The concept of personality orientation and motivation of activity

Focus and motivation

The orientation of personality in psychology in terms of motivation to achieve is considered from various points of view. Some psychiatrists, by defining motivation, mean mental urges to action, others - a specific reason that encourages action.

There is an opinion that a motive is a need formed in a person to satisfy significant interests. Of all the theories of motivation, a general definition of the concept can be distinguished. Motivation is an internal stimulus of an individual that encourages activity aimed at satisfying a specific need.

The needs themselves can be different, from simple, biological, to sublime social.

American doctor of psychology Maslow developed a structure that includes five basic needs in a strict hierarchy:

1. Physiological needs are the most powerful and urgent of all. Until a person satisfies the basic need for food, comfort, and a healthy balance in the body, he cannot set higher goals.
2. Security - this need comes to the fore after the first essential need is provided. Personal security is not only protection from enemy attack, which may arise in rare cases of hostilities or outside aggression. Household safety involves the desire for stability and legislative protection. This concept also means freedom from chaos and uncertainty about the future. In everyday life, this desire manifests itself in the desire to get a stable job and create a reserve of funds for various unforeseen cases.
3. The need for love and affection includes the desire for communication, friendship, and love relationships. This desire is always inherent in a person, but is especially activated after the first two needs are satisfied.
4. The need for recognition includes personal growth and the desire to gain respect in society. A person needs to feel needed and useful to others. The absence of such a feeling leads to weakness and self-doubt. Loss in this matter leads to depression and neurological diseases.
5. Self-actualization is the search for one’s essence, one’s “I”, the desire to idealize oneself. It can manifest itself in different ways, depending on your personal interests. Some people strive for sensational scientific discoveries, while others want to become an ideal parent or housewife. The need for a high form of self-realization appears at the highest stage of development, when all previous needs are satisfied.

Any activity carried out by a person is greatly influenced by motivation factors.

• External motivation encourages you to perform some task in order to express yourself in public opinion, in order to receive approval and praise.
• Internal motivation is a much stronger mechanism for the movement of the individual. The result is not achieved for fame or approval, but to satisfy personal interest. It is internal motivation that encourages discoveries and new inventions.
• Awareness is a correct understanding of the need for the process and the expected result. Carrying out incomprehensible tasks and unconscious activities creates boredom and lack of interest in such work.
• Interests and satisfaction of needs. When an activity brings excitement, satisfaction and elation to a person, the result is very high. If at the same time the person also receives satisfaction of his needs, recognition, his desire to find the meaning of life intensifies. In case of dissatisfaction of spiritual and personal interests in a person, doubt in his abilities increases, his aspirations and energy are suppressed.

22.2. Psychological theories of motivation

The problem of human behavior motivation has attracted the attention of scientists since time immemorial. Numerous theories of motivation began to appear in the works of ancient philosophers, and currently there are already several dozen such theories. The point of view on the origin of human motivation in the process of development of mankind and science has changed repeatedly. However, most scientific approaches have always been located between two philosophical movements: rationalism and irrationalism. According to the rationalist position, and it was especially clear in the works of philosophers and theologians until the middle of the 19th century, man is a unique being of a special kind, which has nothing in common with animals. It was believed that only man is endowed with reason, thinking and consciousness, has will and freedom of choice in action, and the motivational source of human behavior was seen exclusively in the mind, consciousness and will of man.

Irrationalism as a doctrine mainly considered the behavior of animals. Proponents of this doctrine proceeded from the assertion that the behavior of animals, unlike humans, is not free, unreasonable, controlled by dark, unconscious forces that have their origins in organic needs. The history of the study of the problem of motivation is presented schematically in Fig. 22.1. The diagram depicted on it was proposed by the American scientist D. Atkinson and partially modified by R. S. Nemov.

The first actual psychological theories of motivation are considered to have arisen in HOOOP-HOOP! centuries the theory of decision making, which explains human behavior on a rationalistic basis, and the theory of the automaton, which explains the behavior of animals on an irrationalistic basis. The first was related to the use of mathematical knowledge in explaining human behavior. She considered the problems of human choice in economics. Subsequently, the main provisions of this theory were transferred to the understanding of human actions in general.

The emergence and development of the theory of automata was caused by the successes of mechanics in the 17th-18th centuries. One of the central points of this theory was the doctrine of reflex. Moreover, within the framework of this theory, the reflex was considered as a mechanical, or automatic, innate response of a living organism to external influences. The separate, independent existence of two motivational theories (one for humans, the other for animals) continued until the end of the 19th century.

Rice. 22.1. History of the study of the problem of motivation

(from: Nemov R. S., 1998)

In the second half of the 19th century. With the advent of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory, prerequisites arose to revise some views on the mechanisms of human behavior. The theory developed by Darwin made it possible to overcome the antagonisms that separated views on the nature of man and animals as two incompatible phenomena of reality in anatomical, physiological and psychological respects. Moreover, Darwin was one of the first to draw attention to the fact that humans and animals have many common needs and forms of behavior, in particular emotionally expressive expressions and instincts.

Under the influence of this theory, psychology began an intensive study of rational forms of behavior in animals (W. Köhler, E. Thorndike) and instincts in humans (Z. Freud, W. McDougall, I. P. Pavlov, etc.). During these studies, the understanding of needs changed. If earlier researchers, as a rule, tried to connect needs with the needs of the body and therefore used the concept of “need” most often to explain the behavior of animals, then in the process of transformation and development of scientific views this concept began to be used to explain human behavior. It should be noted that the use of the concept of “need” in relation to a person has led to the expansion of this concept. They began to identify not only biological, but also some social needs. However, the main feature of research into the motivation of human behavior at this stage was that, unlike the previous stage, at which the behavior of humans and animals was contrasted, they tried to minimize these fundamental differences between humans and animals. The same organic needs that were previously assigned only to animals began to be attributed to humans as motivational factors.

