Erich Fromm - the greatest thinker of the twentieth century, one of the great cohort of "philosophers of psychology" and spiritual leader Frankfurt School of Sociology. The works of Erich Fromm are always relevant, because the main theme of his research was the disclosure of human essence as the realization of a productive, life-creating principle. From the standpoint of humanism, he opposes spiritual impoverishment, outlines possible solutions to urgent global problems and the creation of a harmonious healthy person and a healthy society. The author develops his concept of religion and its role in society. The founder of neo-Freudianism, E. Fromm tells in the works collected in the book about how the inner world of a person is transformed. The patient comes to the doctor and together they wander through the recesses of memory, into the depths of the unconscious, to discover hidden secrets. The whole human being goes through a shock, through catharsis. Is it worth it to force the patient to relive life's cataclysms, childhood pains, the ovaries of painful impressions? The scientist develops the concept of two polar modes of human existence - possession and being.

Fromm's works are published today, .

Types of social characters

Summarizing observational data on behavior various people and correlating them with the practice of working in the clinic, E. Fromm deduced the following main types of social characters.

1. Masochist-sadist. This type of person who tends to see the reasons for his successes and failures in life, as well as the reasons for the observed social events, not in the circumstances, but in people. In an effort to eliminate these causes, he directs his aggression towards the person who seems to him to be the cause of failure. If a we are talking about himself, then his aggressive actions are directed at himself; if other people act as a cause, then they become victims of his aggressiveness. Such a person does a lot of self-education, self-improvement, remaking people into better side. With his persistent actions, exorbitant demands and claims, he sometimes brings himself and those around him to a state of exhaustion. Such a person is especially dangerous for those around him when he gains power over them: he begins to terrorize them, proceeding from good intentions. Describing such people as a psychiatrist, Fromm wrote: The most frequently manifested masochistic tendencies are a feeling of inferiority, helplessness, insignificance. Masochistic people show tendencies to belittle and weaken themselves, revel in self-criticism and self-flagellation, build unthinkable vain accusations on themselves, and in everything and above all try to take the blame on themselves, even if they have nothing to do with it. According to Fromm, people of this type, along with masochistic tendencies, almost always have sadistic tendencies. They manifest themselves in the desire to make people dependent on themselves, to acquire complete and unlimited power over them, to exploit them, to inflict pain and suffering on them, to enjoy how they suffer. This type of person was called by Fromm an authoritarian personality. Similar personality traits were inherent in many famous despots in history; Fromm included among them Hitler, Stalin and a number of other well-known historical persons.

2. Destroyer. It is characterized by pronounced aggressiveness and an active desire to eliminate, destroy the object that caused frustration, the collapse of hopes in this person. Destructiveness, writes Fromm, is a means of getting rid of an unbearable feeling of impotence. Destructiveness as a means of resolving their life problems is usually addressed by people who experience a sense of anxiety and powerlessness, are limited in the realization of their intellectual and emotional capabilities. During periods of great social upheavals, revolutions, upheavals, they act as the main force that destroys the old, including culture.

3. Automaton conformist. Such an individual, faced with intractable social and personal life problems, ceases to be himself. He unquestioningly submits to circumstances, society of any type, requirements social group, quickly assimilating the type of thinking and mode of behavior that is characteristic of most people in a given situation. Such a person almost never own opinion, not expressed social position. He actually loses his own I, his individuality and is used to experiencing exactly those feelings that are expected of him in certain situations. Such a person is always ready to submit to any new authority, if necessary, quickly and without problems changes his beliefs, not particularly thinking about the moral side of such behavior. This is a type of conscious and unconscious opportunist.

The classification of characters, depending on belonging to an extraverted and introverted type, proposed by K. Jung, has become widespread. Extraversion - introversion is considered by modern psychology as a manifestation of temperament. The first type is characterized by the orientation of the individual to the world, whose objects, like a magnet, attract interests, vital energy subject, which in a certain sense leads to a belittling of the personal significance of the phenomena of his subjective world. Extroverts are characterized by impulsiveness, initiative, flexibility of behavior, sociability. Introverts are characterized by fixing the interests of the individual on the phenomena of their own inner world, lack of communication, isolation, a tendency to introspection, difficult adaptation. It is also possible to divide into conformal and independent, dominant and subordinate, normative and anarchic and other types.

