Author of the material:
Igor Lyadsky
Geneticist, writer, business coach, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
Unlike other living beings, man has a dual nature. On the one hand, his behavior is influenced by features of anatomy, physiology, and psyche. On the other hand, he obeys the laws of society. If in the first case we are talking about the formation of a person as an individual, then in the second there is the development of personality. What is the difference between these processes? What is personality? Why is it formed in society? What stages does it go through in its improvement? Are there many levels of personality development? What mechanisms trigger this process? Let's consider this topic.
Levels of human development
The consciousness of each person is characterized by a certain level of development, which determines: needs, goals, desires, aspirations, lifestyle, priorities and most important things in a person’s life.
This level of development determines the maturity of a person’s personality and reflects the degree of his understanding of the world and himself, thereby establishing certain priorities for the person. It is possible to determine a person’s level of development by his goals, by his mode of action, by what he considers most important. Simple observation and analysis allows you to determine this not only in other people, but also in yourself, which provides an important point of reference and direction in self-development.
Levels of consciousness development:
1) Bodily.
2) Emotional.
3) Reasonable
4) Spiritual.
What is personality?
There is no single, established, generally accepted definition of personality—it is a complex, multifaceted concept. A large number of different descriptions have been assigned to this phrase at different times.
- Personality is a part of social and cultural life, which is endowed with reason, ethical principles, moral qualities, and spirituality.
- A person who has a certain set of psychological properties that determine his behavior, relationships with society, and his difference from other people.
- A person who independently builds his life, according to his own rules and concepts, bears full responsibility for it.
- A system of individual, social and psychological characteristics, as well as typological properties.
- An accomplished person, with his own individual system of values, behavior, and habits.
Cyata The main life task of a person is to give life to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important fruit of his efforts is his own personality.
Erich Fromm
The first level of development is the bodily level.
At the bodily level, a person identifies himself exclusively with the body. This is the lowest level of development, a person’s consciousness is not developed on it and his life is rather chaotic and aimed at the most mundane goals. A person is not aware of other needs and another path of development other than the one associated with the maintenance and development of his body. A person also strives to develop his material condition, completely or almost completely denying other needs other than the need to satisfy his feelings and accumulate material wealth.
This level of development leads a person to the need to exploit knowledge or skills to satisfy his desires. At this level, everything is simple for a person - work = pleasure . For this reason alone it is worth working hard.
This level of development dictates only 5 types of activity for a person: sleep, sex, food consumption, entertainment and protection . The same thing that a dog can do, only using more advanced tools. In this case, a person’s entire life is built around these five types of activity; besides this, he is not aware of other aspirations. This can be reflected in popular culture, which is aimed at inducing in a person the desire mainly to eat, have sex or have fun. But for this you need a safe place and the opportunity to sleep. This creates a limited range of needs.
Such activity is truly inherent in animals , and by observing them and such people one can find similarities . An animal has no purpose; when it does not have to work, protect a home or satisfy needs, it rests, and people do the same. If there is no activity that satisfies the needs for sleep, reproduction, protection and food, or if a person is not engaged in activities that provide him with this, that is, work, he is not busy with anything. A very popular picture. Such a person is no longer interested in anything. Maybe he is still interested in bad habits, in the form of alcohol, tobacco or games.
This standard of living does not give a person dignity , he has no aspirations beyond satisfying his needs, and an increase in the quality of life means for him: more expensive food, more sleep, less work, better sex, more interesting entertainment.
Entertainment is in the nature of traditional outings with alcoholic drinks and a lot of garbage. Sometimes at sea. This is a common picture. There is one plus: such people do not ask for much - “Bread and circuses” are enough for them. They are quite happy with what they have, although they would love to acquire even more, but they will not put any effort into it. Quarrels often occur among such people, but rarely reach any serious consequences if there is no alcohol nearby.
People with this level of development are necessary for society as a simple working class. The truth does not always sound disingenuous, but it is beneficial for society and the ruling class to have many such people . A society filled with such people is very organic and simply run by more conscious people.
