S. Nartova-Bochaver differential psychology textbook. Differential psychology (Nartova-Bochaver S.K.) Stages of development of differential psychology

Individualization is a property of all living things. Even prepsychic life forms have a significant range of differences, although these differences relate to the structure and functioning of organisms. And with the advent of the psyche as a reflection of existence and orientation in it, differences began to affect all forms of activity of living beings. Individual differences in the psyche are inherent not only in people, but also in the entire animal world, and often intraspecific differences exceed interspecific ones. So, for example, the smartest rat can, in the same learning situation, act more efficiently than the stupidest monkey, standing higher than the rat on the evolutionary ladder. There are manifestations social behavior in gray geese, which were traditionally considered characteristic only of humans, until the remarkable ethologist K. Lorenz drew attention to them (a triumphant cry, indicating selectivity in choosing a partner, cases of marital fidelity for forty years or more, data on friendship and jealousy among animals ) (1).

On the other hand, such a property of human thinking as the ability to solve two-phase problems (observed in primates, as shown by the experiments of V. Koehler), is often absent in the field of social intelligence (for example, parents who, after a divorce, “share” the right to communicate with their child , often completely lose the ability to calculate the “two-step” and thus protect common interests). Therefore, individual variations may indeed overlap between-group and inter-species variations. That is, a person appears primarily as an individual.

Every person has something that is common to all people, something that makes him similar to some of them, and something that is unique to him alone. IN Everyday life we often encounter phenomena individual differences, carrying out everyday psychodiagnostics of the people with whom we interact. However scientific knowledge differs from non-scientific: the presence of an unresolved problem, theories that can contribute to the search for a solution, a developed conceptual apparatus and the presence of objective methods for recording scientific facts, objectivity and the degree of generality. If we compare scientific knowledge with art, which is revealed to every person to one degree or another, then art is based on intuition and is therefore subjective and has an emotional impact. Science also differs from religion as a way of understanding the human soul in that religion follows dogma and is based on faith, while science strives for proof and is constantly updated, being in the process of self-refutation. Therefore, concepts that were once recognized as false return to science from time to time (3, 4).

Until recently, psychology, like every young science, sought to identify general patterns mental, to develop problems from a general position. And in the search for the common, as a rule, the originality of the individual was lost. However, each researcher was faced with individual mental variations, which were first considered as a source of observation errors, and then from this source of errors the problem of variability in human mental manifestations began to arise. And the very logic of the development of science led to the identification of the differential psychological aspect (9).

Tasks differential psychology is to establish patterns of emergence and manifestation of individual differences in the human psyche, to develop theoretical basis psychodiagnostic research and psychocorrection programs. Today this is an area of knowledge that has been maximally developed to meet the needs of practice and is therefore developing very quickly. And, just as there was no humiliation for physics in the fact that from its depths a microscope, a telephone, and x-ray therapy came into practice, so psychology will by no means lose its truly scientific character if it takes part in solving practical problems, V. Stern believed. When a new concept is born (for example, accentuation of character, style of behavior), this process is carried out in the bosom of differential psychology, and when a test is created to diagnose this quality, the task of the relay race is transferred to specialists in the field of psychodiagnostics and differential psychometrics and (true, it was observed and reverse processes, when a test working in practice never acquired its theoretical understanding, which was observed, in particular, during the development of factor models of intelligence).

Differential psychology has areas of intersection with various other branches of psychological knowledge. Yes, it is different from general psychology in that the latter focuses on the study of general laws of the psyche (including the psyche of animals). Comparative psychology (this term was once used as a synonym for differential psychology, which is a literal translation of the word) currently studies the characteristics of the psyche of living beings at different stages of the evolutionary ladder. She often uses knowledge of animal psychology and deals with problems of anthropogenesis and the formation of human consciousness. Age-related psychology studies the characteristics of a person through the prism of patterns inherent in the age stage of his development. Social Psychology considers the characteristics acquired by a person due to his belonging to some social group, big or small. Finally, differential psychophysiology analyzes individual characteristics human psyche from the point of view of their conditioning by properties nervous system (3, 8).

From the very beginning of its formation, differential psychology attracted attention by the heterogeneity of its subject. So, V. Stern noted that she studies mental and physical phenomena(phenomena), actions(which he defined as phenomena with temporal extension) and inclinations(phenomena that are chronic and potential in nature). That is, one can try to study not only what is hidden and not amenable to objective observation, but also what is manifested in behavior and intentions, attitudes, in other words, realized and unrealized abilities. Phenomena in the traditional sense are objects of direct experience, and actions and inclinations are objects of mediated experience.

Currently, differential psychology studies individual, subject-substantive and spiritual-ideological qualities of individuality, features of self-awareness, stylistic characteristics of personality and implementation various types activities (professional, educational, communication, etc.).

