What is the difference between an individual and an individual?

What have we learned?

The concepts of man, individual, personality, individuality are united by the fact that they all characterize people as biological and social beings with natural properties and qualities acquired in the process of life and interaction with other members of society. Such a system of concepts helps to organize the properties of a person and examine him from different sides. An individual is a biological being, one of all people. Personality – possessing a number of social qualities. Individuality – having a set of properties and characteristics that is unique in nature. Each person is an individual, personality and individuality.

What characterizes a person as a person

Initially, the word was almost a dirty word. This term is derived from "Face", and this word, in turn, had a negative connotation in everyday life. It meant what we would now call a mask, a role played—deception. For a long time, the concept was not applied directly to people; about the part of the body that we now call so, they said “face”, “guise”.

From this we can deduce the following. Just as an actor puts on a mask during a performance, so an individual becomes a person only in the process of interaction with other people - a kind of role that the character has built for himself.

Properties

I will list those aspects of life that, one way or another, influenced the formation:

hereditary predisposition;
parental education (these two factors are easy to confuse; it is often said that the child’s character is similar to the mother’s, but basically this is the adoption of habits);
people with whom there is frequent interaction - friends, relatives, classmates, employees.

Particular personality traits may be expressed at one moment and deliberately or unintentionally suppressed at another. This is a significant difference between a personality and an individual, because the latter has a constant set of traits that he is not able to correct at will and through willpower, for example, eye color.

How does personality differ from individuality or individual?

The main difference is maximum self-awareness and the ability to control one’s own actions, take responsibility for them, and make decisions. The peculiarity is in willpower, which is expressed not in the desire to be different from others, but in the desire to become better than oneself. Usually, personal qualities, although they are manifested in comparison with others, are assessed by the person himself in relation to himself. That is, for example, the abstract “I” stole and has pangs of conscience not because a neighbor/friend or a policeman said that this should not be done. The reason is the awareness of values and their violation. The individual will be ashamed first of all of himself.

How to differentiate between definitions

When wondering what the differences are between the concepts of “person,” “person,” and “individual,” many people become confused. Although these definitions are intertwined with each other, personality is the most ambiguous of them. In everyday life, this word often characterizes a person capable of performing a noble deed. In psychology, this term has more than ten interpretations. Moreover, a separate section of this science was created to study the relationships between people and individual communities.

Based on the information presented earlier, we can draw a logical conclusion that, in comparison with personality, an individual cannot be lost. His development begins from birth, and even becoming socially disadvantaged, he will retain his individuality. Forming one’s own “I” is the most important task of every person, the implementation of which depends on the beliefs of the society of which the individual is a part. Understanding one’s role in society and compliance with one’s status forms one’s personality, which can be assessed differently in individual communities.

There is a quote: “One is born as an individual, one becomes an individual, and individuality is defended.”

With its help, you can easily answer the question of what is the difference between these terms. Not every person manages to fully preserve their uniqueness. Attempts to imitate other people and conform to all the norms prescribed by society can provoke a loss of individuality. You can remain a unique person only if harmony is achieved with yourself and the world around you.

Strong personality

Throughout life, a person can find himself in extreme situations, which become a test of how strong his inner core is - individuality and personality. How rooted and part of the “I” are his beliefs, principles, worldview, etc.

Austrian psychiatrists Bruno Bettelheim and Viktor Frankl, who were imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II, wrote that a person’s very life sometimes depends on the preservation of individuality. The conditions of the concentration camps led not only to physical exhaustion, but also to the destruction of personality - the goal of the fascists was to lower prisoners to the level of an individual occupied only with biological needs. In practice, although such an individual became an “ideal” obedient prisoner, he quickly lost the will to live, memory, abilities and even the instinct of self-preservation.

