When does a person become a person?

Personality traits briefly

A property is a concept that reveals the essence of a certain phenomenon. And what, if not the structure, does this best. Therefore, let's take a closer look at some of the components of personality.

Capabilities. It is a measure of how far a person can progress in a particular activity. If we compare them with inclinations, then these concepts correlate with each other, at least and maximum. A little simplified, but it doesn’t change the essence of the matter. These are the areas of a person’s life in which he is strongest.
Temperament. These are the properties of the physiological basis of the psyche - the nervous system. Recently, the very concept of “temperament” has been used quite rarely, but in everyday life it is quite possible to use it. In fact, temperament comes down to the relationship between two main properties of the nervous system - excitability and inhibition. The type of higher nervous activity of a person depends on how long each of these processes lasts.
Motivation. This is a complex phenomenon that describes the reasons why a person acts as he does. Motives can be delayed or immediate. In the latter case, classical “stimulus -> response” conditioning works. If we are talking about delayed incentives, this is what requires the inclusion of the human will. For example, don’t spend money today to get more tomorrow. But this is only one of the options. Deferred motives always work in the future.
Character is a set of established behavioral reactions of an individual under certain conditions to specific stimuli and irritants. The main component of character is habit.
Will. This refers to a measure of a person’s ability to overcome momentary temptations in order to achieve a certain goal. It is always used for a task.
Emotions. They can help you achieve your goal or hinder it. It all depends on the specific psychological state of the individual. Emotions have a signaling function. They tell a person that everything is fine or that something is wrong and require certain actions.

A little about an independent personality

Having understood how to become an interesting person, you must not forget that you also need to be an independent person. This does not mean that you should refuse the help of others. But you need to rely only on yourself, without expecting outside help. Independent individuals have their own opinions, which are simply impossible to influence from the outside. Such people always find a way out of a difficult situation, learning not only from their own, but also from the mistakes of others. And most importantly, they know how to admit personal mistakes and apologize.

The concept of personality in psychology

In psychology, personality is considered as a quality of an individual that he acquires in his objective activities and characterizes the social aspects of his life.

The individual, as a person, freely expresses his attitude towards the entire external world, and therefore his characterological characteristics are determined. The most important of all human relationships is relationships, that is, how a person builds connections with other people.

Personal nature always creates its views on various objects of reality consciously, based on its experience of existing connections with this object; this knowledge will influence the expression of emotions and reactions in relation to a certain object.

In psychology, the characteristics of personal nature are associated with its orientation toward some subject of activity, area of life, interests, and entertainment. Direction is expressed as interest, attitude, desire, passion, ideology and all these forms are the motives of the individual, that is, the guides of his activities. How developed the motivational system is characterizes a person’s personality, showing what it is capable of and how its motives are transformed into activity.

To exist as a person means to act as a subject of objective activity, to be a subject of one’s life activity, building social connections with the world, and this is impossible without the individual’s involvement in the lives of others. The study of this concept in psychology is interesting because it is a dynamic phenomenon. A person has to constantly fight with himself, satisfy his certain desires, restrain his instincts, find ways to reach a compromise for internal contradictions and at the same time satisfy his needs, so that this is done without remorse, and because of this he is constantly in continuous development, self-improvement.

Infants(1-3 years)

The most rapid period of development, children at this age:

absorb everything like a “sponge”;
observe adults;
repeat their habits, etc.

One of the most important stages, since it lays the foundation and largely determines what the individual will be like in the future. It is important for parents to show care and understanding, demonstrate patience and responsibility. The child becomes more “understanding”, but most of the time, still continues to be guided by basic instincts.

The influence of society on personality

Personality and social environment are inextricably linked. Its future depends on the environment in which a personality is formed. Seeing bad examples and irresponsible behavior in front of him, the child perceives this as a model. After some time, he may begin to behave the same way as his friends and people close to him. He may start drinking, smoking, stealing, without knowing that such behavior is the result of formed views on the world, the bad influence of his immediate environment.

Sometimes a person can fall under the bad influence of the social environment despite his desire. A schoolboy begins to smoke, fearing the ridicule of his classmates, who have long been addicted to cigarettes. A teenager decides to steal because of his friends’ obsessive persuasion to get easy money. An employee deceives his superiors after much persuasion from his colleague.