Stages of development of differential psychology

Differential psychology as a science

Differential psychology- a branch of science that studies individual differences in the psyche of individuals and groups of people, as well as the nature, sources and consequences of these differences. This is the science of the patterns of mental variation.
Individualization is a property of all living things. Even prepsychic life forms have a significant range of differences, although these differences relate to the structure and functioning of organisms. And with the advent of the psyche as a reflection of existence and orientation in it, differences began to affect all forms of activity of living beings. Individual differences in the psyche are inherent not only in people, but also in the entire animal world, and often intraspecific differences exceed interspecific ones. So, for example, the smartest rat can, in the same learning situation, act more efficiently than the stupidest monkey, standing higher than the rat on the evolutionary ladder. There are manifestations of social behavior in gray geese that were traditionally considered characteristic only of humans, until the remarkable ethologist K. Lorenz drew attention to them (a triumphant cry indicating selectivity in choosing a partner, cases of marital fidelity for forty years or more, data on friendship and jealousy among animals) (1).
On the other hand, such a property of human thinking as the ability to solve two-phase problems (observed in primates, as shown by the experiments of V. Koehler), is often absent in the field of social intelligence (for example, parents who, after a divorce, “share” the right to communicate with their child , often completely lose the ability to calculate the “two-step” and thus protect common interests). Therefore, individual variations may indeed overlap between-group and inter-species variations. That is, a person appears primarily as an individual.
Every person has something that is common to all people, something that makes him similar to some of them, and something that is unique to him alone. In everyday life, we often encounter the phenomena of individual differences, carrying out everyday psychodiagnostics of the people with whom we interact. However, scientific knowledge differs from non-scientific knowledge: the presence of an unresolved problem, theories that can contribute to the search for a solution, a developed conceptual apparatus and the presence of objective methods for recording scientific facts, objectivity and the degree of generalization. If we compare scientific knowledge with art, which is revealed to every person to one degree or another, then art is based on intuition and is therefore subjective and has an emotional impact. Science also differs from religion as a way of understanding the human soul in that religion follows dogma and is based on faith, while science strives for proof and is constantly updated, being in the process of self-refutation. Therefore, concepts that were once recognized as false return to science from time to time (3, 4).
Until recently, psychology, like every young science, sought to identify general patterns of the psyche and to develop problems from a general position. And in the search for the common, as a rule, the originality of the individual was lost. However, each researcher was faced with individual mental variations, which were first considered as a source of observation errors, and then from this source of errors the problem of variability in human mental manifestations began to arise. And the very logic of the development of science led to the identification of the differential psychological aspect (9).
Tasks differential psychology is to establish patterns of emergence and manifestation of individual differences in the human psyche, to develop the theoretical foundations of psychodiagnostic research and psychocorrectional programs. Today this is an area of knowledge that has been maximally developed to meet the needs of practice and is therefore developing very quickly. And, just as there was no humiliation for physics in the fact that from its depths a microscope, a telephone, and x-ray therapy came into practice, so psychology will by no means lose its truly scientific character if it takes part in solving practical problems, V. Stern believed. When a new concept is born (for example, accentuation of character, style of behavior), this process is carried out in the bosom of differential psychology, and when a test is created to diagnose this quality, the task of the relay race is transferred to specialists in the field of psychodiagnostics and differential psychometrics and (true, it was observed and reverse processes, when a test working in practice never acquired its theoretical understanding, which was observed, in particular, during the development of factor models of intelligence).
Differential psychology has areas of intersection with various other branches of psychological knowledge. Thus, it differs from general psychology in that the latter focuses on the study of the general laws of the psyche (including the psyche of animals). Comparative psychology (this term was once used as a synonym for differential psychology, which is a literal translation of the word) currently studies the characteristics of the psyche of living beings at different stages of the evolutionary ladder. She often uses knowledge of animal psychology and deals with problems of anthropogenesis and the formation of human consciousness. Developmental psychology studies the characteristics of a person through the prism of patterns inherent in the age stage of his development. Social psychology examines the characteristics acquired by a person due to his membership in some social group, large or small. Finally, differential psychophysiology analyzes the individual characteristics of the human psyche from the point of view of their conditioning by the properties of the nervous system (3, 8).
From the very beginning of its formation, differential psychology attracted attention by the heterogeneity of its subject. So, V. Stern noted that she studies mental and physical phenomena(phenomena), actions(which he defined as phenomena with temporal extension) and inclinations(phenomena that are chronic and potential in nature). That is, one can try to study not only what is hidden and not amenable to objective observation, but also what is manifested in behavior and intentions, attitudes, in other words, realized and unrealized abilities. Phenomena in the traditional sense are objects of direct experience, and actions and inclinations are objects of mediated experience.
Currently, differential psychology studies individual, subject-substantive and spiritual-ideological qualities of individuality, features of self-awareness, stylistic characteristics of the individual and the implementation of various types of activities (professional, educational, communication, etc.).