One of the first manifestations of such an extreme, essentially biologizing, point of view on human behavior were the theories of instincts by Z. Freud and W. McDougall, proposed at the end of the 19th century. and gained the greatest popularity at the beginning of the 20th century. Trying to explain human social behavior by analogy with animal behavior, Freud and McDougall reduced all forms of human behavior to innate instincts. So, in Freud's theory there were three such instincts: the life instinct, the death instinct and the aggressive instinct. The website https://intellect.icu talks about this. McDougall proposed a set of ten instincts: the instinct of invention, the instinct of construction, the instinct of curiosity, the instinct of flight, the herd instinct, the instinct of pugnacity, the reproductive (parental) instinct, the instinct of disgust, the instinct of self-humiliation, the instinct of self-affirmation. In later works, McDougall added eight more instincts to those listed, mainly related to organic needs.

The developed theories of instincts still could not answer many questions and did not allow solving a number of very significant problems. For example, how can one prove the existence of these instincts in a person and to what extent can those forms of behavior that a person acquires during his lifetime under the influence of experience and social conditions be reduced to instincts or derived from them? And also how to separate in these forms of behavior what is actually instinctive and what is acquired as a result of learning?

The controversy surrounding the theory of instincts could not provide a scientifically based answer to any of the questions posed. As a result, all discussions ended with the fact that the very concept of “instinct” in relation to a person began to be used by all

In the 20s XX century The theory of instincts was replaced by a concept in which all human behavior was explained by the presence of biological needs. In accordance with this concept, it was generally accepted that humans and animals have common organic needs that have the same impact on behavior. Periodically arising organic needs cause a state of excitement and tension in the body, and satisfaction of the need leads to a decrease in tension. In this concept, there were no fundamental differences between the concepts of “instinct” and “need”, with the exception that instincts are innate, but needs are innate! acquired and changed throughout life, especially in humans.

It should be noted that the use of the concepts “instinct” and “need” in this concept had one significant drawback: their use eliminated the need to take into account cognitive behavior in explaining human behavior? psychological characteristics associated with consciousness and the subjective states of the body. Therefore, these concepts were subsequently replaced by the concept of attraction, or drive. Moreover, drive was understood as the body’s desire for some final result, subjectively presented in the form of some goal, expectation or intention against the background of a corresponding emotional experience.

In addition to theories of human biological needs, instincts and drives at the beginning of the 20th century. Two new directions have emerged. Their emergence was largely due to the discoveries of I.P. Pavlov. This is a behavioral (behaviorist) theory of motivation and a theory of higher nervous activity. The behavioral concept of motivation was essentially a logical continuation of the ideas of the founder of behaviorism D. Watson. The most famous representatives of this trend are E. Tolman K. Hull and B. Skinner. They all tried to explain behavior within the original framework of behaviorism: “stimulus-response.”

Another theory, the theory of higher nervous activity, was developed;

I. P. Pavlov, and its development was continued by his students and followers, among whom were the following: N. A. Bernstein - author of the theory of psychophysiological regulation of movements; P.K. Anokhin, who proposed a model of a functional system that describes and explains the dynamics of a behavioral act at the modern level; E. N. Sokolov, who discovered and studied the orientation reflex, which is of great importance for understanding psychophysiologically;

mechanisms of perception, attention and motivation, and also proposed a model of the conceptual reflex arc.

One of the theories that arose at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. and continuing to be developed now is the theory of organic needs of animals. It arose and developed under the influence of previous irrationalistic traditions in understanding animal behavior. Its modern representatives see their task as explaining the behavior of animals from the standpoint of physiology and biology.

Names

McDougall (1871-1938) - Anglo-American psychologist, founder of “hormic psychology”, according to which the instinctive desire for a goal is inherent in the nature of living things. McDougall declared himself as an original thinker in 1908, when one of his most important works, “Basic Problems of Social Psychology,” was published, where he formulated the basic principles of human social behavior. This work fell into

to be continued…

Motives as a factor in shaping direction

Orientation is associated with the motivational-need and cognitive sphere of the individual. The orientation of the individual, on the one hand, is determined by environmental conditions, and on the other hand, it itself determines the behavior of the individual.

In the motivational aspect, the following types of personality orientations can be distinguished:

• Ideological and spiritual. The desire to understand the universe, solve issues of a universal scale, think in the direction of preserving and developing all humanity.
• Individual and personal. The desire to satisfy the needs of one’s “I”, self-expression, and maintaining individuality.
• Instinctive-physiological. The desire to satisfy bodily needs to preserve the species and the individual.

Based on the consideration of several approaches to the theory of personality orientation (Myasishchev and those described above), 9 types of orientation can be distinguished (figure below).

Options for personality orientation

Formation of personality orientation

Despite the differences in interpretations of personality, all approaches highlight its orientation as the leading characteristic. In different concepts, this characteristic is revealed in different ways: as a “dynamic tendency” (S. L. Rubinshtein), “meaning-forming motive” (A. N. Leontyev), “dominant attitude” (V. N. Myasishchev), “main life orientation” (B. G. Ananyev), “dynamic organization of the essential forces of man” (A. S. Prangishvili). Thus, orientation acts as a generalized property of a personality that determines its psychological make-up.

The set of stable motives that guide a person’s activity and are relatively independent of given situations is called the orientation of a person’s personality. It is always socially conditioned and formed through education.

The focus includes several related forms, which we will briefly describe:

1. attraction is the most primitive biological form of orientation;
2. desire - a conscious need and attraction to something specific;
3. desire - arises when a volitional component is included in the structure of desire;
4. interest is a cognitive form of focus on objects;
5. inclination - occurs when a volitional component is included in interest;
6. ideal is the objective goal of inclination, concretized in an image or representation;
7. worldview - a system of ethical, aesthetic, philosophical, natural science and other views on the world around us;
8. conviction - the highest form of orientation - is a system of personal motives that encourages it to act in accordance with its views, principles, and worldview.

