Character accents. Accented personality

CHARACTER ACCENTUATION

(English) character accentuation) - high degree of expression of individual traits character and their combinations, representing an extreme option , bordering on psychopathy. Wed. .

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

Accentuation of character

   CHARACTER ACCENTUATION (With. 31) - excessive expression of individual character traits and their combinations, representing an extreme version of the mental norm, bordering on psychopathy. According to the famous German psychiatrist K. Leongard (he proposed this term), in 20-50% of people some character traits are so sharpened (accentuated) that under certain circumstances this leads to the same type of conflicts and nervous breakdowns. When character is accentuated, a person becomes vulnerable not to any (as in psychopathy), but only to certain traumatic influences addressed to the so-called “place of least resistance” of this type of character while maintaining resistance to others. Accentuation can be expressed in different ways - there are obvious and hidden (latent) accentuations, which can transform into each other under the influence of various factors, among which the characteristics of upbringing, social environment, professional activity, and physical health play an important role.

Taking shape by adolescence, most accentuations, as a rule, are smoothed out and compensated over time, and only in difficult, traumatic situations that have a long-term impact on the “weak link” of character can not only become the basis for acute emotional reactions and neuroses, but also be a condition for the formation psychopathy.

Based on various classifications, the following main types of character accentuations are distinguished:

1) cycloid- alternation of phases of good and bad mood with different periods;

2) hyperthymic- constantly high spirits, increased mental activity with a thirst for activity and a tendency to waste time without completing the task;

3) labile - sudden changes in mood depending on the situation;

4) asthenic- fatigue, irritability, tendency to depression and hypochondria;

5) sensitive- increased impressionability, timidity, heightened sense of inferiority;

6) psychasthenic- high anxiety, suspiciousness, indecisiveness, tendency to introspection, constant doubts and reasoning;

7) - isolation, isolation, introversion, emotional coldness, manifested in a lack of empathy, difficulties in establishing emotional contacts, lack of intuition in the process of communication;

8) epileptoid- a tendency to an angry-sad mood with accumulating aggression, manifested in the form of attacks of rage and anger (sometimes with elements of cruelty), conflict, viscosity of thinking, scrupulous pedantry;

9) stuck (paranoid)- increased suspicion and painful sensitivity, persistence of negative affects, desire for dominance, rejection of the opinions of others and, as a result, high conflict;

10) demonstrative (hysterical)- a pronounced tendency to repress unpleasant facts and events, to deceit, fantasy and pretense, used to attract attention to oneself; behavior characterized by adventurism, vanity, “flight into illness” with an unsatisfied need for recognition;

11) dysthymic- prevalence of low mood, tendency to depression, focus on the gloomy and sad aspects of life;

12) unstable- a tendency to easily succumb to the influence of others, a constant search for new experiences, companies, the ability to easily establish contacts, which, however, are superficial;

13) conformal- excessive subordination and dependence on the opinions of others, lack of criticality and initiative, a tendency towards conservatism.

In contrast to “pure” types, mixed forms of character accentuations are much more common - intermediate (the result of the simultaneous development of several typical traits) and amalgam (layering of new character traits on its existing structure) types. I

Taking into account character accentuations is necessary for implementing an individual approach to the upbringing of children and adolescents, career guidance, and choosing appropriate forms of individual and family psychotherapy.

Popular psychological encyclopedia. - M.: Eksmo. S.S. Stepanov. 2005.

See what “character accentuation” is in other dictionaries:

accentuation of character- excessive expression of individual character traits and their combinations, representing an extreme version of the mental norm, bordering on psychopathy. According to the famous German psychiatrist K. Leongard (he proposed this term), 20-50% of people... ... Defectology. Dictionary-reference book

accentuation of character- a concept introduced by K. Leonhard and meaning the excessive expression of individual character traits and their combinations, representing extreme variants of the norm, bordering on psychopathy. Oh. differ from the latter in the absence of simultaneous manifestation... ...

