In parallel with the science of behavior, the science of the unconscious developed - that which is beyond the limits of human consciousness. The founder of this trend in psychology is considered Sigmund Freud, who put forward the concept of a three-level structure of the human psyche.

According to Z. Freud, the psyche consists of three components: a huge dark unconscious, which will never be fully cognized by a person ("It"), from a conscious, rational component ("I" or "Ego") and a social censor ("Super- I "or" Super Ego ").

Unconscious ("It")is the most ancient basis of the psyche, which is dominated by primary needs. Instincts are localized here (primarily, according to Freud, sexual and aggressive). A person can make contact with this part of his psyche during sleep, meditation, hypnosis and some other forms of altered consciousness.

The second part of a person's consciousness - "Ego" to a greater extent corresponds to the person's idea of ​​himself, and performs two important functions: firstly, it guides the contact with reality, and, secondly, it communicates with the unconscious.

Finally, the third component of our consciousness - "Super Ego" - a person's conscience, his inner watchdog, which exercises supervision, as it were, from within the consciousness. Freud believed that the "Super Ego" is a modified parental authority, a sublimation of a strict but just Father who, in childhood, watched the child, controlled his actions and punished him for breaking the rules.

To identify these three components of the psyche, S. Freud developed a new method - psychoanalysis, allowing you to come into contact with the unconscious by weakening the control of consciousness, using the method of "free association".

Stage 7: Study of the mechanisms of the functioning of the psyche.

This stage began in the first third of the twentieth century, and is based on the achievements of biochemistry, physiology and medicine. The representative of this trend can be considered Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, who discovered a number of patterns of mental activity. Experimental attempts to understand the mechanisms of the work of the brain are associated with his name. He discovered and studied conditioned reflexes, which are the material basis of memory and associations.

Among the scientists - representatives of this stage, one can name James Olds, who first discovered the mechanisms of the emergence of emotions, Roger Sperry, who discovered the interhemispheric asymmetry of the brain, Abraham Maslow, who created the concept of the "pyramid of urgent needs" and other researchers.

Thanks to the research of scientists of various specialties, psychologists have managed to better understand the structure and mechanisms of the human brain.

Reflection is understood as the ability of material objects in the process of interaction with other objects to reproduce in their changes some of the features and features of the phenomena affecting them.

1. Definition of psychology as a science.

2. The main branches of psychology.

3. Research methods in psychology.

1. Psychology Is a science that occupies an ambiguous position among other scientific disciplines. As a system of scientific knowledge, it is familiar only to a narrow circle of specialists, but at the same time, almost every person who possesses sensations, speech, emotions, images of memory, thinking and imagination, etc., knows about it.

The origins of psychological theories can be found in proverbs, sayings, fairy tales of the world and even ditties. For example, they say about personality “There are still devils in a still whirlpool” (a warning to those who tend to judge character by appearance). In all peoples, one can find similar everyday psychological descriptions and observations. The same proverb among the French sounds like this: "Do not immerse your hand or even your finger in a quiet stream."

Psychology- a kind of science. Man's mastery of knowledge has been going on since ancient times. However, for a long time psychology developed within the framework of philosophy, reaching a high level in the writings of Aristotle (treatise "On the Soul"), so many consider him the founder of psychology. Despite such an ancient history, psychology as an independent experimental science was formed relatively recently, only from the middle of the 19th century.

The term "psychology" first appeared in the scientific world in the 16th century. The word "psychology" comes from the Greek words: "syhe" - "soul" and "logos" - "science." Thus, literally psychology Is the science of the soul.

Already later, in the XVII-XIX centuries, psychology significantly expanded the scope of its research and began to study human activity, unconscious processes, while retaining the former name. Let us consider in more detail what is the subject of study of modern psychology.

R. S . Nemov suggests the following scheme.

As can be seen from the diagram, the psyche includes many phenomena. With the help of some, cognition of the surrounding reality occurs - this cognitive processes which consist of sensation and perception, attention and memory, thinking, imagination and speech. Other mental phenomena are necessary in order to control the actions and actions of a person, to regulate the process of communication, these are mental states(a special characteristic of mental activity for a certain period of time) and mental properties(the most stable and significant mental qualities of a person, his features).

The above division is rather arbitrary, since a transition from one category to another is possible. For example, if a process lasts for a long time, then it already passes into the state of the organism. These processes-states can be attention, perception, imagination, activity, passivity, etc.