The positive influence of the environment on personality development is also manifested. Seeing before him examples of successful, happy and respected people, the child strives to imitate them and copy their behavior. Therefore, at school a lot of time is devoted to studying the biographies of national heroes, patriots, and outstanding personalities. A good example becomes an inspiration for work, creative activity, and activity in society.

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Different structures of society have varying degrees of influence on the individual.

Parents and close relatives have the greatest influence when raising a child from infancy.
Second in terms of influence are school teachers.
They are followed by friends, acquaintances, colleagues.
The media play an important role (mass media: Internet, television, print media).

In addition, the individual is influenced by the socio-cultural environment characteristic of the state and the area in which he lives. So in Russia, the USA, India, Israel - the conditions for the formation of a personality are significantly different. Thanks to this, individual peoples and the population of different countries have their own distinctive character traits and individual characteristics.

Socialization theories

Unlike other living things, whose behavior is biologically determined, humans require social experience to reproduce their culture and survive. Because socialization is so important, psychologists, anthropologists, educators, sociologists and others have always sought to understand how it occurs and what impact it has on the formation of self-identity. The results of their research were various theories of socialization. They will be discussed further.

"Mirror Me"

In 1902, American sociologist and social psychologist Charles Horton Cooley developed the concept of the “mirror self,” which states that people develop self-image by observing how others perceive them. In other words, our self or sense of self develops through interactions with other people.

According to Cooley, this process consists of three parts: first, a person imagines how other people see him, then interprets their reactions to his behavior, and finally forms a self-esteem based on these interpretations. Favorable reflection in the “social mirror” develops positive self-esteem, while negative reflection leads to negative self-esteem.

For example, a person gets a job and is confident that he can easily demonstrate professionalism and competence. When interacting with his new colleagues, he pays attention to their body language, the way they speak and generally react to him. When colleagues show kindness, such as making eye contact or shaking hands firmly, a person's confidence in their professionalism is strengthened. If a person receives negative feedback, such as colleagues looking away or quickly ending the conversation, he may doubt his own professionalism.

According to Cooley, not all reactions carry equal weight. People take more seriously the opinions of those who matter to them and are trustworthy. Even if their reaction was misinterpreted, these erroneous judgments still affect self-esteem [Rousseau N., 2002].

Socialization through play

American psychologist, sociologist and philosopher George Herbert Mead believed that through socialization we learn to understand and anticipate what other people think and feel, as well as to be aware of ourselves. Mead essentially agreed with Cooley, but added that the process of children's play is critical to personality development. This is how he described it.

At first, the child simply imitates the adults with whom he regularly communicates (primarily parents), imitating their gestures, movements and words. This is followed by a stage of play, during which the child begins to take on the roles of the parents, acting out adult behavior, for example, dressing up as “Mom”, or talking on a toy phone like Dad.

By pretending to be mom and dad, the child treats his dolls the way he thinks his parents treat him. This way he better understands what behavior is expected of him. Older children, through play, begin to take on the roles of not only significant loved ones, but also other people, learning the general behavioral expectations of society from them (instead of the word “society,” Mead used the term “generalized other,” meaning the norms, values, and expectations of people in in general) [Mead GH, 1934].

According to Mead, the formation of a true self occurs when a person begins to perceive himself as an object. This becomes possible only through the assimilation of attitudes obtained from interaction with others [Belik A. A., 2011].

Id, Ego, Super-Ego

The father of psychoanalysis, Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud, argued that personality consists of three elements: the id, the ego and the superego. Their formation occurs in childhood.

The id is the unconscious, impulsive part of the psyche that demands the satisfaction of basic needs such as attention, safety, food and sex. The ego balances between the needs of the id and the demands of society, being the rational part of the personality. The super-ego (or social consciousness) develops as the norms and values of society are internalized, i.e. through socialization. It creates feelings of guilt or shame when one breaks social rules, and feelings of pride and self-righteousness when one follows them.

According to Freud, the purpose of the superego is to improve and civilize behavior. It is necessary to suppress all unacceptable impulses. If the Super-Ego does not become strong enough, a person is at risk of the Id pushing him into antisocial behavior [Freud S., 1926].