The main role of personality orientation belongs to conscious motives. And the function of motive is to give direction to the activity being performed. It is not enough to just launch activities and constantly “feed”. It needs to be carried out and implemented. Another function of motive is meaning formation, thanks to which the concept of motive reaches the personal level. Meaning is the answer to the question: why? Why does a person need the object of his needs and activities? Man is a meaning-oriented creature. If there is no convincing personal meaning, then the motive as an incentive will not work. There will be no activity and an unrealized motive will remain.

It should be noted that the need-motivational sphere characterizes the orientation of the individual only partially, being its foundation, basis. On this foundation, the life goals of the individual are formed. In view of this, it is necessary to distinguish between the purpose of activity and the purpose of life. A person performs many diverse activities throughout his life, each of which realizes its own goal. A life goal acts as a combination of all private goals associated with individual activities. The level of achievement of an individual is associated with life goals. Awareness of not only the goal, but also reality is considered by a person as a personal perspective.

A state of frustration, depression, opposite to the experiences characteristic of a person aware of the prospect, is called frustration. It occurs in cases where a person, on the way to achieving a goal, encounters really insurmountable obstacles, barriers, or when they are perceived as such.

Needs

One of the main sources of human activity is needs. Need expresses a person’s dependence on certain conditions of existence. The specificity of human needs is determined by the social nature of human activity, especially labor.

Need is a state of a person that arises in conditions of need for objects necessary for his existence and development, and serves as a source of his activity.

In this context, the process of satisfying a need acts as an active, purposeful process of a person’s coping with a form of activity that is determined by the level of social development. Human needs have a social and personal nature, which is expressed in the fact that to satisfy needs a person uses those methods and techniques that have historically developed in a given social environment and are necessary under certain conditions.

Needs may take a different form.

For example, they may be perceived differently by people. In this case they take the form of attraction. This is an incentive to activity, which is an undifferentiated, insufficiently realized need.

Attraction is the primary emotional manifestation of a human need for something, a motivation not yet mediated by conscious goal setting. In Russian psychology, attraction is considered as a stage in the formation of a motive for behavior, that is, it acts as a transitory phenomenon: the need presented in it either passes or is realized in the form of a specific desire. Thus, attractions are determined not only by biological, but also by social factors. Moreover, in home economics the prevailing opinion is that in a person with developed consciousness, drives do not play the main role as motives of behavior, but serve as “building material” for conscious motives. On the other hand, drive is one of the central concepts of psychoanalysis, which gives it a leading role in the activity and regulation of human behavior.

Another unconscious impulse is attitude. This is an unconscious state of a person’s readiness for a certain form of activity.

This may be readiness for activity, for behavior, for understanding or interpreting something. Attitudes manifested in the interpretation of events, phenomena and facts can take the form of prejudices or stereotypes.

Attitudes usually develop as a result of repeated situations in which a person reacts in a certain way.

D.N. Uznadze developed a theory according to which the needs and situations that arise during a meeting determine the direction of the subject's behavior until the behavior encounters certain obstacles. In these cases, unconscious behavior is interrupted and conscious mechanisms of objectification come into play. Obstacles that arise are noticed and realized. After consciously finding a new way of regulation, control over behavior is again exercised through unconscious attitudes. This continuous transfer of control ensures a harmonious and more economical interaction between the conscious and unconscious.

Classification of needs

In the history of psychology, there have been attempts to reduce all human needs to one - primary and basic (in the works of Freud and Adler these are libido and the “desire for power”, respectively).

At the same time, Murray's classification of needs includes more than 140 human needs.

Thomas asked himself in 1924: what are the minimum human needs? In response to his question, he listed 4: the need for security, recognition, friendship, new experiences (his answer was based on a study of prostitution among young people).

J. Peter (1938) argued that throughout human history the most frequently competing needs were: Food, freedom, sexual partners, faith (beliefs, ideals).

Directional qualities

• The level of orientation
  is the social significance of a person’s orientation (his beliefs and worldview).
• The breadth of focus
  characterizes the range of interests of an individual. It should be remembered that broad focus does not mean scatteredness and amateurism in all types of activities in which a person is engaged. Among a wide range of interests, there must be a central, main interest aimed at the professional activities performed by the individual.
• The intensity of the focus
  is related to its emotional coloring. It can have a wide range of expression, ranging from vague, fuzzy drives through conscious desires and active aspirations to deep convictions.
• Stability of orientation
  is characterized by the duration and preservation of impulses throughout life. This quality of personality orientation is associated, first of all, with the volitional characteristics of the individual: perseverance, determination.
• The effectiveness of the individual’s orientation
  determines the activity of realizing the goals of the orientation in activity.

Functions

• Guide: indicates the path, where to go, what to strive for, how to develop. The problem is that many motives and needs remain unconscious, but even in this form they can influence a person’s choices and actions;
• Encouraging: inspires, provokes active activity of the individual. After all, it is very difficult to force a person to do something that he does not want. And the results of such work will be sad;
• The regulatory function is closely related to prioritization. What is more important in a given situation has greater significance;
• Meaning-forming: gives value to what a person does.

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Direction and motives of the individual’s activity

The degree of success in solving the assigned tasks largely depends on how well the individual himself is motivated to obtain a favorable result. There are several factors that have a huge impact on any activity carried out by a person.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

External motivation is called motivation aimed at external events and surrounding people. For example, if you need to immediately prepare a report on history just to get the manager’s approval and close the session, then there is external motivation. In the case when it is necessary to carry out research work because it represents the scientific or creative interest of the researcher himself, then we talk about internal motivation.