For a better understanding of the subject of psychology, we present a table of examples of mental phenomena and concepts presented in the works of R.S. Nemov (1995).

So, psychology Is a science that studies mental phenomena.

2. Modern psychology- This is a fairly ramified complex of sciences, which continues to develop at a very rapid pace (every 4–5 years a new direction appears).

Nevertheless, it is possible to single out the fundamental branches of psychological science and special ones.

Fundamental The (basic) branches of psychological science are equally important for the analysis of the psychology and behavior of all people.

This versatility allows them to sometimes be combined under the name "general psychology".

Special(applied) branches of psychological knowledge study any narrow groups of phenomena, that is, the psychology and behavior of people employed in any narrow branch of activity.

Let us refer to the classification presented by R.S. Nemov (1995).

1. Psychology of cognitive processes and states.

2. Psychology of personality.

3. Psychology of individual differences.

4. Developmental psychology.

5. Social psychology.

6. Zoopsychology.

7. Psychophysiology.

1. Educational psychology.

2. Medical psychology.

3. Military psychology.

4. Legal psychology.

5. Space psychology.

6. Engineering psychology.

7. Economic psychology.

8. Psychology of management.

Thus, psychology is an extensive network of sciences that continues to actively develop.

3. Research methods- these are techniques and means for scientists to obtain reliable information, which are then used to build scientific theories and develop recommendations for practical activities.

In order for the information received to be reliable, it is necessary to comply with the requirements of validity and reliability.

Validity- this is such a quality of the method that testifies to its compliance with what it was originally created to study.

Reliability- evidence that repeated application of the method will yield comparable results.

There are various classifications of methods of psychology. Let's consider one of them, according to which the methods are divided into main and auxiliary ones.

Basic methods: observation and experiment; auxiliary - surveys, analysis of the process and products of activity, tests, the twin method.

Observation- This is a method by which the individual characteristics of the psyche are cognized through the study of human behavior. It can be external and internal (self-observation).

1. Planned and systematic conduct.

2. Purposefulness.

3. Duration of observation.

4. Fixation of data using technical means, coding, etc.

1. Structured (there is a detailed step-by-step observation program) - unstructured (there is only a simple listing of the data to be monitored).

2. Continuous (all reactions of the observed are recorded) - selective (only individual reactions are recorded).

3. Included (the researcher acts as a member of the group in which the observation is carried out) - not included (the researcher acts as an outside observer).

Experiment- a method of scientific research, during which an artificial situation is created, where the studied property is manifested and evaluated best.

1. Laboratory- is carried out in specially equipped rooms, often using special equipment.

It is distinguished by the rigor and accuracy of data recording, which makes it possible to obtain interesting scientific material.

Difficulties of a laboratory experiment:

1) the unusual situation, due to which the reactions of the subjects can be distorted;

2) the figure of the experimenter is capable of evoking either a desire to please, or, conversely, to do something in spite of: both distort the results;

3) not yet all mental phenomena can be modeled under experimental conditions.

2. Natural experiment- an artificial situation is created in natural conditions. Was first proposed A. F. Lazursky ... For example, you can study the peculiarities of the memory of preschoolers by playing with the children in the store, where they have to "make purchases" and thereby reproduce a given series of words.

Polls- auxiliary research methods containing questions. Questions must meet the following requirements.

Before the survey, it is necessary to conduct a short briefing with the subjects, create a friendly atmosphere; if you can get information from other sources, then you should not ask about it.

There are the following survey methods: conversation, questionnaire, interview, sociometry.

Conversation- a survey method in which both the researcher and the subject are in equal positions.

It can be used at various stages of research.

Questionnaire- a method thanks to which you can quickly obtain a large amount of data recorded in writing.

Types of questionnaires:

1) individual - collective;

2) full-time (there is a personal contact between the researcher and the respondent) - correspondence;

3) open (the respondents formulate the answers themselves) - closed (a list of ready-made answers is presented, from which it is necessary to choose the most suitable for the respondent).

Interview- a method carried out in the process of direct communication, answers are given orally.

Types of interviews:

1) standardized - all questions are formulated in advance;

2) non-standardized - questions are formulated during the interview;

3) semi-standardized - some of the questions are formulated in advance, and some arise during the interview.

When drafting questions, it should be remembered that the first questions should be supplemented by subsequent ones.

Along with direct questions, it is necessary to use indirect ones.

Sociometry- a method by which social relations in groups are studied. Allows you to determine the position of a person in a group, assumes the choice of a partner for joint activities.

