The subject of the study is the psychological mechanisms that produce a person's character. The classical ideas of character, reflected in its modern definitions and interpretations, are considered. The concepts of "intention" and "attitude" are compared. On this basis, the traditional understanding of character as an expression of the system of human relations to people, objects, etc. is transformed into considering it as an intentional "relief" of the subject. The psychological content of the relationship as a substitute for action (activity) is analyzed. The connection of character with the structure of human activity is substantiated. The idea of the imitation-activity nature of character is put forward. Based on the consideration of the types of intentions and relationships, an attempt is made to develop a basic typology of character. Examples illustrating the imitation-activity nature of character types are given. The advantage of the presented concept of the psychological nature of character is that, unlike existing approaches to character (character as accentuation, social character according to E. Fromm, etc.), it allows you to combine a descriptive approach to character with the possibility of analyzing its internal psychological mechanisms. In addition, since the structure of activity (means, function, etc.) correlates with the fundamental composition of these mechanisms, then our typology of characters is not one of the possible ones, but, as we believe, reflects the basic types of character.