europe, Asians (Japanese and Chinese) and Navajo Indians, came to the conclusion that newborn Indians and Asians are more adaptable. Children of Europeans are more excitable and active, they calm down longer. In a similar comparative study of black and white infants, it was shown that Africans are characterized by a faster pace of development - they develop motor skills more easily, and begin to walk earlier. Thus, we can draw the following conclusions: the first direction of differential psychological research is associated with the study of the structure of psychological properties. The main task of this direction is to highlight the psychological properties that are most important for further comparative analysis; one of the first experiments in identifying stable individual psychological characteristics for describing features is the study of the biological foundations of individual differences; Another approach to identifying psychological characteristics that have pronounced individual differences is the theory of traits. The main hypothesis of the theory of traits is the assumption that psychological characteristics can be described with the help of stable characteristics or traits that appear in different situations and differ in the degree of severity in different people; the second direction of differential psychological research is associated with a direct analysis of individual and group differences. Within the framework of this direction, groups of people identified on different grounds were studied, and questions about the sources of individual psychological differences were also solved; gender is among the most obvious reasons for identifying groups of people. Indeed, apart from the differences between races, ethnic groups and social classes, there is one that is primary in our consciousness and self-image - this is the difference between men and women; a person's belonging to a particular social group is used by some researchers to explain the reasons for gender and racial differences. When analyzing the differences between groups with different socio-economic status, such characteristics as education level, professional status, housing conditions, income, dietary habits and many others are taken into account.

Differential psychology methods

By the type of experience used, methods are distinguished introspective (based on data from subjective experience) and extraspective (based on an objective result that is measurable).

According to the activity of the impact, they allocate observation and experiment .

By the level of generalization of the obtained patterns nomothetic (general-oriented, psychology-oriented explanations) and idiographic (focused on the singular, psychography, psychology of understanding).

According to stability - a change in the studied phenomenon is distinguished ascertaining and formative methods (in which the final state of the studied quality differs from the initial one).

The methods used by differential psychology can be conditionally divided into several groups: general scientific, psychogenetic, historical and psychological proper.

General scientific methods represent a modification in relation to the psychological reality of those methods that are used in many other sciences.

Observation- a purposeful systematic study of a person, based on the results of which an expert assessment is given. There are several types of observation.

The advantages of the method are that 1) facts of natural human behavior are collected, 2) a person is perceived as an integral personality, 3) the context of the subject's life is reflected.

The disadvantages are: 1) the fusion of the observed fact with accompanying phenomena, 2) passivity: the researcher's non-intervention dooms him to a wait-and-see position, 3) the absence of the possibility of repeated observation, 4) fixing the results in a descriptive form.

Experiment- a method of purposeful manipulation of one variable and observation of the results of its change. The advantages of the experimental method are that 1) it is possible to create conditions that cause the studied mental process, 2) multiple repetitions of the experiment is possible, 3) it is possible to maintain a simple protocol, 4) the experimental data are more uniform and unambiguous compared to observation.

The disadvantages include: 1) the disappearance of the naturalness of the process, 2) the lack of a holistic picture of a person's personality, 3) the need for special equipment, 4) separation from the natural perception of the reality being studied (the experimenter is more focused on the readings of the arrows of instruments, tests, etc.).

Modeling- recreation of psychological reality of various content (situation, state, role, mood). An example of psychological modeling can be mood induction (changing the background of the subject's mood by telling him emotionally colored stories, awakening memories, etc.).

Psychogenetic methods ... This group of methods is aimed at identifying environmental and heredity factors in individual variations of psychological qualities.

Historical methods (methods of document analysis) ... Historical methods are devoted to the study of outstanding personalities, characteristics of the environment and heredity, which served as impulses for their spiritual development.

Psychological methods. This group constitutes the main content of differential psychological research methods.

1) Introspective methods (self-observation and self-esteem) open the object of study directly, which is their main advantage.

2) Psychophysiological (hardware) methods designed to study the psychophysiological foundations of human behavior. They require laboratory conditions and special instruments; in practical psychodiagnostics are rarely used.

3) Socio-psychological methods include surveys and sociometry. Surveys are based on self-reported data of respondents, and not on objectively recorded facts. The types of surveys are conversation, interviews, questionnaires.

4) Age-psychological methods of "transverse" and "longitudinal" sections.

5) Psychosemantic methods are a group of maximally individually oriented methods that allow one to determine unconsciously acting dimensions (constructs) in relation to the world and oneself.

3. The concept of psychological norms

The main consumer of differential psychological knowledge is psychodiagnostics. In the psychology of individual differences, concepts are born, for the measurement of which methods are then created or selected. This is where the idea of ​​how to evaluate and interpret the results obtained arises. In this regard, the concept of psychological norm is very important, it is very heterogeneous in its content, which is influenced by at least four factors.

1. Rate is a statistical concept. The normal is that of which there is a lot that belongs to the middle of the distribution. And its "tail" parts, respectively, indicate the area of ​​low ("subnormal") or high ("supernormal") values. To assess quality, we must correlate a person's indicator with others and thus determine its place on the normal distribution curve. Obviously, the prefixes “sub” and “super” do not give an ethical or pragmatic assessment of quality (after all, if a person has a “supernormal” indicator of aggressiveness, this is hardly good for others and for himself).

The norms are not absolute, they develop and are obtained empirically for a given group (age, social and others). So, for example, during recent years the indicator of masculinity according to the MMPI questionnaire in girls is steadily increased; however, this does not mean that they all behave like young men, but that outdated norms need to be revised.

2. The norms are conditioned by social stereotypes. If a person's behavior does not correspond to the generally accepted in a given society, it is perceived as deviant. For example, in Russian culture it is not customary to put your feet on the table, but in the American culture no one condemns it.

3. Norms are associated with mental health. Anything that requires a visit to a clinician may be considered abnormal. It should be noted, however, that in psychiatry, the evaluative approach is discussed, and as the most significant indications of a deviation from the norm, a violation of the productivity of activity and the ability to self-regulation is taken. So, for example, when an elderly person, realizing the weakness of his memory, uses auxiliary means (a notebook, laying out the necessary objects in the field of view), then this behavior corresponds to the norm, and if he, treating himself uncritically, refuses the need to "prosthetise" his living space, then this ultimately leads to an inability to solve the assigned tasks and indicates a violation of mental health.

4. Finally, the idea of ​​norms is determined by expectations, own non-generalized experience and other subjective variables: for example, if the first child in a family began to speak at the age of one and a half years, then the second, who by the age of two has not yet learned to express himself freely, is perceived as endowed signs of lagging behind.

V. Stern, calling for caution in assessing a person, noted that, firstly, psychologists have no right from the established anomalousness of a particular property to draw a conclusion about the abnormality of the individual himself as a carrier of this property and, secondly, the impossibly established abnormality of the personality reduce to a narrow feature as its only root cause. In modern diagnostics, the concept of "norm" is used in the study of impersonal characteristics, and when it comes to personality, the term "features" is used, thereby emphasizing a deliberate rejection of the normative approach.

So, norms are not a frozen phenomenon, they are constantly being updated and changed. The standards of psychodiagnostic techniques must also be regularly reviewed.

Interaction between environment and heredity

Determining the sources of individual mental variations is the central problem of differential psychology. It is known that individual differences are generated by numerous and complex interactions between heredity and environment. Heredity ensures the stability of the existence of a biological species, the environment - its variability and the ability to adapt to changing living conditions. Heredity is contained in the genes passed on by the parents to the embryo during fertilization. If there is a chemical imbalance or incompleteness in genes, the developing organism may have physical abnormalities or mental pathologies. However, even in the usual case, heredity allows for a very wide range of behavioral variations resulting from the summation of the norms of reactions of different levels - biochemical, physiological, psychological. And within the boundaries of heredity, the end result depends on the environment. Thus, in every manifestation of human activity, one can find something from heredity, and something from the environment, the main thing is to determine the measure and content of these influences.

In addition, a person has social inheritance, which animals are deprived of (following cultural patterns, transferring accentuation, for example, schizoid, from mother to child through cold mothering, the formation of family scenarios). However, in these cases, a rather stable manifestation of features over several generations is noted, but without genetic fixation. “The so-called social heritage cannot really resist the influence of environment", - writes A. Anastazi.

There are several prejudices about the concepts of "variability", "heredity" and "environment". Although heredity is responsible for the stability of a species, most inherited traits are modifiable, and even hereditary diseases are not inevitable. It is equally true that traces of environmental influences can be very stable in the psychological appearance of an individual, although they will not be genetically transmitted to subsequent generations (for example, developmental disorders of a child as a result of birth trauma).

Different theories and approaches assess the contribution of the two factors to the formation of individuality in different ways. Historically, the following groups of theories have emerged from the point of view of their preference for biological or environmental, socio-cultural determination. 1. In biogenetic theories, the formation of individuality is understood as predetermined by innate and genetic inclinations. Development is a gradual unfolding of these properties in time, and the contribution of environmental influences is very limited. Biogenetic approaches often serve as the theoretical basis for racist doctrines about the primordial difference of nations. A supporter of this approach was F. Galton, as well as the author of the theory of recapitulation, St. Hall. 2. Sociogenetic theories (a sensualistic approach that asserts the primacy of experience) argue that initially a person is a blank slate (tabula rasa), and all his achievements and features are due to external conditions (environment). This position was shared by J. Locke. These theories are more progressive, but their drawback is the understanding of the child as an initially passive being, an object of influence. 3. Two-factor theories (convergence of two factors) understood development as a result of the interaction of innate structures and external influences. K. Buhler, V. Stern, A. Binet believed that the environment is superimposed on the factors of heredity. The founder of the two-factor theory V. Stern noted that one cannot ask about a single function, whether it is from the outside or from within. One should be interested in what is in it from the outside and what is from the inside. But even within the framework of two-factor theories, the child still remains a passive participant in the changes taking place in him. 4. The doctrine of higher mental functions (cultural-historical approach) LS Vygotsky asserts that the development of individuality is possible due to the presence of culture - the generalized experience of mankind. The innate properties of a person are the conditions for development, the environment is the source of his development (because it contains what a person must master). Higher mental functions, which are characteristic only of man, are mediated by a sign and objective activity, which are the content of culture. And in order for the child to be able to appropriate it, it is necessary that he entered into a special relationship with the outside world: he did not adapt, but actively appropriated the experience of previous generations in the process joint activities and socializing with cultured adults.