Stages of development of differential psychology

In its development, psychology, like all other scientific disciplines, has passed (more precisely, is in the process of passing) through three stages: pre-scientific knowledge, the natural science paradigm of cognition and the humanitarian paradigm. Pre-scientific knowledge characterized by the predominance of the observation method, the accumulation of everyday knowledge and a low level of generalization. Natural science paradigm proclaims the need to establish cause-and-effect patterns based on experimental data and generalizes these patterns (an approach reflecting the general properties of phenomena is called nomothetic). The genesis of properties and patterns is not always considered. Neglect of scientific “incidents” is usually considered as evidence of the youth of science, for which a single phenomenon is valuable insofar as it may turn out to be a representative of a certain class of phenomena and may lead to the discovery of a universal principle or pattern. Therefore, the individual has a relative value for the development of knowledge.
Humanitarian paradigm, in contrast, focuses on the uniqueness of the phenomenon under consideration, without setting itself the task of statistically confirming the reliability of the data (an approach that affirms the individual characteristics of the phenomenon as the main value is called idiographic).“...Differential psychology will only have the prospect of reaching a phase of calm development, when it is emancipated from the science that gave birth to it - general psychology,” wrote V. Stern in 1911 (11, p. 6). We can say that this has already happened. And here it turns out to be completely inevitable historical approach– consideration of the phenomenon in its formation, analysis and forecast of consequences.
The dominance of the humanitarian paradigm indicates maturity scientific discipline and is noted not only in anguish about society and man, but also in the natural sciences. Modern psychology allows himself to strive for psychography, knowledge - for understanding and description. Thus, differential psychology naturally emerged from general psychology, within which it existed for a long time under the name of the psychology of individual differences. Since the significance of the particular in general becomes increasingly greater, individuality becomes the goal of study (compare with the Marxist definition of personality not as an abstract inherent in an individual person, but as a set of social relations) (7, 11).
Differential psychology also has a prehistory of formation, during which some areas of pre-scientific, empirical thought even managed to acquire their own names. So, characterology sought to reduce the differences between people to simple types, i.e., she was engaged in drawing up classifications according to for various reasons, both anatomical and physiological, and psychological, like, for example, a person’s ability to accept suffering. Representatives of characterology were I. Kant, I. Bansen. Another direction psychognostics, identified and established relationships between certain movements, anatomical characteristics and human character traits. Naturally, the focus of attention was on various natural properties of man. Yes, within physiognomy, founded by I.K. Lavater, personality traits, facial expressions, and even just an image of a person’s silhouette served as the basis for predicting his behavior. Proponents of phrenology ( cranioscopy), developed by F.A. Hallem, sought to determine human characteristics by the shape of the skull structure. And the adherents graphology, the science of handwriting, which Abbot I. Michon studied more than others, diagnosed signs of individuality by writing letters, tilting, pressing and other characteristics of a person’s precise movements reflected in his handwriting. All these areas of pre-scientific knowledge, at one time recognized as unreliable and rejected by positivist science, are now returning, on new grounds, to the psychology of individual differences. The challenge for future research is to validate these empirical generalization techniques and relate them to current scientific findings.
The term “Differential psychology” was introduced by the German psychologist W. Stern in his work “The Psychology of Individual Differences,” published in 1900. For some time, the following concepts were used as synonyms: characterology (I. Bansen, B. Luca), which today refers to the field of knowledge about character; ethology (J. St. Mill), currently the study of the science of behavior; individual psychology(A. Binet, E. Kraepelin), today denoting the Adlerian direction of psychoanalysis; special psychology (G. Heymans), also meaning medical psychology (11).
The first major representatives of the new scientific direction there were A. Binet, J. Cattell, F. Galton, V. Stern, in Russia - A.F. Lazursky. The main research methods at first were individual and group tests, tests of differences in mental abilities, and later projective techniques for measuring attitudes and emotional reactions (1, 2, 5).
The psychology of individual differences has always been influenced by practice - pedagogy, medicine, occupational psychology. And its registration as a separate science became possible thanks to the following prerequisites (3, 8).
1. Introduction of the experimental method into psychology. The most important event here was the opening of the first experimental psychological laboratory by W. Wundt in 1879, where he began, under experimental conditions (albeit using the method of introspection), the study of mental processes, in particular apperception. Very quickly, similar laboratories began to open in other countries of Europe and America. No less important for the development of positivist psychology was the derivation of the basic psychophysical law of Fechner-Weber (E = const In R, where Empfindung is the magnitude of the sensation, and Reiz is the magnitude of the stimulus), thanks to which the “light” and “shadow” sides of life were interconnected a fairly simple algebraic relationship. This scientific fact- an expressive illustration of the inscrutability of scientific paths, because Fechner, by his convictions a “terry idealist,” as they wrote about him in pre-perestroika times, least of all sought to strengthen the position of materialism with his research.
Back in 1796, thanks to an alleged oversight by an assistant at the Greenwich Observatory, Kinnibrook, the reaction time was discovered as psychological phenomenon(observations were based on the “eye and ear” method, requiring coordination of visual and auditory information). Twenty years later, the Koenigsberg astronomer Bessel read about this case in scientific reports and became interested in the question of individual variations in the testimony of different observers. This was the main argument in favor of beginning to view the psyche as a process with a temporal extension, having a beginning, middle and end, and not as a simultaneous (one-time) phenomenon. Later, the Dutch researcher F. Donders developed a special scheme for calculating reaction time, and an increase in reaction time began to be perceived as an indicator of the complication of mental processes. Today it is difficult to truly appreciate these discoveries, but against the background of the complete absence of ways to objectively observe the psyche, they were truly revolutionary sound– it became possible to change, measure and evaluate the psyche.
However, having freed psychology from the inferiority complex in connection with the recognition of itself as a science, the experimental method, according to the famous modern researcher A. Anastasi, somewhat slowed down the development of interest in individual mental phenomena that were actively studied at the pre-scientific stage.
2. The next prerequisite for the transformation of differential psychology into a full-fledged science was use of methods statistical analysis . Each mental quality, any feature of the psyche can be considered as a point on a continuum, expressing a change in this feature from minimum to maximum. Almost every time the quality in question is the result of many variables, the result is a curve normal distribution, that is, small (subnormal) and large (supernormal) values are usually less than average (normal) values.
It should be noted, however, that not all patterns are subject to the law of normal distribution; for example, there is Zipf's law, which determines the distribution of quantity settlements of different sizes. This law expresses linear dependence: There are many villages and towns, but few highly populated cities. Therefore, it is always necessary to make sure that the phenomenon being studied is described by a normal distribution.
The first to draw attention to the possibility of applying probability theory to socio-psychological phenomena were the Belgian sociologist Adolphe Quetelet and Francis Galton. Quetelet studied large groups and drew attention to the rhythm of social processes, on the basis of which he created the repeatedly criticized domestic psychologists theory of the “average person” (a person strives to act as most people act). F. Galton, on the contrary, focused not on average characteristics, but on supernormal values: the subject of his attention was special abilities, which he wrote about in the book “Hereditary Genius,” published in 1869. Galton sought to study supermen and showed through his works that genius is a hereditary quality.
Statistical methods are techniques of applied mathematics used by psychology to increase the objectivity and reliability of the data obtained and to process experimental results. The idea of correlation analysis was born from F. Galton's attempts to study the patterns of inheritance by children of the psychological and physical characteristics of their parents. He developed several variants of factor analysis for studying intellectual abilities, and a number of methods were proposed specifically for testing newly created tests.
There are now several areas of use statistical methods in psychology: a) descriptive statistics, including grouping, classification, graphical presentation of data; b) the theory of statistical inference used to predict the outcome of survey data from samples; c) the theory of experimental design, which serves to discover and test causal relationships between variables.
The following statistical analysis techniques are usually used. Analysis of variance allows you to determine the measure of individual variation in indicators (so, it is clear that with the same average indicators, the range of the distribution can change significantly). For some research and practical problems, it is the variance that provides the main information. So, for example, imagine that the average score received by schoolchildren on an algebra test is 4 for both boys and girls. But the boys have both C's and A's, and all the girls actively copied from each other and as a result received a B. It is clear that the result is the same in each group, but the psychological and pedagogical meaning behind the average score is completely different.
Correlation analysis certifies the presence of a connection, dependence between the studied variables. This confirms the simultaneity of the manifestation of these signs, but not their causality. For example, it is noted that marital satisfaction among spouses is negatively correlated with anxiety (this means: the more satisfied they are family life, the calmer they feel). However, based on this fact, we cannot know whether they are calm because everything is in order at home, or whether they are happy with their life together because they have low anxiety and a generally positive attitude towards life. There are several formulas for calculating correlation coefficients, which can take values from +1 to -1. Correlations close to zero cannot confirm the existence of a relationship between variables.
And finally factor analysis is a group of methods designed to determine properties that cannot be observed and measured directly. The task of factor analysis is to general view is to reduce the number of variables, to reduce all their diversity to a few common factors. In the event that, based on the results of calculating correlation coefficients, particularly tight connections are traced between several indicators (correlation galaxies), we can assume that behind them there is a common factor - a variable more high level generalizations. Factor models are used everywhere now, but are especially popular in the psychology of personality and intelligence.
To use statistical analysis methods, you need to be sure of the normality of the distribution of the quality being studied; but even under this condition, there is a possibility that the results obtained will be random. This probability is called the "significance level".
3. The third prerequisite for the formation of differential psychology into truly scientific knowledge was use of psychogenetics data– a field of psychology bordering on genetics, the subject of which is the origin of individual psychological characteristics of a person, the role of the environment and genotype in their formation. The most informative was the twin method in its variants, which makes it possible to maximally equalize the influence of the environment and differentiate, depending on the source, the dispersion of the studied qualities into additive (transmitted from generation to generation), non-additive (present in siblings, significant only for relatives of the same generation) and dispersion associated with differences in environment. IN Lately, however, they also use genetic analysis (5, 9).

