The German psychologist E. Kretschmer (1888-1964), in his famous work “Body Structure and Character,” tried to find the connections that exist between the structure of a person’s body and his mental make-up. Based on a large volume of clinical observations, he came to the conclusion: body type determines not only the forms of mental illness, but also our basic personal (characteristic) features.

According to E. Kretschmer, there are only four main variants of human anatomy, found, of course, not only in their pure form, but also in various combinations.

1. Asthenic type- a person of fragile build, with a flat chest, narrow shoulders, elongated and thin limbs, an elongated face, but a highly developed nervous system and brain. From childhood, asthenics are very weak and delicate, they grow quickly, without showing the slightest tendency throughout their lives to increase muscle volume or fat.

2. Picnic- characterized by the development of internal body cavities (head, chest, abdomen) and the tendency of the torso to become obese with a weak musculoskeletal system. Average height, dense figure, soft wide face on a short massive neck, solid, massive belly.

3. Athletic- determines the development of a strong skeleton, pronounced muscles, and a proportional, strong physique. The athletic type is characterized by strong development of the skeleton and muscles, elastic skin, powerful chest, broad shoulders, and confident posture.

4. Diplastic- a person with an irregular physique.

Kretschmer correlated certain personality types with the identified types of body structure. Asthenic The physique is schizothymic, he is closed, prone to reflection, to abstraction, has difficulty adapting to the environment, is sensitive, vulnerable. Among schizothymics, Kretschmer identified the following varieties: “sensitive people”, idealistic dreamers, cold powerful natures and egoists, “crackers” and weak-willed. In schizothymic people, there is an oscillation between sensitivity and coldness, between acuteness and dullness of feelings (“he will offend another and at the same time he will be offended”).

Typological features of schizothymic characterology: persistence and systematic consistency, unpretentiousness, Spartan severity, coldness in relation to the fate of individual people and refined aesthetic feelings; incorruptible justice, pathos in relation to the people's suffering - and at the same time a lack of goodwill, pleasant natural philanthropy, understanding of the specific situation and the characteristics of individuals. Schizothymics can be divided into the following groups: 1) pure idealists and moralists, 2) despots and fanatics, 3) people of cold calculation.

Picnic his physique is cyclothymic, his emotions fluctuate between joy and sadness, he is sociable, frank, good-natured, and realistic in his views. Among the cyclothymics, Kretschmer identifies the following varieties: cheerful talkers, calm comedians, sentimental quiet people, carefree lovers of life, active practitioners. Among the cyclothymics, the following types of historical leaders can be distinguished: 1) brave fighters, folk heroes, 2) large-scale organizers, 3) reconciling politicians.

Athletic Iskotimics have a physique, they come in two types: energetic, sharp, self-confident, aggressive or unimpressive, with obsessive gestures and facial expressions, with low flexibility of thinking. Kretschmer correlates body type with mental illness, and suggests that there is no sharp line between a normal person and a mentally ill person: the personality biotypes of a normal person (cyclothymic, schizothymic) can develop into character anomalies (cycloid, schizoid), and then into mental illness (manic). -depressive psychosis, schizophrenia).

E. Kretschmer’s system was intended primarily for diagnosing mental illnesses; it made it possible to foresee the direction and forms of negative changes in the individual’s psyche.

2. Classification of A. F. Lazursky

Lazursky emphasized that the most “pure” types of characters are obtained in the case when a person’s interests and professional activities, the development of his knowledge, skills, worldview (let’s call this exopsyche) occur precisely in the direction dictated by the innate characteristics of his neuropsychic organization ( let’s call it “endopsyche”), i.e. exo- and endopsyche mutually determine each other.

Lazursky identified three psychological levels depending on the degree of a person’s adaptation to the environment, depending on how much the environment “presses” on the person.

Lowest level- these are insufficiently adapted people, the environment leaves a super-strong imprint on them, forcibly adapting them to its needs and almost regardless of the innate characteristics of each individual person.

Average level- people were able to find their place in the environment and use it for their own purposes.

Highest level- this is the level of creativity when a person strives to remake the environment.

Based on taking into account these three levels of adaptation and the predominance of mental, or emotional, or volitional functions, Lazursky proposes the following classification of characters:

LOW LEVEL:

1. Rational type - weak talent, but developed rationality, a tendency to analyze the motives and consequences of actions, tends to copy other people's actions (“everything is like people’s”), aimed at satisfying immediate material needs, conservative, self-confident, self-satisfied.

2. Affective:

Mobile - lively (close to sanguine temperament);

Sensual, with a predominance of organic sensual attractions;

Dreamers whose interests are focused on the inner world;

3. Active:

Impulsively energetic with disorder in their actions, without thinking through the consequences, prone to risk, gambling (“knee-deep sea”), self-confident, prone to fights, to love affairs, incapable of serious systematic work;

Submissive-active - carry out suggestions and directives received from the outside;

Stubborn, seeking execution of their decisions;

AVERAGE LEVEL

1. Impractical idealistic theorists:

* scientists - consistent thinking, scientific interests;

Artists - developed imagination, practicing some kind of art;

Religious contemplatives have a developed imagination;

2. Practitioners - realists:

Altruists (philanthropists) - the ability to co-

feelings, liking);

Social activists are sociable and enterprising in public affairs;

Powerful - have a strong will, are able to influence others;

Economic - prudent, aimed at practical goals, at carrying out matters of a material nature.

HIGHEST LEVEL

These people are characterized by consciousness, coordination of emotional experiences, and the highest human ideals. Ideal types are divided according to their content:

1) altruism;

2) knowledge: inductive, deductive;

3) beauty;

4) religion;

5) society, state;

6) external activity, initiative;

7) system, organization;

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Constitutional typology of E. Kretschmer

The main ideologist of constitutional typology was the German psychiatrist E. Kretschmer, who published a work in 1921 entitled “Body Structure and Character” (the book was published in Russian translation in 1924, the last reprint was in 1995). He noticed that each of the two types of diseases - manic-depressive (circular) psychosis and schizophrenia - corresponds to a certain body type. This allowed him to argue that body type determines the mental characteristics of people and their predisposition to corresponding mental illnesses. Numerous clinical observations prompted E. Kretschmer to undertake systematic research into the structure of the human body. Having made many measurements of its various parts, the author identified four constitutional types.