Frankl and Bettelheim, by their own admission, were helped to survive only by the desire to preserve their individuality - to continue mental work, to set life goals for themselves, even if their realization was unlikely at that time. So, Bettelheim, deprived of the ability to write, composed a book in his head, and Frankl, together with a group of doctors, organized a secret service for psychological assistance to other prisoners. A strong personality, as the highest stage of development, is characterized by the ability to overcome life circumstances, placing spiritual values not only above material, but also above biological needs.

Read also: How to make a mushroom from plasticine step by step

So, we figured out what personality is in social science and how this term differs from concepts such as “individual” and “man”. In addition to the theoretical material, we offer a short test.

Group and individual

Since man is a social being, it is impossible to imagine his full life outside of society. Life in society is so organized that each individual is a representative of a variety of social groups. The most significant social groups for an individual are:

family;
kindergarten group;
a group of peers in the yard;
classroom;
student group;
production team;
clubs and interest groups.

In order to feel comfortable, an individual needs to be accepted into the group. To do this, he must follow the rules established in this group:

recognize the authority of the group leader;
have appropriate external attributes (specific clothing style, accessories, gadgets);
share the group’s opinion, beliefs and value orientations;
identify with this group.

As a member of a group, an individual is constantly in a situation of choice: agree with the group or show his true colors. If an individual has charisma and leadership abilities, he feels confident even in those moments when his personal position does not coincide with the opinion of the majority of group members. He is not afraid to voice his opinion. Since he backs up his thoughts and beliefs with arguments, group members listen to him, and sometimes even take his side, changing their views.

If an individual has low self-esteem, he is afraid to express his disagreement with the opinion of the majority in the group. He is forced to pretend, wear a mask, flatter, wanting to impress the leader of the group. His behavior will remain insincere as long as it is beneficial for a person to be a member of a given social group.

The influence of a group on an individual can be seen in some professions:

Salesman. There are certain standards for customer service, according to which the seller must be friendly, polite, and smiling. This professional standard does not allow a salesperson on the job to demonstrate his bad mood or negative attitude towards an unkempt customer.
Teacher. There may be completely different children in a school class. Some of them have high learning motivation, while others have low motivation. The teacher, as a rule, sees children who are interested in acquiring knowledge, but he cannot teach only them. In accordance with the job description, the teacher must treat all students equally. Professional standards prohibit a teacher from picking favorites in the class. The teacher’s personal attitude towards a particular child should not leave an imprint on his teaching.
Conveyor worker. This procession does not imply the manifestation of individuality. An employee of a factory or factory must perform certain operations in the required sequence. The group for this employee will be the production workshop. If an individual copes well with his duties, then other assembly line workers are loyal to him. If he makes a mistake, he will face sanctions from other workers, because his mistake will certainly affect their work.

The group influences the individual, shaping his system of life values and principles. But the individual also influences the group if he has sufficient personal potential. It turns out that not only the group forms certain personal characteristics of its members, but also each individual who is a member of the group influences its socio-psychological characteristics.

What is the difference between an individual and a personality?

In order to understand what “personality” is, you need to know the difference between “individual”, “individuality”, “person”.
The very definition of “individual” comes from the Latin word “individ”, which means “someone in the crowd,” but an individual is “someone” outside the crowd.

If we compare a personality and an individual, the first determines the social circle, while the second only determines his belonging to a certain group.

Individuality

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

Despite the fact that individuality can also be characterized by biological differences, it would be more correct and logical in this matter to pay attention specifically to the social aspects of a person’s personality. They are the ones who can make a person different from others, give him some kind of individuality, and such biological differences as black hair or a long nose do not yet make this person different from other representatives of his species.

Concepts

Man is the main theme of literature and art, the semantic center of any philosophical system. Throughout the history of his existence, he tries to comprehend himself, and each time he discovers something new, unknown in himself. To express the essence of a person we use the words:

Man - there are different versions about the origin of this word from different languages:

From Old Russian - it combines “chelo” (elevation, top) and “vek” (strength), which together reads as “possessing all strength.”
From Lithuanian - “chelo” (top) and “vaikas” (young man) - that is, an adult man.
From Old Church Slavonic - “celo” (whole) and “veche” (collection), which can be interpreted as “collected into a single whole.”
There is a theory that many words came into the Russian language from Sanskrit, translated from which “challi” means descendant, brainchild.