Infancy
This period is distinguished by Erikson and Freud (“Oral stage”). At this stage, the foundations of personality and attitude towards the world around us are laid - trust or distrust, confidence or lack thereof.
Of course, an important role in a child’s life is played by his mother, who represents the whole world for the baby. He needs maternal care, which allows him to feel consistency and recognition in his experiences. Further development of personality largely depends on the first days of life.
If there is trust, the child perceives the world in a positive way, as reliable, predictable, and calmly endures difficulties, even the temporary absence of the mother nearby. In the absence of adequate maternal care, feelings of mistrust, fear and suspicion arise. Thus, the basis of the first period is the relationship: “trust-distrust”.
The second level of development is the emotional level.
The emotional level of development denotes a person who identifies himself with his emotions, feelings, with his heart and all impressions and experiences. At this level of development, the main thing for a person is to receive a variety of experiences that could make his life brighter and more enjoyable. Whether it is travel, communication or drugs depends on the integrity of the individual. However, in general, at this level, the main thing for a person is a certain bright picture of a “good” life, in which he feels great.
Pleasures and needs at this level of development are already more subtle in nature - they are connected with the inner world, with how a person sees and feels this world. These are already heartfelt impressions, experiences, an emotional vision of the world. A trip to nature is no longer just an excuse to eat, but it is much more important to enjoy the atmosphere of nature itself. Sex is no longer a purely physical, but also a deeply emotional process. Entertainment is of an aesthetic nature that is close to a person's heart. And so on. All needs are reflected in the inner world of a person and cause certain impressions .
At this level comes the need for literature, music, theater, and the pleasures that impressions provide. For a person at this level, impressions are the main stimulus of life . And if there are no impressions, then there will be no action. Very often, such people act from potential impressions that have not yet arrived or will not occur in general, which makes their life look like building a castle in the air, which “should” come true in the future.
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Unlike the physical level, such people are able to occupy their free time with creativity or their hobbies, which are a source of positive feelings . Communication with other people is of the same nature. Although often, precisely because of the expectation of positive impressions, disappointments come, which serve as a source of vivid perception of negative impressions.
Expectations and hopes cause emotional rollercoasters for such people. Up down . Fear gives way to hope, and hope to fear. This is all because of the very active mind, which is most active during this period of development. It is he who produces desires, dreams, aspirations, fears, moods, etc. inside a person. And it is by them that man lives.
In general, emotions towards someone, even the best ones, always make this roller coaster work - “up and down”. And such people often experience depression and sudden recovery . They identify themselves with something more subtle than the body, and experience pleasure from experiences, events, communication, emotions and aesthetic pleasure. They are also very passionate about something and want to be even more passionate. To the question “what do you want?” they will often answer “I don’t know” because they want too much.
Personality structure
Personality structure is a combination of various character traits, talents, abilities, degree of emotionality, reactions to external events, temperament, willpower, feelings and perceptions, interests and beliefs. These properties and differences are many, so there is some structure to separate them.
- First level. Here are all the innate properties of the psyche, as well as gender and age, that is, qualities given by nature.
- The second is abilities, talents, consciousness, memory, that is, those qualities that depend on innate factors and their development.
- The third is individual experience, which includes knowledge formed in the process of life.
- The fourth and highest is formed throughout life, this is the orientation of the individual, accumulated experience and knowledge, interests, views, beliefs and worldviews, formed character. This level is maximally connected with upbringing, rules and traditions of the family, society and its ideology in which the person grew up and lives.
It is necessary to distinguish between these levels in order to characterize personality. The differences between people are huge and varied, since at each level there are large differences in interests, skills, views, values, character, so it is sometimes difficult to understand the actions and words of another person. To do this you need to have sufficient knowledge and good observation skills and experience. Let us now consider personality traits and their features.
The third level of development is the reasonable level.
A reasonable level of development - this level leads a person to identify himself with his business, duty, character, principles. With your destiny and path. A person feels his nature and does business that corresponds to it. An illustration of this level of development can be a wandering warrior who has his own code of honor and goals and motives incomprehensible to others. He clearly does not seek to enjoy this world like an ordinary person, but has elevated the way of enjoying into a way of life, realizing that there is no other way for him.