Genetics of quantitative traits tries to determine the contribution of heredity and environment, analyzing various types of variance of trait values. However, not every trait is simple, fixed by one allele (a pair of genes, among which there is a dominant and a recessive one). In addition, the final effect cannot be considered as the arithmetic sum of the influence of each of the genes, because they can, manifesting simultaneously, also interact with each other, leading to systemic effects. Therefore, studying the process of genetic control of a psychological trait, psychogenetics seeks to answer the following questions: 1. To what extent does the genotype determine the formation of individual differences (ie, what is the expected measure of variability)? 2. What is the specific biological mechanism of this influence (on which part of the chromosome are the corresponding genes localized)? 3. What processes link the protein product of genes and a specific phenotype? 4. Are there environmental factors that change the studied genetic mechanism?

The heritability of a trait is recognized by the presence of a correlation between the indicators of biological parents and children, and not by the similarity of the absolute value of the indicators. Suppose research reveals a similarity between the temperament characteristics of biological parents and their adopted children. Most likely, in foster families, children will experience the influence of common and different environmental conditions, as a result of which, in absolute terms, they will also become similar to foster parents. However, there will be no correlation.

Currently, the discussion between supporters of factors of heredity and the environment has lost its former acuteness. Numerous studies devoted to identifying the sources of individual variation, as a rule, cannot provide an unambiguous assessment of the contribution of the environment or heredity. So, for example, even thanks to the psychogenetic studies of F. Galton, carried out in the 1920s using the twin method, it was found that biologically determined characteristics (skull size, other measurements) are genetically determined, and psychological qualities (intelligence quotient according to different tests) give a wide spread and are conditioned by the environment. It is influenced by the social and economic status of the family, birth order, etc.

The current state of affairs in the study of the interaction of the environment and heredity is illustrated by two models of environmental influences on intellectual abilities. In the first model, Zayoncz and Markus argued that the more time parents and children spend together, the higher the correlation between IQ and an older relative (exposure model). That is, the child in his intellectual abilities is similar to the one who brings him up longer, and if the parents for some reason devote little time to the child, he will look like a nanny or a grandmother. In the second model, however, the opposite was stated: McAskie and Clarke noted that the highest correlation is observed between the child and the relative who is the subject of his identification (identification model). That is, the most important thing is to be an intellectual authority for the child, and then he can be influenced even distantly, and regular joint activity is not at all necessary. The coexistence of two essentially mutually exclusive models once again shows that the majority of differential psychological theories are narrowly limited, while general theories have not yet been created.

signs of the environment. microsystem. mesosystem. ecosystem. Macrosystem

Microsystem: family. The child's personality is shaped by his family, parental attitudes and family atmosphere. If the family is friendly, the child grows up more calm, manageable and benevolent. Conversely, marital conflict is usually associated with inconsistent disciplinary action and hostility towards children, which engenders retaliatory childish hostility. It should be borne in mind that all relationships are reciprocal, that is, not only adults affect the behavior of children, but children themselves, their physical properties, personality characteristics and capabilities - also affect the behavior of adults. For example, a friendly, attentive child often elicits positive and calm reactions from the parents, while a confused and restless child is more often punished and restricted in his freedom of action. The family as an environment is a very dynamic education. Even in relation to two twins, we cannot assert the identity of the developmental environment, because they have different requirements, different expectations, since one of them is inevitably assigned to the elder, and the other to the younger. Mesosystem: school, residential area, kindergarten. The mesosystem affects the development of the child not directly, but in tandem with the microsystem - the family. The relationship between parents and children is influenced by the relationship of the baby with the kindergarten teachers, and vice versa. If the family and kindergarten teachers are ready to cooperate, make friends and communicate, the relationship between the child and the parents, as well as between the child and the educators, improves. On the other hand, the situation in the family affects how the school, yard and kindergarten will affect the child. A child's progress in school depends not only on the environment in the classroom, but also on the situation in the family: academic performance improves if parents are interested in school life and teach their child to do their homework. If a brother and sister go to the same school, but the sister is allowed to bring her friends home, but the brother is not, the mesosystem of their life will be different. The influence of the mesosystem on a child is refracted not only through the family, but also through the personality of the child himself: children can go to the same school, but at the same time the circle of classmates can be significant for one and indifferent to another, all important life events of which occur, for example , in the drama club. Exosystem: adult social organizations Exosystem - adult social organizations. These can be formal organizations, such as a parent's workplace, or county social and health services. Flexible working hours, paid leave for mothers and fathers, sick leave for parents in case of children's illness - these are what the ecosystem can help parents in raising children and indirectly contribute to development. Support from the exosystem can also be informal, for example, provided by the forces of the social environment of parents - friends and family members help, advice, friendly communication and even financially. As a rule, the more family ties with social organizations, the more positively it affects the family and the child's development, and the fewer such ties, the more unpredictable the situation in the family and the child's development is. For example, in isolated families, in families with few personal or formal ties, an overestimated level of conflict and abuse of children is more often noted. Macrosystem Macrosystem is a country's cultural customs, values, customs and resources. If the country does not encourage fertility and does not provide parental leave, then the child will grow up in conditions of a lack of maternal attention, and micro-, meso- and exosystems may be insufficient to compensate for this. On the other hand, regardless of the particular external conditions, the main components of the way of life and worldview are preserved in the subculture. In countries where the highest standards are set for helping children, and where workplaces are made for working parents, children are more likely to experience positive experiences in their particular environment. The rules according to which children with developmental delays can study in mainstream schools have a significant impact on the level of education and social development both these children and their "normal" peers. In turn, the success or failure of this pedagogical endeavor can facilitate or, conversely, hinder further attempts to integrate children behind the scenes into mainstream schools. Bronfenbrenner believed that it is the macrosystem that plays the most significant role in the development of the child, since the macrosystem has the ability to influence all other levels. For example, Bronfenbrenner believes that the US government's Head Start compensatory education program, which aims to improve academic performance and develop the intellectual abilities of students from low-income families and ethnic minorities, has had, according to Bronfenbrenner, a huge positive impact on the development of several generations of American children.

In ecological systems theory, children are both products and creators of the environment. According to Bronfenbrenner, situations in life can be either imposed on the child or be the result of the activity of the child himself. As children get older, they change their environment and rethink their experiences. But even here interdependencies continue to work, since how children do this depends not only on their physical, intellectual and personal traits, but also on how they were brought up, what they managed to absorb from the environment. Correlation of concepts: individual, individuality, personality.

Heredity and environment

Heredity began to be understood more broadly: these are not just individual signs that influence behavior (for example, the properties of the nervous system, as it was believed for a long time), but also innate programs of behavior, incl. and social (gracefulness, reproductive, territorial behavior, etc.)

Concept Wednesday has changed too. It is not simply a changing series of stimuli to which an individual responds throughout life - from air and food to educational conditions and the attitude of companions. Rather, it is a system of interactions between man and the world.

Individual, personality individuality

Individual - a separate representative of a social group, society, people. A person from the moment of birth is an individual, an individual is not "one", but "one of" human society. The concept emphasizes the dependence of a person on society.

Personality - it is a person actively assimilating and purposefully transforming nature, society and himself. It has a unique, dynamic correlation of spatio-temporal orientations, need-volitional experiences, content orientation, levels of development and forms of implementation of activities, which provides freedom of self-determination in actions and a measure of responsibility for their consequences.

Individuality - a person characterized by his socially significant differences from other people; the originality of the psyche and personality of the individual, its originality, uniqueness. Individuality is manifested in the traits of temperament, character, in the specifics of interests, qualities of perceptual processes. Individuality is characterized not only by unique properties, but also by the originality of the relationships between them. The prerequisite for the formation of human individuality is anatomical and physiological inclinations, which are transformed in the process of upbringing, which has a socially determined nature, giving rise to a wide variety of manifestations of individuality.

Integral theory of individuality (V.M. Rusalov, B.C. Merlin)

It includes the following five provisions:

1. Biological factors of individuality are not only the bodily, morphofunctional organization of a person, but also programs of behavior created in the process of evolution of the living world. These programs begin to operate from the moment of conception, and already in the third month of the embryo's life, stable forms of individual behavior appear.

2. There are two types of concurrent laws. As a result of the actions of some, the subject-meaningful characteristics of the psyche (motives, intelligence, direction) are formed, as a result of others - the formal-dynamic features of individual behavior.

3. 3. Generalization of congenital programs goes in three directions. The first direction is the dynamic and energetic characteristics of behavior (endurance, plasticity, speed). The second is emotional characteristics (sensitivity, lability, dominant mood). The third is preferences (stimulus environment, cognitive style). Thus, vitality, sensitivity, striving for diversity or monotony are stable properties that practically do not change throughout a person's life.

4. Formal properties (traditionally combined under the general term "temperament") do not exist in isolation, but are included in more highly organized personality structures.

5. Formal dynamic characteristics not only act as prerequisites and conditions for activity, but also affect its dynamics, originality and style, ie. can determine the final results of activities.

CHAPTER 1

DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

Subject, purpose and objectives.

Historical prerequisites for forming a separate science.

Status in the system of human sciences.

Subject and structure of differential psychology

In the most general terms, the term "differential" is interpreted as different, different in some attribute (attributes), or criterion, therefore, differential psychology can be defined as the science of differences between people. It is important to remember that this definition does not fully disclose the content of differential psychology and can be used only at the first stages of acquaintance with this discipline.