Conclusions website

Interaction with society. To remain an individual, a person just needs to be himself. But he can become a person only through social interaction, which manifests itself either in cooperation or in confrontation.
Adequacy. Every person is born an individual, but he becomes a personality only in the process of conscious life.
Quantity. There are about 7 billion individuals in the world, and individuals, according to various estimates, from several hundred to several tens of millions.
Confession. Every person has equal rights with other people, that is, his right to individuality is inalienable. However, individuals express themselves somewhat more clearly, receiving certain social privileges (authority, power, recognition).
Mindfulness. To remain an individual, it is enough to simply live, fitting into the framework of society or isolating yourself from it. The path to personality development is a conscious action, accessible only to a select few.

In psychology and sociology, the problem of human formation, which is associated with the stages of his growing up, is very important. The separation of the concepts of individual and personality is the cornerstone of assessing a person’s activity

People are not only born unique, but also become unique in the process of life. To the question “what have you achieved?” Almost every person answers differently. An individual is a unique combination of human properties received from his parents at birth and acquired during his life. This concept is characterized by integrity: a set of qualities without which a person will lose his identity. Special traits include details such as gender, age, height and weight, character, eye color, skull shape and much more. A personality is a unique representative of the human race that has manifested itself in socio-cultural action. This is a stable system of traits that manifests itself only in the process of living in society. A person who is on a desert island retains his identity, but becomes a person only through the recognition of other members of society. This property is best manifested in Indian culture: having performed a significant action, a person receives a name, that is, public support. Each person is an individual by nature, and he becomes an individual in the process of growing up and communicating with other people. At the same time, the preservation of the human genetic code, its transmission and development is carried out according to the will of nature. But any representative of the human race can become a person, even if he has limited capabilities (no limbs, internal organs, speech, hearing). You can remain an individual regardless of how others treat you. But recognition, authority, characteristic of an individual are those “medals” that only society can award. Torn out of society, a person quickly loses his individual traits, ceases to understand other people and even forgets his language. At the same time, the need for personalization and uniqueness is one of the highest human needs.

Interrelation of concepts

All of the above related mainly to the differences between the concepts under consideration. At the same time, there is a relationship between all of them, which also cannot be ignored. The concepts of “individual”, “individuality” and “personality” can be considered as stages of a person’s personal evolution. Every person becomes an individual immediately after birth. As he grows up, he acquires individuality , which consists of genetically determined and acquired properties.

Personality and individuality are formed in parallel, largely under the influence of the same factors. As an individual develops psychologically, he acquires unique traits that help him interact better with society and the environment. At the same time, all three concepts are applicable to it, which characterize it from different sides. Each person is an individual, personality and individuality. And what to call it depends on the goals and objectives set.

Definitions

To begin with, it is worth saying that an individual or an individual is a subject that combines qualities that were received from parents or during life.

The concept characterizes a set of unique characteristics, without which a person ceases to be special. Among them, physical, psychological and social human traits stand out. The difference between an individual and a person is that in addition to physical parameters such as gender, race, eye color, and so on, this concept includes character and psychological characteristics.

Individuality, in turn, expresses all the unique characteristics of a person, which are manifested in his temperament, behavior, manners and appearance.

Each subject is individual by nature, but there are significant differences between the individual and the personality. In order to become the owner of social traits, a person overcomes life's difficulties, interacts with other people and participates in social activities. Having received a certain role in society and recognition of its members, a person becomes a person with his own distinctive characteristics. Any person can receive this status, regardless of her physical and mental abilities.