It should be noted that in the process of constructing various psychological concepts, character is often associated with temperament, and in some cases these concepts are confused. AT modern science among the dominant views on the relationship of character and temperament, 4 main approaches can be distinguished:

First, very often there is an identification of character and temperament. An example of this is the concept of E Kretschmer, who connected body type with temperament and behavioral characteristics.

Secondly, in some psychological concepts one can find the opposition of character and temperament. Moreover, most often in these concepts, the antagonism of character and temperament is emphasized.

Thirdly, studying psychological concepts, we can meet with the opinions of various researchers that temperament is an element of character, its core, an invariable part. For example, S. L. Rubinshtein adhered to such a point of view.

The existence of these approaches is due to the biosocial nature of man. On the one hand, it is indisputable that the character is formed after the birth of a person, in the process of his interaction with the social environment. However, on the other hand, no one will deny that the physiological characteristics of the body still leave an imprint on the personality.

AT domestic psychology there was an opinion that temperament and character are very close, since the features of temperament in one form or another are reflected in the character of a person. This is due to the fact that the basic properties of temperament are formed much earlier than the formation of character is completed. Therefore, most well-known researchers are of the opinion that character develops on the basis of temperament. Temperament determines in the character such traits as the balance or imbalance of behavior, the ease or difficulty of entering a new situation, the mobility or inertness of the reaction, etc. At the same time, it is necessary to realize that temperament does not determine the character of a person. People with the same temperament properties can have a completely different character. Features of temperament can only contribute to or counteract the formation of certain character traits.

It should be noted that all existing concepts of character types have one very significant drawback. The fact is that each person is individual and can not always be attributed to a certain type. Very often, a variety of character traits are quite developed in the same person. Therefore, the question arises, to which there is still no satisfactory answer: what to do with those people who do not fit into the classification and cannot be assigned unambiguously to any of the proposed types? Such an intermediate group of people makes up a fairly significant part - up to half of all people.

Existing scientific problems are the basis for finding new solutions to the problems of describing and predicting human actions. Achievements are often used for this. various sciences and also pay attention to new facts. One of these sciences is graphology, which considers handwriting as a kind of expressive movements that reflect the psychological properties of the writer. Graphological information, accumulated over the centuries, established a connection between two series of facts - the features of handwriting and character. There is no doubt that each person has a unique handwriting. This fact makes it possible to identify a person and, therefore, gives grounds for considering the question of the dependence of handwriting on character.

Currently, there is no unambiguous data confirming or refuting the connection between handwriting and character. The dependence of handwriting on emotional state and some typological properties of higher nervous activity. On the other hand, N. A. Bernshtein noted that what distinguishes the mechanics of the movement of a living organism from the movement of a machine is the redundancy of the degree of freedom. One and the same action can be performed in many ways, therefore, in each action, one can single out something that can be associated with the personal meaning of this action, and, consequently, with the psychophysiological characteristics of a particular person.

Character is a multifaceted phenomenon, and it is likely that new, scientifically based methods of studying it will appear in the near future.

“The social character includes only a set of character traits that are present in the majority of members of a given social group and arose as a result of experiences common to them and a common way of life.”

“Character is a specific form of human energy that arises in the process of dynamic adaptation of human needs to a certain way of life in a certain society” (Fromm).

E. Fromm puts forward three types of character:

1. "Masochist-sadist". This type of person who tends to see the reasons for their life successes and failures not in the circumstances, but in people. Hence the aggression on the person who is the cause of all failures. There may be aggression on oneself, perhaps the appearance of sadistic tendencies, the desire to make others dependent on oneself.

2. "Destroyer". It is characterized by pronounced aggressiveness, the desire for intimidation. In some cases, impotence and anxiety can act as the main force.

3. "Conformal machine". Such a person, faced with intractable problems, ceases to be “himself”. He unquestioningly obeys the circumstances, the requirements of the group, quickly learns the way of behavior that is characteristic of the majority.

Social character is formed by the whole way of life given society, but the dominant features of the social character, in turn, become creative forces that shape the social process. A change in social conditions leads to a change in the social character, that is, to the emergence of new needs and anxieties, in turn, these new needs give rise to new ideas. New ideas strengthen and reinforce the new social character and guide human activity in a new direction.