Theory of psychosocial personality development

Psychologist Erik Erikson was a follower of Freud, believing, however, that personality development occurs throughout life and consists of 8 stages. Socialization occupies a central place in his theory: if it is successfully completed at each of the life stages, a person continues to develop, if not, then he stagnates.

Cognitive development theory

Swiss psychologist and philosopher Jean Piaget specialized in child psychology, and viewed the role of socialization through the prism of 4 stages of cognitive skill development:

The first stage is sensorimotor, lasting from birth to 2 years. At this stage, the child constructs an understanding of the world only through direct contact with it (touching, listening, seeing).
The second stage is preoperative (2-7 years). The child learns language and begins to use symbols to represent objects.
The third stage is the stage of specific operations (7-12 years). The child now understands numbers, cause and effect, and can make rational decisions based on observed phenomena, but has difficulty with abstract concepts such as truth.
The fourth stage is the stage of formal operations (12+). The child acquires the ability for abstract thinking, hypothetical and deductive reasoning [Wood KC, Smith H., Grossniklaus D., 2001].

Piaget argued that children best progress through these stages of development through play and through active interaction with adults. He encouraged asking children questions to force them to think about their behavior, and believed that it was instructive for them to see contradictions in their reasoning.

Moral development theory

American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg agreed with Piaget's theory, but decided to supplement it with his own ideas. He was particularly interested in how people learn to understand what social “good” and “bad” are. A consequence of Kohlberg's work was the theory of moral development, according to which a person goes through several stages on the path to morality:

The first stage is pre-conventional morality. At this stage, the child accepts the social rules taught to him by authority figures (parents, teachers) and follows them in order to avoid punishment.
The second stage is generally accepted morality. The child follows the norms and values of society, sincerely believing that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and social order.
The third stage is post-conventional morality. At this stage, a person begins to doubt the fairness and correctness of some social laws and rules.

According to Kohlberg, a person is guided by his own moral values, realizing that he is a separate entity that is not obliged to obey generally accepted rules if they are incompatible with his personal principles [Lind G., 1989].

Adaptation of Moral Development Theory

American psychologist, sociologist and feminist Carol Gilligan disagreed with Kohlberg's findings, believing that they demonstrated gender bias, since Kohlberg conducted his research exclusively on boys. Gilligan believes that boys and girls tend to think differently, especially when it comes to morality.

In his research, Gilligan argues that boys strive for justice by emphasizing compliance with formal rules and laws. For girls, interpersonal relationships, care and sensitivity towards others are more important, which influences their moral decision-making. If it is necessary to break some universal rule in order to help another person, a woman will not consider this immoral [Gilligan C., 1982].

Despite the fact that the listed points of view on the socialization process have been repeatedly criticized, they continue to make an important contribution to the work of scientists from various fields of knowledge.

To summarize, socialization is the process by which rules and norms corresponding to the social order are transmitted from generation to generation. Agents of socialization teach each person to think, act and behave in accordance with the expectations of the society into which he was born, thus adapting him to normal life.

Friends, we wish you to be in harmony with others and yourself. Good luck! Yes, and don’t forget to take a short test to reinforce the article’s material:

We also recommend reading:

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Factors in a child’s intellectual development
Pamela Druckerman "French children don't spit food" - summary
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Social groups: signs, types, functions
Stages of team formation according to Tuckman
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Key words:1Communication

Individual and individuality

An individual is a separate representative of the human race by virtue of his birth. The qualities of an individual are manifested in his appearance: eye shape, leg size, hair color, and so on. An individual has innate inclinations and abilities, but will become an individual only in the process of social development.

The concept of individuality is different from the concept of individual. Individuality is the characteristics of an individual, its uniqueness, originality. It includes intellectual, spiritual qualities and physical characteristics. Individuality manifests itself when a person makes choices, makes independent decisions, or engages in any activity.

The concept of individuality is inextricably linked with personality. The relationship between the concepts of individuality and personality is manifested in the fact that a person who is an individual will necessarily demonstrate his individuality in interaction with society.