1. Leptosomatic(Greek leptos –"fragile", soma -"body"). He has a cylindrical body, fragile build, tall stature, a flat chest, an elongated egg-shaped face (full face). The long thin nose and undeveloped lower jaw form the so-called angular profile. The shoulders of a leptosomatic person are narrow, the lower limbs are long, the bones and muscles are thin. E. Kretschmer called individuals with extreme expression of these characteristics asthenics (Greek. astenos –"weak").

2. Picnic(Greek pγκnos –"thick, dense") He is characterized by excessive obesity, small or medium height, a bloated body, a large belly, and a round head on a short neck. Relatively large body perimeters (head, chest and abdomen) with narrow shoulders give the body a barrel-shaped shape. People of this type tend to stoop.

3. Athletic(Greek athlon"struggle, fight") He has good muscles, a strong physique, tall or medium height, a wide shoulder girdle and narrow hips, making the frontal appearance of the body form a trapezoid. The fat layer is not expressed. The face is in the shape of an elongated egg, the lower jaw is well developed.

4. Displastic(Greek dγs –"Badly", plastos –"formed"). Its structure is shapeless and irregular. Individuals of this type are characterized by various physique deformations (for example, excessive growth).

The identified types do not depend on a person’s height and thinness. We are talking about proportions, not absolute body sizes. There may be fat leptosomatics, frail athletes and thin picnics.

...

Ernst Kretschmer was born in 1888 in Germany. He was the director of the neurological clinic in Marburg, and the head of the clinic at the University of Tübingen. In 1939, he refused to take the post of president of the German Psychiatric Association, expressing disagreement with the theory of racial inferiority preached by the official psychiatry of Hitler's Germany. Died 1964

The majority of patients with schizophrenia, according to E. Kretschmer, are leptosomatic, although there are also athletes. Picnics form the largest group among patients with cyclophrenia (manic-depressive psychosis) (Fig. 2.2). Athletes, who are less prone to mental illness than others, show some tendency towards epilepsy.

E. Kretschmer suggested that in healthy people there is a similar relationship between physique and psyche. According to the author, they carry within themselves the germ of mental illness, being to a certain extent predisposed to such. People with one body type or another develop mental properties similar to those characteristic of the corresponding mental illnesses, although in a less pronounced form. For example, a healthy person with a leptosomatic physique has properties reminiscent of the behavior of a schizophrenic; The picnic exhibits in its behavior traits typical of manic-depressive psychosis. Athletics is characterized by some mental properties that resemble the behavior of patients with epilepsy.

Rice. 2.2. Distribution of mental illnesses depending on body type (according to E. Kretschmer).

Depending on the propensity for different emotional reactions, E. Kretschmer identified two large groups of people. The emotional life of some is characterized by a diadetic scale (that is, their characteristic moods can be represented in the form of a scale, the poles of which are “cheerful - sad”). Representatives of this group have a cyclothymic type of temperament.

The emotional life of other people is characterized by a psycho-aesthetic scale (“sensitive – emotionally dull, inexcitable”). These people have a schizothymic temperament.

Schizothymic(this name comes from “schizophrenia”) has a leptosomatic or asthenic physique. In case of mental disorder, a predisposition to schizophrenia is detected. Closed, prone to fluctuations in emotions - from irritation to dryness, stubborn, difficult to change attitudes and views. Has difficulty adapting to the environment, prone to abstraction.

Cyclothymic(the name is associated with circular, or manic-depressive, psychosis) - the opposite of schizothymic. Has a picnic build. If there is a mental disorder, it reveals a predisposition to manic-depressive psychosis. Emotions fluctuate between joy and sadness. Easily communicates with the environment, realistic in his views. E. Kretschmer also identified a viscose (mixed) type.

E. Kretschmer explained the relationship between body type and certain mental properties or, in extreme cases, mental illness by the fact that both body type and temperament have the same reason: they are determined by the activity of the endocrine glands and the associated chemical composition of the blood , – thus, the chemical properties depend largely on certain features of the hormonal system.

The comparison of body type with emotional types of response carried out by E. Kretschmer gave a high percentage of coincidence (Table 2.2).

Table 2.2.Relationship between body structure and temperament, % (E. Kretschmer, 1995).

Depending on the type of emotional reactions, the author distinguishes between cheerful and sad cyclothymics and sensitive or cold schizothymics.

...

Temperaments. They, as we firmly know empirically, are determined by the humoral chemistry of the blood. Their bodily representative is the apparatus of the brain and glands. Temperaments constitute that part of the psyche that, probably along the humoral path, is in correlation with the structure of the body. Temperaments, giving sensual tones, delaying and stimulating, penetrate into the mechanism of “psychic apparatuses”. Temperaments, as far as it is possible to establish empirically, obviously have an influence on the following mental qualities:

1) psychesthesia - excessive sensitivity or insensitivity to mental stimuli;

2) on the color of mood - a shade of pleasure and displeasure in mental contents, primarily on the scale of cheerful or sad;

3) on mental tempo - acceleration or delay of mental processes in general and their special rhythm (tenaciously holding on, unexpectedly jumping off, delay, formation of complexes);

4) on the psychomotor sphere, namely on the general motor tempo (agile or phlegmatic), as well as on the special nature of movements (paralytic, fast, slender, soft, rounded) (E. Kretschmer, 2000, p. 200).

E. Kretschmer's theory of temperament has become widespread in our country. Moreover, it seemed to some (for example, M.P. Andreev, 1930) that the question of the connection between a person’s physique and mental make-up had been finally resolved. To prove the correctness of Kretschmer's theory, P. P. Blonsky referred to the work of one livestock breeding professor, who described the “dry and raw” breeds of horses, pigs, cows and sheep. In this regard, P. P. Blonsky considered human “biotypes” as special cases of the manifestation of general biotypes of the animal world.