It must be said that internal motivation is much stronger than external motivation, because it encourages a person to self-development, some new achievements, discoveries.

Awareness – unawareness of motives

When there is a clear understanding of why this or that activity is being performed, the effectiveness of its implementation increases several times. Monotonous work, devoid of much meaning and significance, only brings melancholy and despondency. It happens that a person for a long time cannot realize the true motives of his actions and this leads him to error.

Interests and significant needs

Acting out of one's own interests, a person always increases his or her labor efficiency. In other words, when what we do excites the imagination, evokes pleasant feelings, and works much better. Satisfying the needs for recognition, approval from the team, and self-realization, the individual grows, learns and expands his own capabilities. New prospects for further advancement and development are emerging. When the activity being performed is in no way connected with the leading needs, the personal and spiritual components are not satisfied, a person gradually begins to doubt himself, his strength decreases over time.

Ability to set a goal

Whatever we strive for, it is extremely important from the very beginning to correctly determine the direction, the final goal, and understand what we want to achieve as a result. It is also necessary to set the appropriate rhythm to the movement and maintain it throughout the entire period - then any work will be effective

The ability to see the end result of an activity will help you predict possible difficulties in advance in order to cope with them in a timely manner. It would be a good idea to keep in mind the so-called ideal of achievement, that is, to track how much the current reality corresponds to a given model.

Self confidence

No business can be accomplished if a person is not confident in his own abilities. Even if a person has rare and exceptional talents, he will not be able to achieve success as long as he engages in self-flagellation and doubts that he will succeed. Self-confidence is an essential tool for building strong and trusting relationships with the outside world. It is possible to cultivate self-confidence, but only when a person is ready to devote time to working with feelings, studying educational issues, and gaining new knowledge - this cannot be avoided.

Structure

1. Finding yourself begins with the first step - with attraction. This is a primitive form, here the need still remains unconscious.
2. When it becomes conscious, attraction develops into desire. Already at this stage, a person begins to think through methods for its implementation. Directly through desires a person comes to a goal.
3. If an individual becomes able not only to dream, but also to make certain efforts, desire turns into aspiration. Quite often at this stage the individual has a plan of action.
4. Against the backdrop of the desire to learn new things, interest is born. It gives meaning to any activity of an individual. You can already judge by interests what a person is like.
5. When serious work is added to interest, it turns into addiction. A person does not want to leave this type of activity and constantly returns to it, feeling a burning desire to engage in it. He is ready to spend a lot of time on mastering new skills and will strive to achieve impeccable performance.
6. An ideal is a picture, a perfect image in a person’s head, to which he strives and what he wants to achieve in the chosen direction.
7. The next step is worldview. These are the laws that a person relies on in life. With their help, he makes plans for the future and chooses a style of behavior in different circumstances. Worldview is a view of the people around you, the world as a whole and your place in it.
8. According to psychology dictionaries, the highest form of human orientation is conviction.

Volitional personality traits - what is it in psychology, their formation

Belief

All these steps of the substructure are strongly interconnected; it is difficult to say where exactly the line between attraction and desire is, when desire turns into interest. Direction begins with an unconscious attraction and develops into a conviction. However, it cannot be said that the components of a personality’s direction are formed once and for all; they do not stand still, change, and develop throughout human life.

L.O.SARSENBAEVA,

Associate Professor of the Department of General Psychology,

candidate of psychological sciences,

Kazakh National Pedagogical

Abay University,

Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty

motivation and personality orientation: categorical analysis of psychological concepts

The problem of the determinants of human behavior and activity in psychological science is not new and has a long history. Already in the teachings of ancient thinkers, an objective-causal approach to motivation is substantiated. The presentation of questions of motivation is found in Spinoza, Hobbes, Descartes, etc. In modern foreign psychology there is no single concept of the driving forces of human behavior. Each direction uses its own conceptual apparatus, as a result of which there is terminological ambiguity in the understanding and interpretation of basic concepts in the field of studying the psychology of motivation. The leading factors in determining human behavior in foreign concepts are: biological (in classical psychoanalysis); social (in neo-Freudianism, interactionism); internal factors of development (existential, humanistic psychology); cognitive variables (in cognitive psychology), etc. The concept of orientation is not used in foreign psychology, but the content of the motivational sphere is mainly studied: most theories of motivation relate to need and goal ones. The most famous are the theories of A. Maslow and H. Heckhausen /1, 2/. Relatively close to our understanding of direction is the concept of attitude, used to denote a social attitude (W. Thomas, F. Znanetsky, G. Allport, etc.) /3,4,5/. The evolution of the ideas of foreign scientists consists of a gradual transition from purely biological approaches that liken human behavior to animals - to an awareness of the role of the social environment, and then - to the unity of determination and highlighting the role of “internal” personal factors of behavior.

In the pre-October period, a special study of the problem of motivation was carried out by L.I. Petrazhitsky /6/, who raised the question of studying motivation in order to correctly assess individual behavior. During this period, A.F. Lazursky, as part of the study of volitional processes, examined “the strength and weakness of desires and drives,” “the tendency to fight motives,” “clarity, definiteness of desires,” etc. /7/. In the personality study program developed by the scientist, significant attention was paid to the system of relationships. In “Essay on the Science of Characters” (1906), Lazursky examines the issues of stability of intentions and the ability to internally delay motivating impulses. Thus, scientists considered the personal aspects of motivation, which is closer to the focus

personality. The stated provisions have not lost their relevance today.

In the studies of S.L. Rubinstein, motives were considered in connection with specific types of activity and were associated with socio-historical development, the social nature of human activity. The scientist, analyzing the concepts of “motive” and “personality orientation”, understands motive as “a more or less adequately conscious impulse” /8, p.224/. Rubinstein emphasized the fundamental point that it is not the objects or subjects themselves that are motives, but they only give rise to corresponding motives.