Mirror rule

The first rule that is worth considering is this: you should treat people the way you would like them to treat you. Everyone has long known the rule of mirroring: if an individual behaves rudely and impudently with others, then a similar attitude will manifest itself towards him. However, this rule does not always work in the opposite direction.

Thus, friendly and polite people receive endless reproaches. What is this connected with? The thing is that people who are treated poorly and unfairly, as a rule, themselves allow such treatment towards themselves. People around them see weak-willed individuals and begin to control them like puppets.

What could be the solution here? As usual, everything is decided by the golden mean. A person should be friendly and polite to everyone, but not driven. In certain cases, especially arrogant people should still fight back. However, this must happen delicately and culturally. You shouldn’t be offended, much less be rude. Others should not notice instability in a person’s behavior: on the contrary, a strong inner core should be visible, which is not so easy to break.

Read also: How to dry and salt fish using the example of roach

What does it mean to be a person?

Plan:

-What does it mean to be a person? — Individuals are not born, they become individuals — Signs of personality — The process of becoming an individual — 5 simple tips. How to develop your personality? - How to be an individual? Advice from psychologists - How do you become a person? Practical steps - Tips on how to become a harmonious person - Personality formation: what is needed? - Conclusion

Personality is an individual who is the result of mental activity

It is important to remember that such a person has a whole complex of socially significant elements that are successfully implemented in public life

Recently, more and more people are striving for self-development and self-improvement. More and more people are trying to live meaningfully, setting goals and working towards them. This, of course, makes me happy. But how to become a Personality? How not to get lost in the crowd?

I want to start my answer with a question: So, do you think that you are not a person? If you need to become a person, then at the moment you are not one. How did this opinion come about?

If you follow the train of thought of the person who asked such a question, it becomes clear that the idea could only come from external sources, negative opinions, and the assessments of others. Such a formulation would not occur to a holistic person who perceives himself as an individual.

For your information, I will give a definition from Ozhegov’s explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. “Personality is a person as a bearer of some properties.” Based on this definition, everyone is a person.

Therefore, the problem of the person who asked the question can be reformulated - how to become holistic, perceive oneself as a person?

Initially, we are born as individuals. In the process of growing up, giving up the value of one’s opinions, one’s desires, accepting the priority correctness of the opinions of adults, a person loses integrity, a sense of himself as a valuable person. Of course, after all, he was told so many times that what he was doing was wrong, bad, that he decided to agree with it. At this moment his future problems begin.

Let's skip the period of accumulation of troubles. Let's go straight to the moment of asking the initial question: What does it take to become a person? Great question! This means that you are ready to become her again. To do this, you need to start becoming yourself. First of all, OBSERVE. For life, for yourself, for relationships. From observations, create your OWN POINT OF VIEW. The opinions of others, any information is only an impetus for reflection and research.

Listen to yourself and do what you want. Don't suppress, don't scold yourself. LOVE AND ACCEPT YOURSELF. It's very difficult at first. After all, first you will have to deal with all the accumulated burden of anger, unlove and shame for yourself. When you feel whole, accepting yourself, then you again become a full-fledged person. Good luck to everyone on this journey.

Read about personality degradation.

A little about the creative personality

Very often people are interested in the question: how to become a creative person? Here, in addition to working on yourself, you also need a bit of talent. If it is, just great. After all, a creative person is a socially developed individual who has certain creative abilities or simply creates. If nature has not given you the inclination for singing or drawing, you can successfully do something that does not require special skills. So, you can easily learn how to embroider according to patterns, weave baubles, bracelets, or make origami figures. These types of creativity have instructions, following which you can create beauty yourself.

What is personality in psychology? Its structure

For a detailed analysis of this concept, it is necessary to delve into the meaning of not only the term “personality” itself, but also to understand some related concepts. This is one of the most important topics when teaching students general psychology. So, a person is born an individual. This is a representative of its biological species, not yet socialized.

Then he adapts to society and becomes an individual. And everyone has their own individuality, that is, those traits that only they have.

So, personality is a socialized individual. It can also be considered as a set of mental properties that determine its subjectivity. Simply put, a person is someone who changes and influences. Whether we want it or not, our every word and action affects the environment. That is why we can be called individuals. But both concepts must be considered as components of a single term. The subjective nature of a person is associated with certain of his qualities, and the degree to which influence can be exercised depends on them.