A concept introduced by K. Leonhard and meaning the excessive expression of individual character traits and their combinations, representing extreme variants of the norm, bordering on psychopathy. Actively used by military psychologists in determining... ... Psychological and pedagogical dictionary of a naval unit teacher officer

Accentuation of character- excessive expression of individual character traits and their combinations, which represent extreme variants of the norm, bordering on personality anomalies. With character accentuations, each type has its own “Achilles heel”, which makes the personality... ... Human psychology: dictionary of terms

Accentuation of character- (lat. accentus stress) excessive strengthening of individual character traits, manifested in the selective vulnerability of the individual in relation to a certain kind of psychogenic influences with good and even increased resistance to others. Despite... ... Forensic encyclopedia

Accentuation of character- (from Latin accentus stress) excessive strengthening of individual character traits, representing extreme variants of the norm, bordering on personality pathology. Children with A.H. need an individual approach to education. Effective are adequate to the features... ... Corrective pedagogy and special psychology. Dictionary

CHARACTER ACCENTUATION- excessive strengthening of individual character traits, manifested in the selective vulnerability of the individual in relation to a certain kind of psychogenic influences (difficult experiences, extreme neuropsychic stress, etc.) with good and even ... Modern educational process: basic concepts and terms Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

PERSON AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND AS AN ACCENTUATED PERSONALITY

People are distinguished from each other not only by innate personality traits, but also by developmental differences associated with the course of their lives. A person’s behavior depends on what family he grew up in, what school he attended, what profession he is, and what circles he moves in. Two people with initially similar natures may subsequently have very little in common with each other, and, on the other hand, the similarity of life circumstances can develop similar traits and reactions in people who are fundamentally different.

The so-called life types, for example, the type of employee, officer, merchant, scientist, teacher, waiter, are formed due to the fact that a certain position or position leaves an imprint on the way of life. Of course, this is often facilitated by the fact that the tendency inherent in a person by nature interacts with the chosen profession; moreover, a person often chooses a certain profession precisely because it corresponds to his individual inclinations. The imprint in question in an adult cannot seriously affect the diagnosis of personality, because external forms of behavior are determined to a much greater extent by acquired habits than by the manifestation of internal orientation. So, for example, a teacher has a certain self-confidence and self-confidence that is natural, since he is accustomed to playing an important role in the children's team. A completely different impression is made by a person whose self-confidence is not determined by his profession. By the way, along with self-confidence, a teacher can have unconditional modesty. Or let’s take an officer who is distinguished by exceptional discipline and accuracy. Such a trait in the military is more justified than the out-of-the-ordinary pedantry inherent in human nature itself.

Typically, behavior associated with professional habit is not confused with behavior that reflects the internal identity of a person. It’s a different matter if traits of great originality appeared already in early childhood. Here it can be difficult to establish how deeply this uniqueness is reflected in the structure of the adult’s personality.

I must make a reservation that the question of the origin of accentuated personality traits is not the subject of special attention in this work: these traits occupy us only in the form in which we directly observe them in the individuals being examined. For example, it can be considered established that every person has a natural desire to earn praise and approval, that every person is not without a feeling of pity. It is quite possible that the impressions of childhood left a certain imprint on the characteristics of the manifestation of these traits in an adult. However, one thing is indisputable: both the inclinations and the direction of a person’s interests come from the outside. In which direction a person’s ambitious thoughts are directed depends solely on external incentives. Two equally ambitious people can be bitter enemies due to the fact that they set directly opposite goals for themselves. The sense of duty can be directed in different ways. Which direction a person chooses largely depends on the society in which he lives. In the same way, the innate orientation of interests and inclinations in no way impedes educational influence. Moreover, it is precisely the innate orientation that is the basis of education; without it, education is generally impossible. If a person did not have a tendency to develop a sense of duty, then through education it would be impossible to induce him to do one thing and not do another.

People differ from each other no matter how the difference arises. Just as one person is always different from another in appearance, so the psyche of each person is different from the psyche of other people.

And yet, speaking about individual traits, we do not imagine them as some kind of boundless range of possibilities, in addition with many transitions: there can be no talk of an infinite number of unique individual traits. The following thesis can be put forward: the main features that determine a person’s individuality and character are very numerous, but still their number cannot be considered unlimited.

The traits that define a person’s individuality can be attributed to various mental spheres.