The concept of psychological norm

The main consumer of differential psychological knowledge is psychodiagnostics. In the psychology of individual differences, concepts are born, for the measurement of which methods are then created or selected. Here an idea of how to evaluate and interpret the results obtained arises. In this regard, the concept is very important psychological norm, very heterogeneous in its content, which is influenced by at least four factors.
1. Norm – statistical concept. Normal is considered to be something that is numerous and belongs to the middle of the distribution. And its “tail” parts, respectively, indicate an area of low (“subnormal”) or high (“supernormal”) values. To assess quality, we must correlate a person's score with the scores of others and thus determine his place on the normal distribution curve. Obviously, the prefixes “sub” and “super” do not provide an ethical or pragmatic assessment of quality (after all, if a person has a “super normal” indicator of aggressiveness, this is hardly good for those around him and for himself).
Norms are not absolute, they develop and are obtained empirically for a given group (age, social and others). So, for example, throughout recent years the masculinity indicator according to the MMPI questionnaire in girls is steadily increased; however, this does not mean that they all behave like young men, but rather the need to revise outdated norms.
2. The norms are determined social stereotypes. If a person’s behavior does not correspond to what is generally accepted in a given society, it is perceived as deviant. For example, in Russian culture it is not customary to put your feet on the table, but in American culture this is not condemned by anyone.

Rice. 1. Hypothetical distribution of 600 female college girls based on dominance test scores. The 1st quartile (the area of subnormal values, which includes girls who avoid being leaders), the 2nd and 3rd quartiles (the area of normal values) and the 4th quartile, in which the indicators of girls who persistently strive for leadership are located, are identified

3. Norms are associated with mental health. Something that requires referral to a clinician may be considered abnormal. It should be noted, however, that in psychiatry the evaluative approach is discussed, and the most significant indications of deviation from the norm are a violation of productivity and the ability to self-regulate. So, for example, when an elderly person, realizing the weakness of his memory, uses auxiliary means (a notebook, laying out necessary objects in his field of vision), then this behavior corresponds to the norm, and if he, treating himself uncritically, refuses the need to “prosthetize” his living space, then this ultimately leads to an inability to solve assigned tasks and indicates a violation of mental health.
4. Finally, the idea of norms is determined by expectations, one’s own non-generalized experience and others subjective variables: for example, if the first child in the family began to speak at the age of one and a half years, then the second, who by the age of two has not yet learned to express himself freely, is perceived as endowed with signs of retardation.
V. Stern, calling for caution in assessing a person, noted that, firstly, psychologists do not have the right to draw a conclusion from the established anomaly of one or another property about the anomaly of the individual himself as the bearer of this property and, secondly, it is impossible to establish an abnormality of personality reduce to a narrow feature as its only root cause. In modern diagnostics, the concept of “norm” is used when studying extrapersonal characteristics, and when it comes to personality, the term “features” is used, thereby emphasizing the deliberate rejection of the normative approach.
So, norms are not a frozen phenomenon; they are constantly updated and changed. The standards of psychodiagnostic methods must also be regularly reviewed (5, 9).