A special contribution to the development of the theory of motivation was made by A.N. Leontiev, who developed it in connection with the analysis of the genesis of human consciousness. At the same time, the psychological mechanisms of transformation of life factors into motives of behavior, the process of complication of activity and the development of motives are examined in detail. “We use the term “motive”,” writes A.N. Leontyev, “not to designate the experience of a need, but as denoting that objective in which this need is specified in given conditions and to which activity is directed, as what motivates it” /10, With. 290/. A.N. Leontyev introduces the concept of personal meaning of activity and comes to the conclusion that “the formation of a person’s personality finds its psychological expression in the development of its motivational sphere” /9, pp.431-432/.

V.S. Merlin paid attention to the study of motivation issues in personal terms. In the aspect of personality orientation, he considered the main motivations for activity and the significance of a person’s beliefs when they arise /10/.

B.F. Lomov, from the standpoint of a systems approach, understands the motivational sphere of an individual as the entire set of her motives, which are formed and developed during her life” /11, p.313/. In general, this system is dynamic and changes depending on many circumstances. Motives differ in varying degrees of stability, some - dominant, core - are firmly preserved for a long time, sometimes throughout life. It is in them, according to B.F. Lomov, that the orientation of the individual is manifested. Their change occurs with significant changes in the living conditions of the individual and his relations with society. Other motives are less stable, more variable, episodic, changeable, and more dependent on the situation.

According to A.G. Kovalev, the motivational sphere, as a substructure of the personality, consists not so much of actual needs and motives, but rather of stable latent motivational formations - personality orientation, interests, motivational attitudes, desires, which he and many other authors call potential motives /12/ .

V.K. Vilyunas believes that “motivation includes everything that motivates the actual activity: generalized and more specific life goals to which he devotes his life” /13/.

The ideology of the Soviet period for a long time used the concept of personality orientation in order to level the individuality of a person, emphasizing the priority of the collectivist orientation of the individual.

M.Z. Neymark experimentally showed that in cases where there is a coincidence of dominant motives at the involuntary and voluntary (conscious) levels, human behavior is integral, non-conflict, and not tense /14/.

In the concept of V.A. The poisonous orientation is revealed through the introduction of the category of dispositions - systemic formations that regulate behavior and activity /15/.

In psychology, two concepts that reveal the determination of human behavior are not clearly separated: direction and motivation. This often leads to terminological problems, as well as to confusion or unclear differentiation of their functions and roles in human behavior. In modern literary sources, orientation is understood as a basic system-forming property of a person, an integrating basis for all mental activity. The concept of “motivation” is used in a double sense: as denoting a system of factors that determine behavior (a system of motives, goals, intentions, aspirations, etc.), and as a characteristic of a process that stimulates and maintains behavioral activity at a certain level. Most often in the scientific literature, motivation is considered as a set of psychological reasons that explain human behavior, its beginning, direction and activity.

We tried to conduct a comparative analysis of these two determinants of human behavior according to several parameters:

1. Structure analysis. The components of personality orientation, according to various authors, include: drives, desires, aspirations, interests, inclinations, ideals, worldview, value orientations, attitudes, attitudes, dispositions. The structure of motivation includes needs, motives (stimulus motives and meaning-forming motives), goals, interests, behavioral patterns, dispositions. Thus, the content of orientation and motivation largely coincides, but the difference is that orientation consists of those motivational lines that have become dominant in the general system of determination of behavior.

2. An analysis of the main functions of the compared determinants of behavior showed that the leading functions of personality orientation are: stabilization, harmonization of ideas about oneself, regulation of the individual’s social behavior, as well as a modeling function. Motivation is characterized by the functions of motivation, stimulation, management, organization, structuring, meaning formation, control and regulation. Thus, direction in the personality structure is the highest level of regulation of behavior and activity compared to motivation. The main role in shaping a person’s orientation belongs to conscious motives.

3. Orientation in its genesis is an education that arose as a result of the work of thought (K.M. Gurevich) /16/. Motives, according to the need theory, are more often of a biological nature and only higher motives (self-actualization) relate to the social motivation of behavior and determine the self-realization of the individual.

4. Both motivation and focus are associated with such personality characteristics as activity. But if motivation is largely determined by the need to adapt to the environment, then orientation is to a greater extent a “subjective” parameter of the personality structure (according to O.P. Eliseev) /17/. Modern psychology of the subject initially presupposes his activity. Thus, orientation is a “subjective-conceptual model of reality (S.V. Shtak) /18/.

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15. Yadov V.A. Self-regulation and prediction of social behavior - psychological adaptation in the conditions of transformation of Russian society. http :// spf . kemsu . ru .

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Krupnov A.I. Psychological problems of a holistic analysis of personality and its basic properties. // Psychological and pedagogical problems of personality formation in educational activities. M., 1988.

The problem of personality in psychology - as scientists see it

The problem of personality has occupied many famous psychologists.
Thus, the greatest contribution was made by L. I. Bozhovich and A. N. Leontiev. L.I. Bozhovich argued that at a certain moment a person can reach the maximum of his development and harmonize with the world around him. This is how personality is formed. After this, a person begins to interact not only with the people around him, but also with the world as a whole. It is necessary to track the stages at which personality is formed, and also consider factors that can influence its development.

A. N. Leontiev was able to prove that the human personality is capable of being born twice. The first time this happens is in preschool age, and the second time in adolescence. During this period, basic beliefs, worldview, attitude towards the world, and values ​​are formed. They determine what a person will become and how he will relate to the world.