A deeper understanding of the content of differential psychology allows you to understand the definition of it subject, which in the modern interpretation is formulated as follows: study of the structure of personality on the basis of identifying individual, typological and group differences between people by the method of comparative analysis.

Based on the subject of study, differential psychology includes three sections, which are devoted to three types of differences: 1) individual, 2) group and 3) typological.

1. Individual differences. The section is devoted to the study of the manifestations of general psychological patterns at the level of an individual. Individual differences can be conditionally divided into two groups: a) intra-individual and b) inter-individual. The specificity of these two groups is as follows.

Inside-individual differences imply:

Differences between a person and himself at different periods of life (for example, in childhood, youth and maturity; at the beginning of training and after its completion, etc.),

The difference between a person and himself in different situations and different social groups(for example, in a student group or in a family, in public transport or at a disco),

The ratio of various manifestations of personality, character, intelligence in an individual (for example, the ratio of verbal and non-verbal intelligence; the ratio of volitional and emotional personality traits).

Under inter-individual differences are understood:

Differences between an individual and most other people (correlation with the general psychological norm),

Differences between a person and a specific group of people (for example, a student or professional group).

2... Group differences. A section dedicated to the study of the differences between people, taking into account their belonging to a particular community, or group. We are talking about large groups that are distinguished according to the following criteria: gender, age, nationality (race), cultural tradition, social class, etc. Belonging to each of these groups is a natural manifestation of the nature of any person (as a biological and social being) and allows get a more complete picture of the features of his personality.

3. Typological differences. The section examines the differences between people, which are distinguished by psychological (in some cases - psychophysiological) criterion or criteria, such as, for example, features of temperament, character, personality. At the same time, people are united into certain groups - types. The selection of such groups is the result of attempts to classify information about the differences between people in order to explain and predict their behavior, as well as to determine the most adequate areas of application of their abilities. An example of the first typologies are classifications, the creators of which singled out groups of people taking into account the date of birth and a number of relevant natural criteria - the properties of stones and trees (horoscopes of the Druids), the location of the stars (astrological horoscopes). Modern typologies are based on other criteria; in their development, certain patterns are taken into account, which will be discussed below.

1.2 Historical background of design

The founders of differential psychology

And their ideas about the subject of the new science

The first major representatives of differential psychology as a scientific direction, in addition to W. Stern, were in Europe - A. Binet and F. Galton, in America - D. Cattell, in Russia - A.F. Lazursky. Individual and group tests (including tests of mental abilities) were used as the main research methods, a little later - projective methods for measuring attitudes and emotional reactions.

In 1895, A. Binet and W. Henry published an article entitled "The Psychology of Personality", which was the first systematic analysis of the goals, subject matter and methods of differential psychology. As the main problems of differential psychology, the authors of the article put forward two: 1) the study of the nature and degree of individual differences in psychological processes; 2) the discovery of the relationship of the mental processes of the individual, which can make it possible to classify qualities and the ability to determine which functions are the most fundamental.

In 1900, the first edition of V. Stern's book on differential psychology, "The Psychology of Individual Differences", appeared.

The first part of the book examines the essence, problems and methods of differential psychology. To the subject of this section of psychology, Stern attributed differences between individuals, racial and cultural differences, professional and community groups as well as gender differences.

He characterized the fundamental problem of differential psychology as threefold:

What is the nature of the psychological life of individuals and groups, what is the degree of their differences;

What factors determine these differences or affect them (in this regard, V. Stern mentioned heredity, climate, social or cultural level, education, adaptation, etc.);

What are the differences, is it possible to fix them in the spelling of words, facial expressions, etc.

V. Stern also considered such concepts as "psychological type", "individuality", "norm" and "pathology". Using the methods of differential psychology, he evaluated introspection, objective observation, the use of materials from history and poetry, cultural studies, quantitative testing and experiment.

The second part of the book contains general analysis and some data on individual differences in the manifestation of a range of psychological qualities - from simple sensory abilities to more complex mental processes and emotional characteristics.

V. Stern's book in a substantially revised form was republished in 1911, and again in 1921 under the title "Methodological Foundations of Differential Psychology".

In the final version of his concept, V. Stern expanded the definition of the subject of differential psychology, including in its content not only individual, but also group and typological differences. At the same time, the author emphasized the integrative nature of the new science and especially noted that the comprehensiveness inherent in differential psychology is of a completely different kind than in general psychology. It lies in the fact that differential psychological research is subject to formal(and not meaningful) signs of a person. That is, such signs that:

Characterize the structure of personality,

They are distinguished by their versatility and stability,

Can be played in both real life and in an experimental situation.

Differential psychology status

Status characterizes the boundaries of differential psychology, its many connections with other human sciences.

A.V. Libin presented these connections in the form of a diagram shown in Figure 1.

External status

Fig. 1. Differential psychology status

As you can see from the picture, external status differential psychology is defined by boundaries that run from the physics of sensory systems, through genetics and physiology (lower boundaries), to personality psychology, social, as well as general and developmental psychology (upper boundaries).

Internal status is determined by the sphere of border areas of psychological knowledge, which were formed as a result of the allocation of a differential psychological aspect in them: developmental psychology and psychology of sex, social psychology of personality (analysis of the interaction of a group and an individual), general psychology of personality (structure and mechanisms of personal properties), differential psychophysiology, psychogenetics (models for the determination of human differences), psychophysics.

In general, it can be argued that differential psychology plays the role of a connecting link between general psychology and all of the above areas in the science of man. Wherein central region mutual intersection is the psychology of personality. According to A.V. Libin, “the intermediate position of differential psychology - and the psychology of personality as its central part - is due to the laws of human phylogenesis and ontogenesis. In the first case (phylogeny), we mean the movement of the psyche as a self-developing phenomenon from evolutionary-genetic (biological) laws to socio-cultural (social) laws. In the second (ontogeny) - the transformation in the course of the life path of the biologically determined properties of an individual into personality structures, which are manifested in the integral characteristics of the interaction of an individual with the world. "

From the point of view of practical application, the connection between differential psychology and psychological diagnostics is of great importance. As V. Stern wrote, when a new concept is born (for example, "character accentuation", "behavior style"), this process is carried out in the bosom of differential psychology. When a test is created to diagnose the corresponding characteristics of a person, the task of the relay is transferred to specialists in the field of psychodiagnostics and differential psychometrics.

CHAPTER 2

Method classification

Method translated from Greek means "the way of knowledge." Various methods are used to study (cognize) the structure of personality, which can be classified, for example, as follows.

1. By type of experience used:

Introspective methods based on subjective experience data;

Extraspecific methods based on an objective, measurable result.

2. By the activity of the impact:

Observation methods,

Experimental methods.

3. By the level of generalization of the obtained regularities:

General-oriented, non-theoretical methods, psychology of explanation;

Ideographic methods focused on isolated cases, the psychology of understanding.

4. According to the stability of the studied phenomenon:

Ascertaining methods;

Formative methods, when using which the final state of the studied quality differs from the initial state.

There are other classifications of methods of differential psychology, but the most useful of them is the classification proposed by Boris Gerasimovich Ananiev and reflecting the stages of a comprehensive study of individuality or individual elements of its structure. Each stage corresponds to a group of methods, the choice of which is carried out based on the specific goal and objectives of the study.

1. Organizational methods:

Cross-sectional method (comparison of individual groups of people, different in age or other criterion);

Longitudinal section method - longitudinal (study of the same persons for a long time);

Complex method (a combination of the method of longitudinal and cross sections: first, transverse studies are carried out, and then at turning points - a more detailed longitudinal study).

2. Empirical Methods:

Observational methods (observation and self-observation);

Experimental methods (laboratory, field, psychological and pedagogical experiment);

Psychodiagnostic methods (tests, questionnaires, questionnaires, interviews, conversation);

Praximetric methods (analysis of processes and products of activity: chronometry, professional description, evaluation of work performed);

Modeling (mathematical, cybernetic);

Biographical methods (study of the life path, study of documentation).

3. Methods for processing and analyzing results:

Quantitative processing and analysis (statistical methods);

Qualitative analysis (differentiation of material by class, development of typologies, description of cases).

4. Interpretation Methods:

Genetic method (explains all the material in the characteristics of development);

Structural method (explains all the material in the characteristics of connections between individual components of the personality structure or the structure of social groups).

Empirical Methods, included in the classification of B.G. Ananyev, can also be divided according to the principle of belonging to a particular science:

General scientific methods (observation, experiment) - modification of methods that are used in many other sciences in relation to psychological reality;

Historical methods (biographical);

Psychological methods (introspective - self-observation, self-esteem; psychophysiological; socio-psychological - questioning, conversation, sociometry);

Psychogenetic methods.

A number of these methods deserve separate consideration in connection with the special role they played in the history of the formation of differential psychology as a separate science. In particular, we will talk about psychogenetic methods, test diagnostics, methods of statistical analysis and classification of results, as well as methods of idiographic analysis.

Psychogenetic methods

The use of psychogenetic methods is associated with the study of the role of heredity and the environment in the formation of differences, as well as with the analysis of the relative influence of each of these two factors on the individual characteristics of a person.

Genetic analysis of the factors of individual differences involves the use of three methods: 1) genealogical, 2) the method of adopted children, and 3) the twin method.

Parcel for use genealogical method the following provision serves: if a certain trait is hereditary and encoded in genes, then the closer the relationship between people, the higher the similarity between them in this trait. In this case, information about relatives of the first degree of kinship (parent-offspring and sibling-sibling pairs), which on average have 50% of common genes, is necessarily used. As the degree of kinship decreases, there should be less similarity in the presumably inherited traits.

For psychotherapeutic tasks, one of the options is sometimes used this method – genogram. In this method, along with kinship relations, they record: 1) relations of psychological closeness (close - distant); 2) relations of conflict; 3) family script installations. The genogram is compiled within at least three generations and allows you to clarify the psychological context of a person's life (in this case, we can already talk about social heritability).

Foster Child Method is to include in the study: 1) children, as early as possible, given up for education by biologically alien parents-educators, 2) adopted children, and 3) biological parents.