Statuses and roles of the individual

is that the first definition is a complex system of characteristics that describe a person as a full member of society. In this case, biological characteristics, human culture and social relationships are taken into account. You can become a person only by carrying out a specific type of activity and self-realization. To do this, a person needs to be psychologically formed and sensibly assess his potential necessary to achieve his goals.

Personal development

According to teachers and psychologists, the process of personality formation begins when a child turns 3 years old. The baby develops a need to do everything on his own. However, in his quest for independence, he encounters some difficulties: it turns out that he cannot yet perform most of the activities that are so interesting to him on his own. This contradiction between the baby’s desires and his helplessness causes violent negative behavioral reactions. The child is often capricious, cries, and refuses to comply with the parents’ demands.

Adults need to treat the child with understanding and patience during this period, since contradictions are the driving force of development. Several months will pass, and the baby will find the right ways to master new activities. This will be his first step towards personal development.

For an individual to become a person, special conditions are needed. Personal development occurs if:

Parents are interested in the development of the child, so from early childhood they create a developmental environment at home. Children need to read fairy tales, sing lullabies at night, and take part in children's games. All this forms the child’s moral and ethical basis for personal development.
The child must attend a preschool educational institution.

The degree of success of personal development is manifested in critical situations when a person faces a moral choice. A person who has been able to become a strong personality is able to overcome different life situations with dignity. He places spiritual values above material ones. He is capable of:

refuse dubious proposals from comrades;
show willpower;
be purposeful in your work;
treat your loved ones carefully.

It is impossible to justify a person’s illegal and criminal actions by the fact that he was unable to socialize and express himself in socially encouraged activities. To commit a crime or not is a choice that not an individual is capable of, but a personality. The criminals made their choice consciously. This means they are individuals.

What does it mean to be an outstanding personality in social studies?

The term outstanding personality characterizes a person as strong-willed and strong, distinguished from everyone else.
The signs of such a person are obvious: willpower, determination in achieving their goals.

Most often, people perceive such a person as a standard: for example, Yuri Gagarin. After his flight, a huge number of Soviet boys wanted to become cosmonauts. This is the psychology of the crowd - the bulk always looks up to one person.

Of course, a person cannot be a bright and outstanding person without individuality: these concepts are interrelated and mutually compensate each other.

Personality qualities

An individual who is a person has come a long way from a person as a representative of a biological species to an individual endowed with social properties. An individual as a person is characterized by such qualities as:

energy;
uniqueness;
creativity;
initiative, enterprise;
social activity;
responsibility;
high motivation to achieve goals;
ability to control emotions;
independence from the majority opinion;
the ability to protect one's individuality.

Asya Rakhovich

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Socialization of the individual and personality formation

Not every person is a person. Thus, a newborn baby is already an individual, but not yet a person. Personality is formed under the influence of society, culture, and immediate environment.

Socialization is the process of an individual’s assimilation of cultural norms and social experiences necessary for successful life in society. In simple words, socialization is the transformation of an individual into a personality. Socialization continues throughout life: a person masters many social roles, his personality acquires new facets.

Everything that influences this process is called socialization mechanisms or socialization agents. These include individuals, family, environment, social institutions - school, army, state, media, etc.

What is individual?

The main difference is the lack of specific, unique features. This is a person who belongs to the crowd, has similar characteristics, conforms to basic stereotypes and is susceptible to public opinion.

Such a person has not grown personally. At the everyday level, we can cite the following traits of an individual who never became a person:

inability to make decisions;
lack of responsibility for events;
low social adaptability;
following the opinion of the majority;
lack of point of view;
the ability to manipulate the person in question.

Human

As we have already found out above, a person is a general concept that denotes a social being with consciousness and intelligence. Man was formed as a result of evolutionary development, as well as a number of socio-historical processes. Using this term, we usually mean a representative of the human race with all the qualities and characteristics inherent in the biological species Homo Sapiens (reasonable man).