See also

• ERG theory, which further expands and explains Maslow's theory
• The first world problem reflects trivial problems in the context of more pressing needs.
• Fundamental human needs, Manfred Max-Neef model
• Functional prerequisites
• Human givens, a theory in psychotherapy that offers descriptions of the nature, needs, and innate attributes of a person.
• Need theory, David McClelland's model
• Positive Decay
• Self-determination theory, model by Edward L. Deci and Richard Ryan
• Self-actualization
• Humanistic psychology
• Motivation
• 4P theory
• K. Alderfer's theory of needs
• Needs according to Keynes
• Needs according to Kaverin
• Murray needs register
• Sheth-Newman-Gross theory of consumer values
• Dislike
• pyramid of needs, Maslow,
• human behavior on social networks, theory of likes,

• needs according to Keynes,
• cover needs,
• register of needs by murray,
• Sheth-Newman-Gross theory of consumer values,

Do you think that if the need improves, it will be better for us? I hope that now you understand what a need, orientation, motives for an individual’s activity, needs, motivations are and why all this is needed, and if you don’t understand, or have any comments, then don’t hesitate to write or ask in the comments, I will be happy to answer. In order to gain a deeper understanding, I strongly recommend studying all the information from the General Psychology category.

Write answers to questions for self-test in the comments, we will check, or ask your own question on this topic.

Types of personality orientation

Psychologists talk about the presence of several directions that determine how a person behaves in different situations. Each type affects one area of ​​activity, so it cannot be called good or bad.

Personal focus

It is characterized by the desire for one’s own self-realization, the implementation of personal goals and aspirations. Such people are often called selfish, because they seem to care little about others, but think more about themselves, build constructive plans in their heads and meaningfully move towards their implementation

Character traits characteristic of such people: self-confidence, determination, the ability to focus on an important problem, organization, responsibility for the actions performed. People of this orientation will never blame others for their own failures

They do not expect help from others, but prefer to take everything into their own hands. Sometimes they develop a so-called desire for loneliness and have difficulty entrusting their affairs to anyone. This difficulty is dictated by the individual’s lifestyle, his strong-willed character (read the article “Strength of Character”). These are inherently incredibly strong individuals who are able to move forward, relying only on their own support, counting on their own strength.

Focus on other people

Characterized by an increased need for communication and approval from other people. Such a person is too focused on the opinions of others, and therefore is not able to make his own plans and realize individual aspirations and dreams. Before taking any action, a person will mentally or vocally coordinate his actions with the opinion of society. He is afraid to go beyond what is considered acceptable or normal in society, so he most often does not express his own opinion.

Focus on other people is also accompanied by a great desire to participate in public life, to fulfill requests at the request of relatives, friends and colleagues. Such people are very popular in teams - they are trouble-free, easily get along with almost any person, and are ready to help at the right time. A healthy psychological climate in the team and at home is a fundamental component for them.

Business orientation

Characterized by high demands on one’s own personality, the ability to organize affairs in such a way that both the individual himself and the society in which he lives are in an advantageous position. Such a person is distinguished by a businesslike approach to everything that surrounds him. He does not necessarily seek to engage in business or develop his own business. The ability to find benefits in different situations (not only for oneself, but also for other people) puts a person in an advantageous position in front of colleagues and friends. As a rule, this is a sociable person who really loves the company of other people, however, at the same time, he is quite freedom-loving and always plays by his own rules.

Emotional orientation of the individual

Characterized by a tendency to worry about everything. Such a person is most often responsive and not indifferent to the sorrows of other people. His ability to empathize is developed to a fairly large extent, so those who are in great need of it at the moment often turn to him for advice. People of this type are characterized by increased impressionability, emotional instability, and their mood often changes. Any minor incident can throw them out of their state of mental balance and give rise to a lot of anxiety.

In addition to the above, they are well versed in art, in particular music and literature, as they have a bright, unique ability to feel the experiences and moods of fictional characters.

Social orientation of the individual

Characterized by increased attentiveness to the outside world and people. Such individuals always notice what is happening around them and delve into the essence of social and political changes. As a rule, people of this type cannot live outside society. They can be both managers and subordinates, the main thing is that their activities develop within society.

Professional orientation by personality type

Psychologist J. Holland identified several types of professional orientation of an individual.

They depend on what type of person the person is.

:

• Realistic type
  . Such people prefer to work with real objects. They are practical-oriented and want to achieve quick results. They have well-developed practical thinking; however, they prefer professions based on manual work. These are drivers, beekeepers, signalmen, radio installers, etc. As a rule, communication skills are not required here.
• Intellectual type
  . Such people are observant, intelligent, and at the same time they are independent and have original thinking. People of this type prefer scientific professions.
• Social type
  . Its representatives are active, sensitive, emotional, and need constant communication with other people. The content of the professions of such people is interaction with people. Preferred professions are teaching, service, information activities.
• Conventional type
  . Such people have high perseverance, they are disciplined and careful. They can do their job well when they have clear and precise instructions. They are best at performing typical tasks, but difficulties may arise with non-standard ones. The preferred professions for such people are clerical ones: accountant, notary, economist, etc.
• Entrepreneurial type
  . Its representatives are active, mobile, have unconventional thinking, and are prone to risk. They strive to take initiative and take leadership. People of this type prefer tasks where they need to make quick decisions, and do not like work that requires perseverance and attentiveness. Loves and knows how to interact with other people. The professions of such individuals are politicians, entrepreneurs, journalists, etc.
• Artistic type
  . Such people have imaginative thinking and creative imagination, they are very sensitive and emotional. They build communication with people on the basis of their intuition and personal feelings. Representatives of this personality type are artists, musicians, designers, actors, translators, etc.

This classification can be used in tests to determine professional suitability, choice of profession, and educational institution.

What else does understanding the mechanisms of personality orientation give us? Through their study, it becomes clear to us that the foundations of all our civilized life are rooted in innate qualities and attitudes formed in the early years of life. In the future, they can be changed and adjusted many times, but they do not appear “out of nowhere.”