Since children have 50% of common genes with biological parents, but do not have common living conditions, and with adoptive parents, on the contrary, do not have common genes, but share the environmental characteristics of life, it is possible to breed qualities due to heredity and environment. The trait of interest is studied in pairs (the child is the biological parent, the child is the adoptive parent). The measure of similarity indicates the nature of the quality. Despite numerous criticisms of the validity of this method, it is currently recognized as the most pure in psychogenetics.

Using twin method among twins, a) monozygous (developed from the same egg and therefore have identical gene sets) and b) dizygotic (similar in their genetic set to ordinary brothers and sisters, with the only difference that they were born simultaneously) are distinguished. Subsequent analysis of differences is carried out in different ways, depending on one of four variations of the method:

Intra-paired comparison of monozygous and dizygotic twins;

Analysis of the distribution of roles and functions within a twin couple;

Comparative analysis the time of the appearance of the skill in twins, one of whom is preliminarily subjected to a formative influence; if the experimental and control twins exhibit the skill at the same time, this can be attributed to the maturation factor;

Comparative analysis of the properties of separated monozygotic twins, in which the found similarity is attributed to the heredity factor, the differences to the environmental factor (the method is used in conditions of social cataclysms, when, due to circumstances, twins find themselves in different environmental conditions).

As mentioned above, the use of psychogenetic methods makes it possible to determine the relative contribution of heredity and environment to the variability of a trait. At the same time, a number of interesting patterns are revealed that make it possible to judge the sources of differences between people. So, for example, having studied the causes of individual differences in intelligence and personality for many years, R. Plomin and D. Daniels (1987) came to the following conclusion: one of the main reasons for psychological variability is different environment in which children are formed. In particular:

Birth order of the child,

Parental relationship

Attitude towards children,

Different forms of education,

Peer relationships.

In collaboration with other scientists, R. Plomin managed to establish the fact of the genetic conditionality of such traits as interpersonal warmth, cordiality and ease of social interaction within the family (1991).

From the point of view of the complex contribution of heredity and the environment to the formation of individual differences, the most valuable is the discovery by R. Plomin and J. Defreis of three types of relationships between the genotype and the environment (1985):

Passive influence, when members of the same family have both a common heredity and a common environment (non-random combination of hereditary characteristics and environmental conditions);

Reactive influence, in which the innate psychophysiological characteristics of a child can affect the attitude of parents and peers towards him, thereby contributing to the formation of certain personality traits;

Active influence, in which individuals actively search for an environment (or create an environment) that is more consistent with their hereditary inclinations.

2.3.3 Test diagnostic methods:

End of table 1

Apart from the two ways to highlight types, there are two approaches - empirical and theoretical, the use of which is determined by different methods of collecting information and different levels of generalization.

Empirical typologies are based on the observations of researchers with subtle practical intuition, by virtue of which they distinguish the features that underlie each type. These can be both homogeneous and heterogeneous signs - for example, features of the structure of the body, metabolism and temperament. As a rule, empirical typologies are not subjected to statistical verification.

Theoretical typologies refer to more complex levels of generalization than, for example, the primary classification, which is an unstructured list of phenomena united by some common species trait (for example, types of attention or memory). A scientific typology should have a clear structural basis and meet the following requirements:

1. Its classes must exhaust the entire set of objects. For example, to classify a person's characters, the attribute "nervousness" is not enough: calm people will fall out of consideration, they will not belong to any class, since the concept of "nervousness" can only be applied to restless, unbalanced people.

2. Each object must fall into one and only one class, otherwise confusion will begin. For example, if we want to divide all people into mentally ill and healthy, we must agree in advance about where to assign intermediate types (neurotics, people and borderline states), otherwise they can fall into both classes.

3. Each new subdivision of objects in the classification must be made on the basis of one attribute. For example, if stones are classified in geology, then they should first be divided by color and only then by hardness (or vice versa), but not by both of these signs at once.

Ideographic methods

Entitled "Ideographic" combine those methods that to one degree or another contain case analysis, methods in which the main object of analysis is individuality, not a group, not a collection of people.

Several groups of such methods can be distinguished: 1) analysis of the profiles of psychological traits, 2) biographical method; 3) generalization of documentary materials, 4) ethological research, and 5) phenomenological methods.

1. Analysis of the profiles of psychological traits is used to solve the following tasks:

Clarification of the individual structure of psychological properties;

Comparison of individual and group profiles;

Establishing developmental changes (longitudinal studies and developmental curve analysis).

When compiling a holistic personality profile, which is carried out on the basis of an analysis of trait profiles, all aspects are taken into account - from intra-individual variability to group status; from biological characteristics a person as an organism to a meaningful analysis of the differences in the inner world of the individual.

2. Biographical method involves the use of a person's personal biography over a long period of time to compile his psychological portrait. In this case, the following options for analyzing information are applied:

Retrospective analysis, i.e. description of personality, carried out post factum on the basis of information gleaned from documentary sources;

Longitudinal longitudinal studies providing experimental data for biographical analysis;

A causometric analysis that establishes connections between different life events based on the subject's own assessments.

As varieties of the biographical method, pathographic and diary methods, as well as the autobiography method, are most often used.

Pathographic method is reduced to copying the diseases of prominent people. Diary method is associated with the study of the life of an ordinary person and contains a description of his development and behavior, which is carried out for a long time by an expert or a group of experts (parents, educator, colleague).

Autobiography - it is a life story based on direct impressions and retrospective experiences. Distortions in the results of this method can be caused by processes of personality dynamics. The newest fixation methods are related to video recording capabilities.

3. Method of summarizing documentary materials based on the collection and analysis of information related to different periods of life, and to events that are most significant from the point of view of those psychological characteristics that are the subject of psychological analysis. However, unlike biographical methods, the result of such work is not a description of a specific life path, but a generalized psychological portrait of people selected on the basis of some a priori similarity.

An example of this kind of research is the book Boris Mikhailovich Teplov"The Mind of the Commander" (1942). Teplov himself (1985) assessed it as an attempt to study the abilities manifested in the field of practical thinking, which he defined as "the work of the mind in the conditions of practical activity."

Possibility of working out the problem of practical mind or practical intelligence B.M. Teplov saw in conducting a detailed analysis intellectual work in different professional activity, and the objects of this analysis were supposed to be extraordinary representatives of different professions.

The description of the activities of the military leader was determined, first of all, by the time the work was created: it was written at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War... For B.M. Teplov, who was recalled from the militia to work in the rear, turning to military topics was a natural reaction to what was paramount at that moment. But, in addition to social reasons, there are actually scientific ones, arising from the logic of the study of practical thinking, proposed by the author. He believed that “the mind of a commander is one of the most characteristic examples of a practical mind, in which the features of the latter appear with extreme brightness” [ibid., P. 227].

The work, written in the genre of psychological essays, is based on the research of military historians, on the autobiographical notes of military leaders and, which is rarely in scientific works, on literary works. Highlighting the most remarkable features of the commanders, Teplov uses materials dating back to different epochs and different countries, and gives a description of the characteristics of many outstanding military leaders - from Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Hannibal to Napoleon, Suvorov and Kutuzov.

A.R. Luria, analyzing this work, drew attention to how it was built (1977). The first stage is an analysis of the situation in which the commander acts. Description of the forms in which his activity can be carried out, and the tasks that can be solved with its help. The second stage is the identification of the psychological characteristics that are manifested in this situation. At the third stage, the relationship between these characteristics is determined, i.e. the system they are part of. Thus, the study reproduces the scheme according to which each well-organized clinical study of personality proceeds: it begins with a description of the situation in which certain symptoms are observed, continues in the "psychological qualification of these symptoms" and ends with their inclusion in a holistic syndrome.

The main characteristics of the commander's mental activity, identified based on the analysis of literary material, are as follows:

- "the ability to maximize the productivity of the mind in conditions of maximum danger");

Integrity in the analysis of the situation and at the same time the proportionality of the plan and the means of its implementation: "a true military genius is always the genius of the whole, and the genius of details";

Ability to conduct a multidimensional analysis of the situation, i.e. varied and contradictory material, and come to solutions that are distinguished by simplicity, clarity and certainty - "turning the complex into the simple";

Balance between analytical and synthetic properties of the mind;

The ability to quickly abandon old decisions and make new ones when the situation suddenly changes, i.e. flexibility;

The ability to penetrate the intentions of the enemy, to analyze him possible solutions;

Ability to make decisions in a situation where some of the information is missing or unreliable, which requires the ability to take risks, decisiveness;

The ability to constantly plan, and do it not in too much detail, and without looking too far ahead;

Intuition understood as the result of good vocational training, in which such features as involuntary and visual (the lesser role of verbal thinking) are highlighted, and which is closely related to the sense of the locality, i.e. with a high level of development of spatial thinking, and with a sense of time;

The need for education and a versatile culture of thought.

According to M.S. Egorov, the work of B.M. Teplova's "The Mind of a Commander" is one of the well-known works in the psychological community. Now it is interpreted mainly as a study of the psychological characteristics of the personality of commanders (A.R. Luria, 1977) or as an analysis of abilities as integral qualities that reflect the uniqueness of the human personality (V.V. Umrikhin, 1987). However, this line of analysis of individual differences was not continued. This study, named by A.R. Luria is a model of concrete psychology, and has remained so far unique of its kind.

4. Ethological method which is an observation of human behavior in a real situation, include (or at least allow to include) the components of ideographic analysis at all stages of the study (K. Grossman, 1986).

Formulation of the research hypothesis and selection of indicators, i.e. the choice of parameters by which structured observation will be conducted, as a rule, takes into account the breadth of differences in individual reactions and different subjective significance, different psychological meaning of the same behavioral manifestations. Research materials are a detailed description of the reactions and actions of each specific individual. Given that modern ethological research usually uses video equipment, these descriptions can contain both easily noticeable features of behavior and subtle nuances, for example, the subtlest changes in facial expressions. When analyzing the results, it is taken into account that the situation in which the observation takes place does not remain unchanged, and therefore specific features of behavior receive different interpretations depending on the context.