Process and product analysis- the products of human activity are studied, on the basis of which conclusions are drawn about the mental characteristics of a person.

Drawings, crafts, essays, poems, etc. can be studied.

Twin method used in developmental genetic psychology.

The essence of the method lies in comparing the mental development of identical twins, by the force of circumstances brought up in different living conditions.

Tests- a standardized psychological technique, the purpose of which is to provide a quantitative assessment of the studied psychological quality.

1. Test questionnaire - test task.

2. Analytical (they study one mental phenomenon, for example, the arbitrariness of attention) - synthetic (they study the totality of mental phenomena, for example, the Cattell test allows one to conclude about 16 personality traits).

3. Depending on the content, tests are divided into:

1) intellectual (they study the features of intelligence, the so-called IQ);

2) tests of professional suitability (examines the level of professional compliance);

3) personality tests (verbal; projective, when a person's qualities are judged by how he perceives and evaluates the situation offered to him).

So, the methods of psychology are diverse and their choice is determined by the tasks of the study, the characteristics of the subject and the situation.

1. Development of psychology from ancient times to the middle of the XIX century.

2. Formation of psychology as an independent science.

3. Modern psychological concepts.

1. Interest in problems that belong to the category of psychological, arose in man in ancient times.

The philosophers of ancient Greece in their treatises tried to penetrate the secrets of being and the inner world of man.

The philosophers of antiquity explained the psyche, proceeding from the four elements on which, in their opinion, the world was based: earth, water, fire and air.

The soul, like everything in this world, consisted of these principles.

The ancients believed that the soul is located where there is warmth and movement, that is, all nature is endowed with a soul.

Subsequently, the doctrine that inspired the whole world was called "animism" (from the Latin "anima" - "spirit", "soul").

Animism was replaced by a new philosophical doctrine - atomistic.

A prominent representative of this trend was Aristotle ... He believed that peace - it is a collection of the smallest indivisible particles - atoms, which differ from each other in different mobility and size, and the material carriers of the soul are the smallest and most mobile.

Proceeding from this mobility of atoms, Aristotle explained the mechanisms, laws of the functioning of many mental phenomena: thinking, memory, perception, dreams, etc.

Many scholars regard Aristotle's treatise "On the Soul" as the first major scientific research in psychology.

According to Aristotle, a person has three souls: vegetable, animal and rational.

The mind depends on the size of the brain, emotions - on the heart.

The representative of materialistic views was Democritus ... He believed that everything in the world is made up of atoms.

Atoms exist in time and space, in which everything moves along a given trajectory. In infinite space, according to certain laws, indivisible and impenetrable particles move; the soul is formed by light, spherical particles of fire.

The soul is a fiery principle in the body, while death occurs as a result of the disintegration of the atoms of the soul and body. Both body and soul are mortal.

The merit of Democritus is that he laid the foundation for the development of the theory of knowledge, especially visual sensations. He developed recommendations for memorization, dividing the methods of preserving material into material and mental.

It is impossible not to mention the views Plato .

According to his views, a person is a prisoner in a cave, and reality is his shadow.

A person has two souls: mortal and immortal.

The mortal solves specific problems, and the immortal, whose life continues after death, is the very core of the psychic, the highest form endowed with reason.

Only an immortal soul gives true knowledge obtained as a result of enlightenment.

There are eternal ideas, and the world is a faint reflection of ideas. In the process of life, the soul recalls those immortal ideas that it encountered before entering the body.

Interesting views of Plato concerning the functioning of human memory.

Memory Is a wax tablet. People have different memories and it depends on the quality of the wax.

We preserve memories as long as they are stored on a wax plate.

The doctrine of the soul in the early Middle Ages became part of the theological worldview and completely departed to religion, which lasted until the 17th century. in the era.

Renaissance, all sciences and arts began to actively develop again.

Natural science, medical, biological sciences, various types of art, one way or another, affected the doctrine of the soul.

French, English and other European philosophers of that time, based on the mechanistic picture of the world, began to interpret many manifestations of the psyche from the standpoint of biomechanics, reflex, while the appeal to the internal manifestations of the psyche, to the soul, remained outside of their consideration.

However, internal phenomena really existed and demanded an explanation of their role in human life. As a result, a new philosophical trend began to form - dualism, which asserted that there are two independent principles in man: matter and spirit.

The science of that time was never able to explain the relationship and interdependence of these two principles, so it abandoned the study of behavior and focused on the subjective experience of a person (XVII – XVIII centuries).