Let us first name the sphere that would most correctly be designated as the sphere of orientation of interests and inclinations. Some interests and inclinations are selfish in nature, others, on the contrary, are altruistic. So, one person may subordinate everything to the thirst for profit or have exorbitant vanity, while another is sympathetic, kind, and has a highly developed sense of civic responsibility. This area also includes a sense of justice, fearfulness or hatred of a person. If one of these properties of the psyche is very clearly expressed or, on the contrary, poorly developed, then there is reason to talk about them as individual traits of a person, i.e. the vivid expression of the described individual traits cannot yet be considered the main reason for the accentuation of individuals who are invariably something stand out from the average people.

It is easy to establish that deviations in one direction or another among unaccented individuals are always within the limits of universal human norms. These traits, inherent in a person by nature, precisely because of their universal significance, constitute such a strong framework that special individual “discord” is usually not observed. Variations in human reaction are not excluded, of course: there are people who are more or less selfish or altruistic, more or less vain, more or less conscious of their duty. In this way, that is, against the background of variations in the direction of interests and inclinations, various individualities arise, but they cannot yet be classified as accentuated personalities.

The second sphere can be designated as the sphere of feelings and will. The nature of internal processing of phenomena also determines significant individual differences. The result is modifications to personality and character. We are talking about the very process of emotions, about the speed with which they take possession of a person and then weaken, about the depth of feeling. This also includes types of volitional reactions, to which we include not only weakness or willpower, but also internal volitional excitability in terms of choleric or phlegmatic temperament. The properties of this emotional-volitional sphere also, to one degree or another, determine various variations in behavior, endowing people with specific individual traits. However, they do not themselves define a personality that would clearly stand out against the average background.

The third area is related to intelligence, which is usually not included in the concept of personality. There is, however, an area of ​​associative feelings (op. cit., pp. 117–140)1, which contain such personality traits as interest and the desire for orderliness. This sphere can be called associative-intellectual. Such a human trait as love of order cannot immediately be categorically defined as an anancaste’s need for orderliness. Quite often this trait is just one of the individual manifestations of the associative-intellectual sphere, which should not at all be associated with personality accentuation traits.

To understand the essence of a person, it is necessary to take a close look at the various features of the above-mentioned mental spheres characteristic of him. In this book I will try to illustrate the characteristics of accentuated personalities with specific examples from life. The same should be done with regard to the listed variations of human individuality. But even if you want to, it’s not easy to do. The specific properties mentioned here are not so striking that they can be convincingly confirmed by appropriate material. Neither observations nor conversations with people help to unambiguously describe and identify the variations mentioned above. But they can be very clearly imagined if you look at a person from the inside. This is exactly the opportunity writers give us. They not only depict the purely external actions of the heroes, convey their words and even statements about themselves, but often tell us what their heroes think, feel and what they desire, showing the internal motives of their actions. In characters in works of art it is easier to identify very subtle individual variations. If a person shows fearfulness or self-confidence, compassion or a sense of justice, or even without showing these qualities he attributes them to himself, then it is difficult to say with certainty whether he has stepped over the boundaries of normal reactions. But when we encounter a character in a writer who exhibits the named traits, drawn with talent, with all his thoughts and feelings, this in most cases makes it possible to unmistakably recognize the manifestation of one of the spheres of individuality. So, the characters of fiction give us the most interesting examples of individual variations in the human psyche.

It is not always easy to draw a clear line between the traits that form an accentuated personality and the traits that determine variations in a person’s personality. Oscillations are observed here in two directions. First of all, the characteristics of a stuck, or pedantic, or hypomanic personality can be expressed in a person so insignificantly that accentuation as such does not take place, one can only state a deviation from a certain “pattern” pattern. This is especially clearly expressed when determining certain properties of temperament, representing all the intermediate stages of its types, up to almost neutral. Accentuation always generally involves increasing the degree of a certain feature. This personality trait thus becomes accentuated.

Many traits cannot be strictly differentiated, that is, it is difficult to establish whether they relate to a number of accentuations or only to individual personality variations. For example, if we talk about ambition, we should first of all determine whether it belongs to the sphere of interests and inclinations or is a feature of accentuated stuckness. The last definition is possible if this trait is clearly expressed: stubborn, blind careerism can hardly be attributed to the sphere of interest. In addition, stuckness is never manifested by ambition alone; it is accompanied by increased sensitivity to insults and a strong resentment.