But the most important thing is that the generalization of the results of ethological research allows not only to derive general patterns, but also to analyze “atypical” cases that do not lend themselves to classification and are lost in standard nomothetic analysis. As a consequence, the results obtained through ethological research are easier to apply to a specific individual, for example, in pedagogical or consulting practice. In addition, the analysis of individual cases allows us to expand our understanding of the variants of psychological patterns.

The ethological method provides interesting information when researching the most different populations, but, since the implementation of this approach is extremely laborious, it is preferred to use it when other psychological methods do not "work." As a result of this, it is most often used in the study of the most early periods ontogenesis, mainly the psychological development of the child in the first year of life.

5. Phenomenological methods. The goal of the phenomenological direction, as one of its founders wrote about it Abraham Maslow, was to study the abilities and potentials of a person that are not systematically reflected either in positivist (behavioral) research or in psychoanalytic works. Among them, he attributed, in particular, the highest values, creativity, love, self-actualization, i.e. those phenomena that largely determine the integrity of the human person. The scientific community, which at first was very skeptical about these projects, over time began to treat the works of phenomenological psychology with increasing attention, which greatly expanded the scope of nomothetic research, and, consequently, changed the breadth of our knowledge about the psychological appearance of a person.

For phenomenological psychology, which is essentially focused on the ideographic analysis of individuality, the most reliable source of information about a person is the one that is received from him: if you want to know what a person thinks and how he feels, there is nothing easier than asking about it from himself. In this regard, interviews are often used in studies conducted in the context of this direction. As for the actual experimental methods in the arsenal of phenomenological psychology, they are based mainly on human self-assessments.

Some of them are adaptations of well-known methods developed for the purposes of nomothetic analysis. An example of such a method is Q-sort. When carrying out Q-sorting, the subject is given a set of cards, each of which is written with some psychological characteristic - "shy", "serious", "emotional". The subject is required to sort these cards: put cards with those characteristics that he possesses in one direction, in the other - those of them on which the characteristics he lacks are written.

It is assumed that this form of the experiment gives results that are slightly different from those obtained when conducting standard questionnaires. The reason for this difference is that when working with the questionnaire, the subject must evaluate his property according to quantitative scales (such as: “I definitely have this property, I rather have it than I don’t, something in between, I rather don’t, I definitely don’t”). The need for quantitative assessment inevitably requires the subject to compare with other people. When Q-sorting is carried out, the relative weight of such a comparative component is lower.

A variant of this method, used in phenomenological research, is that the subject is asked to sort the cards not only in accordance with his real properties, but also in accordance with ideal properties - what he would like to be. In this version, Q-sorting is performed, as a rule, several times. For example, before, during, and after a psychotherapeutic course. The convergence of assessments of "I-real" and "I-ideal" testifies to the success of psychotherapeutic intervention.

In addition to adapting already known methods, phenomenological psychology also uses original procedures developed in the context of its own theories, for example, various versions of the technique of J. Kelly's repertoire grids.

CHAPTER 3.

RESEARCH DIFFERENCES

Research specifics

The specificity of research related to the study of differences at the level of mental processes is as follows.

1. Main research hypothesis: differences between people are evident from the earliest stages of life.

2. Basic parameters of group differences: gender, age.

3. Factors Affecting Differences:

Heredity (congenital genetic characteristics);

The closest social environment;

The specifics of development in ontogenesis.

4. Research methods: observation, experiment, testing (tests are specially developed

Differential psychology

- (from Lat. differentia - difference) - a branch of psychology that studies psychological differences both between individuals and between groups of people, the causes and consequences of these differences. The prerequisite for the emergence of D. of the item was the introduction into the psychology of experiment, as well as genetic (see) and mathematical methods... Dialectical education developed under the direct influence of practice — pedagogical, medical, and engineering. The beginning of its development was laid by F. Galton, who created a number of techniques and devices for the study of individual differences, including for their statistical analysis (see). The term "D. NS." introduced by the German psychologist W. Stern in his work "On the Psychology of Individual Differences" (1900). The first major representatives of the new direction were A. Binet, A. F. Lazursky, J. Cattel, and others. invention tests of projective- to measure interests, attitudes, emotional reactions. By processing tests with methods factor analysis the factors that signal about general properties(parameters, measurements) intelligence or personality. On this basis, quantitative variations in the psychological properties of individual individuals are determined. In foreign psychology, the most famous are:

1) the theory of two factors by Charles Spearman, according to which in each type of activity both a common factor for any of them and a specific one necessary only for this type of activity (for example, for solving mathematical problems, literary creativity, etc.);

2) multifactorial theories (L. Thurstone, J.

Guilford and others), who deny the common factor and believe that there is a wide range of primary mental abilities (speed of perception, associative, etc.). No matter how improved the tests and their statistical processing, they by themselves are not able to explain the reasons for psychological differences. The question of these reasons has been the subject of heated debate throughout the history of dialectical education. For a long time the belief in the biological predetermination of a person's abilities and character prevailed in foreign art. In this case, decisive importance was attributed to heredity and the maturation of the organism, and the dependence of individual psychological characteristics on the lifestyle of the individual, the socio-economic and cultural conditions of its development was ignored. At present, dialectical art is characterized by the intensive development of new approaches and methods, both experimental and mathematical. Along with the differences between individuals in the mental respect, differences in creative and organizational abilities, in the general structure of the personality, in the motivational sphere are widely studied. An important place is given to identifying correlations between psychological properties, on the one hand, and physiological and biochemical ones, on the other. The facts and conclusions obtained by D. p. Are important for solving many practical problems (and personnel, diagnostics and prognostics of the development of individual properties, inclinations, abilities of individuals, etc.).

A Brief Psychological Dictionary. - Rostov-on-Don: "PHOENIX". L.A. Karpenko, A. V. Petrovsky, M. G. Yaroshevsky. 1998 .

Differential psychology Etymology.

Comes from lat. differentia - difference, Greek. psyche - soul + logos - teaching.

Author.

The term was introduced by W. Stern in 1900.

Category.

Section of psychology.

Specificity.

Is engaged in the study of individual psychological differences. The object of study can be both specific individuals and different social, class, ethnic, age groups. Most often, the focus of research is on the personal and intellectual characteristics of the individual.

Psychological Dictionary... THEM. Kondakov. 2000.

DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY

(eng. differential psychology) - a section of psychology that studies between people. The term D. p. Was introduced by him. psychologist V.Stern(1900). D. p. Studies both psychological differences of specific individuals and typological differences in psychological manifestations in representatives of different social, class, ethnic, age, and other groups. Comparative research is most often subjected to the personal and intellectual characteristics of the individual, studied in the experiment, determined using observation,tests or analysis of results introspection... One of the important tasks of modern psychology, which was previously often limited to a description of the nature and range of individual psychological manifestations, is to identify the most essential parameters of the organization of mental activity (measurements, factors), on which the individual typological characteristics of the subject depend. To understand the reasons and conditions for the emergence of individual psychological differences, it is important to study their neurophysiological factors in the form of the main properties n.with.; this study is now being carried out within the framework of the differential psychophysiology, which arose thanks to the works B.M.Teplova and his staff (see. Nebylitsyn V.D.) based on the concept of types and properties n. with. AND.NS.Pavlova.

Modern mathematical theory widely uses a well-developed mathematical and statistical apparatus, including the methods of correlation, regression, discriminant, and factor analysis... The data of D. p. Are of great applied importance for the practice of teaching, education, psychiatric and psychotherapeutic influences, determining professional suitability,professional selection and career guidance.

A large psychological dictionary. - M .: Prime-EVROZNAK. Ed. B.G. Meshcheryakova, acad. V.P. Zinchenko. 2003 .

See what "differential psychology" is in other dictionaries:

Differential psychology- a section of psychological science that studies psychological differences, typological differences in psychological manifestations in representatives of various social, class, ethnic, age and other groups. Differential psychology ... Wikipedia

DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY- a branch of psychology that studies individual and typological. differences between people. The prerequisite for the emergence of dialectical education at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. was an introduction to the psychology of experiment, as well as genetic. and math. methods. A pioneer in the development of D ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY- see DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY. Antinazi. Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2009 ... Encyclopedia of Sociology

DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY- a branch of psychology that studies individual differences between people. Founded by F. Galton (2nd half of the 19th century), the term was introduced by W. Stern (1900), major representatives: A. Binet, A. F. Lazursky, J. Cattell. In differential psychology ... ... Big encyclopedic Dictionary

Differential Psychology- a section of psychology dealing with the study of individual psychological differences. The very term differential psychology was introduced in 1900 by W. Stern. The object of study can be both specific individuals and different ... ... Psychological Dictionary

DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY- (eng. differencial psychology). A branch of psychology that studies the individual psychological differences between people. The term D. p. Was introduced by the German psychologist W. Stern (1900). D. p. Studies both the psychological differences of specific people, and ... ... New Dictionary of Methodological Terms and Concepts (Theory and Practice of Language Teaching)

differential psychology- a branch of psychology that studies individual differences between people. Founded by F. Galton (second half of the 19th century), the term was introduced by W. Stern (1900). Major representatives: A. Binet, A. F. Lazursky, J. Cattell. In differential ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Differential psychology- psychology focused on the study of individual differences in response and behavior. * * * (from Lat. differentia - difference) is a branch of psychology that studies mental differences both between individuals and between groups of people, causes and ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

Differential psychology- a branch of psychology (see. Psychology), which studies individual differences between people. The prerequisite for the emergence of dialectical education at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. was an introduction to the psychology of experiment, as well as genetic and mathematical methods. ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Since there are problems both with the field of definition of differential psychology and with terminology, it seems that it will not be easy to talk about the history of this science.

V prehistory, there are two main streams: characterological and psychognostic.