Soon, however, disappointment set in, as attempts to reproduce the results described by E. Kretschmer showed that most people cannot be classified as extreme options. The connections between body type and characteristics of emotional response did not reach the level of significance. Critics began to say that it was unlawful to extend the patterns identified in pathology to the norm.

Constitutional typology of W. Sheldon

Somewhat later, the concept of temperament put forward by W. H. Sheldon, S. S. Stevens, 1942, which was formulated in the 1940s, gained popularity in the United States. The basis of Sheldon's ideas, whose typology is close to Kretschmer's concept, is the assumption that the structure of the body determines the temperament that acts as its function. But this dependence is masked due to the complexity of our body and psyche, and therefore it is possible to reveal the connection between the physical and mental by identifying those physical and mental properties that most demonstrate such a dependence.

W. Sheldon proceeded from the hypothesis of the existence of basic body types, which he described using specially developed photographic equipment and complex anthropometric measurements. Evaluating each of the 17 dimensions he identified on a 7-point scale, the author came to the concept of somatotype (body type), which can be described using three main parameters. Borrowing terms from embryology, he named these parameters as follows: endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy. Depending on the predominance of any of them (a score of 1 point corresponds to the minimum intensity, 7 points to the maximum), W. Sheldon identified the following body types.

1. Endomorphic(7–1–1). The name is due to the fact that predominantly internal organs are formed from the endoderm, and in people of this type their excessive development is observed. The physique is relatively weak, with excess adipose tissue.

2. Mesomorphic(1–7–1). Representatives of this type have a well-developed muscular system, which is formed from the mesoderm. A slender, strong body, the opposite of the baggy and flabby body of an endomorph. The mesomorphic type has great mental stability and strength. 3. Ectomorphic(1-1-7). Skin and nervous tissue develop from the ectoderm. The body is fragile and thin, the chest is flattened. Relatively weak development of internal organs and physique. The limbs are long, thin, with weak muscles. The nervous system and senses are relatively poorly protected.

If individual parameters are expressed equally, the author classified this individual as a mixed (average) type, rating him as 1-4-4.

As a result of many years of research on healthy, normally eating people of various ages, W. Sheldon came to the conclusion that these body types correspond to certain types of temperament.

He studied 60 psychological properties, and his main attention was paid to those properties that are associated with the characteristics of extraversion - introversion. They were assessed, as in the case of somatotype, on a 7-point scale. Using correlation, three groups of properties were identified, named after the functions of certain organs of the body:

– viscerotonia (lat. viscera -"insides")

- somatotonia (Greek) soma -"body"),

– cerebrotonia (lat. segebgit –"brain").

In accordance with this, he identified three types of human temperament:

– viscerotonics(7-1-1),

– somatotonics(1-7-1),

– cerebrotonics(1-1-7).

According to W. Sheldon, every person has all three named groups of physical and mental properties. The predominance of one or another of these determines the differences between people. Like E. Kretschmer, W. Sheldon argues that there is a great correspondence between body type and temperament. Thus, in persons with dominant qualities of an endomorphic physique, temperamental properties related to viscerotonia are expressed. The mesomorphic type correlates with the somatotonic type, and the ectomorphic type correlates with the cerebrotonic type. The relationship between body types and their characteristic temperament properties is presented in Fig. 2.3 and in table. 2.3.

Rice. 2.3. Body types (according to W. Sheldon).

Table 2.3.Types of temperament and their characteristics (according to W. Sheldon).

Kretschmer's approach to temperament found supporters among psychiatrists, teachers and psychologists in our country. One of them, K.N. Kornilov (1929), linked body type with the speed and intensity of human reactions. Based on these characteristics, he identified four types of people:

– motor-active (quickly and strongly reacting);

– motor-passive (reacting quickly, but weakly);

– sensory-active (reacting slowly and strongly);

– sensory-passive (reacting slowly and weakly).

Here, for example, is how he described the sensory-passive type.

...

He has a small, squat figure, a soft, wide face, a short neck, and a tendency to be plump and overweight. In his movements he is slow and sluggish, passive to the point of inertia, but, rising slowly, he walks persistently and for a long time; good-natured to the point of sentimentality; principled to the point of cloying; weighs and thinks everything over and therefore is always late in his decisions; has a consistent mind, rich in knowledge, productive in its not always original creativity; good practitioners, armchair scientists, exemplary officials, quiet good-natured people, calm humorists, pampered lazy people - these are representatives of this type of people (p. 195).

At the same time, the correlation analysis of the connections between psychomotor, cognitive and personal properties with constitutional characteristics, carried out by T. P. Zinchenko and E. I. Kishko on a sample of children (1999), did not allow them to unambiguously recognize or reject ideas about the psychological characteristics of somatotypes, to which came E. Kretschmer, W. Sheldon and other authors. Some personality traits studied using the Cattell questionnaire turned out to be most closely related to the morphological body type.

On the one hand, in all age groups (their range is from 6 to 17 years), endomorphs are characterized by low self-control and high emotional instability, and ectomorphs are characterized by the opposite qualities, and this confirms the data of E. Kretschmer obtained on adults. On the other hand, the authors were unable to identify connections between the somatic constitution and cognitive and psychomotor qualities, with the exception of the cognitive style - interference, characterized by low automation of actions and high self-control. This style is more pronounced in ectomorphs. Consequently, ectomorphs are more conscientious, more diligent and careful when performing tasks, while endomorphs, on the contrary, have lower self-control, are less inclined to order, are not capable of hard work and subordinate their lives to receiving pleasure. This also corresponds to the characteristics of these constitutional types given by E. Kretschmer.

A comparison of constitution and body types according to Seago, Kretschmer and Sheldon is presented in table. 2.4.

Table 2.4.