At this level of development, a person no longer identifies himself with his emotions, but becomes increasingly immersed in the inner world. For him, what is no longer important is the process of consuming impressions, but immersing himself in himself, in his path, in his business. This is accompanied by certain principles that a person follows in order not to deviate, so as not to lose himself and his way of life.
This level of development allows a person to gain discipline, since for a person himself, what he looks like to himself, and not impressions, becomes more important. This allows a person to develop rapidly and succeed in business, since he has no distractions from any pleasures or temptations, or from the opinions of other people or social stereotypes. The path of such a person is straight and constant, although there are falls along it.
At this level of development, a taste appears for the development of inner life, for getting rid of negative character traits and acquiring positive traits. If at the first two levels of development a person did this in order to gain the opportunity to enjoy from others, then a reasonable person does this for himself. In order to become better . He has no external reasons to do so.
On the other hand, there is a downside to this course of action. It is quite difficult for a reasonable person to find other reasonable people, since they constitute a minority in society. Communication for the sake of emotions or raw pleasures no longer attracts him and inspires boredom, for this reason he rarely voluntarily converges with people of a lower level of development. And if it does converge, then it is temporary. Such relationships, in reality, cannot be maintained long enough. All this forms a limitation of social connections, which, however, does not create strong concerns.
A person at this level understands himself, his nature and his real needs. He is able to find happiness and follow the direct path to it, without the permission of other people. Freedom is found in refusal. Inner pleasure from one’s own feeling in this world, the absence of internal conflicts and contradictions, only strengthens a person’s choice in favor of himself and not society. Although this does not always mean that rejection of society is mandatory. It’s just that people are no longer as necessary for a happy life as they used to be.
This level frees a person from the conventions of human life and many desires that are inherent in the majority. This creates a favorable environment within a person to continue his path, fulfill his duty or achieve his goal. All this creates the opportunity to be serious, not to succumb to the laxity of others and to remain yourself, defending your place and your principles in the world, without succumbing to the temptation to betray yourself for the sake of pleasure, fame or wealth. Happiness, which is acquired at this level, becomes a more significant value than any material benefit, and therefore a person simply does not need to betray or deceive himself. This is truly a warrior who lives for his path.
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Rationale for Graves' Theory
The creator of the system of spiral dynamics of development was the American psychologist Claire Graves (1914-1986), who spent most of his life studying biopsychosocial systems, combining methods of analysis from various humanities disciplines.
Graves has spent nearly 30 years observing the sociocultural conditions, values, and moral orientations of people from different countries and cultural traditions. Based on a study of the behavior and motives of more than 50 thousand people, he came to the conclusion that any living system (person, society, company or country) goes through approximately the same levels of development. This theory of emergent cyclical levels of existence (The Emergent Cyclical Levels of Existence Theory, ECLET), according to Graves, provides important keys to understanding the life goals and priorities of each person throughout his life, explains why a person lives.
Graves based this study of different types of human thinking on the premises of Maslow’s well-known pyramid of needs. Graves conducted research and observed what factors (value, cultural and psychological) influence human development in addition to satisfying his biological needs.
The initial assumptions of this theory are based on the following premises:
- nothing is static, every living organism is constantly developing;
- we constantly adapt to external circumstances (it is the environment that plays the main role in the formation of an individual worldview, forces us to move on, or stay where we are);
- there is no final state in the value system (each person can either develop higher or degrade to lower levels).
Claire Graves himself formulated 8 levels of development of dynamics in this system, and his views were complemented by his successors - Don Beck and Chris Cowan, therefore today it is customary to distinguish 9 levels of development of spiral dynamics, of which only seven are most often used in practice (we will talk about them a little bit later).
The fourth level of development is the Spiritual level.