Fromm distinguishes the following types of social characters:

Unfruitful Orientations:

Receptive orientation (receptive character structure) - a person of this type imagines that the "source of all good things" lies outside, and he believes that the only way to get what he wants is to get it from external source. Material things, love, knowledge, pleasures - everything is expected from other people: with this orientation, the problem of love is to "be loved" and not to love oneself; in the field of intelligence are also focused on the perception of ideas, and not on their creation.

They need people who will ensure their safety, give them the necessary benefits, therefore they easily become dependent on people, they are forced to agree, because they feel lost when they are left to their own devices.

Exploiter Orientation - people of this type also believe that all the necessary benefits are in the external environment and nothing can be created by oneself, but they do not believe that it is possible to receive something from others as a gift, but they believe that the desired must be obtained by force or cunning, taken from others . Even in love, they are only attracted to those they can take away from someone else. Their motto is "Stolen fruit is the sweetest".

Possessive Orientation - people of this type do not believe that they can get out of outside world something new, so we need to protect and save what we have. In the sphere of love, they strive to completely “take possession” of the beloved, consider it as their belonging. In the material sphere, they show acquisitiveness, greed, over-economy and over-accuracy. Their slogan is: "Mine is mine, and yours is yours."

Market Orientation developed as dominant only in the modern era due to the economic conditions of the market society. Success depends on how well a person knows how to sell himself in the market, how well he knows how to present himself from an attractive side, that is, a person begins to perceive himself as a commodity.

If a person feels that his value is determined not by his human qualities, but by success in market competition (if he "succeeds" - he is valuable, if not - he is worthless) with its constantly changing conditions, then a person's self-esteem will be shaky and will constantly need confirmation from other people. "I am what you please!"

A person with a market orientation does not have stable views, he is characterized by the variability of attitudes, when only those qualities that can be put up for sale are developed. The market personality is free from any individuality, it is characterized by emptiness, the absence of stable character traits, because one day this stable trait may come into conflict with the requirements of the market.

All orientations take place in the human life order, but the dominant position of one orientation or another depends to a greater extent on the characteristics of the culture in which the individual lives.

Fromm contrasts the types of character described above with a fruitful orientation, which is the goal of human development.

Fruitful Personality Orientation means a fundamental attitude, a way of relations in all spheres of human experience, when fruitfulness manifests itself as a human ability to use one's strength and realize the possibilities inherent in a person. Such a person is guided by reason, because you can use your powers if you only know what those powers are, how and why to use them.

Fromm distinguishes the following types of interpersonal relations:

symbiotic union a person is connected with others, but loses his independence; he escapes from loneliness, becoming a part of another person, "absorbing" this person or "absorbing" him himself;

detachment - overcoming individual powerlessness in front of other people, perceived as a threat;

destructiveness- an active form of detachment, when energy is directed to the destruction of life, the impulse to destroy others stems from the fear of being destroyed by them;

love- is a fruitful form of relationship to others and to oneself, implies care, responsibility, respect and knowledge, as well as the desire for the other person to grow and develop.

Typological model of social characters (B. S. Bratus)

The most important for the characterization of a personality is the typical way of relating to another person, other people and oneself that prevails for it.

Based on the dominant way of relating to oneself and another person, several fundamental levels are distinguished in the structure of personality.

1. Egocentric level - is determined by the primary desire only for one's own convenience, benefit and prestige, the attitude towards others is purely consumeristic, only depending on whether the other person helps personal success or not, whether he is profitable or not, i.e. the other person acts as a thing. Personal happiness and well-being is most important, regardless of whether others are happy or unhappy.

2. Group-centric- a person identifies himself with a group, and his attitude towards other people depends on whether these others are in his group or not. If the other is included in such a group, then he is valuable not in himself, but by his belonging to the group, worthy of pity, respect, indulgence, forgiveness, love. If the other is not included in this group, then these feelings may not apply to him, i.e. The world is divided into “us” and “them”. Good and happiness are associated with the prosperity of the group with which a person identifies himself. He cannot be happy if his group suffers misfortune.