Let's look at the structure of the personality itself. First of all, it is worth understanding that this is a very ambiguous concept, since there are many classifications denoting the constituent elements and their relationships. Each researcher understood it depending on the psychological paradigm to which he adhered. But here is one of the common theories according to which personality includes:

Cognitive sphere. Simply put, everything that helps a person understand the world around him. This includes thinking, memory, perception and imagination

Naturally, attention is a prerequisite, without which there can be no active cognition. Yes, and passive too.

Affective sphere

This includes everything that is associated with mental states: emotions, human feelings.

Worldview. This is how we see the surrounding reality.

Conscious and unconscious.

Character, temperament, abilities.

A little about an attractive personality

I would also like to talk a little about how to become an attractive person. Or - in other words - charismatic. However, you need to understand what exactly will be discussed. After all, it’s not a matter of external attractiveness, but of that very charisma. That is, in a complex of such characteristics as self-confidence and natural charm. How to become an attractive person, what do you need to do for this?

You need to have a bit of optimism.
Having a sense of humor is important.
Attractive individuals are successful people. These are not only the rich, but also those who have achieved everything on their own.
And, of course, these are strong-willed people.

Personality in psychology

Let's first understand what it means to be a person in order to avoid confusion on this issue. In the classical sense, personality is a set of properties and characteristics of a person that are acquired by him in the process of living in society and active interaction with other people.

The key word in this concept is “society”. In order to become a person, we just need to be born, but in order to become a person, a little person needs to integrate into the social environment.

In this regard, the question arises: does every person become an individual? The answer is no, not everyone. If a person spent the first years of his life isolated from people, he will no longer be able to become a full-fledged member of society.

Brain structures responsible for higher mental functions, such as speech, thinking, memory, attention, are formed in the first five years of life. This happens by transforming external processes into internal ones

The child hears the speech of adults, begins to copy it, then transfers the speech inside - this is how thinking is formed.

If there is no example to follow, these functions will have nowhere to come from.

So if you are able to read these lines, you don’t have to worry - you already have a personality, like 99% of the Earth’s population. What kind of meaning then do people put into the expression “become a person”? You've probably heard it more than once.

The process of becoming a person is touched upon both in philosophy and in fiction. What is meant by it is not so much the formation of higher mental functions, but rather the acquisition by an individual of properties that provide him with a high place in the social hierarchy.

In order for this expression to correspond to its generally accepted meaning, the word “strong” must be added to it. Becoming a strong personality is what people who already have a personality strive for, but they don’t know it. This is what you and I will work on. I will tell you how to strengthen, enhance your personality and make it competitive.

Conclusions and advice

As was said from the very beginning, there is no end to this process, since we constantly have to face difficulties, changes of views, etc. The process is too individual, but in most cases, the main “skeleton” of the personality will be formed before the age of 23-25 years. Two main aspects will help shape your personality:

Acceptance of all your strengths and weaknesses, as well as pushing aside the opinions of others and redirecting the focus to your own desires and needs;
The desire to develop and try new things. Getting rid of the fear of learning something new for yourself (even if this “new” is a little uncomfortable).

That's all, we hope that the information was useful to you. Write in the comments what stage you are at now and what problems you have encountered.

The concept of personality in sociology

The concept of personality in sociology, its essence and structure, are of separate interest, since the individual is mainly assessed as a subject of social connections.

The concept of personality in sociology can be briefly summarized in some categories. The first is social status, that is, a person’s place in society, and in connection with this certain obligations and rights. One person can have several such statuses. It depends on whether he has a family, relatives, friends, colleagues, work, thanks to which a person socializes. So, for example, one person can be a son, husband, father, brother, colleague, employee, team member, and so on.

Sometimes multiple social statuses demonstrate a person's social activity. Also, all statuses are divided depending on their meaning for the individual himself. For example, for one the most important is the status of a company employee, for another – the status of a husband. In the first case, a person may not have a family, so work is the most important thing for him and he identifies himself with the role of a workaholic. In another case, a person who recognizes himself primarily as a husband puts other areas of life into the background. There are also general statuses, they carry great social significance and determine the main activity (president, director, doctor), and also, along with the general, non-general statuses may be present.