Characterology is a discipline that reduces differences in the essence of people to certain simple basic types. It proceeds from the belief that the alleged source of individuality is either homogeneous or is a collection of a small number of basic properties - in both cases, it must be made intelligible in its essence. Therefore, characterology tries to differentiate the main forms in which these basic properties can be manifested, and, if possible, to present them in the form of a clearly developed system.

A distinctive feature of characterology up to the present day is a kind of fusion of philosophical hypotheses about the essence and causes of human nature (character, temperament) with empirical research, limited to obtaining data from everyday experience or not always strictly scientific approaches to the consideration of the psyche.

Although the name "characterology" appeared only in the second half of the 19th century, this trend itself is much older.

The most famous example from antiquity related to our topic is Galen's teaching on temperament, in which four main types of individual identity are derived from the predominance of any one "juice" in the human body.

Galen(129 or 13 1 - about 200 or about 210) - an antique medic. The common spelling of the name as Claudius Galen (lat. Claudius Galenus) appears only in the Renaissance and is not recorded in the manuscripts; it is believed that this is an erroneous decoding of the abbreviation Cl(Clarissimus).

Galen was born around 130 A.D. in the city of Pergamum. His father, Nikon, a wealthy man, was a famous architect, well versed in mathematics and philosophy. To give his son the best possible education, he first studied with him himself, and then invited prominent Pergamon scholars.

Galen was preparing to become a philosopher and studied the works of Greek and Roman thinkers. But by coincidence, Galen's dream was misinterpreted - and he became a physician, although he continued to be interested in philosophy all his life.

At 21, Galen lost his father. Having received a large inheritance, he went on a seven-year journey. In Smyrna he studied philosophy and anatomy, in Corinth - natural science and the properties of drugs, in Alexandria - again anatomy.

Returning to Pergamum, Galen began to practice surgery, became a doctor at the school of gladiators. This work was for Galen a real school of medical art. He wrote: "I often had to lead the hand of surgeons, little sophisticated in anatomy, and thus save them from public shame."

At the age of 34, Galen moved to Rome, where he received the position of court physician to the emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son to the emperor Commodus. He became so famous that coins with his image were put into circulation in Ancient Rome.

In the Temple of Peace, Galen opened a course of lectures on anatomy not only for doctors, but also for everyone. Galen, the first to use vivosection, demonstrated the dissection of dogs, pigs, bears, ruminants, even monkeys. Since the autopsy human bodies then it was considered blasphemy, Galen could study human anatomy only on wounded gladiators and executed robbers.

According to sources, Galen lived for 70 years and died around 200 AD. NS. According to Arab sources, Galen lived for 80 years and, therefore, his death dates back to around 210 BC.

Galen described about 300 human muscles. He proved that not the heart, but the brain and spinal cord are "the focus of movement, sensitivity and mental activity." He concluded that "without a nerve there is not a single part of the body, not a single movement called voluntary, not a single feeling." By cutting the spinal cord across, Galen showed the disappearance of sensitivity in all parts of the body below the incision site. He proved that blood moves through the arteries, and not "pneuma", as previously thought.

He created about 400 works on philosophy, medicine and pharmacology, of which about a hundred have come down to us.

Described the quadruple of the midbrain, seven pairs of cranial nerves, the vagus nerve; conducting experiments on transection of the spinal cord of pigs demonstrated a functional difference between the anterior (motor) and posterior (sensory) roots of the spinal cord.

Based on observations of the absence of blood in the left heart of killed animals and gladiators, as well as the holes in the interventricular septum discovered by him during the anatomy of the corpses of premature infants, he created the first theory of blood circulation in the history of physiology (it was believed, in particular, that arterial and venous blood are liquids different, and since the first "carries movement, warmth and life", then the second is designed to "nourish the organs"), which existed until the discoveries of Vesalius and Harvey.

Galen systematized the concepts of ancient medicine in the form of a single teaching, which was the theoretical basis of medicine until the end of the Middle Ages.

He laid the foundation for pharmacology. Until now, "galenic preparations" are called tinctures and ointments prepared in certain ways.

This direction was widely represented in the German educational philosophy and "psychology of experience" of the 18th century, some of their examples are contained in various sources.

The most famous book is "Anthropology" by I. Kant (1798) - a special part of it ("anthropological characteristics") is devoted to the discussion of problems of character, personality, gender, people and contains physiognomic descriptions, consideration of types of temperaments, types of thinking, etc., made with a delicate taste.

After 70 years, characterology began to systematically address issues.

The little-known work of Banzen (1867), which mentions the name "characterology", contains treasures that deserve attention in our time. He identified three main areas of logical differentiation: temperaments, which refers to purely formal volitional relationships,pozodinika - expressing the measure of the ability to suffer andethics - character in the full sense of the word.

V Newest time in Germany, there were separate experiments in the characterology of Sternberg, Luke, Klages. The French - Malaper, Polan, Foule, Ribery and others - turned to the topic of classification and description of character and temperament.

So let's clarify.

Characterology- the science of characters. The term is a tracing-paper from the German Charakterkunde. Introduced in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, however, attention was paid to the study of characters at an earlier time. A feature of the study of character is that it is often inseparable from the study of temperament and personality as a whole.

The ancient Greek scientist and writer Theophrastus, the author of the work "Characters", is considered the founder of characterology. Theophrastus' treatise contained a description of 31 types, each of which was determined on the basis of the dominance of a particular feature. Since the XIX century. systematic attempts to provide a scientific basis for the differences in human characters begin, various classifications of characters and psychological types appear - L. Klages, K.G. Jung, E. Kretschmer,

A.F. Lazursky and others. Most of these (and earlier) classifications were built on various grounds.

In the USSR in 1920-1930. the doctrine of characters developed mainly within the framework of pedology. In the late 1930s. all of these studies have been phased out. In Soviet psychology, a vulgar interpretation of the thesis of L.S. Vygotsky on the disclosure of individual characteristics through interaction with society: it was generally accepted that character is the result of the influence of society, while only differences at the level of temperament can be considered innate. In the textbook of Kovalev and Myasishchev, which was republished several times, characterology is declared a "bourgeois pseudoscience."

In the 1960s, as interest in the individual characteristics of a person, including constitutional ones, was revived, the emphasis in their study also shifted. We are no longer talking about "characterology", but about differential psychology, in which a distinction is made between mental properties, states and processes (in Western psychology, these concepts are denoted as psychological factors, in neuroscience - as mental functions).

Currently, one of the most common methods for classifying characters is a method based on the characteristics of behavior that have formed in a person and differ from the characteristics of some "ideal" behavior, which depends only on external factors... In pathological cases, such "deviations from the ideal" are observed especially clearly, therefore the described types of character are often called terms from psychiatry.

Based on this approach, several types of deviations can be distinguished: asthenic (disorders of the psychasthenic, neurasthenic and sensitive type), dysthymic (disorders of the hyperthymic, hypothymic and cycloid types), sociopathic (disorders of the conformal, non-conformal and paranoid type), "psychopathic" (schizoid , epileptoid and hysteroid disorders).

There is a separate approach (the author's method of V.V. Ponomarenko) that pays more attention to the fact that several traits are combined in a character that are similar to a particular mental disorder. These groups of character traits have a homogeneous origin and are called radicals. Seven main radicals are distinguished: hysteroid, epileptoid, paranoid, emotive, schizoid, hyperthymic and anxious - the “7 radicals” method. A real character is always a mixture of several radicals in one or another proportion to each other, but even a pronounced radical does not mean that a person is sick. Based on these seven radicals, a psychological profile and a psychological portrait are drawn up.

Ideas of characterology are at the heart of psychological testing. Characterology is useful in conflict management and in personnel management.

Differential psychology proper differs from characterology in this way: it chooses its starting point not “from above” (the single essence of the individual), but “from below”, and, proceeding from the multiplicity of phenomena established in the individual, slowly and carefully tries to rise to the unity of individuality - with in this she is not satisfied with a method that is an obscure fusion of philosophical speculation with naive random experience, but seeks to develop a scientific methodology commensurate with her problems.

Differential psychology, however, should not be expected to recognize characterology as completely redundant and replace it. Rather, the more intuitive manner of examining the characterologist will continue to be a valuable addition to the analytic research of the psychologist, and, of course, it is still very far from the exact psychological research methodology being transferred to the development of characterological questions themselves.

Of the two main problems of characterology so far only one — the problem of temperament — has tended to become accessible to more precise methods; but the study of the difficult and fundamental problem of character by modern methods is only just beginning.

Psychognosis is another large area that should be considered the preliminary stage of differential psychology. Its task is, on the one hand, to establish the relationship that exists between certain, externally perceived states or movements of a person, and his individual originality, and on the other hand, in using this revealed connection to interpret the character of a particular individual.

In three directions, psychognosis has acquired the form of sufficiently formalized systems - these are physiognomy, phrenology and graphology. Along with this, there is a whole series of separate experimental studies.

Physiognomy, or the interpretation of the type of face, existed in the Middle Ages as a form of occult art, but only Lavater (1775)

made it popular; it is known that even the outstanding German writer and scientist Goethe was for some time fascinated by this teaching. True, this wave of popularity lasted only a short time.

In reality, this method was too primitive, and the choice of the grounds for interpretation (partly of the bone framework, partly of the soft tissues of the face) was arbitrary enough that, in the end, physiognomy would not quickly lead itself to absurdity. She simplified the matter so much that, not considering it necessary to examine the subject's real face, she turned only to his silhouette.

The second system had a greater impact - phrenology, created around 1810 by Halle and also called cranioscopy. She came up with a completely different scientific toolkit. And although the doctrine that individual mental abilities are localized in different parts of the brain was, at least, a controversial hypothesis, it seemed convincing the conclusion following from this that the strongest manifestation of any property is accompanied by a particularly strong development of the corresponding part of the brain and expressed in pineal formations or an increase in the surface of the skull. Thus, the bulge of the ridge and the deepening of the skull acquired the significance of psychognostic signs of predominant or absent properties.