3. Pro-social or humanistic level personality assumes that they value themselves and other people and recognize equal rights, freedoms and obligations for them; Here the principle works: "Do to others as you would like to be treated to you." Happiness and well-being implies their distribution to all people, all of humanity.

4. Spiritual or eschatological level implies a view of a person as a being whose life does not end with the end of earthly life, but is connected with the spiritual world, i.e. this is the level within which the subjective relationship of a person with God is resolved, there is a feeling of connection with God and an idea of ​​happiness as service and union with Him.

All four levels are somehow present in everyone. At some points, one level wins, and at some - another. However, we can also talk about some typical profile for a given person, a typical aspiration. The culture and way of life of a particular society influences the formation of this typical aspiration.

Typology of manipulative character types (E. Shostrom)

E. Shostrom in the book "Anti-Carnegie or man-manipulator" described what constitutes a type of social character called "manipulator".

Manipulator.

The modern Manipulator has developed from a market orientation, when a person is a thing about which one needs to know a lot and which one needs to be able to manage.

Hiding your true emotions is the fate of the Manipulator. The Manipulator sees his main task in making some “proper impression”.

Along with the need to manage, the Manipulator feels the need for guidance from above.

Manipulation is not a necessary attitude to life and does not bring any real benefit. Too often, the Manipulator uses psychological concepts as rational explanations for their dysfunctional behavior, justifying their current misfortunes with references to past experiences and past failures.

A manipulator is a self-destructive person who uses or controls himself and other people as "things". To some extent, the manipulator lives in each of us.

Manipulation is a lifestyle, it is a life scenario that regulates the entire system of interaction with the world, aimed at controlling both oneself and others.

There are four main manipulative systems.

1. Active Manipulator tries to control others through active methods. He avoids showing his weakness in relationships, taking on the role of full strength. Usually he attracts his social position to this (parent, older brother, teacher, boss). He plays the "trampling" in achieving satisfaction by gaining control over other people, but dependent for his satisfaction on their sense of powerlessness. He uses the technique of establishing rights and obligations, tables of ranks, etc., controlling people like puppets.

2. Passive Manipulator is the opposite of active. He decides that since he cannot control life, he will give up the effort and allow himself to be controlled by the active Manipulator. He pretends to be helpless and stupid and plays the "trampled" out of himself. At the same time, the passive manipulator wins through defeat. Allowing the active Manipulator to think and work for him, in a certain sense he defeats the "trampling" one with his lethargy and passivity.

3. Competitive Manipulator considers life as a state that requires constant vigilance, since here you can either win or lose, there is no middle ground. For him, life is a battle where all other people are rivals or enemies, real or potential. He oscillates between the methods of "trampling" and "trampling" and therefore can be seen as a cross between a passive and an active Manipulator.

4. Indifferent manipulator. The manipulator plays the role of an indifferent person, hoping for nothing and trying to slip away, to avoid contact with a partner. His catchphrase is "I don't give a damn." His secret is that he does not give a damn, otherwise he would not continue his manipulations.

Manipulator Lifestyle includes four main characteristics: lying, unawareness, control and cynicism. The philosophy of life of the Actualizer is marked by four opposite characteristics: honesty, awareness, freedom and trust.

Later classifications of character were carried out on the basis of accentuation (K. Leonhard, A. Lichko).

character accents.

According to the famous German psychiatrist K. Leonhard, in 20-50% of people some character traits are so pointed (accentuated) that under certain circumstances this leads to the same type of conflicts and nervous breakdowns.

Accentuation of character is an exaggerated development of individual character traits to the detriment of others, as a result of which interaction with other people worsens.

The severity of accentuation can be different - from mild, noticeable only to the immediate environment, to extreme options, when you have to wonder if there is a disease - psychopathy.

Psychopathy is a painful deformity of character (while maintaining the intellect of a person), as a result of which relationships with surrounding people are sharply violated; psychopaths can even be socially dangerous to others.

But unlike psychopathy, accentuations of character do not appear constantly; over the years, they can significantly smooth out, approach the norm. Leonhard identifies 12 types of accentuation.

Character accentuations are often found in adolescents and young men (50-80%). You can determine the type of accentuation or its absence using special psychological tests, for example, the Schmishek test. Often you have to deal with accentuated personalities, and it is important to know and anticipate the specific behavior of such people.