When a person is in a social status, then accordingly she performs certain actions prescribed by the model of behavior, that is, the social role. The president must lead the country, the chef must prepare dishes, the notary must certify papers, children must obey their parents, and so on. When an individual somehow fails to properly follow all the prescribed rules, he jeopardizes his status. If a person has too many social roles, he exposes himself to role conflicts. For example, a young man, a single father, working late to feed himself and his child can very soon burn out emotionally from an oversaturation of actions dictated by social roles.

Personality, as a system of socio-psychological characteristics, has a unique structure.

According to the theory of psychologist Z. Freud, the components of the personality structure are three components. The basic one is the unconscious authority of the Id (It), which combines natural stimuli, instincts and hedonic aspirations. The id is filled with powerful energy and excitement, so it is poorly organized, disordered and weak-willed. Above the Id there is the following structure - the Ego (I), it is rational, and in comparison with the Id it is controlled, it is consciousness itself. The highest construct is the Super-Ego (Super-I), it is responsible for the sense of duty, measures, conscience, and exercises moral control over behavior.

If all these three structures interact harmoniously in a person, that is, the Id does not go beyond what is allowed, it is controlled by the Ego, which understands that the satisfaction of all instincts can be a socially unacceptable action, and when a Super-Ego is developed in a person, thanks to which he is guided by moral principles in his actions, then such a person deserves respect and recognition in the eyes of society.

Having understood what this concept represents in sociology, its essence and structure, we can conclude that it cannot be realized as such if it is not socialized.

The concept of personality in sociology can be briefly described as a set of socially significant properties of an individual that ensure his connection with the outside world.

Action plan

A plan for finding individuality within oneself has been proposed by some scientists. There are only two points, but their implementation will help a person find his personality:

Lack of fear of oneself;
Stage of emotional experience.

Don't be afraid to admit your weaknesses, failures, and shortcomings. Everyone perceives them differently. For some, failure in their personal life may not be solvable, but for others it may be an unimportant trifle. Women are more emotional than men. A woman may take the breakup hard, she will think about her guilt in what happened, and look for shortcomings in herself.

If accepting yourself causes difficulties, create a certain scheme and act on it. A common and truly working piece of advice is to compliment yourself in the morning.

Learn to focus on individual qualities and your attractiveness. Remind yourself that you are a strong person, that you are capable of doing what you want, capable of achieving your goals.

Being an individual does not mean being very smart or a genius. It is enough just to want to develop, to be confident in your successes, to be purposeful, to have a creative or technical mind, to understand that all your shortcomings and advantages make you a complete person.

The concept of criminal personality in criminology

Psychology plays a huge role in criminology. People involved in investigations must have knowledge in the field of psychology, they must be able to analyze the situation from different angles, explore all possible options for the development of events and at the same time the nature of the criminals who committed the crime.

The concept and structure of the personality of a criminal is the main subject of research by criminal psychologists. By conducting observations and research on criminals, it is possible to create a personal portrait of a potential criminal, this in turn will make it possible to prevent further crimes. In this case, the person is examined comprehensively - his psychological characteristics (temperament, accentuations, inclinations, abilities, level of anxiety, self-esteem), material well-being, his childhood, relationships with people, presence of family and close friends, place of work and other aspects are studied. To understand the essence of such a person, it is not enough to conduct psychodiagnostics with him; he can skillfully hide his nature, but when in front of his eyes there is a whole map of human life, one can trace the connections and find the prerequisites for a person becoming a criminal.

If in psychology they speak of personality as a unit, that is, a characteristic of an individual, then in criminology it is rather an abstract concept that is not given to an individual criminal, but creates his general image, consisting of certain properties.

