Английский язык учебник

Exercise 2.

A.Fill in the columns with the proper deri vatives of the following words whenever possible.

B.Put a suitable word from the box above into each gap.

1.Despite different definitions of attitudes, all the theorists share a concern with the interrelationships among the _____ beliefs, feelings, and behaviours.

2.An individual who fails to incorporate any stan dards for acceptable social behaviour may engage in excessively self _____ or criminal behaviour.

3.By emphasizing the unconscious status of our mo tivations, Freud deprived us of ______.

4.The development of character is never complete as experience is constantly presenting new aspects of life to us. Nevertheless most of our important ha bits of reaction become _____.

5.People interpret ambiguous pictures according to their _____ in terms of preferred plots or themes that reflect personal fantasies.

6.The more people are _____ to deny their own fee lings and accept the values of others, the more un comfortable they will feel about themselves.

7.Adult criminals show concern for others (for example, family or gang members) and _____ to some code of moral conduct.

8.In a session for training social skills a group of

_____ and unassertive individuals may be coached in a series of role playing scenes.

9.If the stressful conditions continue and the indi vidual is unable to cope with them, _____ may deepen into depression.

10.Researchers _____ upon the question regarding the influence of stress and other psychological variables on the body’s immune system.

Exercise 3. Arrange the following words in pairs of

(a)synonyms and (b) antonyms:

a)faculty, volition, fortitude, pertinent, bent, to mould, talent, courage, will, appropriate, to form, refined, inclination, subtle;

b)rational, detriment, feeble minded, to reveal, fixed, irrational, pertinent, apathetic, benefit, imperti nent, not indifferent, to conceal, sensible, unfixed.

Exercise 4. Find words in the text that mean:

–to understand in terms of previous experience (par. 2)

–the act or power of making one’s own

–strength of mind that enables a person

Exercise 5. Complete the sentences using one of the words below.

aptitude faculty gift talent genius

1.She had a lot of friends and they all believed in her

_____.

2.Some people have _____ of making themselves agreeable.

3._____ or ability tests are part of the admission procedure in many colleges and most professional and graduate schools.

4.He had _____ for languages and he spoke all the lo cal dialects.

5.Dr. N. Geschwind pointed out that what we consid er _____ and disabilities depends greatly on the needs for particular abilities at particular times.

324 Unit X

Exercise 6. Match each definition with the appropri

SPEAKING AND DISCUSSION

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions to the text.

1.How may character be defined?

2.What does the term “character” imply in a narrow er sense?

3.What complex collection of elements reveals man’s character?

4.What is man’s disposition dependent on?

5.What was a fundamental error in English psycho logy from Locke to John Stuart Mill?

6.Who plays an important part in the moulding of our character?

7.How may the acquired elements which go to the building of character be distinguished?

8.What contributes to the formation of habits of mind?

9.Why is a lower animal incapable of acquiring a character?

10.Why isn’t there a unique classification of types of character?

11.Why are we responsible for our character?

12.What are the main aims of the investigation of character in psychology and ethics?

Exercise 2. Discuss the following statements with your group mates making use of the ex pressions below.

I believe so…

It’s hard to say…

There is no doubt about it…

I’m afraid I can’t say…

In my opinion…

It should be noted…

1.Character often means the sum total of an indivi dual’s traits, whether rated productive or destruc tive, normal or neurotic.

2.It is the original endowment of each individual that is of great importance.

3.Individuals have an original equality or similarity of mental faculty and all their subsequent dif ferences are ascribed to a diversity of circumstances.

4.While the human organism grows and changes, the faculties of the soul may be variously developed by the manner in which it is exercised.

Exercise 4. Retell the text dwelling on the following points:

–psychology and character

–types of character

–ethics and character

Exercise 5. Think of characters from the books you have read or among your acquaintances, whom you could speak of as of strong character. Say what kind of person he or she is, why you think this character is a personality, and say what you think helped to mould his (her) character.

Exercise 6. Scan the following text and do the tasks below.

CHARACTER AND THE WILL

Volition and Character. Inasmuch as consciousness is a systematizing, unifying activity, we find that with increasing maturity our impulses are commonly coor dinated with one another more and more perfectly. We thus come to acquire definite and reliable habits of ac tion. Our wills become formed. Such fixation of modes of willing constitutes character. The really good man is not obliged to hesitate about stealing. His moral habits all impel him immediately and irrepressibly away from such actions. If he does hesitate, it is in order to be sure that the suggested act is stealing, not because his character is unstable. From one point of view, the de velopment of character is never complete, because ex perience is constantly presenting new aspects of life to us, and in consequence of this fact we are always en gaged in slight reconstructions of our modes of con duct and our attitude toward life. But in a practical common sense way most of our important habits of re

action become fixed at a fairly early and definite time in life.