We encounter a similar situation when observing vivid manifestations of a sense of duty. It can be attributed to the sphere of orientation of interests and inclinations, but one can also see in it a feature characteristic of anankasts. Differentiation should take into account the following points: in cases where a sense of duty is simply a characterological feature, a person is distinguished by smooth, calm behavior, his devotion to duty is devoid of tension and is a trait that seems to be taken for granted; For an anancast, the sense of duty is associated with anxiety, constant questions about whether he is acting selflessly enough.

It is very interesting and significant from a psychological point of view that stuck individuals display manifestations of egoistic feelings (ambition, painful resentment), and pedantic ones display altruistic manifestations, in particular a sense of duty. It should be emphasized that the traits of being stuck are interconnected mainly with egoistic feelings, and the traits of doubt and constant hesitation (anankastic) are associated with feelings of an altruistic order. The more a person hesitates in his decisions, the more altruistic feelings take over the consciousness and influence decision-making.

The contrast is even more striking when comparing an anankastic personality not with a stuck one, but with a hysterical one, since hysterics are even more prone to selfishness. They often make rash decisions, rarely weigh their actions, remaining in the selfish circle of interests that are closer to them (see: op. cit.).

Anankastic and hysterical traits also intersect with other personality traits. I have already dealt with the question before (see: op. cit., pp. 212–214) whether prolonged deliberation when making a decision is not a mild form of anankastic predisposition, or whether it is simply one of the properties of the sphere of feeling and will. In parallel with this, I also tried to establish whether the readiness for rash actions is an expression of a slightly hysterical bias or whether it should be regarded as an independent manifestation of a property from the sphere of feeling and will. There are other ambiguities of this kind.

A highly developed area of ​​emotions in a person activates altruistic feelings - a feeling of compassion, joy for someone else’s success, a sense of duty. To a much lesser extent in such cases, the desire for power, greed and selfishness, indignation, and anger due to infringement of pride are developed. An emotive nature is especially characterized by such a property as empathy, but it can also develop on other grounds.

There is no single genetic basis for such personality traits as anxiety (fearfulness). To a normal degree, fearfulness is characteristic of many people, but it can become dominant, leaving its mark on all human behavior. In these cases, the physical basis of this condition is often discovered in the form of increased excitability of the autonomic nervous system, which, acting on the vascular system, can lead to a physical feeling of tightness, fear and melancholy. Probably, only in the latter case is there a tendency to step over the boundaries of average manifestations of fearfulness and cause accentuation of the personality.

Due to the large number of intersections, some experts believe that, when considering the individual traits of people, one should abandon all classifications and only describe what is observed in a general way. I take a different point of view, and therefore can expect the reproach of trying to squeeze into a diagram something that cannot be clearly defined. And yet I am convinced that there are basic features of human individuality, they exist objectively and that, because of this, science should strive to isolate and describe them. Naturally, this is associated with great difficulties, because the question is not about adapting diffuse material to a more or less acceptable scheme, but about revealing objectively existing traits that underlie the concept of “personality”, despite the presence of their numerous intersections .

Accented features are not nearly as numerous as varying individual ones. Accentuation is, in essence, the same individual traits, but with a tendency to transition to a pathological state. Anankastic, paranoid and hysterical traits can be inherent to some extent, in fact, in any person, but their manifestations are so insignificant that they elude observation. When more pronounced, they leave an imprint on the personality as such and, finally, can acquire a pathological character, destroying the structure of the personality.

The personalities we designate as accented are not pathological. With a different interpretation, we would be forced to come to the conclusion that only the average person should be considered normal, and any deviation from such a mean (average norm) would have to be recognized as pathology. This would force us to take beyond the norm those individuals who, by their originality, clearly stand out from the background of the average level. However, this category would also include that category of people about whom they speak of “personality” in a positive sense, emphasizing that they have a pronounced original mental make-up. If a person does not exhibit manifestations of those properties that in “large doses” give a paranoid, anankastic, hysterical, hypomanic or subdepressive picture, then such an average person can be unconditionally considered normal. But what is the forecast for the future in this case, what is the assessment of the state? It can be said without hesitation that such a person will not face the uneven path of life as a sick, quirky, loser, but it is also unlikely that he will distinguish himself in a positive way. Accented personalities potentially contain both the possibility of socially positive achievements and a socially negative charge. Some accentuated personalities appear before us in a negative light, since life circumstances were not favorable to them, but it is quite possible that under the influence of other circumstances they would have become extraordinary people.