However, the typologies of E. Kretschmer and W. Sheldon were criticized even by adherents of constitutional concepts of temperament. Critics pointed out their excessive static nature and ignorance of changes in the relationships between the psyche and the structure of the body; emphasized the inconsistency in the division into types and, finally, drew attention to the fact that these theories did not provide a satisfactory explanation of the relationship between physique and temperament.

...

Let us turn to the constitutional concepts of temperament, which emphasize the close connection between body type and temperament type. If such a connection really existed, as E. Kretschmer and W. Sheldon claim, then determining temperament would not cause the slightest difficulty. It would be sufficient to give a general description of the individual's physique, that is, to determine whether it is, say, athletic or pedantic, in order to judge his temperament. This kind of determination of temperament could indeed be made by anyone, regardless of his training in this field.

However, this seemingly simple procedure, which seems so tempting to many, is hampered by an insurmountable difficulty: the connection between physique and temperament is far from obvious. There are many known cases indicating a directly opposite relationship between the physical and mental characteristics of people. Such facts quickly discouraged most psychologists, psychiatrists and teachers from carrying out diagnostics arising from constitutional concepts (Ya. Strelyau, 1982, p. 142).

One of the reasons for the crisis of the theory of constitution, regardless of the proposed principles of classification, was the abstract interpretation of the whole organism, in which the whole was considered as a set of correlated morphophysiological characteristics, completely autonomous in relation to each of these characteristics. Even the assumption of the dominance of any characteristic in the constitutional type (for example, muscular in the masculine type, respiratory in the respiratory type, etc., according to Seago’s classification) was still consistent with the basic idea of the structural independence of the individual as a whole from the countless individual variability of “elements” ", from which this whole is formed. A similar idea is followed in those cases when, in the diagnosis of constitution or neurodynamic types, they strive to determine “pure” types or when, on the contrary, the facts of “mixedness” of typical traits lead researchers to deny the facts of the existence of such “pure” types (B. G. Ananyev , 1980, pp. 176-177).

2.5. Genetic theory of temperament types by K. Conrad

Criticizing E. Kretschmer and W. Sheldon, the former's student K. Conrad (K. Conrad, 1963) presented the so-called genetic theory of types.

According to K. Conrad, differences in body structure and the connection with human temperament are explained by the existence of special genes, the dominance of which determines a particular physique and the corresponding temperament properties.

One of the mistakes of E. Kretschmer and W. Sheldon, according to K. Conrad, was that these authors identified three qualitatively different types, although the genetic approach assumes a bipolar (bipolar) division for all phenomena, since any genetic change is explained in this way . Accordingly, the author described the structure of the human body using two bipolar variables according to which the physique changes in ontogenesis: proportions and fullness and height.

K. Conrad takes changes in body proportions as primary variables and, following E. Kretschmer, places them in his coordinate system - along an axis, one of the poles of which he calls leptomorphy, and the second - pycnomorphy (Fig. 2.4). If we talk about these changes (mainly about the ratio of the sizes of the head and the whole body), then the leptomorphic differs from the pycnomorphic primarily in that it reaches a point along the axis of changes in body proportions that the picnic never reaches.

The author introduces two essential concepts into his typology. He talks about conservative And propulsive development. The first is characteristic of pycnomorphics, as well as of a child: a large head compared to the body. The pycnomorphic appears to remain in the early stages of development, but this does not mean that it is “delayed” in its development. As K. Conrad emphasizes, this has nothing to do with pathological delay or developmental delay.

Propulsive development characteristic of leptomorphism (small head in relation to the body). This change in proportions affects many parts of the body (for example, limbs - from short to long, facial profile - from weak to more pronounced).

K. Conrad brings the primary variables characterizing the proportions of the body into line with the primary variables characterizing the psyche of the individual, borrowing from E. Kretschmer the concepts of schizothymic (in parallel to leptomorphy) and cyclothymic (in parallel to pycnomorphy). In terms of its mental characteristics, a cyclothymic person differs from a schizothymic person in the same way as a child from an adult, and this conclusion concerns the way of interpreting phenomena, way of thinking, tendency towards eideticism, psychomotor skills, emotionality and volitional processes.

Rice. 2.4. K. Conrad's coordinate grid for determining body type.

In addition to shifts in body proportions, changes in secondary variables are also observed - height and fullness, the extreme poles of which are hypo- and hyperplasia. Unlike primary variables, which do not go beyond the norm, secondary ones in their extreme (extreme) forms form a pathology. The extreme form of hyperplasia (Kretschmer's athletic type) can lead to a disease called acromegaly, and hypoplasia (Kretschmer's asthenic type) can lead to micromegaly.

Secondary variables also change. The hypoplastic form is associated with conservative development (in ontogenesis, typical for a child), and the hyperplastic form is a source of progressive development (in ontogenesis, typical for an adult).

Similarly, K. Conrad approaches mental phenomena, in relation to which he also identifies secondary variables. On the one hand, it speaks of viscose structure (lat. visсosus– “sticky, viscous”), arising in connection with the hyperplastic form, on the other hand – o spiritualistic structure corresponding to the hypoplastic form. Individuals with a viscose structure are characterized by slowness, a reduced ability to differentiate, which is an expression of propulsive development, while individuals with a spiritualistic structure are characterized by mobility, lightness, etc., which represents the result of a conservative development, reminiscent of the developmental stage of a child.

To determine body type, K. Conrad introduces two main indices: metric to measure primary variables (height, transverse and sagittal chest dimensions), and plastic to measure secondary variables (sum of acromion width and upper arm and forearm circumference).

Each index has 9 classes: metric – A, IN, WITH, D, E, F, G, H, I; plastic - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. The first are located in the K. Conrad coordinate system along the vertical axis (from pictomorph to leptomorph), and the second - along the horizontal (from hypoplasia to hyperplasia). In Fig. Figure 2.5 shows the distribution of members of two football teams according to the coordinate system of K. Conrad. With a small number of measurements of primary and secondary variables, it is possible to determine one or another body type of a particular person. Knowing this, it turns out to be possible, according to K. Conrad, to judge with high probability the individual’s temperament.