From a psychological point of view, the term “human” combines biological and general social characteristics, as well as the ability to engage in various activities specific to a given biological species.

From a biological point of view, a person is a creature that differs from other mammals in such features as:

upright posture and special body structure;
using articulate speech to communicate;
the presence of consciousness, the ability to understand the essence and cause of various phenomena;
the ability to meaningfully and purposefully perform complex work in order to obtain a certain result (and not obeying instincts, as happens in animals);
the ability to create and use tools.

From a philosophical point of view, a person is an integral system that has physical and mental principles, determined genetically. This is the unity of biological, social and spiritual qualities.

To remember how the concept of “person” differs from the concept of “personality”, you should understand one simple thing: a newborn child is already a person, since all the elements of human nature are inherent in him. At the same time, he becomes a person later - in the process of socialization, when he acquires his own individuality.

What are the differences between the terms individual, individuality and personality: characteristics

An individual is a single representative of the human race, a separate person, regardless of his real anthropological and social characteristics.
Individuality is the unique originality of a person’s manifestations, emphasizing the versatility and harmony, naturalness and ease of his activities.
Personality is a human individual who is a subject of conscious activity, possessing a set of socially significant traits, properties and qualities that he realizes in public life.

What is the difference between an individual and an individual?

Every person is an individual and an individual at the same time, only this manifests itself in different life situations. A person who does not include personality is a primitive creature, on a par with primates.

For example, if you come to the bank and want to get a loan, then you provide your passport - at that moment, you are an individual.

But if you want to stand out from the crowd or be outside the crowd, then you are already an individual. An individual is defined by character and socialization in society.

What does the term “personality” mean in social science?

The term “personality” plays an important role in social science and is studied primarily in the section “Man and Society”.

Personality is an individual person as a subject of social life, communication and activity with his own socially conditioned and individually expressed qualities.

Personality is characterized by a unique combination of the individual’s natural properties (age-sex, biochemical, neurodynamic and others) and social qualities formed in a particular environment.

The concept of “personality” allows us to consider a person as a bearer of certain social roles, and to correlate his activities with normatively established principles.

In humanistic philosophical concepts, personality is considered as the highest value for the sake of which social development is carried out.

Life in society and status

In the process of evolution, man occupied the highest point in the hierarchy of the animal world. In the process of development, each person goes through a certain path from an individual to a developed personality with a certain set of qualities that distinguish people from each other.

This process contributes to the formation of a certain worldview. Society greatly influences the formation of personality. If it is free, then people are distinguished by their individuality, as well as the ability to express themselves. This leads to the fact that a developed personality grows out of an individual.

A person occupies a social status and is capable of realizing it. Social status can be either temporary or permanent.

conclusions

Having answered the question of how a personality differs from an individual and individuality, we can conclude that these definitions, or rather characteristics, are closely intertwined with each other. A person receives individual properties and qualities at birth, but an understanding of all the features of life in society comes to him in the process of growing up, not only physically, but also psychologically. Social institutions contribute to the comprehensive development of the subject, and throughout his life he faces an important task - to preserve his individuality and remain an individual.

Individual, individuality, personality - what's the difference?

Close to the term individual are two more: personality and individuality. Some even think that they mean the same thing, but this is not entirely true. Or rather, not at all like that. I will quote from a statement by A.G. Asmolov – modern psychologist and politician:

“One is born an individual, one becomes an individual, one defends individuality.”

To understand the essence of this phrase, let's take a closer look at the terms it contains.

Individual

Indeed, all people are born as individuals , as representatives of the human race. The first part of our lives we try to “fit into” society, and for this we need to comply with the norms and rules established in this society. The latter fact forces us to learn to be like everyone else through imitation of adults.

First, we understand that we need to clean up our toys after ourselves, then that we shouldn’t hit the weak, and in general it’s not good to fight. We understand that we must respect our elders, give way to the elderly, and help those in need. It’s not good to talk loudly, jump in line, and so on.