A stuck person under unfavorable circumstances may become an intractable arguer who does not tolerate objections, but if circumstances favor such a person, it is possible that he will turn out to be a tireless and purposeful worker.

A pedantic personality, under unfavorable circumstances, may develop obsessive-compulsive neurosis; under favorable circumstances, he will become an exemplary worker with a great sense of responsibility for the work assigned.

A demonstrative personality can act out rental neurosis in front of you; under other circumstances, it can stand out with outstanding creative achievements. In general, with a negative picture, doctors tend to see psychopathy; with a positive picture, they tend to see personality accentuation. This approach is sufficiently justified, since a mild degree of deviation is more often associated with positive manifestations; and high - with negative ones.

The designation “pathological personalities” should be used only in relation to people who deviate from the standard, and when external circumstances that interfere with the normal course of life are excluded. However, various edge cases need to be taken into account.

There is no hard boundary between normal, average people and accentuated individuals. Here, too, I would not like to approach these concepts too narrowly, i.e., it would be wrong, on the basis of any minor feature of a person, to immediately see in him a deviation from the norm. But even with a fairly broad approach to what qualities can be called standard, normal, and not conspicuous, there are still many people who have to be classified as accentuated personalities. According to surveys conducted at the Berlin Clinic by Sitte among adults and by Gutjahr among children, the population of our country, at least the population of Berlin, is 50% accentuated individuals and 50% standard type of people. For the population of any other state, the data may turn out to be completely different. German nationality, for example, is credited with not only such a flattering trait as determination, but also a rather unpleasant one - careerism. Perhaps this can explain the fact that Sitte found many stuck and pedantic individuals among the people she examined.

Below I detail my understanding of the accented personality. However, since at the same time I always turn to pathological individuals, it would be worthwhile to set out in detail the essence of my differences of opinion with some famous scientists dealing with identical problems. Let me first point out that Bergman, while dealing with combined pathological traits, noted how much our views coincide with the scheme proposed by K. Schneider. In a small book, “Childhood Neuroses and the Personality of the Child,” I set out my views on these issues more fully, so here I will limit myself to a few brief comments.

Pedantic, or anankastic, personalities, which K. Schneider does not single out at all, represent, in my opinion, a particularly important group both due to their prevalence and due to the very wide scale of deviations from the average level.

The same can be said about demonstrative, or hysterical, individuals, whom a number of scientists have recently also refused to classify as a special group. Meanwhile, anankastic and hysterical traits can have a strong impact on a person’s personality.

I interpret the concept of “paranoid” somewhat differently than has been accepted until now, since I consider its most significant aspect to be the tendency to get stuck in affect.

I do not include unstable, unstable personalities in my taxonomy, since in their description I do not find a unity of personality structure: when you read about such people, you see before you either hysterical, or hypomanic, or epileptoid personalities. Even if instability were understood as mere weakness of will, I would still not be able to attribute this trait to accentuation, but would attribute it only to variations in individuality: after all, weakness of will can never reach such a degree at which one could talk about leaving an imprint on personality as a whole. It should be noted that under the current diagnostic conditions, instability is the most common form of psychopathy. This is due to the fact that the concept of instability also includes many more pathological personality traits, while at the same time weak-will itself is often not included in this concept.

In the chapters on personality accentuation, I do not consider insensibility, which is sometimes designated by the term “heboid”2.

In these cases, we are talking, judging by the last term, about latent mental illness. As for the usual coldness of feelings, we encounter it only with variations in character, and not with its accentuation.

Hyperthymic, dysthymic and cyclothymic personalities are distinguished by me according to Kretschmer, but it must be stipulated that I regard them as individuals who have a labile temperament, and therefore constantly fluctuate between the hyperthymic and dysthymic states. On the contrary, I consider syntonic people to be people who, as a rule, have an average, balanced mood. From the general mass of cyclothymic individuals, I single out those who are affectively labile, prone to constant excessive mood swings, as if between two poles.

Due to the area of ​​thinking and psychomotor, it would be necessary to increase the number of special groups of temperament accentuation, since some individuals exhibit special excitation or inhibition precisely in the process of thinking, which is associated with their psychomotor, in particular the liveliness or lethargy of facial expressions. These phenomena were described in detail by Thorstorff.