Directions of differential psychological research

DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY

S.K.Nartova-Bochaver

CHAPTER 1.

SUBJECT, HISTORY AND MAIN DIRECTIONS OF DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY

DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

Differential psychology is a branch of science that studies individual differences in the psyche of individuals and groups of people, as well as the nature, sources and consequences of these differences. This is the science of the patterns of mental variation.

Individual differences in the psyche are inherent not only in people, but also in the entire animal world, and often intraspecific differences exceed interspecific ones. So, for example, the smartest rat can, in the same learning situation, act more efficiently than the stupidest monkey, standing higher than the rat on the evolutionary ladder. There are manifestations of social behavior in gray geese that were traditionally considered characteristic only of humans, until the remarkable ethologist K. Lorenz drew attention to them (a triumphant cry, indicating selectivity in choosing a partner, cases of marital fidelity for forty years or more, data on friendship and jealousy among animals) (1).

Every person has something that is common to all people, something that makes him similar to some of them, and something that is unique to him alone. In everyday life, we often encounter the phenomena of individual differences, carrying out everyday psychodiagnostics of the people with whom we interact. However, scientific knowledge differs from non-scientific knowledge: the presence of an unresolved problem, theories that can contribute to the search for a solution, a developed conceptual apparatus and the presence of objective methods for recording scientific facts, objectivity and the degree of generalization. If we compare scientific knowledge with art, which is revealed to every person to one degree or another, then art is based on intuition and is therefore subjective and has an emotional impact. Science also differs from religion as a way of understanding the human soul in that religion follows dogma and is based on faith, while science strives for proof and is constantly updated, being in the process of self-refutation. Therefore, concepts that were once recognized as false return to science from time to time (3, 4).

Until recently, psychology, like every young science, sought to identify general patterns of the psyche and to develop problems from a general position. And in the search for the common, as a rule, the originality of the individual was lost. However, each researcher was faced with individual mental variations, which were first considered as a source of observation errors, and then from this source of errors the problem of variability in human mental manifestations began to arise. And the very logic of the development of science led to the identification of the differential psychological aspect (9).

The tasks of differential psychology are to establish patterns of emergence and manifestation of individual differences in the human psyche, to develop the theoretical foundations of psychodiagnostic research and psychocorrectional programs. Today this is an area of knowledge that has been maximally developed to meet the needs of practice and is therefore developing very quickly. And, just as there was no humiliation for physics in the fact that from its depths a microscope, a telephone, and x-ray therapy came into practice, so psychology will by no means lose its truly scientific character if it takes part in solving practical problems, V. Stern believed . When a new concept is born (for example, accentuation of character, style of behavior), this process is carried out in the bosom of differential psychology, and when a test is created to diagnose this quality, the relay task is transferred to specialists in the field of psychodiagnostics and differential psychometrics (however, reverse processes have also been observed when a test working in practice never acquired its theoretical understanding, which was observed, in particular, during the development of factor models of intelligence).

Differential psychology has areas of intersection with various other branches of psychological knowledge. Thus, it differs from general psychology in that the latter focuses on the study of the general laws of the psyche (including the psyche of animals). Comparative psychology (this term was once used as a synonym for differential psychology, which is a literal translation of the word) currently studies the characteristics of the psyche of living beings at different stages of the evolutionary ladder. She often uses knowledge of animal psychology and deals with problems of anthropogenesis and the formation of human consciousness. Developmental psychology studies the characteristics of a person through the prism of patterns inherent in the age stage of his development. Social psychology examines the characteristics acquired by a person due to his membership in some social group, large or small. Finally, differential psychophysiology analyzes the individual characteristics of the human psyche from the point of view of their conditioning by the properties of the nervous system (3, 8).

From the very beginning of its formation, differential psychology attracted attention by the heterogeneity of its subject. Thus, V. Stern noted that it studies mental and physical phenomena (phenomena), actions (which he defined as phenomena with a temporal extension) and inclinations (phenomena with a chronic and potential nature). That is, one can try to study not only what is hidden and not amenable to objective observation, but also what is manifested in behavior and intentions, attitudes, in other words, realized and unrealized abilities. Phenomena in the traditional sense are objects of direct experience, and actions and inclinations are objects of mediated experience.

Currently, differential psychology studies individual, subject-substantive and spiritual-ideological qualities of individuality, features of self-awareness, stylistic characteristics of the individual and the implementation of various types of activities (professional, educational, communication, etc.).

Stages of development of differential psychology

The humanitarian paradigm, in contrast, focuses on the uniqueness of the phenomenon under consideration, without setting itself the task of statistically confirming the reliability of the data (the approach that affirms the individual characteristics of the phenomenon as the main value is called idiographic). “...Differential psychology will only have the prospect of reaching a phase of calm development, when it is emancipated from the science that gave birth to it - general psychology,” wrote V. Stern in 1911 (11, p. 6). We can say that this has already happened. And here a historical approach turns out to be completely inevitable - consideration of the phenomenon in its formation, analysis and forecast of consequences.

