Personification is a concept with a wide range of meanings

In many modern sciences, the term "personification" has become widely used. This word has Latin roots and a simple, concise and understandable interpretation. However, the scope of its application is quite extensive and covers not only linguistics, but also philosophy, psychology, sociology and even mythology.

General concept

So, let's start again. Personification is a term that is used to denote the property of consciousness to impart objects unconvinced by qualities that can only be inherent in man. In other words, it is anthropopathism, in which various natural phenomena, animals, plants and even the characters of fictional worlds are represented in the form of inspired persons who possess intellect, memory and mental qualities inherent only in people. Therefore, most likely, personification is a concept that is most often found in myths and fairy tales, in fiction and fantasy films.

Etymology of the word

Before we consider the application of this term in various branches of science and art, let us become acquainted with its nature of origin. Personification is a word with Latin roots. In the first place is persona - "person" or "person", and on the second - facere, which translates as "do" or "personify." Together, these two words formed a term that received an exact scientific explanation even in the time of the Roman Empire. They were called all those phenomena, images of titans and gods, as well as magical animals who could talk, think and sympathize. Such characters met in the myths of Ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in stories that have not survived, unfortunately, to this day.

Personification: examples in the literature

We have already established that in the myths of the ancient era this method was very widespread. Over time, he firmly entrenched in world literature, and they began to use European, Oriental and Russian poets and writers. For example, let's take one folk song:

And grief, sorrow, grieve!
And the bug grief girded ,
Legs are muddied with moles.

In the poetry of the author of the Silver Age Alexander Blok, we also meet this method:

She lay down in the bedchamber

Her nurse is silence ...

In the prosaic literature of well-known authors, the reception of personification occurs literally at every step. Starting with Andersen's tales, where fish can "chat" with mermaids, and tin soldiers can grieve, finishing with the very realistic works of Maxim Gorky, who "laughed at the sea," and Mikhail Lermontov, who told us what the "Heavenly clouds" feel.

Personification in psychology

The sphere in which this term is also widely used is psychology. Its meaning here, however, is somewhat different, but the principle remains the same. So, personification here refers to the images and pictures in the person's head that are formed from him from the moment of birth. Due to them, he sees the world through his individual prism and perceives in a certain way certain phenomena. For the first time this term in psychology was introduced by the scientist Harry Sullivan, who believed that the personality develops not only in infancy and youth, but throughout his life.

Three kinds of personification of personality

Sullivan divided the period of the formation of personality into three stages: the mother, the "I" and the idol. In the first stage the newborn child contacts mainly with his mother, and in his mind two images are gradually formed - "mother is bad" and "mother is good". The first image is related to the fact that the nurse can not bring the desired benefits to the baby, for example, give him a pacifier. The second image is fixed due to constant care and care. The child grows up and begins to tie up his first contacts with the society, identifying himself in himself. So he formed the consciousness of his own "I". Later, the grown-up adult becomes a stage of personification of the idol. Often this is the empowerment of those around him with qualities that they really do not have. In other words, this is a self-deception, in which many of our contemporaries live.

Sociology

In this field, the principle of personification for explaining a multitude of moments has long been applied quite extensively. For example, the actions of certain people or their groups are usually combined into something one that could explain what is happening. Examples of sociological personification have become forms of government in various states, political views (left, right, centric), diverse forms of ideology and much more. As a rule, in each of these systems, a leader stands out - one person, or a party - a group of people. They are responsible for what is happening. In other words, they become the personification of all those events that have emerged as a result of the actions of a much larger number of people. In the event of an unsuccessful outcome of events, the ruling tops often succumb to persecution.