Such positions were adhered to R. Descartes and J. Locke .

The psyche was considered only as a manifestation of consciousness, the world of matter was excluded from the subject of psychology.

The method of self-observation (introspection) was recognized as the main research method, and natural scientific methods were considered unacceptable for studying the phenomena of the soul.

Simultaneously with such views, the atomistic understanding of the structure of the world developed. Simple manifestations of the psyche began to be viewed as atoms.

This atomistic psychology developed over the course of two centuries, until the end of the 19th century.

Thus, from ancient times to the middle of the XIX century. psychology developed within the framework of other sciences, more often philosophy, medicine, biology.

2. In the middle of the 19th century, profound changes took place in the scientific worldview.

This also applied to the relationship between soul and body, material and mental manifestations.

The successes of medicine, in particular psychiatry, undoubtedly proved that there is a close connection between disorders of the brain and mental disorders, which refutes the postulate of dualism about their separate existence.

It became necessary to take a fresh look at the role of mental phenomena in human life and behavior.

Mechanistic understanding well explained monotonous movements, but became inconsistent in understanding intelligent behavior.

The provisions of atomistic psychology also did not fit into the new scientific facts and required revision.

Thus, in the second half of the XIX century. psychological science was on the verge of a crisis, for the following reasons:

1) the understanding of mental phenomena has become impossible from the standpoint of exact natural knowledge;

2) the relationship between mental and physical did not lend itself to rational explanation;

3) Psychological scientists were unable to explain complex forms of human behavior that go beyond reflexes.

The resulting crisis led to the collapse of dualism and introspection as the only reliable source of psychological knowledge. In search of overcoming the crisis, three areas of psychological teaching arose: behaviorism, gestalt psychology and psychoanalysis (Freudianism).

Let's consider them in more detail.

Behaviorism. Its founder is an American scientist D. Watson , who proposed to consider behavior (from the English behavior) as a subject of psychology, and consider mental phenomena unknowable with the help of natural scientific methods.

For cognition of behavior, it is quite enough to describe the behavior itself, to find out and describe the external and internal forces acting on the body, to study the laws according to which the interaction of stimuli and behavior occurs.

Behaviorists believed that the difference between animal behavior and human behavior lies only in the complexity and variety of reactions.

Nevertheless, Watson could not help but admit the existence of purely human mental phenomena.

He interpreted mental states as functions that play an active role in the adaptation of the organism to the world, while admitting that he was not able to understand the meaning of this role.

Scientists in this direction denied the possibility of studying consciousness.

As Watson wrote, the behaviorist "does not observe anything that he could call consciousness, feeling, sensation, imagination, will, insofar as he no longer believes that these terms indicate the true phenomena of psychology."

However, already in the 30s. XX century, such extreme views of D. Watson were softened by non-behaviourists, primarily E. Tolman and K. Hull ... So, E. Tolman led the concept of the rationality and expediency of behavior.

Target Is the end result achieved as a result of performing behavioral acts.

The most important psychological phenomena, according to Tolman, are purpose, expectation, hypothesis, cognitive picture of the world, sign and its meaning.

K. Hull developed a model of behavior based on responses to various stimuli.

The body responds to stimuli using innate and acquired ways that are associated with a system of "intermediate variables" that mediate this interaction.

Thus, behaviorism does not study human consciousness, believing that psychology must explain behavior by examining the stimuli entering the body and outgoing behavioral responses.

The theory of learning proceeds from this thesis, which is based on the use of all kinds of punishments and reinforcements when it is necessary to form appropriate reactions, thanks to which the theory is still popular, primarily among American psychologists. (B.F.Skinner).

Gestalt psychology originated in Germany and spread almost throughout Europe, including Russia, especially in the pre-war years.

This direction was influenced by sciences such as physics and mathematics.

Outstanding representatives are K. Levin , M. Wertheimer , V. Koehler and etc.

The essence of this direction was formulated by M. Wertheimer, who wrote: “... there are connections in which what happens as a whole is not derived from the elements that supposedly exist in the form of separate pieces that are then tied together, but on the contrary, what is manifested in a separate parts of this whole, is determined by the internal structural law of this whole. "

That is, Gestalt psychology studies not phenomena, but the structure of connections, therefore it is sometimes called structural psychology (translated into Russian, the word “gestalt” means “structure”).

K. Levin is known for his works in the field of personality and interpersonal relations.

He believed that the behavior of a person can be understood only on the basis of the integral situation in which this person finds himself.