The dominance of the humanitarian paradigm testifies to the maturity of the scientific discipline and is noted not only in the sciences of society and man, but also in the sciences of nature. Modern psychology allows itself to strive for psychography, cognition - for understanding and description. Thus, differential psychology naturally emerged from general psychology, within which it existed for a long time under the name of the psychology of individual differences. Since the significance of the particular in general becomes increasingly greater, individuality becomes the goal of study (compare with the Marxist definition of personality not as an abstract inherent in an individual person, but as a set of social relations) (7, 11).

S.K.Nartova-Bochaver

DIFFERENTIAL

PSYCHOLOGY

Tutorial
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1. SUBJECT, HISTORY AND MAIN DIRECTIONS OF DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 2. METHODS OF DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 3. SOURCES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. PERSONALITY, INDIVIDUAL, INDIVIDUALITY

CHAPTER 4. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS: ASYMMETRY OF HEMISPHERES AND TEMPERAMENT

CHAPTER 5. PSYCHOLOGY OF CHARACTER

CHAPTER 6. PSYCHOLOGY OF ABILITIES

CHAPTER 7. TYPOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER

CHAPTER 8. SUBJECT-CONTENT CHARACTERISTICS: PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY TRAITS

CHAPTER 9. PSYCHOLOGY OF GENDER

CHAPTER 10. PERSON AND PROFESSION

CHAPTER 11. MAN AND OTHER PEOPLE

CHAPTER 12. STYLE FEATURES OF INDIVIDUALITY

CONCLUSION

DICTIONARY OF BASIC CONCEPTS

LITERATURE

CHAPTER 1.

SUBJECT, HISTORY AND MAIN DIRECTIONS OF DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY. DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

S.K.Nartova-Bochaver
DIFFERENTIAL

PSYCHOLOGY

Tutorial

CHAPTER 2. METHODS OF DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 3. SOURCES OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. PERSONALITY, INDIVIDUAL, INDIVIDUALITY

CHAPTER 4. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS: ASYMMETRY OF HEMISPHERES AND TEMPERAMENT

CHAPTER 5. PSYCHOLOGY OF CHARACTER

CHAPTER 6. PSYCHOLOGY OF ABILITIES

CHAPTER 7. TYPOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER

CHAPTER 8. SUBJECT-CONTENT CHARACTERISTICS: PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY TRAITS

CHAPTER 9. PSYCHOLOGY OF GENDER

CHAPTER 10. PERSON AND PROFESSION

CHAPTER 11. MAN AND OTHER PEOPLE

CHAPTER 12. STYLE FEATURES OF INDIVIDUALITY

CONCLUSION

DICTIONARY OF BASIC CONCEPTS

LITERATURE

CHAPTER 1.

SUBJECT, HISTORY AND MAIN DIRECTIONS OF DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY. DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE
Differential psychology is a branch of science that studies individual differences in the psyche of individuals and groups of people, as well as the nature, sources and consequences of these differences. This is the science of the patterns of mental variation.

Currently, differential psychology studies individual, subject-substantive and spiritual-ideological qualities of individuality, features of self-awareness, stylistic characteristics of the individual and the implementation of various types of activities (professional, educational, communication, etc.).
Stages of development of differential psychology

Differential psychology also has a prehistory of formation, during which some areas of pre-scientific, empirical thought even managed to acquire their own names. Thus, characterology sought to reduce the differences between people to simple types, i.e. was engaged in compiling classifications on various grounds, both anatomical-physiological and psychological, such as, for example, a person’s ability to accept suffering. Representatives of characterology were I. Kant, I. Bansen. Another direction, psychognostics, identified and established relationships between certain movements, anatomical characteristics and character traits of a person. Naturally, the focus of attention was on various natural properties of man. Thus, within the framework of physiognomy, founded by J. Lavater, personality traits, facial expressions, and even just the image of a person’s silhouette served as the basis for predicting his behavior. Proponents of phrenology (cranioscopy), developed by F.A. Gall, sought to determine human characteristics by the shape of the skull structure. And adherents of graphology, the science of handwriting, which Abbot I. Michon studied more than others, diagnosed signs of individuality by writing letters, tilting, pressing and other characteristics of a person’s precise movements reflected in his handwriting. All these areas of pre-scientific knowledge, at one time recognized as unreliable and rejected by positivist science, are now returning, on new grounds, to the psychology of individual differences. The challenge for future research is to validate these empirical generalization techniques and relate them to current scientific findings.

The term “Differential psychology” was introduced by the German psychologist W. Stern in his work “The Psychology of Individual Differences,” published in 1900. For some time, the following concepts were used as synonyms: characterology (I. Bansen, E. Luca), which today refers to the field of knowledge about character; ethology (J. St. Mill), currently studying the science of behavior; individual psychology (A. Binet, E. Kraepelin), today denoting the Adlerian direction of psychoanalysis; special psychology (G. Heymans), which also means medical psychology (11).

The first major representatives of the new scientific direction were A. Binet, J. Cattell, F. Galton, V. Stern, and in Russia - A. F. Lazursky. The main methods of research were initially individual and group tests, tests of differences in mental abilities, and later projective techniques for measuring attitudes and emotional reactions (1, 2, 5).

The psychology of individual differences has always been influenced by practice - pedagogy, medicine, occupational psychology. And its registration as a separate science became possible thanks to the following prerequisites (3, 8).