Now you know what an individual is, but what happens next? After all, people differ not only from other representatives of the living world, but also from each other, including.

Individuality

Individual, individuality, personality - this is the order in which development occurs (what is it?); you cannot immediately jump over a step. Individuality involves a unique set of qualities that distinguish a person from his “brethren.”

These are your abilities (what is this?) and talents, skills and abilities that are innate, but become fully developed only in the process of socialization (what is this?).

That is, we acquire our individuality when we grow and learn to live among others. The presence of individuality in a person does not always mean that he is a person.

Personality

In the process of this learning, the individual acquires many of his own specific characteristics and becomes a personality. It is the result of educational interaction with society.

It is important to add here that if everyone is born an individual, then not everyone becomes an individual.

If you want, this is the next stage in human mental development. Before this, you looked at others and did as they did. But the moment you decide to do something, but in your own way, and also take responsibility for this decision, a personality is born.

She knows how to set goals and achieve them in her own unique ways, and is an active and therefore effective unit in society.

The individual is self-organized, highly developed and occupies a significant place in his group or society.

Let's give a terminological definition with brief characteristics

I will list the most popular words that are often confused by ordinary people. Let's take a wide range of explanations - from everyday and colloquial to scientific.

Human

First of all, this name is used in biology, history, and archeology to distinguish a biological species that has certain structural features of the body and brain. It is an upright creature endowed with cognitive abilities. The word is appropriate to use both in combination with the more social “humanity” and when contrasted with the animal world. This can be called absolutely every one of our “relatives” - from children to adults.

Characteristic features that distinguish a person from a personality:

The result of the evolutionary process.
The presence of consciousness and self-awareness.
The need to be in society, the need to communicate with others like oneself.
A single way of communication through language, that is, the work of speech recognition and speech reproduction, with the exception of those who have lost the opportunity or have not had it since birth due to their anatomical structure.
Features of anatomy - upright posture, the presence of fingers and toes.
The ability to use devices to achieve a goal - any objects used for their intended purpose.

Subjective meaning (that is, a person as a subject of relationships, historical process and cultural) turns a biological species into a social being.

Individual

From Latin the word individuum is translated as “indivisible.” We actually completely copied it (but the meaning of “individual” is still different).

This concept can be called every person living in a group, society and possessing qualities that make him the same as his closest relatives. However, it is an independent unit with intrinsic value. This occurs due to the uniqueness of each individual organism on two levels - physiological and psychological. These are not qualities acquired over the years, but traits that are innate - narrow or wide-set eyes, the presence of a dimple on the chin, timbre of voice or ringing laughter.

Characteristics, what is the difference between an individual and personality:

The object of the human population cannot be alone, it is inseparable from its own kind.
Social activity - the presence of roles, statuses, for example, husband or wife, daughter, son, mother, father or neighbor, teacher, friend.
The ability to adapt on a psycho-emotional level to those around you – the ability to find a compromise and adapt to the demands of society.

These are any qualities that are determined in comparison with other people, in contrast or in accordance.

How personality differs from individuality and individual, examples

The term comes from the word “Person”, and in English the tracing paper from Latin is established - persona.

The definition is inextricably linked with personal qualities, that is, it continues the concept of individuum, making it even more personalized. If earlier we talked about the individual characteristics that a person had innately, now it is more correct to talk about the acquired character, which is revealed in communication and relationships with other people. It is impossible to talk about personal traits without comparison or contrast with society.