Introverted and extroverted individuals should be dealt with in more detail here, since there is no such information in the works I cited. I also attach a meaning to these concepts that is somewhat different from the generally accepted one, although they already only partially retained the content that Jung once put into them.

In my opinion, these concepts are closely related to the period of adolescence, i.e., with the period of formation of the child’s psyche as an adult (see: op. cit., pp. 2280–237). I will briefly outline my views on this issue.

The child is extroverted: he is drawn to processes that affect his feelings and reacts to them with appropriate behavior, without thinking much. An adult, compared to a child, is introverted: he is much less interested in the environment, the external world, his reactions are much less immediate, he tends to first reflect on an action. With extroversion, the world of perceptions predominates in thoughts and behavior, with introversion, the world of ideas. For an extroverted adult, the joy of making a decision is much more intense, because he is more focused on the external world around him and therefore reasons and weighs various possibilities to a much lesser extent; for an introverted person, there is a predominant tendency to pre-think and evaluate decisions. An extroverted person is characterized by the manifestation of purely external activity, independent of thought processes, that is, significantly greater impulsiveness of behavior: this trait is also akin to child psychology. The indecision of an introverted person is associated with increased work of thought, but despite this, he is less able to feel joy in connection with making a decision.

In childhood, extroversion in both sexes has the same form of expression. In adolescence, the turn to introversion in boys is much more dramatic than in girls. Therefore, a woman is always more connected with the objective events of life, more dependent on them and in most cases has a more practical mind. However, making a rash decision inspired by the moment and acting without weighing the consequences is always a real danger for her. A man better understands the interconnection of phenomena and the true, not always obvious reasons for them, he is more inclined to generalizations, his thought works in the appropriate direction more effectively. The danger for a man is that he indulges in theoretical reasoning and misses those opportunities that require immediate action. As a result of this difference, accentuated extroversion and introversion in men and women cannot be assessed equally. What is the norm for a woman is extroversion for a man, and vice versa, what should be considered the norm for men should be considered introversion for women.

An extroverted decision may be less realistic and less objective than an introverted one, since the latter, made after thorough and comprehensive weighing, is always more sensible and sober. I agree with Jung when he says: “Extroverted natures are guided by given specific facts, an introverted person develops his own opinion, which he, as it were, “pushes” between himself and the objective reality.”

I will dwell on what Jung writes further: “When talking about introversion, we must also keep in mind another type of thinking, which, in fact, can even more likely fit under this heading, namely the type that is not oriented towards direct objective experience, nor on general ideas obtained through objective calculations.”

So, Jung here comes to the conclusion that not only a specific orientation to an object excludes introversion, but also such ideas that “start from the object.” At the beginning, Jung said that an extroverted person accepts objective reality as it is, while an introverted person internally processes it; Subsequently, he puts forward the position according to which an introverted person generally perceives everything objective under a subjective sign: “I apply the term “subjective factor” in relation to those psychological actions and reactions that, experiencing the influence of an object, give rise to a new fact of a mental order.”

It goes on to explain even more clearly what exactly thinking is on the introverted plane: “It cannot be denied in such cases that the idea has its origin in an obscure and gloomy symbol. Such an idea has a certain mythological character: in one case this idea is interpreted as a manifestation of originality, in another, worse, as eccentricity. The fact is that an archaic symbol for a specialist (scientist) unfamiliar with mythological motifs always seems veiled.” Specifically, this means that a considerable number of ideas can only be associated with extroversion. Us. 468 we read: “In the process of practical thinking of a businessman, technician, or natural scientist, thought cannot help but be directed towards the object. The picture is not so clear when it comes to the thinking of a philosopher who deals with the field of ideas. In this case, it is necessary first of all to establish whether these ideas are not just abstractions that arise in the process of cognition of a certain object. If this is so, then the corresponding ideas are nothing more than general concepts of a higher order, including a certain sum of objective facts. If the ideas are not abstractions from directly received experience, then it should also be established whether they were adopted from somewhere by tradition or borrowed from the surrounding intellectual environment. If yes, then these ideas also belong to the category of objective data, and thus this thinking will also have to be recognized as extroverted.”