Rice. 2.5. Distribution of body types of members of two football teams in the K. Conrad coordinate system. Source: K. Tettel and H. Wutscherk, 1972.

The author explains the connections between physique and temperament structure as follows. Each mental phenomenon corresponds to a specific physical one, and each change in the structure of the body corresponds to a restructuring in the mental structure. Both phenomena always appear together, but, as K. Conrad emphasizes, they do not depend on each other. They are links in various gene chains, and their isolation occurs in parallel. What level we reach depends on what level we reach in individual development. This is what determines individual differences between people, and this is the source of the division into types.

The psyche of a newborn, writes K. Conrad, is not tabula rasa, as some psychologists believe. Rather, it is a program of “conservative” or “progressive” development. K. Conrad connects with genes not only the formal side of mental life, but also its content. This is reflected in his characteristics of the hypoplastic type (asthenic, according to the typology of E. Kretschmer), which, according to K. Conrad, shows a tendency towards cosmopolitanism, internationalism and intellectualism.

The main reproach against absolutely all constitutional typologies is that they underestimate, and sometimes simply ignore, the role of the environment and social conditions in the formation of an individual’s mental properties. This found its most obvious expression in the dualistic concept of K. Conrad, which is a modern version of the theory of psychophysical parallelism known in classical psychology. According to this theory, mental and physical processes occur in parallel, independently of each other, although they have a common cause. With this understanding of the connection between the body and the mental activity of the individual, the environment is assigned the role of a factor that only causes pre-programmed states and mental characteristics. It is not difficult to understand that such a view determines the so-called “pedagogical fatalism”, when the role of a teacher or educator is reduced only to creating certain conditions for the child under which his programmed psyche would have the full opportunity to develop.

Personality traits such as a tendency towards cosmopolitanism or internationalism, according to K. Conrad, or the socialization of food needs mentioned by W. Sheldon, love of company and friendly outpourings, tolerance or lack of compassion (temperamental properties), cannot be considered hereditary properties of the same order as and physique. They, arising on the basis of certain anatomical and physiological characteristics of the individual, are formed under the influence of upbringing and the social environment.

A number of empirical studies conducted to test the truth of constitutional types have shown that the correspondence between body type and certain temperament properties cannot be considered proven. It was also discovered that many of the facts collected by this group of researchers were presented and selected very tendentiously in order to confirm the justification of the theoretical assumptions of constitutional psychology.

There is much that is unclear in the doctrine of constitutional types. Their classification by different authors is based on different bases. Many connections between constitutional characteristics of different levels also remain unclear: morphological, biochemical, physiological, psychological. And the number of types identified by researchers varies greatly, sometimes reaching dozens, which makes it unrealistic to use this approach in practice.

» Temperament and physique according to Kretschmer

Typology of E. Kretschmer (1888-1964)
Body structure and human character.

Since ancient times, scientists have been concerned with the question: are there direct correspondences between the structure of the human body and character? This idea is very attractive, because it is enough to determine the constitutional type of a person to immediately get a clue to his character and behavior. But character is closely related to personal, temperamental properties, ideals, interests, etc. Defining character itself turned out to be not an easy task.

One of those who tried to find a connection between physical and mental characteristics was the German psychologist and psychiatrist Ernst Kretschmer. Kretschmer's most famous works include: "Body structure and character"(1926), " Medical psychology"(1922), " The genius of people""(1929).

Hegel also pointed out that a person’s character is a series of his actions: those he has done and those he still has to do. Then it should be assumed that character is not immediately and forever given to a person. It must change with age and life circumstances, form, transform. Therefore, they talk about the character of a child, teenager, youth, adult. In one and the same person there can be two souls at the same time. Two souls are two characters.

The question is posed like this: is there, to one degree or another, a character inherent in a person, which, passing through all age characteristics and a variety of situations, remains equal to itself? Does character depend on age, situation, geographical conditions, etc.? If character is so changeable and subject to subjective factors, then aren’t we talking about a person’s lack of character, namely situational lack of character, if character depends on the situation?

The most popular idea has become to connect the constitutional characteristics of a person with the characteristic features of his behavior. This, they say, without any lengthy examination allows one to immediately establish a person’s character and predict a person’s actions.

German psychiatrist Ernst Kretschmer found in Shakespeare's tragedy "Julius Caesar" a dialogue between Caesar and Antony. It talks about what actions should be expected from people who have a certain body constitution. From this dialogue, Kretschmer begins to present his theory.

Caesar: Surround me with plump people, with shiny heads and good sleep. Cassius' gaze is too deep. He thinks a lot, and such people are dangerous.

Anthony: Don't be afraid of him, he's not dangerous. He is noble and gifted in soul.

Caesar: If only he had more fat.

Kretschmer turned to folk art, to folk legends based on thousands of years of experience, which captured the connections between the structure of the body and the mental characteristics of a person. He first of all takes into account psychiatric practice, which provides acute cases of correlations between the structure of the body and human actions, but ends with considerations within the capabilities of psychology and biology.

According to Kretschmer, the study of the structure of the body should become an exact medical science. Physiognomic heritage does not help here. First of all, observations come to the rescue, while the microscope and laboratory are unlikely to help. The data that the researcher is trying to obtain concerns the face and skull (eyes, nose, bridge of the nose, skin, mouth, lips, jaws, teeth, ears, forehead, chin, frontal outline of the face, back of the head, etc.), as well as any asymmetries and distortions.

The second group of data concerns physique. Here the researcher shows interest in the postures and structure of the head, neck, arms, legs, feet, shoulders, chest, abdomen, spine, and pelvis.

The third group of data is skin, blood vessels, hair - with the separation of sexual characteristics. Glands and internal organs, body size, and weight are also taken into account. Temporary deviations and sexual anomalies become the subject of attention. In general, personality type is taken into account, as well as heredity. These data are used for in-depth scientific research; for practical work, a simplified scheme is suitable.