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The term is used in many sciences and reflects individual characteristics. Let's go through scientific areas:

Linguistics. “Language, speech and communicative personality.” Everything can be tied into a single knot; often these three persons develop synchronously. They are all in one person. The quality can be called acquired, because the child at birth does not have speech. The first concept reflects the depth of constructed thoughts, sentences, and the structure of texts. The second explains the degree of verbal expression skill. The third is the ability to engage in various verbal interactions.
Philosophy. In this science, the most common interpretations of the term appeared; it became a stumbling block. For the first time, the concept of “face” began to reflect a person and his inner world. Over time, philosophical wrangling, experts came to a consensus that a person, unlike an individual, has three traits: free will, reason and feelings.
Sociology. There are many ideas, but the fundamental one is how the society in which a person lives affects his personal qualities, abilities, and character traits. This once again emphasizes the social orientation of the term.
Psychology. Perhaps the psychological approach is the most correct. It is at the level of consciousness and the unconscious that a set of developed habits, preferences, experience, knowledge, established opinions and stereotypes of thinking appears. All these features determine a person’s attitude to nature, culture, history, and other people.

Let's give an example. Having your own opinion about the political situation means having the traits of personal development. A young man, and especially a child, can only repeat what was said or heard on TV, but not generate his own assessment.

Personality and man, what is the difference, characteristic features:

presence of temperament;
pronounced character - people talk about his inclinations even in infancy;
individual abilities - they need to be developed;
all actions have motivation.

In general, we can say that personal qualities are cultivated in oneself and controlled, adjusted independently.

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Individuality

The last term that is often confused within the listed definitions. Usually it is understood as personal striking features. The word has its root in the same Latin individuum, that is, “indivisible.” The differences between an individual’s personality and individuality are that the latter distinctive features can be displayed not only in behavior and psychology, but also in purely external manifestations. An example is an individual, author’s, unique style of clothing.

If you feel ordinary, one in a million, and do not find any special characteristics in yourself, this may mean:

either you have nothing to express;
or you don't know how.

In my personal consultations, women open up and learn to better understand themselves.

Personal qualities

The definition of “personality” is understood as a specific subject who is distinguished by the ability of cognition, self-awareness, emotional experiences, as well as the ability to influence the world around him and build relationships with other individuals. Psychologists believe that this term refers to anyone who occupies a position in society and is capable of fulfilling a certain role.

Personality cannot be formed outside of society and without connection with it; its main characteristics are the following potentials:

informative;
creative;
communicative;
value;
art.

The will of a responsible subject, the ability to control one’s life and build relationships are considered the basis for personal development. These are individuals who understand that natural inclinations cannot control the mind, and a person must consciously guide his own behavior.

For example, a three-year-old child cannot be considered a mature personality. He is not yet aware of why he acted this way and not otherwise, and what consequences his action may lead to. He acts based on his upbringing and habits that he developed in childhood.

It is difficult to call a person who does not have a stable, solid “I” a personality. Many people live in a pattern, mechanically reacting to what is happening in the world around them, and follow exclusively their instincts. If there are adequate habits and their reasonable external manifestations, a decent person appears in society, but without his own “I”.

The formation and definition of a person as an individual is a long process that is associated with:

with the choice of social roles and functions performed;
awareness and acceptance of rules and norms of behavior;
the ability to build relationships and be part of society;
choose your behavior model responsibly and independently.

It should be understood that in society those who are capable of being different from everyone else always attract attention. But psychologists focus on those features that make this happen. One can always be called a person who knows how to stand out, but not everyone who stands out has the right to be considered a person. Only worthy behavior is the main social characteristic of a subject. Outstanding people have always been distinguished by their determination and willpower, and they are usually perceived as role models.

Who is the individual

The concept of “individual” comes from the Latin word “individuum”, which translates as “whole, indivisible”. This concept is used to describe the socio-psychological characteristics of a particular person.

A social individual is a person as a representative of society, a certain social group.

The term "individual" is used in various sciences.