A person falls under the characteristic of a “criminal personality” from the moment he committed his ill-fated act. Although some are inclined to believe that even earlier, long before the crime itself was committed, that is, when an idea was born in a person and he began to nurture it. It’s more difficult to say when a person stops being like that. If a person has realized his guilt and sincerely repents of what he has done, and sincerely regrets what happened and its inevitability, he has already gone beyond the concept of a criminal personality, but the fact remains a fact, and the person will be punished. He may also realize that he made a mistake while serving his sentence. I may never understand. There are people who will never give up the fact that they committed an ill-fated act, even if they suffer painful punishment, they will not repent. Or there are also repeat offenders who, after serving one sentence, are released, commit a crime again, and so can wander back and forth for the rest of their lives. These are pure criminal natures, they resemble one another and fall under the general description of a criminal.

The personality structure of a criminal is a system of socially significant characteristics, negative properties, which, together with the situation prevailing at that moment, influence the commission of offenses. Along with the negative qualities, the criminal also has positive qualities, but they could be deformed in the process of life.

The concept and personality structure of the criminal must be clearly clear to criminologists in order to be able to protect citizens from the threat in the first place.

The Importance of Socialization

Despite the fact that socialization is often of an inculcating nature, it is worth recognizing its necessity and importance for both the individual and the entire society.

First of all, this process helps to master skills necessary for life, such as speaking, walking, reading, writing, using the toilet, caring for oneself and much more. There are documented observations of children who, for various reasons, did not undergo socialization at an early age, which led to extremely negative consequences. In his book Sociology, Professor John Shepard gives several shocking examples:

Anna was given birth to an unmarried woman, whose father was categorically against the child. Fearing his anger, the woman hid Anna in the attic for 5 years. When the girl was discovered, she was barely alive, could not walk, talk and did not show any signs of intelligence. Anna was placed in a boarding school, where over time she learned to understand simple commands, recognize people she had once seen, and walk. By age eight, she could jump and catch a ball, participate in group activities, use the toilet, and feed and dress herself. Her speech, mental development and social maturity were at the level of a two-year-old child. At the age of 10, Anna died.
Ginny spent 13 years in an isolated room where her father placed her. She was not accustomed to clothing, could not speak, walk or chew, and her social behavior was extremely primitive. Four years of attempts to socialize Ginny were unsuccessful: she could not read and spoke only in short phrases [Shepard JM, 2020].

Socialization of children is especially important. The given examples illustrate this. Through socialization, people learn not only to perform basic everyday tasks, but also grow intellectually. This is the second important function of personality socialization - to promote continuous development. When a person is in society and learns its values and norms, he is not in danger of stagnation, because society is dynamic and its laws are changeable.

Thirdly, the more socialized a person is, the easier it is for him to find his place in society. In the 1960s, American psychologist Harry Harlow conducted a series of experiments on rhesus monkeys. Although these experiments were controversial, unethical, and even cruel, Harlow's empirical work is considered a "classic" in behavioral science: it led to an understanding of the role that social relationships play in early development.

Baby rhesus macaques were taken from their mothers and raised in laboratory conditions, some placed in separate cages without the opportunity to contact other monkeys. In social isolation, macaques exhibited inappropriate behavior, freezing in one position in the corner of the cage and engaging in self-mutilation.

When they were returned to a group of other monkeys, they did not know how to interact with them: they avoided their fellow monkeys, showed aggression and were not capable of normal sexual behavior, and some even died after refusing to eat [Harlow HF, Dodsworth RO, Harlow, MK, 1965]. This experience shows that the lack of social learning leads to the most disastrous consequences.

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In his article “Broad and Narrow Socialization: The Family in the Context of Cultural Theory,” psychology professor and Ph.D. Jeffrey Arnett identified three more key functions of socialization , believing that it:

Teaches impulse control, promotes the development of self-regulation and conscience. Impulse control and the ability to self-regulate begin to develop in childhood when, through socialization, children learn that if they follow their selfish desires and simply do what they like, they will displease those around them (parents, siblings, other adults, or peers) and may suffer from their reactions.
Prepares for the performance of social roles: gender, professional, family or even racial, ethnic, caste.
Helps to find the source of meaning. Every person needs a source of meaning in order to understand what is important, valuable, and worth living for. Typically, people find meaning through socialization when they gain knowledge about religion, the significance of family relationships, individual achievements, or commitment to an ethnic group or nation [Arnett JJ, 2011].