Personality orientation in psychology - what determines a person’s desires

The paradox is that human life begins to dramatically acquire meaning only when faced with limitations. You cannot desire opposite things (like driving a good car and walking). It's all quite easy to explain. Initially, a person resembles an ordinary radio receiver. When all waves are received simultaneously, the result is white noise. However, when all unnecessary channels are eliminated, it begins to transmit and receive information. With all this, something is laid down initially, despite the fact that these same channels can sometimes change very much, the core will always remain the same.

Basic forms of focus

It is worth highlighting the main forms of personality orientation in psychology:

1. Settings. As a rule, these are unconscious states that characterize a person’s readiness for any activity. Usually they arise when a situation is repeated several times; it is also called installation. During it, a person reacts in one way or another in a certain, natural way. The setting can be maintained for a long time. However, it lasts for a different period of time for each person. The same goes for formation.
2. Attractions. These needs are partially recognized, but their reason for the person may remain unclear. Drives can be understood as a kind of transitional stage, where the need can intensify or fade away altogether.
3. Interest. This denotes an orientation towards learning new information or a selective attitude towards a specific object. The manifestation of the need for knowledge is called interest. A person can simultaneously have a huge number of interests, and they can differ in content and depth.
4. Tendencies. Further development of interests. Expressed as a strong need for a particular activity.
5. Desires. Motives based on conscious needs are called desires. Desires can characterize a person’s attitude towards an object that he cannot achieve and understands this.
6. Aspirations. These are desires that have a deliberate plan and a way to achieve them. Can be expressed in the form of a dream, an ideal, a passion.
7. Intentions. In this case, the person sees not only the desired conditions, but also all the ways to achieve them.
8. Beliefs. They represent a set of needs that encourage a person to act in accordance with his principles, views and ideas. Typically, beliefs are based on a person's knowledge of the world.
9. Worldview. A system of views on the world with the help of which social existence is formed. Refers to the main regulators of human behavior.

All these forms in one way or another form personality traits in psychology. Personality is characterized by motives, secondary and dominant. The latter determine human behavior, which is why they are the most stable.

General characteristics of a person’s motivational sphere

One of the most important concepts of motivational psychology is the concept of the “motivational sphere” of the individual (more precisely, the motivational system).

Motivation is a system of factors that determine human behavior; characteristic of a process that stimulates and maintains behavioral activity at a certain level.

In other words, motivation is a set of psychological reasons that cause an individual’s activity, determine its direction and explain human behavior. Motivation can be viewed as a cyclical process of continuous mutual action and transformation of the situation by the individual, the result of which is his actual observable behavior as a process of continuous choice and decision-making.

Motivation explains the purposefulness of actions, orderliness and sustainability of holistic activities to achieve a specific goal.

Like any other system, the human motivational world includes a certain set of its components, as well as regular and stable connections between them.

The main components of the motivational sphere of the individual are the following basic psychological formations and structures: needs, drives, attitudes, motives, interests, ideals, intentions, social norms and roles, stereotypes, etc.

All these components have a basic common feature: they have two main sides, two aspects - content and dynamic.

The content aspect consists in the representation of external - reflected - reality and usually appears in the form of certain knowledge.

The dynamic aspect is due to the fact that each of the listed components of the motivational sphere has a certain potential to initiate, maintain and change the activity of the subject. Based on this, all of the listed components are combined in the motivational sphere of the individual.

The motivational sphere of a person can be assessed in its development according to the following parameters:

1) Breadth is a parameter that reflects the diversity of motivational factors - motives, needs and goals. The more motives, needs, and goals a person has, the more developed his motivational sphere is;

2) Flexibility - the area of ​​motivation is more flexible, where more motivational stimuli are used to satisfy needs (for example, one person learns only from TV, and another from books, TV, newspapers);

3) Hierarchization - the greater the differences in the strength and frequency of actualization of motivational formations at a given level, the higher the hierarchization of the motivational sphere.

There are the following 2 types of motivation:

1) Situational motivation - includes motivating factors that force a person to act from the external environment. These factors include certain situational characteristics, actions and actions of surrounding people, culture, social position occupied by a person, etc.;

2) Dispositional motivation - a person’s internal motivation.

It includes a goal - a conscious idea of ​​the expected result towards which a person’s actions are aimed. The basis for the formation of a person’s goals is his subjective-material labor activity aimed at transforming the external world. The process of setting and achieving goals includes the following steps:

a) formation of gates;

b) taking actions to achieve the goal;

c) emotional and cognitive (cognitive) assessment of the course of actions and their final result.

The image of the expected result acquires a motivating force, becomes a goal, begins to guide action and determine the choice of possible ways to realize the goal. The formation of a goal, the emergence of a goal, is a central moment in the process of implementing an action and the main mechanism for the formation of new human actions. The psychophysiological basis of the goal is the “picture of the required future” encoded in the brain (N.A. Bernstein), an acceptor of the results of action (P.K. Anokhin), which regulates the program of physiological execution of the action with the help of anticipatory and authoritarian (providing information about the correspondence of the achieved result to the desired ) commands.

Correct goal setting and self-confidence

In order to achieve success, a person needs to decide on his desires and goals.

It is also important to come up with a plan to achieve them. To increase your work efficiency, you should present the result of your work and the achievement of your goal.

Also, in order to achieve success, you need to be confident in your abilities. Only a self-confident person can take concrete steps towards achieving a goal. Self-confidence can be developed, because it is also necessary for building relationships with others.

The orientation of the individual is formed from childhood during training and upbringing. Each personality develops in society and is influenced by it, while some later develop independence from the opinions of others. Personality orientation is the motives, desires and goals of a person that influence his activities and behavior. Therefore, the orientation of a person determines how successful he will be and how he will achieve his goals.

Focus structure

The structure of a person’s orientation includes needs, motives, interests, value orientations, ideals, beliefs, worldview, and goals.