In social psychology, the individual is the basic definition around which concepts and theories of interpersonal interaction, communication, conflict resolution, and social management are built.
In sociology, this term is used to study public opinion and the behavior of large groups. When conducting sociological surveys, researchers use the concept of “individual” to create typical characteristics of a particular age group of subjects and study the individual characteristics of representatives of a particular profession or category of the population.
Physiologists use this term to study processes occurring in a particular organism. This concept allows physiologists to study the human body.
In medicine, this term is used to choose treatment tactics for a particular disease in a particular patient. The causative agents of the infection may be the same, but the nature of the course of the disease in two different people will be different. Therefore, doctors take into account the individual characteristics of the patient when prescribing certain medications.
In pedagogy, this term helps the educator or teacher implement a person-oriented approach to the child. In kindergarten, teachers create a developmental subject environment in which every child can satisfy his needs for knowledge of the world around him, in engaging in activities that he likes. A teacher at school must not only provide students with material on one or another discipline of the curriculum, but also create conditions for the creative self-realization of each of them.
In geography, the concept of an individual is used as a unit for measuring population density and studying the ethnocultural characteristics of a particular people.
In history, with the help of the term “individual”, an idea of a particular era or historical event is formed. Thanks to this concept, historians have been able to create psychological portraits of outstanding figures.
In art, the concept of the individual formed the basis of different directions. The features of a particular genre in literature, music, and painting did not appear spontaneously. They are the result of the activities of brave individuals who were able to successfully realize their creative potential.

Myers-Briggs developed a concept according to which all people can be divided into the following types:

sensory extrovert (vividly expresses himself, self-confident, socially active);
sensory introvert (friendly, sociable, charming);
intuitive extrovert (they talk a lot, but do little, live in dreams and discussions about possibilities, like to make grandiose plans, but do not implement them);
intuitive introvert (makes decisions based on his own feelings);
thinking extrovert (loves clarity, algorithms, logic, rationality in everything);
thinking introvert (socially passive, uncommunicative, but generates brilliant ideas);
feeling extrovert (tends to give advice, criticize);
feeling introvert (prone to vivid experiences and emotional outbursts);
decisive extrovert (impulsive, speaks first, thinks later);
decisive introvert (calm, reserved, reasonable);
perceiving extrovert (overflowing with vital energy, easy-going);
a perceptive introvert (a creative person who draws inspiration from the world around him).

Personality.

Personality is the most complex concept. This is the social image of a person. It is society that shapes the individual into a personality. This is what distinguishes a person from an animal. An individual raised separately from others, for example on a desert island, will become an individual. But he will not become a person, because the key factor here is communication and relationships with other people. To become an individual, a person goes through a path of socialization, and its formation occurs throughout life.

Basic elements of socialization:

communication;
upbringing;
education;
mass media;
social control system.

In the process of socialization (personality formation), a person develops physical skills and abilities, psychological characteristics, moral factors, scientific knowledge, political worldviews, religious values, etc. Sociologist Leontiev described personality as a set of social relations that are realized in various types of activities. Simply put, a person is a member of society, and this definition includes everything that can be implied by this.

Expression of individuality

The concepts of “personality and individuality” cannot be identified, since the first concept is a characteristic of the second. It is individuality that gives a person a set of unique properties and traits that distinguish him from the social mass.

Personality is an expression of an objective assessment of a person and his compliance with society, and individuality is self-esteem, a subjective perception of oneself from the point of view of acquired qualities.

A person can show his individuality in different areas of activity: in profession, in creativity, in communication. Individuality makes it possible to demonstrate versatile abilities while maintaining the integrity of the psyche.

A person’s individuality is in constant dynamics, manifesting itself in various unexpected situations and conditions. A person’s individual qualities find their vivid expression at critical moments, when it is necessary to quickly make a non-standard decision or take responsibility. At the same time, society’s assessment will not always be positive. The reaction from the outside is an additional stimulus for the development of the subject, determining its direction.

If there is a stop in development, then we can talk about degradation. Its causes can be internal motives, as well as the influence of external factors, when suppression or submission to someone else’s will occurs, excluding the choice of actions or deeds.

Man, individual and personality are key concepts in psychology, which are no less important in social science, since man is the main element of society. What is the difference in these three terms?