It should be noted that E. Kretschmer does not give a clear definition of such concepts as personality, character, temperament. The types that the author takes as the main ones are asthenic, athletic and picnic. They occur both normally and in cases of disease. The existence of dysplastic adjoining special types has been established.

Kretschmer also covers the sexual characteristics of the body structure. While giving a detailed description of these types, he does not recognize any of them as either healthier or sicker.

He finds a certain biological relationship between the tendency to manic-depressive illnesses and the pyknic type of body structure, and a correlation between the tendency to schizophrenia and an asthenic or athletic physique. For a psychiatrist, Kretschmer notes, there are no unnecessary things in the structure of a patient’s body. Every hair on your head, even the tip of your nose - everything should indicate something, although you should not find fault with petty signs.

Body types (constitution) according to Kretschmer: a) picnic; b) athletic; c) asthenic

Kretschmer saw the center of his research interest in the face, and not in the brain part of the skull. The facial part has rich morphological features. The face is the calling card of the overall individual constitution. After all, living forms of body structure show kinship with certain forms of mental illness. According to Kretschmer, physique and psychosis do not have a direct clinical relationship. The structure of the body is not determined by the symptoms of psychosis, but the structure of the body and psychosis, the bodily unit and internal disease, the healthy personality and heredity are themselves partial symptoms of the basic constitution.

Schizoids And cycloids Kretschmer calls pathological individuals who are between health and illness. Pays attention to social attitudes, temperament properties, mental tempo and psychomotor sphere.

Cycloid personalities are direct, uncomplicated natures whose feelings flow to the surface in a natural and genuine form. Schizoid personalities have both surface and depth. Kretschmer paints this surface as brutally rough, bile-intermediate or mollusc-like, which hides itself. However, it is difficult to say what is “behind the façade”. He proposes to study the “flowers” of schizophrenic inner life not on peasants, but on poets and kings, where this type is most fully expressed. It is especially worth emphasizing the researcher’s remarks that the key to schizophrenic inner life is at the same time the key (and not the only one) to large areas of normal human feelings and actions. A holistic picture of the inner life of representatives of schizoid temperaments can be obtained from the autobiographies of gifted, highly educated individuals, from those objective psychological documents left by the geniuses of this human type.

If the cycloid type carries the main symptoms of its temperaments from cradle to grave through all manic-depressive fluctuations, in the schizoid personality its features appear only at a certain period of life. After a short flowering of mental qualities in childhood, schizoids further experience a breakdown in personality during puberty. For the psychology of detailed creativity, such a flourishing of productivity and its unexpected cessation is quite indicative.

Schizoid character traits constitute a unique set. Kretschmer divides these traits into three groups:

not inclined to communicate, quiet, reserved, serious;
shy, timid, sensitive, sentimental, nervous, excitable; love books and nature;
obedient, good-natured, honest, indifferent, stupid.

But most schizoids have not only excessive sensitivity or coldness, but also various combinations of them. Schizoids also experience either an absolute lack of communication or very selective communication.

A very striking example of a schizoid attitude is given by Kretschmer with the figure of Robespierre. This is shyness, irony, gloom and cruelty. The schizoid is not interested in a passionate, ardent, natural attraction to a woman, but in ecstasy. They are not looking for a beautiful girl, but for a woman in general, an “absolute” woman, religion, art - in one being. The polarization acquires significant severity: either “saint” or “vixen” - without a middle ground.

Another social attitude is superficial communication, sensible businesslikeness, a strict boss, a cold fanatic, an ironic nature. The schizoid does not dissolve in the environment; a sharp antithesis arises: “I” and “the outside world.” Constant self-analysis. People like Hölderlin, Strindberg, Tasso, Michelangelo carry within them a constant mental conflict, their life is a chain of tragedies. They just have a talent for the tragic.

The cyclothymic person is not able to aggravate the situation if it is tragic; he adapts to the world, and the world adapts to him. He is characterized by intentions to “make others happy” and a desire to improve the world. Here we can observe the altruistic self-sacrifice of the “high style” - in favor of common ideals.

At the same time, Kretschmer subtly notes the inappropriate behavior of people of a schizothymic and cyclothymic nature. To subtle schizothymic people, it seems rude to laugh about those situations where the schizothymic person displays solemn pathos or dreamy elegance. The average person feels more comfortable with a cyclothymic than with a schizothymic.

Schizoid emotional coldness with unfavorable constitutional combinations can lead to negative actions, manifesting on this basis even the most cruel criminal natures.

Cycloid temperaments are between “fast” and “slow”, schizoid ones are between “stringent” and “impetuous”, in which Kretschmer sees a certain degree of correspondence in the interaction of thinking and the affective sphere.

Kretschmer notes that he does not set himself the main task of describing the psychology of schizophrenics. He is most interested in the problem of schizophrenia in connection with the general biological doctrine of temperament.

In his opinion, in real life there are also types about which science still knows nothing. The scientist gives a significant number of specific examples to illustrate his theoretical part. He pays main attention to types of temperament and thereby violates the clarity of the categorical definition regarding types of character and personality.

Kretschmer summarizes the characteristics of ordinary “average” people - both cyclothymics and schizothymics. He analyzes “chatty and cheerful”, “calm humorists”, “quiet, soulful people”, “carefree lovers of life”, “energetic practitioners”. These are features of cyclothymics. Sensitive “aristocrats”, “idealists who are strangers in the world”, cold domineering natures and egoists, and finally, “dry and paralytic” - these are the traits of schizothymic people.

Generalizing ideas about the relationship between the physical and mental characteristics of individual temperamental types, Kretschmer points out that the physical characteristics of asthenics are quite well known. These people are thin, but not short. In acute cases they are very thin, with anemic skin, narrow shoulders, and underdeveloped muscles. The chest is small compared to the hips. Even doing a lot of physical work, they are not inclined to build up their muscles. They are experiencing the onset of premature old age. Asthenic women are similar in habit to men and may be short. The asthenic type has a tendency to schizophrenia. Moreover, this disease usually occurs during puberty.