Today we know that some assumptions were only marginally correct, and some interpretations were completely wrong; but despite this, groping skulls have long been considered an excellent means of character determination.

Gall had many followers, some of whom (for example, Spurzheim) worked on their own.

The third psychognostic system - graphology - creation 19th century... Her country of birth is France; it was founded by Abbot Michon (1875) and developed by his follower Crepier-Jamin in the 1880s.

The main idea of ​​graphology is that a person's movements can at least partially be considered forms of expressing his nature, which also applies to movements when writing, therefore, the results of movements when writing (features of the outline of letters and handwriting in general) are applicable as psychognostic means of interpretation. But the number of generally recognized, reliable connections between handwriting features and character traits has not yet been fully studied (although it should be noted that graphology is used quite successfully all over the world in the search for criminals), therefore, individual interpretations of graphologists, even the most authoritative ones, can still be contain errors and inaccuracies. This area suffers from the fact that, along with serious experiments in scientific generalization (in the person of Preyer, Bussé, Klages, etc.), there is also a large number of artisans and charlatans.

All considered psychognosis systems suffer from two disadvantages:

• one of them situational nature, is determined by their current state and therefore can be overcome in the future;
• another drawback principled nature: it consists in the arbitrary grasping of any one group of symptoms as the only means of cognition. This mistake makes it impossible to transform amateur activities into truly scientific ones.

Differential psychology should strive, in order to understand mental characteristics, to ensure the interaction of all available means of interpretation, therefore, handwriting or facial expression will always be just separate symptoms for it, along with many other, and not isolated explanatory principles.

Along with the two main currents, which were the preparatory stages of science, there are numerous currents of a narrowly specialized nature, which also contribute to the creation of differential psychology.

Numerous works on the hereditary premises of genius and individual geniuses, on the psychology of a woman, a criminal, a race, i.e. research that arose outside the mainstream of the development of psychology. They are created by people of various professions and levels: doctors and artists, amateur specialists and amateurs and present a very variegated and disordered picture in the methodology, points of view and problem statement. One should hope for their systematization only in the future.

Differential psychology as an offshoot of general psychological science (the categories and types of methods of which were perceived by it, developed further and changed in accordance with new requirements), arose from the end of the 19th century.

Already in the 1980s. Charcot in France and Galton in England founded the doctrine of types of memory and language.

In 1890 in America, D. Cattell first proposed the method of "mental tests", and in 1896 Vine's work "Individual Psychology" appeared - a kind of programmatic composition of a new field of science. At the same time, the German psychologist Baerwald published his "theory of giftedness", and in 1890 W. Stern in "The Psychology of Individual Differences" tried to give a summary of the then state of development and encourage scientists to future research in this field of science.

William Lewis Stern (eng. William Lewis Stem; April 29, 1871, Berlin - 1938, Durham, USA) - German psychologist and philosopher, is considered one of the pioneers of differential psychology and personality psychology. In addition, it provided big influence on nascent child psychology. Creator of the concept of intelligence quotient, which later formed the basis of the famous 1Q test by Alfred Binet. Father of the German writer and philosopher Gunther Anders. In 1897, Stern invented a tone variator, which allowed him to significantly expand the possibilities of studying human sound perception.

V. Stern was educated at the University of Berlin, where he studied with the famous psychologist G. Ebbinghaus. After receiving his doctorate, he was invited in 1897. at the University of Breslau, where he worked as professor of psychology until 1916. Remaining a professor at this university, Stern founded the Institute of Applied Psychology in Berlin in 1906 and at the same time began publishing the Journal of Applied Psychology, in which he, following Mün- Sterberg, develops the concept of psychotechnics. However, he is most interested in research on the mental development of children. Therefore, in 1916, he accepted an offer to succeed the famous child psychologist E. Meiman as head of the psychological laboratory at the University of Hamburg and editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology. At this time, he was also one of the initiators of the organization of the Hamburg Psychological Institute, which was opened in 1919.

In 1933 Stern emigrated to Holland, and in 1934 he moved to the USA, where he was offered a professor position at Duke University, which he held until the end of his life.

Stern was one of the first psychologists to place the analysis of the development of the child's personality at the center of his research interests. The study of an integral personality, the laws of its formation was the goal of the theory of personalism developed by him. This was especially important during that period, i.e. in the tenth years of the XX century, since the research of child development at that time was reduced mainly to the study of the cognitive development of children. Stern also paid attention to these issues, examining the stages of development of thinking and speech. However, from the very beginning, he strove to study not the isolated development of individual cognitive processes, but the formation of an integral structure, the persona of the child.

Stern believed that personality - it is a self-determining, consciously and purposefully acting wholeness with a certain depth (conscious and unconscious layers). He proceeds from the fact that mental development is self-development, self-development of the inclinations of a person, which is directed and determined by the environment in which the child lives. This theory was called the theory of convergence, since it took into account the role of two factors - heredity and environment in mental development. The influence of these two factors is analyzed by Stern using the example of some of the basic activities of children, mainly play. He was the first to single out the content and form of play, proving that the form is unchanging and associated with innate qualities, for the exercise of which the play was created. At the same time, the content is set by the environment, helping the child to understand in what specific activity he can realize the qualities inherent in him. Thus, play serves not only to exercise innate instincts (as the famous psychologist K. Gross believed), but also to socialize children.

Stern understood development itself as growth, differentiation and transformation of mental structures. At the same time, speaking about differentiation, he, like representatives of gestalt psychology, understood development as a transition from vague, indistinct images to clearer, structured and distinct gestalts of the surrounding world. This transition to a clearer and more adequate reflection of the environment goes through several stages, transformations that are characteristic of all basic mental processes. Mental development tends not only to self-development, but also to self-preservation, i.e. to the preservation of the individual, innate characteristics of each child, first of all, the preservation of the individual rate of development.

Stern is one of the founders of differential psychology, the psychology of individual differences. He argued that there is not only a common normality for all children of a certain age, but also an individual normativeness that characterizes this particular child. He was also one of the initiators of the experimental study of children, testing and, in particular, improved the methods of measuring the intelligence of children proposed by A. Vine, proposing to measure not the mental age, but the IQ.

The preservation of individual characteristics is possible due to the fact that the mechanism of mental development is introception, i.e. the child's connection of his internal goals with those that are set by others. Stern believed that the potential of a child at birth is rather vague, he himself is not yet aware of himself and his inclinations. The environment helps the child to become aware of himself, organizes his inner world, giving him a clear, formalized and conscious structure. At the same time, the child tries to take from the environment everything that corresponds to his potential inclinations, putting a barrier in the way of those influences that contradict his internal inclinations. The conflict between the external (environmental pressure) and internal inclinations of the child has and positive value for its development, since it is negative emotions, which causes this discrepancy in children, and serves as a stimulus for the development of self-awareness. Frustration, delaying introception, makes the child look at himself and the environment in order to understand what exactly he needs to feel good about himself and what specifically in the environment causes him a negative attitude. Thus, Stern argued that emotions are associated with the assessment of the environment, help the process of socialization of children and the development of reflection in them.

The integrity of development is manifested not only in the fact that emotions and thinking are closely related, but also in the fact that the direction of development of all mental processes is the same - from the periphery to the center. Therefore, first, children develop contemplation (perception), then representation (memory), and then thinking, i.e. from vague ideas, they move on to the knowledge of the essence of the environment.

Stern believed that in the development of speech, the child makes one significant discovery - the discovery of the meaning of a word, the discovery that each object has its own name, which he makes about a year and a half.

This period, which Stern first spoke about, later became the starting point for the study of speech by almost all scientists who dealt with this problem. Having identified 5 main stages in the development of speech in children, Stern not only described them in detail, in fact, having developed the first standards in the development of speech in children under 5 years of age, but also tried to highlight the main trends that determine this development, the main of which is the transition from passive to active speech and from word to sentence. Great importance had a study by Stern of the originality of autistic thinking, its complexity and secondaryness in relation to realistic, as well as his analysis of the role of drawing in the mental development of children. The main thing here is Stern's discovery of the role of schema in helping children move from ideas to concepts. This idea of ​​Stern helped to discover a new form of thinking. - visual-schematic or model thinking, on the basis of which many modern concepts of developmental education for children have been developed.

Thus, it can be said without exaggeration that V. Stern influenced practically all areas of child psychology - from the development of cognitive processes to the development of personality, emotions or periodization of child development, as well as the views of many prominent psychologists who dealt with the problems of the development of the child's psyche.

In the first decade of the XX century. these endeavors resulted in a powerfully expanding movement that continues to this day.

In the United States, special committees have been set up to research testing methods and collect data on individual differences. At its convention in 1895, the American psychological association formed the Committee "... to consider the possibility of cooperation between various psychological laboratories on the collection of mental and physical statistics." The following year, the American Development Association formed a standing committee to organize ethnographic research on the white population of the United States. Cattell, as a member of this committee, noted the importance of including psychological tests in this study and the need to coordinate it with the research work of the American Psychological Association.

In line with the main stream of research was the application of newly created tests to various groups.

Kelly in 1903 and Northworth in 1906 compared normal and retarded children on tests for sensorimotor and simple mental functions. Their discoveries shed light on the continuing division of children according to their abilities and made it possible to argue that the weak-minded do not constitute a separate category.

In 1903, Thomson's book Intellectual Differences of the Sexes was published, containing the results of various testing of men and women that had been carried out over several years. This was the first comprehensive study of psychological gender differences.

In addition, for the first time, testing was carried out for sensory acuity, motor capabilities and some simple mental processes in representatives of various racial groups. Separate studies appeared even before 1900.

In 1904, Spearman's original article appeared, who put forward his two-factor theory of mental organization and proposed a statistical technique for investigating the problem. This publication opened the field of research on the relationship of qualities, as well as the way for modern factor analysis.