The environment is determined by the subjective perception of the people acting in it.

The merit of Gestalt psychology is that it found modern approaches to the study of the problems of psychology, but the problems that caused the crisis were never fully resolved.

Psychoanalysis was developed by an Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist S. Freud, therefore it is sometimes called "Freudianism".

Founding the scientific theoretical direction in psychology, Freud proceeded from the analysis of his rich psychotherapeutic practice, thereby, as it were, returning psychology to its original subject: penetration into the essence of the human soul.

The fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis are consciousness and unconscious.

It is the unconscious (the main of which is sexual desire - libido) that is assigned a significant role in the regulation of human activity and behavior.

Censorship from the side of consciousness suppresses unconscious drives, but they "break through" in the form of reservations, mistakes, unpleasant forgetting, dreams, and neurotic manifestations.

Psychoanalysis became widespread not only in Europe, but also in the United States, where it is still popular.

In the first years of Soviet power, this direction was also in demand in our country, but in the 30s. Against the general background of restrictions on psychological research (the decree "On pedological perversions in the system of the People's Commissariat for Education"), Freud's teachings were also subjected to repression.

Up to the 60s. psychoanalysis has only been studied critically.

Only in the second half of the twentieth century, interest in psychoanalysis increased again, not only in Russia, but throughout the world.

So, none of the newly emerging psychological trends completely resolved the contradictions that led to the crisis of psychology as a science.

Consider some modern psychological concepts that began to actively develop since the second half of the twentieth century.

Cognitive psychology arose out of the development of computer science and cybernetics.

Representatives of the cognitive school - J. Piaget , W. Niser, J. Bruner, R. Atkinson and etc.

For the cognitive scientist, human cognitive processes are analogous to a computer.

The main thing is to understand how a person learns the world around him, and for this it is necessary to study the ways of forming knowledge, how cognitive processes arise and develop, what is the role of knowledge in human behavior, how this knowledge is organized in memory, how the intellect functions, how the word and image relate in memory and thinking of a person.

As the basic concept of cognitive psychology, the concept of "schema" is used, which is a plan for collecting and processing information, perceived by the senses and stored in the head of a person.

The main conclusion reached by representatives of this direction is that in many life situations a person makes decisions mediated by the peculiarities of thinking.

Neo-Freudianism emerged from Freud's psychoanalysis.

Its representatives - A. Adler, K. Jung, K. Horney, E. Fromm and etc.

Common in all these views is the recognition of the significance of the unconscious in the life of people and the desire to explain many human complexes by this.

So, A. Adler believed that a person is governed by an inferiority complex, which he receives from the moment of birth, being a helpless being.

In an effort to overcome this complex, a person acts rationally, actively and expediently.

The goals are determined by the person himself, and already on the basis of this, cognitive processes, personality traits, and worldview are formed.

K. Jung's concept is also called analytical psychology.

He viewed the human psyche through the prism of the macro-processes of culture, through the spiritual history of mankind.

There are two types of the unconscious: personal and collective.

Personal the unconscious is acquired in the course of the accumulation of life experience, collective- is inherited and contains the experience accumulated by humanity.

Jung described the collective unconscious as archetypes that most often appear in myths and fairy tales, primitive forms of thinking, images passed down from generation to generation.

The personal unconscious is close to a person, it is a part of himself; the collective is often perceived as something hostile, and therefore causing negative experiences, and sometimes neuroses.

Jung is credited with identifying personality types such as introverts and extroverts.

Introverts tend to find in themselves all the sources of vital energy and the reasons for what is happening, and extroverts - in the external environment. In further studies, the isolation of these two types was confirmed experimentally and became widely used for diagnostic purposes.

According to the personality typology developed by Jung, the following types are distinguished:

1) mental (intellectual) - creates formulas, schemes, is prone to power, authoritarianism; mostly inherent in men;

2) sensitive (sentimental, emotional) - responsiveness, the ability to empathize, a more feminine type prevails;

3) sensory - content with sensations, there are no deep experiences, adapts well to the outside world;

4) intuitive - is in a creative search, new ideas come as a result of insight, but they are not always productive and require improvement.

Each of the listed types can be both intro- and extroverted. K. Jung also introduced the concept of individualization, which means the development of a person as an individual, distinct from a community. This is the ultimate goal of the educational process, however, at the initial stages, a person must learn the minimum of collective norms that are necessary for his existence.

Another prominent representative of neo-Freudianism is E. Fromm , who was the founder of humanistic psychoanalysis. E. Fromm believed that the psyche and human behavior are socially conditioned.