1. Introduction of the experimental method into psychology. The most important event here was the opening of the first experimental psychological laboratory by W. Wundt in 1879, where he began under experimental conditions (albeit using the method of introspection) the study of mental processes, in particular apperception. Very quickly, similar laboratories began to open in other countries of Europe and America. No less important for the development of positivist psychology was the derivation of the basic psychophysical law of Fechner-Weber (E = const In R, where Empfindung is the magnitude of the sensation, and Reiz is the magnitude of the stimulus), thanks to which the “light” and “shadow” sides of life were interconnected a fairly simple algebraic relationship. This scientific fact is an expressive illustration of the inscrutability of scientific paths, because Fechner, by his convictions a “terry idealist,” as they wrote about him in pre-perestroika times, least of all sought to strengthen the position of materialism with his research.

As early as 1796, thanks to an alleged oversight by an assistant at the Greenwich Observatory, Kinnibrook, reaction time was discovered as a psychological phenomenon (observations were based on the “eye and ear” method, requiring coordination of visual and auditory information). Twenty years later, the Koenigsberg astronomer Bessel (1784 - 1846) read about this case in scientific reports and became interested in the question of individual variations in the testimony of different observers. This was the main argument in favor of beginning to view the psyche as a process with a temporal extension, having a beginning, middle and end, and not as a simultaneous (one-time) phenomenon. Later, the Dutch researcher F. Donders developed a special scheme for calculating reaction time, and an increase in reaction time began to be perceived as an indicator of the complication of mental processes. Today it is difficult to truly appreciate these discoveries, but against the backdrop of the complete absence of ways to objectively observe the psyche, they had a truly revolutionary sound - it became possible to change, measure and evaluate the psyche.

However, having freed psychology from the inferiority complex in connection with the recognition of itself as a science, the experimental method, according to the famous modern researcher A. Anastasi, somewhat slowed down the development of interest in individual mental phenomena that were actively studied at the pre-scientific stage.

2. The next prerequisite for the transformation of differential psychology into a full-fledged science was the use of statistical analysis methods. Each mental quality, any feature of the psyche can be considered as a point on a continuum, expressing a change in this feature from minimum to maximum. Almost every time the quality in question is the result of many variables, the result is a normal distribution curve, that is, the small (subnormal) and large (supernormal) values are usually less than the average (normal) values.

It should be noted, however, that not all patterns are subject to the law of normal distribution; for example, there is Zipf's law, which determines the distribution of the number of settlements of different sizes. This law expresses a linear relationship: there are many villages and towns, but few highly populated cities. Therefore, it is always necessary to make sure that the phenomenon being studied is described by a normal distribution.

The first to draw attention to the possibility of applying probability theory to socio-psychological phenomena were the Belgian sociologist Adolphe Quetelet and Francis Galton. Quetelet studied large groups and drew attention to the rhythm of social processes, on the basis of which he created the theory of the “average person” (a person strives to act as most people act), which has been repeatedly criticized by domestic psychologists. F. Galton, on the contrary, focused not on average characteristics, but on supernormal values: the subject of his attention was special abilities, which he wrote about in the book “Hereditary Genius,” published in 1869. Galton sought to study supermen and showed through his works that genius is a hereditary quality.

Statistical methods are techniques of applied mathematics used by psychology to increase the objectivity and reliability of the data obtained and to process experimental results. The idea of correlation analysis was born from F. Galton's attempts to study the patterns of inheritance by children of the psychological and physical characteristics of their parents. He developed several variants of factor analysis for studying intellectual abilities, and a number of methods were proposed specifically for testing newly created tests.

Now there are several areas of use of statistical methods in psychology: a) descriptive statistics, including grouping, classification, graphical presentation of data; b) the theory of statistical inference used to predict the outcome of survey data from samples; c) the theory of experimental design, which serves to discover and test causal relationships between variables.

The following statistical analysis techniques are usually used. Analysis of variance allows us to determine the measure of individual variation in indicators (so, it is clear that with the same average indicators, the range of the distribution can change significantly). For some research and practical problems, it is the variance that provides the main information. So, for example, imagine that the average score received by schoolchildren on an algebra test is 4 for both boys and girls. But the boys have both C's and A's, and all the girls actively copied from each other and as a result received a B. It is clear that the result is the same in each group, but the psychological and pedagogical meaning behind the average score is completely different.

Correlation analysis verifies the existence of a connection and dependence between the variables being studied. This confirms the simultaneity of the manifestation of these signs, but not their causality. For example, it is noted that marital satisfaction among spouses is negatively correlated with anxiety (this means: the more satisfied they are with their family life, the calmer they feel). However, based on this fact, we cannot know whether they are calm because everything is in order at home, or whether they are happy with their life together because they have low anxiety and a generally positive attitude towards life. There are several formulas for calculating correlation coefficients, which can take values from +1 to -1. Correlations close to zero cannot confirm the existence of a relationship between variables.

Finally, factor analysis is a group of methods designed to determine properties that cannot be observed and measured directly. The task of factor analysis is, in its most general form, to reduce the number of variables and reduce all their diversity to several common factors. If, based on the results of calculating correlation coefficients, particularly tight connections are traced between several indicators (correlation galaxies), it can be assumed that behind them there is a common factor - a variable of a higher level of generalization. Factor models are used everywhere now, but are especially popular in the psychology of personality and intelligence.

To use statistical analysis methods, you need to be sure of the normality of the distribution of the quality being studied; but even under this condition, there is a possibility that the results obtained will be random. This probability is called the "significance level".