Characteristics of behavioral features depending on the types of accentuation:

1)hyperthymic(hyperactive) - overly high spirits, always cheerful, talkative, very energetic, independent, striving for leadership, risk, adventures, does not respond to comments, ignores punishment, loses the line of the unlawful, lacks self-criticism;

2)dysthymic- constantly depressed mood, sadness, isolation, reticence, pessimism, burdened by a noisy society, does not closely converge with colleagues, rarely enters into conflicts, more often is a passive side in them;

3)cycloid- sociability changes cyclically (high during a period of high mood and low during a period of depression);

4)emotive(emotional) - excessive sensitivity, vulnerability, deeply worried about the slightest troubles, overly sensitive to comments, failures, therefore he often has a sad mood;

5)demonstrative- the desire to be in the spotlight and achieve their goals at any cost is expressed (tears, fainting, scandals, illnesses, boasting, outfits, unusual hobbies, False). Easily forgets about his unseemly deeds;

6)excitable - increased irritability, intemperance, aggressiveness, gloom, "boring", but flattery, helpfulness (as a disguise) are possible. A tendency to rudeness and obscene language or silence, slowness in conversation. Actively and often conflicts;

7)stuck- “gets stuck” on his feelings, thoughts, cannot forget insults, “settles scores”, official and domestic intractability, a tendency to protracted squabbles, is more often an active party in conflicts;

8)pedantic- pronounced boredom in the form of "experiencing" the details, in the service it is able to torture visitors with formal requirements, exhausts the household with excessive accuracy;

9)anxious(psychasthenic) - lowered background of mood, fear for oneself, loved ones, timidity, self-doubt, extreme indecision, experiences failure for a long time, doubts one's actions;

10)exalted(labile) - a very changeable mood, emotions are pronounced, increased distractibility to external events, talkativeness, amorousness;

11)introverted(schizoid, autistic) - low sociability, closed, aloof from everyone, communication out of necessity, immersed in himself, does not tell anything about himself, does not reveal his experiences, although increased vulnerability is characteristic. Restrained, coldly treats other people, even relatives;

12) extroverted(conformal) - high sociability, talkativeness, does not have his own opinion, is not independent, strives to be like everyone else, disorganized, prefers to obey.

In the MMPI clinical test, often used to identify character accentuations, there are three scales of the so-called neurotic triad and four scales of the psychotic triad (4, 5).

The difference between psychopathy and neurotic disorders (according to P.B. Gannushkin):

they are total (that is, they affect both the emotional-affective and cognitive spheres, and human behavior), while neurosis has a local character (for example, enuresis, stuttering, tics).

psychopathies are relatively stable over time and take longer to heal (while neurosis also causes cases of self-healing - the so-called spontaneous remission).

psychopathy is accompanied by social maladaptation, i.e., they are expressed in violation of accepted norms of behavior, violation of self-criticism (while neurotics usually have an overly pronounced sense of guilt).

Therefore, it is sometimes said that a psychopath is a person with whom it is difficult for others, and a neurotic is a person who has difficulty with himself. Psychotherapist's clients are mostly neurotics, and psychopaths mostly come with a complaint about other people.

The interpretation of the MMPI scales proposed by F.B. Berezin, - the division of neuroses (they are 3, they are listed by frequency of occurrence and put in accordance with scales, which, in turn, have numbers) and psychoses (which form the so-called psychotic triad and include 4 typical psychotic disorders, which also correspond to scales ).

Each individual person cannot be completely reduced to any of the types of character. “Normal is the person who can exist under absolutely all circumstances that provide him with a minimum of life opportunities. However, many are not capable of this; therefore, there are not too many normal people, ”wrote P.B. Gannushkin (5). Therefore, it is not surprising that psychiatry often addresses personality disorders.

At the beginning of the XX century. A.F. Lazursky was the first to propose creating a psychosocial classification of characters, which takes into account not only the subjective characteristics of people, but also their worldview, the “social aspect”.