Spiritual level of development - this level leads to a person’s identification with his true “I” - soul . At this level, the main priority for a person becomes interaction with spiritual energy, through immersion in one’s true nature, knowledge of spiritual knowledge or worship of the Supreme Lord, God, the Absolute Truth. In this, a person reveals not only his true nature, but also absolute and pure happiness.
Realizing himself as an eternal soul , conditioned by this body, but at the same time not connected with it, just as a person in a uniform is forced to be conditioned by his presence in it, but does not consider himself to be one. A person is then free from material or worldly desires, completely immersed in the contemplation of the spiritual nature within himself.
This leads him to freedom from attachments, desires, fears and blissful indifference to the world, which manifests itself in the reluctance of honors, pleasures, wealth, tolerance for other people, their shortcomings and actions. All this is dictated by the awareness of oneself as an eternal soul, which cannot be damaged, changed or destroyed. This perception of the world frees a person from a lot of suffering and gives a person the opportunity to be completely satisfied in his spiritual inner happiness.
Blissful detachment from the world does not necessarily manifest itself in complete external renunciation. Rather, it is reflected in a person’s perception of the world around him and the people around him. He begins to realize their situation, to have compassion, perceiving them not from the position of a false ego, but as if from his own. After all, no one was born a saint.
A person at this level reaches the peak of his internal development - positive, good, virtuous qualities predominate in him, he is happy and does not experience discomfort in life and in communicating with other people. Without fear of death on the one hand and without becoming attached to material things and people on the other, such a person is constantly free, although he is busy with various activities.
Various manifestations of negative qualities are not reflected in such people, which, on the one hand, makes them attractive to others, and on the other, causes misunderstanding, even antipathy, on the part of less conscious people. But if a wise man bows to knowledge and a fool scoffs at it, then this is confirmation of its truth. It is impossible to find knowledge that is sufficiently valuable, applicable and generally accepted. Mostly because people are different and their perception and level of development limits their ability to see the truth.
A spiritual person is a person who has comprehended spiritual knowledge, knowledge about the soul, advanced on the spiritual path and blessed with spiritual energy, having revealed it in himself. Spiritual nature has three qualities - eternity or immutability, knowledge or a set of qualities that are considered the most favorable and bliss - a state of complete and unconditional happiness. These three signs are signs of progress on the spiritual path and serve as a reward to the person himself when they are revealed in his heart.
Help from a psychologist
What level are you at now, where you need to strive, what lessons and what idea a certain situation wants to convey to you, a psychologist will help you sort out all these points, with him you will realize your mistakes or your purpose much faster, you should not neglect the help of a specialist if you decided to improve. If your request is self-actualization as the pinnacle of personal development, seek the help of a psychologist. This is long and sometimes painful work, but achieving your maximum, unlocking your potential 100% is worth it.
The information presented in this material is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional advice from a physician. If you are experiencing anxiety from an overwhelming desire for revenge, consult a specialist!
Author: Anna Zabrovskaya
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Levels of development
Levels of development determine a person’s place in the life of society, his worldview, his internal state of being, which determines whether he will be happy or whether he will experience constant suffering within himself. After all, as you know:
If the whole world became vicious, then the only reason for this was man himself: he alone is the source of troubles, he alone is the creator of his sorrows.
Alighieri Dante. The Divine Comedy.
The evolution of a person’s inner world consists of a gradual transition from one level to another. Gradual growth, step by step, step by step - this is what real growth looks like. At the same time, when a person simply wants to reach a certain level, he will simply deceive himself for a while, pretending, for example, to be reasonable. However, the ability to live in accordance with a certain way of life comes precisely from internal conformity, and not from volitional effort or great desire. The latter very often lead to disappointment and failure, so the process of internal growth should be treated patiently but persistently, firmly but gradually.
At each subsequent level there is more happiness, work and responsibility. The more developed a person is, the more expectations are placed on him regarding the fulfillment of his duty. At each subsequent stage of development, a person is forced to give up bad habits, more prohibitions, responsibilities and spiritual work are imposed on him, but he is also more joyful and reasonable. Everyone loves honest, kind, calm and bright people.