Pathology appears where personal freedom is suppressed. These pathologies include: masochism, sadism, hermitism, conformism, tendency to destruction.

Fromm divides all social structures into those that promote human freedom, and those where human freedom is lost.

Genetic psychology. Its founder is a Swiss psychologist J. Piaget, who studied the mental development of the child, mainly his intellect, therefore, in part, he can be considered as a representative of cognitive psychology.

In the process of cognitive development, there are three periods:

1) sensorimotor (from birth to approximately 1.5 years);

2) the stage of specific operations (from 1.5-2 to 11-13 years old);

3) the stage of formal operations (after 11-13 years).

The onset of these stages can be accelerated or slowed down depending on the nature of the training, on the influence of the environment.

Training will only be effective when it is started on time and takes into account the existing level.

J. Piaget wrote: “Whenever we prematurely teach a child something that he could discover over time for himself, we thereby deprive him of this, and therefore, deprive him of a full understanding of the subject.

This, of course, does not mean that teachers should not design experimental situations that stimulate student creativity. "

The main determinants of cognitive development are maturation, experience, and social learning.

The modern structure of psychological knowledge is characterized by the following trends:

1) the erasure of boundaries between previously existing independent directions in psychological science, for example, many modern scientists use in their theories the knowledge accumulated in various directions;

2) modern psychology is increasingly becoming a demanded practice, and this leads to differentiation not according to theoretical schools, but according to the areas of application of knowledge in practical areas of activity;

3) psychological knowledge is enriched at the expense of those sciences with which psychology actively cooperates, solving common problems.

So, the field of theoretical and practical application of modern psychology is very wide, and psychology is an actively and dynamically developing science.

Test

By discipline: "Psychology"

"Psychology as a Science"

Completed:

3rd year student of NWTU

A.A. Pavlov

Introduction 3

1. Psychology as a science 4

1.1. The emergence and development of psychology 4

1.2. Branches of psychology 5

1.3. Psychological research methods 6

2. Stages of development of psychology 12

2.1. The origin of psychology as a science 12

2.2. Basic psychological schools 13

2.3. Evolution of schools and directions 14

References 16

Introduction

The human psyche is complex and diverse. Since ancient times, philosophers have tried to penetrate into its depths. From the simple people came to the complex gradually. Previously, psychologists believed that a person has only consciousness, and all his actions are subject to him. Consciousness determines desires, motivation for a person's actions, etc. This is what the representatives of classical psychology believed.

But time did not stand still, it demanded new discoveries, new answers to old questions. Even ancient philosophers tried to explain where dreams come from, what do they mean, why a person dreams, makes reservations, slip-ups, how does a person automate their movements? The “omnipotent” consciousness was unable to answer these and some other questions. And then the unconscious entered the scene as a kind of piggy bank of all the secret and repressed desires and thoughts of a person. Consciousness is inaccessible to unconsciousness, they coexist separately, as if in the neighborhood.

If the boundaries between mental (virtual) reality and objective were blurred, then the integrity and adequacy of the psyche would be violated. A person who is conscious is often unaware of the desires and thoughts stored in the unconscious.

1. Psychology as a science

1.1. The emergence and development of psychology

Psychology is the science of the laws governing the development and functioning of the psyche. The interaction of all living beings with the surrounding world is carried out through a special kind of mental processes and states. These special processes are inseparable from physiological processes, but they are not reducible to them. For many centuries, these amazing and mysterious phenomena were designated by the general term "soul" and were considered a product of the highest essence - God. In the views of the ancients, the soul was interpreted animalistically, i.e. as a special disembodied entity that takes root in the human body. But already Aristotle proposed the interpretation of the soul as a way of organizing a living body and its behavior, which served as a powerful stimulus for the development of scientific views in the field of the mental in the West.

Having emerged as a branch of philosophical science, psychology has been inextricably linked with it for more than two millennia. Within the framework of philosophy, a huge amount of knowledge was accumulated about various mental processes and states, the processes of perception and cognition of the surrounding world, emotional processes, mechanisms of development of mental phenomena were investigated, attempts were made to typology of people. The biological foundations of the mental have been investigated in medical science. Much knowledge about the psychic has been accumulated in astrology, the so-called occult sciences.