Further research led to an enrichment of understanding of character; 1. The concept of "social character" emerged. “The social character includes only that set of character traits that is present in the majority of members of a given social group and arose as a result of experiences common to them and a common way of life” (E. Fromm). "If the character of the individual coincides more or less with the social character, then the dominant aspirations of the individual induce him to do exactly what is necessary and desirable in the specific social conditions of his culture." 2. Character represents a variant of the assimilation by each person of the cultural norms contained in the "basic (basic) personality structure." The basic personality structure is shared by most members of society as a result of similar experiences in early childhood (this is the “basic, modal personality”) (A. Kardiner).

If the personality reflects the culture contained in individual behavior, then the character reflects the worldview contained in individual behavior (D. Honigman, N. D. Levitov).

The very social character is formed by the whole way of life. given society, but the dominant features of the social character, in turn, become creative forces that shape the social process. A change in social conditions leads to a change in the social character, that is, to the emergence of new needs and anxieties, in turn, these new needs give rise to new ideas. New ideas strengthen and strengthen the new social character and direct human activity in a new direction.

Social character should be distinguished from individual character, due to which, within the same culture, one person differs from another. These differences are partly due to the characteristics of the personality of the parents, as well as the mental and material conditions in which the child grows up, and also due to the peculiarities of the constitution and temperament.

Fromm distinguishes the following types of social characters. Unfruitful Orientations:

RECEPTIVE ORIENTATION (receptive character structure) - it seems to a person of this type that the "source of all blessings" lies outside, and he believes that the only way to get what he wants is to get it from an external source. Material things, love, knowledge, pleasures are all expected from outside people: with this orientation, the problem of love is to “be loved”, and not to love yourself, in the field of intelligence they are also focused on the perception of ideas, and not on their creation. Their first thought is to find someone to give them the information they need, instead of making the slightest effort themselves.

EXPLOITATIVE ORIENTATION - people of this type also believe that all the necessary benefits are in the external environment and nothing can be created by oneself, but they do not believe that one can receive something from others as a gift, but believe that one must obtain what one wants by force or cunning, take away from others. Even in the realm of love, they are only attracted to those faces that they can take away from someone else. They also do not create ideas, but take or steal them in the form of plagiarism or paraphrase of ideas expressed by someone else. The things they can take from others always seem to them better than what they can create themselves. They use and exploit anyone and everyone they can get something out of.

Acquisitive Orientation - people of this type do not believe that they can get something new from the outside world, so you need to protect and save what you have. They seem to surround themselves with a protective wall, and their main goal is to bring as much as possible into their shelter and give as little as possible out of it. In the sphere of love, they strive to completely “take possession” of the beloved, consider it as their belonging. In the sphere of things, they show acquisitiveness, greed, over-economy and over-accuracy.

MARKET ORIENTATION has developed as dominant only in the modern era due to the economic conditions of the market society. The orientation of character, rooted in the perception of oneself as a commodity, and one's own value as an exchange, is called the market orientation. The material success of everyone in the modern market society depends on the recognition of their identity by those who pay for their services or hire them for a salary. Success depends on how well a person knows how to sell himself in the market, how well he knows how to present himself from an attractive side, that is, a person begins to perceive himself as a commodity. If a person feels that his value is determined not by his human qualities, but by success in market competition (if he "succeeds" - he is valuable, if not - he is worthless) with its constantly changing conditions, then a person's self-esteem will be shaky and will constantly need confirmation from other people. “If the vicissitudes of the market are the measure of a person's worth, self-respect and self-respect are destroyed. If a person is forced all the time to make his way to success and any failure is a severe threat to his self-esteem, then the result will be a feeling of helplessness, insecurity and inferiority ”(Fromm).

Fromm contrasts the types of character described above with a fruitful orientation, which is the goal of human development. The fruitful orientation of a person means a fundamental attitude, a way of relations in all spheres of human experience, when fruitfulness manifests itself as a human ability to use one's strengths and realize the possibilities inherent in a person. Such a person is guided by reason, because you can use your powers if you only know what those powers are, how and why to use them.

Fruitfulness implies that a person has a healthy mature personality, the power of his mind is able to penetrate into the depths of phenomena and know their essence, the power of his love is able to destroy the wall that separates one person from another, is able to understand himself, his purpose, which distinguishes him from other people and makes him what he is, strives to become what he is, potentially using and developing all his strengths, abilities and possibilities.