Growth and development require deep changes, which can only be achieved by long-term practice and deep work on oneself. However, this will be the most successful deal in life - happiness in exchange for work. Good luck.
Graves Dynamics: Application to Life
Now Graves's spiral theory and its description of the dynamics of social development are undoubtedly reaping its benefits: experts from various fields of management, consulting and education are actively implementing the knowledge and assumptions of Graves and his students into life at various levels of society. The dynamics system is especially popular among NLP consultants who help businesses reach a new level of development, formulate fundamental values, a new way of life and a mission.
As many years of experience show, every person goes through the same stages of development and self-realization in society, therefore, by understanding the operating principles of Graves’ spiral dynamics, you can find ways to build a dialogue with a person, determine the vectors of his development, as well as his role and place in society as a whole . And, of course, understanding the Graves system helps a person better understand himself, so this knowledge is useful in any case.
If you are interested in learning more about this man's ideas, you can read his article Levels of Existence: An Open System Theory of Values and the book by his followers Don Beck and Chris Cowan, Spiral Dynamics in Practice, and if you want to know yourself better, we recommend Pay attention to our “Self-Knowledge” course, with the help of which in 4 weeks you will learn your strengths and weaknesses, how to achieve inner harmony, how to build relationships with others and what you really want in life.
We wish you good luck and see you again!
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- Humanistic theories of personality: what to take from history to modern times
- L. Kohlberg's theory of moral development
- The emergence of positivism
- Situationism in psychology and human behavior
- The system of human life values: types of values and formation of the system
- Four steps to create a personal development plan
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Key words: 1Psychoregulation, 1Self-knowledge
Maturity
Maturity (26-64 years old), personal development is manifested in caring for the younger generation
Moreover, even in the absence of children, under normal circumstances, they concentrate more on the outside world and helping others. Otherwise, a “midlife crisis” arises, a feeling of the meaninglessness of life appears
As a rule, by this time a person has already achieved certain results in life and has a need to pass on knowledge and skills to others, to help his children and grandchildren. It is observed to a sufficient extent.
Phase 6: 16 to 22 years
Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson describe this period as the leap into adulthood. Youthful maximalism is simply off the charts and it seems to us that we are the center of the Universe. How we successfully went through previous periods of personality formation determines our success or complete failure in adulthood. As practice shows, some people during this period can change their character in order to adapt to the world around them
At this moment it is very important not to fall under someone’s bad influence.
Preschool age
Preschool age, 3-6 years, is also called the “Age of Play”; according to Freud, the “Phallic Stage”, the period of awareness of gender differences. This period is characterized by an increase in social interactions - games, communication with peers and adults, interest in work matters.
Self-development is manifested in the ability to take responsibility for those who are smaller or weaker, caring for animals. The main slogan: “I am what I will be. The Super Ego is now being formed as a result of understanding social restrictions. It is possible to educate and raise a child; there are all the prerequisites for this.
Children experience the joy of independent actions, begin to associate themselves with special, important people, and begin to set goals for themselves. In addition, they show imagination in choosing games and creating their own entertainment. It is worth encouraging the child’s independent actions, which will be the basis for the development of initiative, independence and help in the development of creative abilities.
Early childhood
The period from 1 to 3 years, corresponds to the “Anal stage” according to Freud, the child masters the ability to control his excretory functions. In addition, the baby becomes physically stronger and can perform more complex actions - walking, climbing, washing.
Very often there are calls for independence “I myself”; an important point is the help of parents in independent actions. It is necessary to provide an opportunity for the development of personality and the development of autonomy of the child. If he is constantly looked after and everything is done for him, then this is detrimental to development, along with unreasonable demands.
Such things cause further insecurity and weakness of will. With positive development, will and self-control develop.
Phase 2: 1 year to 3 years
In close symbiosis with the development of our consciousness, we acquire the first motor and social skills. We try to explore the world around us with the help of sight, hearing, smell, and tactile sensations. The basic foundation of our personality and character is laid precisely during this period of time.
Therefore, it is very important for parents to provide comfort to the child at this age.
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