Socialization is necessary not only so that people can function successfully in society and not have problems with personal adaptation, but also for the survival of the entire human species as a whole. The reproduction of a way of life, culture, and knowledge depends on the transmission of social values, norms and rules from generation to generation. Babies are born completely helpless, and if the process of socialization is excluded, they will not survive and society will eventually cease to exist.

People are not born as individuals, they become individuals.

Before considering how a person becomes a person, it should be noted that there are two opinions about whether every person can become one.

1) Some argue that in the process of socialization and development, every living unit of Homo sapiens becomes a person to one degree or another.

2) Another group of specialists indicates that there is a circle of people who cannot be called individuals. Such people do not develop in the process of their development, but degrade.

Personality cannot be formed at the moment of birth; it is formed in the process of socialization of the individual, i.e. gradually. Everyone knows that babies cannot express their thoughts because their brains are not yet developed enough; cannot express their views and tastes, have no moral guidelines. Their behavior is initially subordinate to instincts.

After all, all our views and beliefs are formed gradually, over quite a long time, and do not appear immediately after birth.

The term “personality” itself means the internal characteristics of a person, his spiritual world (opinions, interests, guidelines). A person becomes a person in the process of such a phenomenon as socialization. Socialization refers to the process of a person’s adaptation to generally accepted rules of behavior in society, its traditions and values.

Thus, we can conclude that a person becomes a person not at the moment of his birth, but gradually, going through the process of socialization. That is, in essence, the formation of personality is a process of assimilation of norms and values that are relevant for a particular society.

You may be interested in the article “Personal Magnetism“.

The process of becoming an individual

Psychologists have provided two simple steps that illustrate how one becomes a person:

Step 1. You need to look under your mask. That is, to be naked in front of oneself, to understand who a person really is, throwing away all images. This search is the most important stage of development.

Step 2. Experiencing feelings is the next stage. In moments of strong emotional stress, a person becomes who he really is. Forming the right self at such moments is an equally important stage.

How does personality development occur?

In order for you to experience stable personal growth, you need to activate all the described mental functions. You need to start with willpower. A big mistake is made by those people who try to force themselves to do something or overcome momentary temptations with only one “tool”. Many people train willpower in isolation, which is wrong, since the psyche is a single mechanism. How can you make an engine run without gasoline? Then it will simply burn out. The same will happen with the psyche. When a person does something without motivation and the ability to evoke the right emotion, it does not always end successfully.

You yourself have probably had situations when you were able to sit down to work only when you told yourself: “get yourself together, you wimp.” A necessary condition for personal development is to strive to achieve your goal. And on the way to this point, everything must be included. Through an effort of will, begin to think in a certain style, which helps to evoke the desired emotion, which lays the foundation for motivation. In general, you need to mobilize your entire mental apparatus in order to overcome difficulties.

Hard to learn, easy to fight, as they say. At first, driving a car is a panic. Keeping everything in your head seems incredibly difficult. But after a while all these actions become automatic. A similar principle is characteristic of personality development.

How to be an individual? Advice from psychologists

According to developmental psychology, a person’s personality can be developed up to the age of 23. Further growth and development depends on the person himself and the circumstances in which he finds himself during his life.

What does it mean to become a person in the ordinary sense? First of all, it means having a strong character. A person is not susceptible to any influence, has his own point of view on what is happening around him and is able to independently manipulate others. When a person becomes an individual, he ceases to depend on someone else’s opinion, which, you see, is important.

What do you need to do to become an individual, and not remain an object of constant manipulation? First you need to develop the appropriate qualities:

1) Learn to be confident in yourself. Break down what complexes are preventing you from looking ahead proudly and not being afraid of anything. Practice a confident look and gait.

2) Get rid of shyness and embarrassment. Read out loud when no one is watching. Practice a confident voice and clear diction. No one will respect you while you mumble. This is one of the first steps to becoming an interesting person.

3) Learn to tell people the truth face to face and express your personal opinion. Get ready to defend your case to others.

4) Get rid of excessive self-criticism. A person who is thinking about how to become a strong personality must know his own worth and not allow others to underestimate it.

The most important thing is to love yourself. Remember - how you treat yourself is how others will treat you.