Needs

A feeling that a person needs something to achieve comfort, harmony and health. A need is a desire, the fulfillment of which is necessary for the well-being of an individual.

Motives

These are deep-rooted, objectified needs that encourage their satisfaction, that is, activity. Motives are closely related to needs. There may be a semantic or external connection between them. The external one is characterized by the influence of stereotypes, that is, society. If there is a discrepancy between the internal sense of needs and motives and the external connection, then a personality crisis occurs.

Sometimes motives come into confrontation, and then several directions appear to be formed. Competition between orientations or their subordination is dangerous due to intrapersonal conflicts and disharmony.

Interests

This is a selective attitude towards an object due to its significance or value for the individual. It could be something material or spiritual.

Value orientations

They are characterized as a system of relations to established norms of society. An individual may or may not accept the social, political and moral values ​​of society.

Ideals

These are samples, examples that guide a person, on which he relies when performing any activity or in life itself.

Beliefs

Theses, provisions, facts, ideas about the structure of the world and society, which a person unquestioningly believes in and subordinates his activities to them. These are provisions that represent a kind of guide to life.

Worldview

A system of stable views on the world, nature and oneself. The activity and specificity of relationships with the environment are a manifestation of the individual’s worldview. Beliefs and ideals both flow from a worldview and influence its formation.

Target

An image of the anticipated result of an activity. These are concrete needs.

Directional forms

A person's ideals, inclinations, goals, interests, impulses, desires, motives, aspirations, sympathies, attachments and positions, aversions and values, tastes and needs - all these are forms of orientation.

Important! In psychology, direction is a set of motivations that characterize an individual and describe his progress towards a goal. This is not only the desire for results, but also the choice of path

The highest form of focus

The highest form is conviction. It is understood as a set of motives (based on worldview and ideals) that dictate a person’s ways of reacting in various situations. It is based solely on conscious needs that form motivation. It is human nature to strive to convey our beliefs to others.

The concepts of belief and knowledge are different from each other. A person may understand what is the right thing to do in a given situation, but do it differently. It's just knowledge. When a person has information and cannot do otherwise, this is a belief.

Motives and motivational systems

Motive (from Latin movere - “to set in motion, push”) is:

1) a factor that motivates a person to activity and is associated with meeting the needs of the subject; a set of external or internal conditions that cause the subject’s activity and determine its direction;

2) a certain object (material or ideal) that motivates a person to activity and determines its direction

3) the conscious reason underlying a person’s choice of actions and actions

4) what belongs to the subject of behavior himself is his stable personal property, from which he is motivated to perform certain actions;

5) psychological states that characterize a person’s private, changeable attitude towards objects or phenomena of the surrounding reality.

The mechanism for the emergence of motives is the realization of needs in the course of addictive activity, and therefore the transformation of the objects of this activity into motives. Hence the central law follows: the development of motives occurs through a change and expansion of the scope of activity, which changes objective reality.

Motives differ from each other in the type of needs they manifest; the forms they take; breadth or narrowness, the specific content of the activity in which they are implemented. Any human activity is motivated not by one motive, but by several, that is, the activity is usually multimotivated.

The set of stable motives that determine the selectivity of a person’s attitudes and actions and are relatively independent of existing situations is called the orientation of the individual. Personality as a substructure of personality includes various motives: their motivations, needs, inclinations, interests, aspirations, intentions, ideals, norms, self-esteem, assessment of others, level of aspiration, attitudes, etc. Some of its components are dominant, others play a subordinate role.

In complex activities, there is usually not one, but several simultaneously acting and interacting motives.

Motives can be conscious or unconscious.

The following functions of motives are distinguished:

1) motivating;

2) directing;

3) meaning-forming function, which consists of motives that give personal meaning to reality reflected in the individual consciousness;

4) the function of controlling the direction of human activity - this function is performed by motives not directly, but through the mechanism of “emotional correction” of behavior (A.V. Zaporozhets). This “emotional correction” of behavior occurs as follows: With the help of emotions, a person evaluates the personal meaning of current events and, if this meaning does not coincide with his own motives, changes the general direction of his activities.

Leontiev identifies mainly two functions of motives: Motivation and comprehension. Sense-forming motives give personal meaning to an activity, while other motives accompanying it serve as stimuli (positive or negative) - sometimes acutely emotional, affective, without a meaning-forming function. These are motives and motivations. Here the difference between the two types of motives is relative. In a hierarchical structure, one specific motive may serve as a meaning-making function, while another may serve as an additional stimulus. The merging of two functions of motivation, motivation and meaning formation, gives human activity the character of a consciously regulated activity. When the meaning-forming function of a motive decreases, it can only become understandable. Conversely, when a motive becomes “simply understandable,” we can say that its meaning-forming function has weakened.

X. Heckhausen considers the function of motive only in connection with the stages of action - initiation, execution, completion. At the initial stage, the motive initiates, stimulates, encourages action. The implementation of the motive at the execution stage ensures a constant high level of action activity. Maintaining motivation at the stage of completing an action is associated with evaluating results and success, which helps reinforce motives.

Many of the motivational factors become so characteristic of a person over time that they turn into personality traits. These include the motive for achieving success, the motive for avoiding failure, and anxiety. In addition, the need for communication (affiliation), the power motive, the auxiliary motive and aggressiveness characterize a person personally.

Focus and motivation

The result of an individual’s activity depends on motivation, which can be external and internal. Extrinsic motivation may involve gaining approval from others. Intrinsic motivation lies in the interest of the individual himself to complete a specific task. Internal motivation has a much better effect on a person, because in this way he develops himself. The better motivated a person is, the more he believes in his own abilities and the more desire he has to work to achieve his goal.

It is extremely important that a person understands why he is doing his work, only in this case he will do it efficiently. If work does not provide any benefits and does not bring you closer to the goal, then any person will quickly get bored with it