Since that time, the development of psychological science has gone by leaps and bounds. Already at the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, many psychological schools appeared that differed in approaches to understanding the nature of the mental: functionalism, behaviorism, reflexology, psychoanalysis, humanistic schools, gestalt psychology. The presence of a large number of schools emphasizes the complexity of the tasks facing psychology and the possibility of interpreting mental phenomena from various theoretical positions. At the same time, in the study of certain mental processes and states, an eclectic approach is often used, synthesizing the points of view of various schools.

1.2. Branches of psychology

Modern psychology is a ramified system of relatively independent scientific disciplines associated with various types of human activity. These disciplines are called branches of psychology. The emergence of many industries is associated with the accumulation of a huge amount of scientific facts and the need for their more rigorous systematization, as well as with the peculiarities of the functioning of the psyche when performing various types of activities. Many of the industries, in turn, are subdivided into a number of more specialized disciplines with a narrower subject of study.

So, for example, medical psychology, which studies the psychological aspects of the doctor's activity and the patient's behavior, is subdivided within itself into neuropsychology, which studies the relationship of mental phenomena with the physiology of the brain; psychopharmacology, which studies the effect of medicinal substances on human mental activity; psychotherapy, which studies and uses the means of mental influence on the patient; psychoprophylaxis and psychohygiene, developing a system of preventive measures that prevent the development of psychopathologies.

The following branches of psychology are distinguished:

* general psychology- studies the general patterns of mental activity of an adult;

* age-related psychology- explores the features of the development of the psyche at different age stages; in turn, the mental characteristics of children and schoolchildren of different ages are studied by the branch of developmental psychology, which is called child psychology;

* pedagogical psychology- deals with the psychological characteristics of training and education;

social psychology - studies the relationship of people in groups;

* labor psychology- considers the psychological characteristics of various types of work activities, etc.

The emergence of new types of activity determines the emergence of the corresponding branch of psychology. So, for example, in connection with the need to study the psyche of people in space flight, there was such a branch as space psychology.

1.3. Psychological research methods

Psychology, like other sciences, uses various methods to collect scientific information. But the specificity of the object of research - the human psyche - leaves its mark both on the possibilities of using this or that method, and on its effectiveness.

Consider the advantages and disadvantages of the main methods of psychological research.

Observation

Observation- historically the most ancient method used by almost all sciences. Various modifications of this method have found application in psychology: self-observation, objective observation, which can be direct and mediated, direct and indirect, included and external, natural and laboratory, systematic and search.

Self-observation or "introspection" is the study of oneself, one's inner world, and various mental reactions by an observer.

For a long time, among thinkers involved in the study of mental phenomena, it was widely believed that it is impossible to study the psyche from the outside, because it is a closed world, accessible only to oneself.

The advantage of this method is its high information content and ease of use. But with the development of scientific psychology, numerous negative aspects of self-observation were revealed, of which the main ones are the impossibility of verifying the results, extreme subjectivity in the interpretation of mental facts. With the appearance of the first ideas about the unconscious and its influence on behavior and in general on the entire mental life of an individual, it became obvious that the reliability of this method is very limited. This explains the transition in psychological cognition to objective methods, of which the simplest are various types of observation.

Direct observation involves the contact of the researcher with the object of observation.

With indirect observation, the researcher gets acquainted with the observed object in absentia, through various documents, for example, diaries, autobiographies, the results of creativity. An example is Z. Freud's analysis of F. Dostoevsky's personality based on his works, or E. Fromm's analysis of Hitler's personality based on the testimony of his close associates and the well-known facts of his biography.

Direct observation provides information about the processes available for qualitative and quantitative assessment.

Indirect observation is used when we want, using objective methods, to investigate processes that are not amenable to direct observation, for example, the degree of human fatigue. In this case, we can judge the severity of this process only indirectly, for example, by the change in the degree of concentration of attention, by the number of mistakes made.

When observation is on, the researcher becomes part of the observed team.

With outside observation, the researcher does not come into contact with the observed situation.

Natural observation occurs under normal conditions, and laboratory - in artificially created, or significantly changed.

Systematic observation involves the study of a specific aspect of behavior to which this study is devoted.

Exploratory observation is not subordinated to a specific goal, but often changes the whole picture of the study if the initial hypothesis was incorrect.

The advantages of observation are obvious, but various errors in assessing the observed facts are possible, associated with various effects known to psychology, for example, the halo effect and the Pygmalion effect.

The Pygmalion effect is that, putting forward the initial hypothesis, the researcher then tends to involuntarily interpret the observed facts in its favor.

The halo effect, or the gala effect, leads to an inappropriate generalization of specific impressions of the researcher and the transfer of assessments from one situation to another.