The schizothymic type, which unites healthy and sick people, bears the features of autism, emphasizing internal life with the dominance of principles of behavior that are alien to reality. Hence the oddities, idealism, romanticism, a penchant for irony, sarcasm, moralizing, and fanaticism.

The physical characteristics of picnics are, first of all, a highly developed head, chest, and abdomen. They have a short figure, a soft wide face, a short neck, a respectable belly, and a chest that expands downward. The shoulder girdle is raised up. The trophic center is located in the middle of the body. They tend to be obese, and their legs can be strikingly thin. Weight changes with age and mental phases. This type reaches full expression around 30-40 years. In women, fat accumulates more on the chest and hips.

The cyclothymic type demonstrates fusion with the outside world and modernity, strives for communication, is friendly, spontaneous. Sometimes he is cheerful and proactive, sometimes contemplative and melancholy.

The athletic type has a highly developed skeleton, muscles, broad shoulders, and an elastic stomach. A strong head sits on a long neck. Height is above average. In women, an athletic physique gives the impression of being somewhat rough and massive. An athlete shows a tendency (like an asthenic person) to schizophrenia.

From left to right: picnic hand, athletics, asthenics

Kretschmer summarizes the relationship between body structure and mental qualities as follows: the mental inclinations of manic-depressive patients are more characteristic of the picnic body type. The mental inclinations of schizophrenics are associated with an asthenic and athletic structure.

The generalizations that Kretschmer makes in relation to healthy and sick people indicate the absence of fundamental differences among typical representatives. The structure of the body and endogenous psychoses in the study of general human characterology lead to approximately the same goals. Healthy and sick types correct and complement each other. With the combination of both groups, according to Kretschmer, the general psychological doctrine of human temperament will be placed on a solid foundation.

Kretschmer pays special attention to the typology of brilliant people. He studied the psychology of such talented individuals who later suffered from circular and schizophrenic psychosis. By adding data on constitutional typology, he clearly establishes the comparative psychology of empirical groups. He believed that poets and writers are more suitable for analyzing individual psychological traits, for which he used portrait and biographical notes.

Quite consistently, Kretschmer examines the cyclothymic temperaments of artists. He found that among artists of this type, the craving for content prevails over the craving for form. The schizothymic characters of artists are represented by such personalities as Schiller, Kerner, Uhland, Tasso, Hölderlin, Novalis, Plato. In carrying out his research, Kretschmer displays a keen knowledge of the creative heritage of outstanding people.

Rulers and heroes also became the subject of scientific interest of Kretschmer; in particular, three groups were distinguished among the cyclothymics:

Brave fighters, folk heroes;
Large-scale organizers;
Politicians capable of reconciliation.

Heroes with schizothymic temperaments are characterized by persistence, systematic consistency, Spartan severity, persistent endurance, and coldness towards the fate of certain individuals. They are also characterized by sympathy for the weak and disadvantaged, and pathos regarding the people's suffering. At the same time, there is a tendency to criticize, lack of goodwill, and stupidity in relation to specific situations and specific individuals. Three groups can also be distinguished here:

Pure idealists and moralists;
Despots and fanatics;
People of cold calculation.

Summing up his research, Kretschmer specifically identifies three concepts that he has a vague definition: “constitution”, “character” and “temperament”.

By constitution he understands the sum of all individual properties that have a basis in heredity, that is, genotypically laid down.

By character he understands the sum of all possible human reactions in the understanding of the manifestations of will and affect that have formed throughout the individual’s life. “Character” is not a strict concept for Kretschmer, but only a heuristic term that should become the basis of the main differentiation of biological psychology. At the same time, he sees his classification of human types precisely as a typology of temperaments, introducing vagueness into the classification rubric of the constructed typology.

It is on the basis of temperamental characteristics that two large constitutional groups are distinguished - schizothymics and cyclothymics. Within these main groups, he makes a division: cyclothymic temperament into two poles - cheerful and sad, and schizothymic - into irritating and cold. Such polar opposites can mix and layer on each other.

Next, Kretschmer approaches the concept of a complex life attitude, according to which cyclothymics tend to “dissolve” in the surrounding reality. They are open, communicative, kind-hearted and spontaneous. They give types of energetic pragmatists or cheerful consumers of life's goods.

Accordingly, the schizothymic temperament expresses a tendency toward sadness, isolation, and the creation of an individual limited zone, an inner world of principles and dreams regarding someone else’s reality. “I” acts as the opposite of the outside world, responding to it with indifference or sentimental isolation from people, or a cold stay among them. It is this type that produces defective, gloomy eccentrics, egoists, slackers and criminals.

Kretschmer considers the solution to the question of human typology possible provided that psychologists accept natural-scientific, biological thinking, and biologists expand their horizons in the sphere of mental life, which appears as subjective, fragile, and foggy. Only the combination of these two attitudes will allow science to reveal the true typology of people. Kretschmer expresses the result of his research in the tables below.

Temperament	Cyclothymics	Schizotimics
Psychesthesia and mood	Diathetic proportion between the sublime and the depressive	Psychesthetic proportion between hyperaesthetic and anesthetic
Mental tempo	Temperament curve, fluctuating between mobile and phlegmatic	The jumping curve of temperament between impetuosity and stringiness, alternative thinking and feeling
Psychomotor sphere	Adequate to irritation, rounded, natural, soft	Often inappropriate irritation, delays, paralysis, woodenness
Related body type	Picnic	Asthenic, athletic, dysplastic and their combinations

Correspondence between body structure and mental qualities

Literature:

Romenets V.A., Manokha I.P. History of psychology of the 20th century. - Kyiv, Lybid, 2003.

Typology of E. Kretschmer

Cyclothemic or picnic (rounded), the type is distinguished by a wide face, a high convex forehead, a double chin, a tendency to obesity and baldness, a short thick neck, weak muscles, short thick arms.