The general manner of speech, the mode of dres sing, purely personal manners, etc., are commonly fixed before twenty one. The general attitude toward moral and religious ideals is likely to be gained some times during, or just after, adolescence. Professional habits come somewhat later. Speaking broadly, how ever, for the average individual the dominant tone of his habits, social, moral, aesthetic, and intellectual, is set by the time he is thirty. By this time the direction of his desires and his interests is likely to be finally formed, and for the rest of his life he will but elaborate and refine upon this stock of tendencies.

When we recall the fact that habit depends ulti mately upon the preservation of physical changes in neural tissues, we see how powerful an ally, or how frightful an enemy, one’s habits may be. The man who has led a life of kindliness and sobriety not only has a fund of agreeable sentiments upon which his friends and neighbours can rely, he actually could not be mean and selfish and sordid without an herculean effort, for his nervous system contains imbedded in its structures the tendency to altruistic deeds.

The Will. Mind is, indeed, an engine for accom plishing the most remarkable adjustments of the or ganism to its life conditions. The various features of cognitive and affective consciousness contribute each its quota to the general efficiency of the reaction which the organism is able to make upon its surroun dings, physical and social. In the will we have the culmi nation of all these activities of control. But it must have been observed that we have not found any specific mental element or event to which we could give the name will. The term will is simply a convenient appella tion for the whole range of mental life viewed from the standpoint of its activity and control over movement. The whole mind active, this is the will. To say that

there is no such thing as the will (a statement which troubles many right minded persons) is simply the psy chologist’s perverse way of saying that mentally there is nothing but will. There is no specific mental element to be called will, because all states of consciousness are in their entirety the will.

Training of the Will. The will is spoken of as though it were a race horse which once a day requires to be given its paces about the track. What is obviously in the minds of persons who discuss the question in this way is the wisdom of some form of moral calis thenics, e. g., self denial, constructive and aggressive altruism, etc. If the moral interest is there, the artifi cial gymnastics will be superfluous. Life is rich in op portunities for larger and more intelligent kindliness. But disregarding this form of moral discipline, the de velopment of volition evidently is not a thing to be has tened by any special form of exercise, because the will we have seen to be simply another name for the whole mental activity. Any purposeful intellectual occupa tion affords means of developing certain features of control. Play develops certain other features. Art de velops volitional processes in one direction, mathema tics develops them in another. So far as a well developed will consists in the ability voluntarily to direct one’s attention effectively and for unlimited periods in defi nite directions (and this certainly is a very basal con ception), all thoughtful activity facilitates its attain ment.

Healthiness of Will. The well trained man is the man whose mind is stored with a fund of varied know ledge which he can promptly command when the neces sity for it arises; he is the mail who can keep his atten tion upon the problem in hand as long as necessary, and in the face of distraction; he is, moreover, the man who, having paused long enough to see the situation correctly and to bring to bear upon it all the relevant knowledge he possesses, acts thereupon promptly and

forcefully. Defects in any of these requirements may defeat efficient action and proclaim the actor a person of feeble or defective character.

The ignorant person cannot act effectively when nice discrimination and wide knowledge are necessary, as they often are. Even the learned person ordinarily cannot go far, provided his attention is wayward and fitful. His effort is too disconnected ever to accomplish large results. The person who is flighty and precipitate is either a genius or a fool, commonly the latter. On the other hand, the hopelessly careful person, whose life is spent in a morass of doubt and indecision, balancing imponderable considerations and splitting insignifi cant hairs – he, also, is likely to belong to the incompe tents and inefficients. Evidently the attainment of a will which can fill all these requirements for the avoid ance of pitfalls requires a training on every side of one’s nature, requires a rich experience and a powerful dominant purpose running through it. All life offers us such training, and our success in moulding a strong, rich character depends much more on how we do our work than upon what work we do.

James Rowland Angell. Character and the Will, Chapter 22 in Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of Human Consciousness, Third edition, revised. New York, pp. 376–381

Task 1. Paraphrase the italicized phrases using the vocabulary of the text above.

1.All his moral habits prevent him from performing such actions.

2.Most of our important habits of reaction are stable at a definite time of life.

3.By the time man is 30, the direction of his desires and his interests is likely to be finally formed, and for the rest of his life he will but elaborate and im prove these tendencies.