Contents
Personality is what it aspires to. A person begins with the fact that something becomes dear to him, that he is ready to raise himself for the sake of something, from the fact that something for him sometimes becomes more important than his personal existence.
If you want to understand the main thing in a person, understand what drives this person, what are his real aspirations.
The orientation of the personality is often described by the words «prevailing interests and aspirations», «hierarchy of motives», sometimes — personal ideology.
The direction of personality is not the same as the direction of life. The orientation of life is sometimes set by external circumstances — you need to feed your family, it’s time to give birth to a child, or you were taken into the army — while the internal orientation of a person can be — giving, living in nature and gardening.
The orientation of the personality is what is internally, really dear to a person, what he really strives for.
Some people value comfort, others value development. Relationships are more important for women, business is more important for men.
Main characteristics
The main characteristics of the orientation of the personality are the breadth or narrowness of the orientation, the stability and effectiveness of the orientation, the level and orientation of the orientation (orientation towards oneself, towards communication and relationships, towards business). An integral characteristic of the orientation of a personality is the ability of a person to determine his own goals and values, to be not only an organism, but to be a person. See →
Failures in the direction of personality: protection
A person may strive for development, for homeostasis, or for protection. The main thing is that a healthy person always strives somewhere, the world is seen as interesting and friendly. When the situation changes, when the world turns out to be hostile or all the more terrible, when the main thing in a person’s life is to protect himself from this world, the personality structure ceases to be healthy. When the direction of orientation is not the world, but protection from the world, the personality loses its orientation, aspiration. It is no longer up to direction, to anything, to survive … The personality turns out to be problematic, sick. See →
What determines the direction of personality
The direction of a person is set both by his body (psychobiology), and habits, and his living soul (emotions and feelings), and his mind: the views and philosophy of his life. People often think that they themselves determine their inner direction, but this is not always true: the mind often just substantiates what the soul or body requires. See →