I consider the mental work of a natural scientist to be extroverted only in those cases when his activity is in the nature of collecting, collecting. The more he mentally processes what he observes, the more his mental activity approaches the plane of introversion. To a philosopher who develops certain ideas, I attribute only an introverted character of mental activity, even in those cases when the course of his thought is based on objective sources or facts.

If I, despite differences of opinion with Jung, use his terminology, this is for two reasons. Firstly, in medical psychology these terms have taken root more in the meaning that I ascribe to them. Secondly, with a practical approach to the issue there is not such a large discrepancy as in the field of theory. The more specific the examples Jung gives, the more I am inclined to agree with him. For example, Jung writes: “One person, as soon as he hears that it is cold outside, immediately rushes to put on his coat, another considers this unnecessary for the reason that “you need to toughen up”; one admires the new tenor for the reason that everyone is “obsessed with him,” the other does not admire him at all, but not for the reasons that he does not like him, but because he is deeply convinced: if everyone admires something, then it is This does not mean at all that this phenomenon deserves admiration; one submits to existing circumstances, because, as his experience shows, anything else is impossible anyway, while the other is confident that even though such a result has already happened a thousand times, the thousand and first cases can turn out differently.” I view these opposing types of behavior from the same angle as Jung.

Sometimes experts do not clearly differentiate between extroverted and introverted behavior and temperamental traits. For example, hypomanic individuals are constantly distracted, they are entirely oriented toward the events happening around them, and are ready to become involved in them at any moment. They can also be designated as an extroverted type, but their behavior is devoid of the specificity of extroversion.

Eysenck, for whom extroversion and introversion play a primary role in personality diagnosis, in my opinion, did not avoid the above-mentioned danger and also included hypomanic temperament among the symptoms. About an extroverted person, Eysenck writes: “He loves to joke, is very resourceful, constantly looking for entertainment and variety; he is an optimist, laughs a lot and willingly. An extremely active person, prone to aggression, he is often overcome by impatience. Does not monitor restraint in the manifestation of feelings; you can’t always rely on him.” In this description, there are clearly notes of a hypomanic temperament, which is fundamentally different from the temperament of an extroverted personality. A person who is always serious, not prone to optimism, and who does not like to laugh can also show signs of extroversion, but only his extroversion is not so striking. On the other hand, a hypomanic personality may have introverted traits. We will further illustrate this with relevant examples.

There is another factor of insufficient differentiation of types, which manifests itself in the sphere of contacts between people. Thus, a person who lives primarily in the world of perceptions easily establishes contact with other people; It is more difficult for someone who is more self-absorbed to establish relationships with others. However, such a dependence is not always observed. An introverted person does not show great readiness to engage in communication, and yet he can quickly make friends with someone, while another person, always oriented to the environment, living “wide open”, may experience difficulties in establishing contacts. What is the reason for this? Obviously, in establishing direct understanding between two people, which is largely associated with the area of ​​expressiveness, expression of behavior. Undoubtedly, some people have a special gift to influence others with an expressive, inviting manner of communication, to sensitively understand the subtlest shades of feelings and moods of others. But there are also people who are deprived of such a gift, such sensitivity. In the first case, contact is established quickly even in the presence of introversion, in the second - even for extroverted people, establishing contact with others is difficult. The ability to establish contacts and weakened contact-making function are often considered to be identical to extroversion and introversion, respectively. Especially often, the terms autism or schizoid character are deciphered as introversion plus weak contacts. Thorstorff managed to draw a clear line between one and the other.

After the preliminary remarks I have made, I can turn to the diagnosis of accentuated personalities. Even where my diagnostic method is no different from the methods of other authors, its description will still not be superfluous: it will show how one can specifically distinguish one accentuated personality from another.

Kurt Schneider said that his scheme of psychopathy is difficult to apply in practice, since a number of individual traits transform into each other too imperceptibly. Because of this, in most cases he prefers such a general designation as “psychopathy.” I have repeatedly objected to this approach. In this work, I would like to specifically show that those accentuated personalities, which I propose to distinguish from each other, in most cases can be recognized quite clearly, regardless of whether we are talking about one accentuated trait or several. Personality diagnostics must be carried out using proper methods.

PERSON AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND AS AN ACCENTUATED PERSONALITY People are distinguished from each other not only by innate individual traits, but also by differences in development associated with the course of their lives. A person’s behavior depends on what family he grew up in, what school he attended.