“Fruitful relations with the world can be carried out through activity and through comprehension. Man produces things, and in the process of creation he applies his powers to matter. A person comprehends the world mentally and emotionally, with the help of love and reason. Fruitful love includes caring, responsibility, respect and knowledge. To love a person fruitfully means to take care of him and feel responsible for his life, not only for his physical existence, but also for the development of all his human forces. Respect for a person means the ability to see him as he is, to understand his uniqueness and individuality.

Considering human needs in an economic and political context, Fromm argued that the expression and satisfaction of these needs depends on the type of social conditions in which the individual lives. In essence, the opportunities for satisfying existential needs that a certain society provides people form their personality structure - what Fromm called "basic character orientations." Moreover, in Fromm's theory, as in Freud's, the orientations of a person's character are seen as stable and do not change over time.

Fromm singled out five social personality types prevailing in modern societies. These social types, or forms of establishing relationships with others, represent the interaction of existential needs and the social context in which people live. Fromm divided them into two large classes: unproductive(unhealthy) and productive(healthy) types. The category of unproductive receptive, exploitative, accumulative and market character types. The category of productive is represented by the type of ideal mental health in Fromm's understanding. Fromm noted that none of these types of character exists in its pure form, since unproductive and productive qualities are combined in different people in different proportions. Therefore, the influence of this social type character on mental health or illness depends on the ratio of positive and negative traits that appear in the individual.

Receptive types
Receptive types are convinced that the source of all good things in life is outside of themselves. They are openly dependent and passive, unable to do anything without outside help, and think that their main task in life is to be loved rather than love. Receptive individuals can be characterized as passive, trusting and sentimental. If we discard the extremes, then people with a receptive orientation can be optimistic and idealistic.

Exploitation types
Exploitative types take whatever they need or dream about, by force or ingenuity. They are also incapable of creativity, and therefore they seek love, possession, ideas and emotions, borrowing all this from others. Negative traits of an exploitative character are aggressiveness, arrogance and arrogance, self-centeredness and a tendency to seduce. Positive qualities include self-confidence, self-esteem, and impulsiveness.

Accumulating types
Accumulative types try to have as much wealth, power, and love as possible; they seek to avoid any encroachments on their savings. Unlike the first two types, "accumulators" h gravitate towards the past, they are scared away by everything new. They resemble Freud's anal-holding personality: rigid, suspicious, and stubborn. According to Fromm, they also have some positive features - foresight, loyalty and restraint.

market type
The market type comes from the belief that a person is valued as a commodity that can be sold or exchanged profitably. These people are interested in maintaining a good appearance, meeting the right people and are ready to demonstrate any personality trait that would increase their chances of success in selling themselves to potential customers. Their relationship with others is superficial, their motto is "I am what you want me to be."
In addition to extreme aloofness, market orientation can be described using the following key personality traits: opportunistic, aimless, tactless, promiscuous, and devastated. Them positive traits- openness, curiosity and generosity. Fromm considered the "market" personality as a product of modern capitalist society, which was formed in the United States and Western European countries.
productive nature

In contrast to the unproductive orientation, productive character p represents, from the point of view of Fromm, the ultimate goal in human development. This type is independent, honest, calm, loving, creative, and doing socially useful things. Fromm's work shows that he considered this orientation as a response to the contradictions of human existence inherent in society. It manifests a person's ability to productive logical thinking, love and work. Through productive thinking, people come to know who they are and therefore free themselves from self-deception. The power of productive love makes it possible for people to passionately love all life on Earth (biophilia). Fromm defined biophilia in terms of caring, responsibility, respect, and knowledge. Finally, productive labor provides the opportunity to produce the items necessary for life through creative self-expression. The result of the realization of all the above forces, inherent in all people, is a mature and holistic character structure.
In essence, the productive orientation in Fromm's humanistic theory is the ideal state of a person. It is unlikely that anyone achieved all the characteristics of a productive person. At the same time, Fromm was convinced that as a result of a radical social reform, the productive orientation could become the dominant type in any culture. A perfect society was drawn by Fromm as one in which the basic needs of a person are satisfied. He called this society humanistic communal socialism.

Fromm's theory attempts to show how vast sociocultural influences interact with unique human needs in the process of personality formation. His principal thesis was that character structure (personality types) is associated with certain social structures.