3. The third prerequisite for the development of differential psychology into truly scientific knowledge was the use of data from psychogenetics - a field of psychology bordering on genetics, the subject of which is the origin of individual psychological characteristics of a person, the role of the environment and genotype in their formation. The most informative was the twin method in its variants, used for the first time by Galton, which makes it possible to maximally equalize the influence of the environment and differentiate, depending on the source, the dispersion of the studied qualities into additive (passed from generation to generation), non-additive (present in siblings, having significance only for relatives one generation) and variance associated with differences in environment. Recently, however, genetic analysis has also been used (5, 9).
The concept of psychological norm

1. Norm is a statistical concept. Normal is considered to be something that is numerous and belongs to the middle of the distribution. And its “tail” parts, respectively, indicate an area of low (“subnormal”) or high (“supernormal”) values. To assess quality, we must correlate a person’s indicator with others and thus determine his place on the normal distribution curve. Obviously, the prefixes “sub” and “super” do not provide an ethical or pragmatic assessment of quality (after all, if a person has a “supernormal” indicator of aggressiveness, this is hardly good for those around him and for himself).

Norms are not absolute, they develop and are obtained empirically for a given group (age, social and others). For example, over the past few years, the masculinity score on the MMPI questionnaire among girls has been steadily increasing; however, this does not mean that they all behave like young men, but rather the need to revise outdated norms.

2. Norms are determined by social stereotypes. If a person’s behavior does not correspond to what is generally accepted in a given society, it is perceived as deviant. For example, in Russian culture it is not customary to put your feet on the table, but in American culture this is not condemned by anyone.

Rice. 1. Hypothetical distribution of 600 female college girls based on dominance test scores. The 1st quartile (the area of subnormal values, which includes girls who avoid being leaders), the 2nd and 3rd quartiles (the area of normal values), and the 4th quartile, which contains the indicators of girls who persistently strive for leadership, are identified.
3. Norms are associated with mental health. Something that requires referral to a clinician may be considered abnormal. It should be noted, however, that in psychiatry the evaluative approach is discussed, and the most significant indications of deviation from the norm are a violation of productivity and the ability to self-regulate. So, for example, when an elderly person, realizing the weakness of his memory, uses auxiliary means (a notebook, laying out necessary objects in his field of vision), then this behavior corresponds to the norm, and if he, treating himself uncritically, refuses the need to “prosthetize” his living space, then this ultimately leads to an inability to solve assigned tasks and indicates a violation of mental health.

4. Finally, the idea of norms is determined by expectations, one’s own non-generalized experience and other subjective variables: for example, if the first child in the family began to speak at the age of one and a half years, then the second, who by the age of two had not yet learned to express himself freely, is perceived as endowed signs of lag.

V. Stern, calling for caution in assessing a person, noted that, firstly, psychologists do not have the right to draw a conclusion from the established anomaly of one or another property about the abnormality of the individual himself as the bearer of this property and, secondly, it is impossible to establish an abnormality of a person reduce to a narrow feature as its only root cause. In modern diagnostics, the concept of “norm” is used when studying extrapersonal characteristics, and when it comes to personality, the term “features” is used, thereby emphasizing the deliberate rejection of the normative approach.

So, norms are not a frozen phenomenon; they are constantly updated and changed. The standards of psychodiagnostic methods must also be regularly reviewed (5, 9).
Directions of differential psychological research

Currently, the object of attention of differential psychology is sometimes a separate feature - for example, anxiety, acuity of perception, professional orientation, and sometimes - individuality as a whole. V. Stern identified four areas of functioning of the psychology of individual differences, which continue to develop and become enriched. So, if we study how variable the quality in question turns out to be, how large the range of its values is in a given sample, we are conducting research in the first direction. If it is interesting to identify with what other qualities the trait we are interested in simultaneously manifests itself, we conduct another study. At the same time, neither in the first nor in the second cases do we ask questions about the genesis and prognosis of this quality; we limit ourselves to a one-time cut. If we approach individuality as a holistic phenomenon, we need to follow a historical approach, discover the reasons and main points in the development of the quality that interests us. We must also be historical if we are trying to reveal the multi-level and multifactorial nature of individuality - we do not know what can manifest itself with what at the same time, and we must provide ourselves with the opportunity to use a typological approach. Therefore, in studies of the second and third types, we conduct not cross-sectional, but longitudinal (longitudinal) sections (11).

So, to date, the psychology of individual differences has retained its heterogeneity, which, among other things, is manifested in the predominance of particular psychological theories. For example, the theory of intellectual abilities has practically nothing to do with evolutionary theory gender, and theories of temperament do not correlate with theories of personality traits. Therefore, the main trend of modern differential psychology is the integration of private, heterogeneous knowledge into a unified theory of individuality.

Unfortunately, even today the words of V. Stern remain true that the differential psychology of individual functions, as well as “the psychology of a woman, an artist, a criminal, etc. should remain a subject of discussion in monographs for now” (11, p. 8). In the future, when presenting the main content of the course, we will try to adhere to the following logic: introducing a category and filling it with psychological content; an indication of the congenital and acquired determinants of the quality being studied; possibilities of psychodiagnostics in this area. However, this structure may not be observed everywhere, so sometimes we will limit ourselves either to data on the variability of a trait or to consideration of empirical typologies.

Table 1

Main directions of differential psychology

Object of study		Research quality
1. Sign	One for several individuals	variational	"horizontal"
2. Sign	Two or more in several individuals	correlation
3. Individuality	One individual for many traits	psychogeographic	"vertical"
4. Individuality	Two or more individuals for many traits	comparative

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