Temperament is usually cheerful, cheerful, less often sad; character in the sphere of feelings: soft, cheerful, balanced, kind-hearted, intuitive, impulsive. In the area of desires, he is not too assertive, has little patience when achieving goals, has poor self-control, but at the same time flexible, easily makes decisions, concrete, practical, multilateral, subjective, free and uninhibited thinking. In the sphere of social contacts: open, sociable, sociable, compassionate, collective.

Schizothymic type asthenic

He is distinguished by an ovoid, narrow, thin face, a rough profile with a long nose, a cut off chin, narrow sloping shoulders, a flat chest, and long arms.

By temperament he is hypersensitive and cold. In the sphere of feelings: nervous, sensitive, excitable, little intuitive. The volitional sphere is characterized by perseverance and purposefulness. People of this type have good self-control, are decisive, and are little subject to outside influence.

Thinking: abstract, theoretical, conceptual, rational, one-sided, objective, often unsystematic and spasmodic.

In social contacts: closed, uncommunicative, taciturn, reserved.

Athletic type

Appearance: rough facial features, as if carved with an axe, powerful chin, wide, blunt nose, wide, developed chest and shoulders, narrow hips, rough, “gnarled” hands.

Temperament: phlegmatic-explosive. By the nature of the sphere of feelings: thick-skinned, indifferent, calm, insensitive, constant. In the sphere of desire and will: unyielding, firm, tough, self-possessed, free, can withstand pressure from others well and has a strong will.

Ernst Kretschmer was born in 1888 in Germany. He was the director of the neurological clinic in Marburg, and the head of the clinic at the University of Tübingen. In 1939, he refused to take the post of president of the German Psychiatric Association, expressing disagreement with the theory of racial inferiority preached by the official psychiatry of Hitler's Germany. Died 1964

1. Leptosomatic (Greek leptos - “fragile”, soma - “body”). He has a cylindrical body, fragile build, tall stature, a flat chest, an elongated egg-shaped face (full face). The long thin nose and undeveloped lower jaw form the so-called angular profile. The shoulders of a leptosomatic person are narrow, the lower limbs are long, the bones and muscles are thin. E. Kretschmer called individuals with extreme expression of these characteristics asthenics (Greek astenos - “weak”).

2. Picnic (Greek pynnos - “thick, dense”). He is characterized by excessive obesity, small or medium height, a bloated body, a large belly, and a round head on a short neck. Relatively large body perimeters (head, chest and abdomen) with narrow shoulders give the body a barrel-shaped shape. People of this type tend to stoop.

3. Athletic (Greek athlon - “struggle, fight”). He has good muscles, a strong physique, tall or medium height, a wide shoulder girdle and narrow hips, making the frontal appearance of the body form a trapezoid. The fat layer is not expressed. The face is in the shape of an elongated egg, the lower jaw is well developed.

4. Dysplastic (Greek dys - “bad”, plastos - “formed”). Its structure is shapeless and irregular. Individuals of this type are characterized by various physique deformations (for example, excessive growth).

The identified types do not depend on a person’s height and thinness. We are talking about proportions, not absolute body sizes. There may be fat leptosomatics, frail athletes and thin picnics.

The majority of patients with schizophrenia, according to E. Kretschmer, are leptosomatic, although there are also athletes. Picnics form the largest group among patients with cyclophrenia (manic-depressive psychosis). Athletes, who are less prone to mental illness than others, show some tendency towards epilepsy.

The emotional life of other people is characterized by a psycho-aesthetic scale (“sensitive - emotionally dull, inexcitable”). These people have a schizothymic temperament.

A schizothymic person (this name comes from “schizophrenia”) has a leptosomatic or asthenic physique. In case of mental disorder, a predisposition to schizophrenia is detected. Closed, prone to fluctuations in emotions - from irritation to dryness, stubborn, difficult to change attitudes and views. Has difficulty adapting to the environment, prone to abstraction.

Cyclothymic (the name is associated with circular, or manic-depressive, psychosis) is the opposite of schizothymic. Has a picnic build. If there is a mental disorder, it reveals a predisposition to manic-depressive psychosis. Emotions fluctuate between joy and sadness. Easily communicates with the environment, realistic in his views. E. Kretschmer also identified a viscose (mixed) type.

E. Kretschmer explained the relationship between body type and certain mental properties or, in extreme cases, mental illness by the fact that both body type and temperament have the same reason: they are determined by the activity of the endocrine glands and the associated chemical composition of the blood , - thus, the chemical properties depend largely on certain features of the hormonal system.

The comparison of body type with emotional types of response carried out by E. Kretschmer gave a high percentage of coincidence.

Depending on the type of emotional reactions, the author distinguishes between cheerful and sad cyclothymics and sensitive or cold schizothymics.

Soon, however, disappointment set in, as attempts to reproduce the results described by E. Kretschmer showed that most people cannot be classified as extreme options: The connections between body type and characteristics of emotional response did not reach the level of reliability. Critics began to say that it was unlawful to extend the patterns identified in pathology to the norm.

Temperaments. They, as we firmly know empirically, are determined by the humoral chemistry of the blood. Their bodily representative is the apparatus of the brain and glands. Temperaments constitute that part of the psyche that, probably along the humoral path, is in correlation with the structure of the body. Temperaments, giving sensual tones, delaying and stimulating, penetrate into the mechanism of “psychic apparatuses”. Temperaments, as far as it is possible to establish empirically, obviously have an impact on the following mental qualities: 1) psychesthesia - excessive sensitivity or insensitivity in relation to mental irritations; 2) on the coloring of mood - a measure of pleasure and displeasure in mental contents, primarily on the scale of cheerful or sad; 3) on mental tempo - acceleration or delay of mental processes in general and their special rhythm (tenaciously holding on, unexpectedly jumping off, delay, formation of complexes); 4) on the psychomotor sphere, namely on the general motor tempo (agile or phlegmatic), as well as on the special nature of movements (paralytic, fast, slender, soft, rounded) (E. Kretschmer, 2000, p. 200).

Typology of E. Kretschmer (1888-1964) Body structure and human character.

Typology of E. Kretschmer

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Typology of E. Kretschmer (1888-1964)
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