The work of the Soviet psychologist Alexander Fedorovich Lazursky, who is the founder of differential psychology in Russia, was also of great importance for the development of differential psychology. Together with A.P. Nechaev, he created one of the first psychological laboratories in St. Petersburg. Subsequently, Lazursky for many years headed the psychological laboratory at the Psychoneurological Institute. V.M. Ankylosing spondylitis.

In 1897, the journal "Review of Psychiatry" published the first article by Lazursky, devoted to the problem of individual differences, - " State of the art individual psychology ". Considering the achievements of this science, he emphasized that its purpose is to study how "the mental properties of different people are modified and what types they create in their combinations."

In his work "Essay on the Science of Characters" (1909), Lazursky developed an original concept of "scientific characterology", which was based on the idea that individual characteristics of a person are associated with the activity of the nervous system. Lazursky's position differed in many respects from the views of Stern, Binet and Galton, since he considered it necessary not to limit himself to applied research and argued the importance of forming the foundations of a scientific theory of individual differences.

The assertion of individual psychology as a theoretical discipline, as Lazursky emphasized, the significance of experience, primarily observation and experiment, the important role of which the scientist wrote about. At the same time, he considered empirical data on the activity of various mental processes not in isolation, but in a system, proving that the main task of experimental research is to build a holistic picture of a person. Based on the inclinations, abilities, temperament and other individual qualities of a person, it is possible to build a complete, natural classification of characters, which, according to Lazursky, will form the basis of a new science. He introduced the concept of endopsychic and exopsychic spheres of mental life, based on the diagnosis of which you can make an individual portrait of a person. A detailed exposition of the main provisions of his characterology and personality typology was given in the book "Classification of Personalities" (1922), published after the death of the scientist.

Another Soviet scientist, B.M. Teplov opened a new chapter in the study of the psychophysical foundations of individual differences.

Based on Pavlov's teaching on the properties of the type of the nervous system, he put forward a large program for diagnosing typological properties. On the basis of this program, a large scientific school was formed differential psychophysiology, the most important contribution of which was the disclosure of the properties of the nervous system inherent in humans, and the development of theoretically grounded and based on objective methods of researching individual psychological differences between people.

A prominent Russian psychologist, Doctor of Psychology V.S. Merlin. He put forward the principle of "multivalued dependence" of mental phenomena on physiological, which made it possible to reveal the complex, mediated nature of the relationship between different levels of organization of individual personality traits - neurodynamic, psychodynamic and personal. Research in this area led him to the creation of the concept of human temperament ("Essay on the theory of temperament", 1964; "Essay on the integral study of individuality", 1986).

Thus, the psychology of individual differences, called differential psychology, began to take shape as an independent branch of science only at the beginning of the 20th century.

The aim of this direction was to create rigorous standardized methods and procedures for assessing individual psychological differences, mainly in the field of intelligence, on the basis of which preliminary professional selection and individualize the learning process. The main methods of differential psychology, called tests, were created to solve specific practical problems.

The psychology of individual differences in Russia began to be built on special methodological foundations. She dissociated herself, first of all, from testology and focused her main attention on the search for a theoretical concept that could form the basis of scientific differential psychology. In their theoretical searches, psychologists turned to the doctrine of I.P. Pavlova on the properties and types of the nervous system. Thus, individual elements of a new scientific direction began to emerge - differential psychophysiology, which initially set as its goal a thorough study of the properties of the nervous system in humans and the elucidation of their role in the determination of stable individual psychological differences between people.

Analyzing the formation of the psychology of individual differences and its modern level, today it is already possible to combine research carried out in the mainstream of this psychological field into three large groups:

• the first direction is associated with the analysis of the structure of psychological properties. What kind psychological characteristics it makes sense to consider them as the most important for the psychological appearance of a person and how they are related to each other - these are the main problems that are considered in these studies. In the works of this direction, individual differences appear not only as a subject of research, but also as a condition that makes it possible to use statistical procedures, with the help of which the structuring of psychological characteristics is carried out;
• the second direction is associated with the search for the causes of the origin of individual differences in psychological characteristics. The studies of this group are the most numerous and concern the analysis of biological and social determinants of individual differences, the role of heredity and the environment in the formation of such differences, the dynamics of individual differences in the development process;
• the third area of ​​research is the ideographic analysis of individuality. In this case, the object of psychological research is an individual subject, and not a group, as is the case with nomothetic the approach implemented by the first two directions.

The zone of proximal development of differential psychological theory is determined by the nature of the methodological tasks of primary importance. Thus, many researchers note that the development of the program for studying the structure of the human genome is approaching its final stage - the determination of the cause-and-effect relationship between the genetic and psychological levels of personality traits.

It is now obvious that the differences between people are rooted in the genetic basis of personality. At the present stage, it is not a simple statement of the fact of a link between a gene and a corresponding behavioral trait that acquires particular importance, but the identification of the consequences of a certain localization of a gene in the genetic structure. The next step, after the adoption of the position on the connection between a separate gene in the human brain and individual differences in personality traits, is the position that genetic influence does not determine human behavior, but is expressed in the assumption, confirmed by statistical models, that it is necessary to take this influence into account for a certain spectrum in range of behavioral variability.

On the other hand, the concepts of the genetic determination of personality traits meet experimentally confirmed by social psychologists and interactionist-oriented researchers facts about the power of influence of situational variables on personality behavior. It becomes necessary to integrate the data obtained with respect to different levels of individuality into a single, conceptually and empirically consistent model. It is quite possible that the theoretical basis for the development of such a model will be a hierarchical approach, considered in the context of the dynamic organization of the processes of functioning of an individual at the "lower" and "upper" levels.

The identification of the real mechanisms that form the differences between people allows us to turn to the nature of the mutual influence of the three most important factors of human life - genetic predisposition, social conditioning and structures of subjective life experience that differentiate and integrate the influence of nature and society in the process of human development.

Formulated in a form convenient for practical use, scientific knowledge about human differences is already becoming the basis for creating, for example, individual and general training programs that make it possible to correlate highest level developing skills with the potential of the subject; to develop methods of medical, including psychiatric and psychotherapeutic, correction of adverse natural and social influences on individual behavior; finally, for the introduction of preventive diagnostics, which helps to identify in the early stages of the formation of pathological deformations of the character and personality as a whole.

Today it can be said, and not without reason, that more than a hundred years of the development of differential psychology became the prologue for the emergence of the integral science of human differences.

Remember:

characterology, psychognosis, character deformation, Galen, Kant, Bansen, pozodinika, Lavater, physiognomy, phrenology, graphology, Gall, Galton, Charcot, Cattel, Stern, Binet, introception, self-development, idiographic approach, nomothetic approach, Teplov, Merlin , differential psychophysiology, endopsychic and exopsychic spheres, Lazursky, Nechaev, Spearman.

Chapter 1 Questions and Assignments

• 1. Name the main directions in the prehistory of differential psychology and describe them.
• 2. What role did physiognomy, phrenology and graphology play in the development of differential psychology?
• 3. Prepare reports on the life and work of V. Stern.
• 4. Tell us about the role of Galen, Kant, Galton, Gall, Bansen and other scientists in the development of differential psychology.
• 5. Prepare reports on the role of Russian psychologists in creating a new branch of psychology.

B. What is the essence of the three main directions in individual psychology?

7. What are ideographic and nomothetic approaches?

• Kant Immanuel (1724-1804) - German philosopher, the founder of German classical philosophy, standing on the verge of the Enlightenment and Romanticism.
• Gall Franz Josef (1758-1828), Austrian physician, founder of phrenology. The idea of ​​the localization of functions in the brain turned out to be fruitful. Hall belongs to the anatomical studies of the nervous system, a description of the anatomy of the pyramidal tract in the brain. In his work "Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System in General, and the Brain in particular" (1810-1820), Gall summarized the accumulated data in this area.
• Michonne Jean Hippolyte (1807-1881). Collected and cataloged specific features of handwriting and tried to establish strict correspondences
• Charcot Jean Martin (1825-1893) - French psychiatrist, teacher of Sigmund Freud, specialist in neurological diseases, a fundamental doctrine of the psychogenic nature of hysteria. Conducted a large number of clinical studies in the field of psychiatry using hypnosis as the main tool for proving his hypotheses. Founder of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Paris.
• Galton Francis, Sir (1822-1911) - English explorer, geographer, anthropologist and psychologist; founder of differential psychology and psychometrics.
• Kettel James McKinley (1860-1944) - American psychologist, one of the first specialists in experimental psychology in the United States, the first professor of psychology.
• Binet Alfredo (1857-1911) - French psychologist, doctor of medicine and law of the University of Paris, founder of the first Laboratory of Experimental Psychology in France. He strove to establish an objective research method in psychology. He is known, first of all, as the compiler (together with T. Simon in 1905) of the first practical test of intelligence, called the "Binet - Simon mental development scale" (an analogue of the modern IQ test). Later, in 1916, the Binet - Simon scale was revised by L. Theremin into the Stanford - Binet intelligence scale.
• Spearman Charles Edward (1863-1945) - English statistician and psychologist, specialist in experimental psychology, methods of assessment and measurement, theory, history and philosophy of psychology, personality psychology and social psychology.
• Lazursky Alexander Fedorovich (1874-1917) - an outstanding Russian physician psychologist. Was an employee of V.M. Bekhterev, professor of the Pedagogical Academy and the Psychoneurological Institute in St. Petersburg. He developed the doctrine of personality and types of character ("characterology") based on the allocation of two mental spheres: congenital features, to which temperament and character were attributed ("endopsychics"), and evolving throughout life primarily in the form of relationships between personalities and the surrounding world (“exopsychics”). In his classification, he relied on the data on the activity of the nerve centers known by his time. He was one of the first to conduct research on personality in the natural conditions of the subject's activity.
• Nomothetic approach - an approach aimed at identifying general patterns. According to the classification of sciences and methods by G. Rickert, the nomothetic method is contrasted with the ideographic method, aimed at revealing its uniqueness in the studied object (the latter, in Rickert's mind, should be used by sciences that study individual, special phenomena, such as history).