In addition, the observer can interpret mental facts from the point of view of the main provisions of the psychological school to which he belongs, or he may be subject to various kinds of prejudices concerning, for example, the abilities of women for certain types of activity (so-called sexism) or concerning the dependence of the functioning psyche from belonging to a particular race, nationality, socio-cultural group, etc.

Experiment

Experiment is called a method in which the researcher himself causes the phenomenon under investigation.

Most often, when conducting an experiment, the subjects are arbitrarily or according to some criteria divided into two groups - an experimental one, for which changed conditions of activity are created, and a control group, which does not undergo such changes. These precautions are necessary to ensure that the observed manifestations of the psyche are associated with altered conditions, and not with some other factors.

In modern psychology, experiment is the main research method, which does not mean that its application is absolutely reliable. With the use in practice of the experiment, distortions are associated, called the Rosenthal, Hawthorne effects.

The Rosenthal effect is associated with the experimenter's expectations. When the experimenter is deeply convinced that the responses of the subjects will change, then he involuntarily conveys his expectations to the subjects in various non-verbal (non-verbal) ways, and this can affect their behavior.

The Hawthorne effect occurs when the subjects know the initial hypothesis. In this case, the probability is high that they will behave in accordance with the experimenter's expectations. A special case of the Hawthorne effect is the placebo effect, in which doctors, convinced of the efficacy of a drug, convey their conviction to patients and, as a result, the expected improvement in health occurs, although in fact this drug does not have such an effect.

Questionnaires and tests

To obtain large amounts of information, questionnaires are used, which is a modification of another method - conversations. When questioning, subjects are offered a carefully designed questionnaire. The researcher then judges the presence or absence of certain mental properties by the answers.

Tests allow you to quantitatively measure various characteristics of the psyche: for example, intelligence, attention, mental operations, memory, as well as various mental states, such as anxiety, frustration, depression.

Along with verbal tests, various non-verbal tests are used, for example, the Rosenzweig drawing test, aimed at studying the individual's reactions in response to a traumatic situation.

Projective techniques

Projective techniques are based on the ability of individuals to ascribe their own states and qualities to the presented objects.

The most famous is the Rorschach inkblot technique, during which the subjects are presented with cards with standard inkblots of various colors and, according to what they see in them, the realistic perception, the level of anxiety, and the emotional state are assessed.

When carrying out other projective techniques, the subjects are asked to draw a house, a tree, a person, a non-existent animal, and by the peculiarities of the drawing, they judge the state of the psyche of individuals.

There are also verbal projective techniques, for example, the "Unfinished Sentence" technique, in which the researcher offers the subjects the beginning of the sentence, which they must complete.

2. Stages of development of psychology

The subject of psychology is the subject's natural and socio-cultural relationships, which are imprinted in the system of sensory and mental images of this world, motives that awaken action, as well as in the actions themselves, the experiences of their relationships to other people and to oneself, in the properties of the personality as the nucleus of this system. ...

A) Animism- the ancient idea of ​​the world around us (from the Latin "anima" - soul, spirit) - belief in things hidden behind visible things.

B) Hylozoism- the transition from antiquity (from the Greek "hyle" - substance, matter and "zoe" - life). Hylozoism for the first time placed the soul (psyche) under the general laws of nature.

V) Heraclitus and the idea of ​​the development of the law (logos)."Logos" - introduced by Heraclitus - which means law. "The small world (microcosm) of an individual soul is similar to the macrocosm of the entire world order."

2.1. The origin of psychology as a science

At the beginning of the 19th century, new approaches to the psyche began to take shape. Müller (1801-1858) formed the "law of specific energy of the senses." Psychophysicist was discovered by the physiologist Weber (1795-1878). Dondres (1818-1889) was engaged in experiments to study the speed of mental processes.

A unique subject of psychology, no other discipline is studied, was recognized as "direct experience". The main method is introspection: the subject's observation of the processes in his mind. Sechenov I.M. (1829-1905) studied the nature of the psyche.

Self-regulation of the body's behavior by means of signals - this was the physiological basis of Sechenov's scheme of mental activity.

2.2. Basic psychological schools

The more successful the experimental work in psychology was, the wider the field of its studied phenomena became, the more rapidly the dissatisfaction of the versions that the unique the subject of this science serves consciousness, and method- inspiration.

A) Functionalism.

William James (1842-1910) stood at the origin. He is known as the leader of the pragmatism of philosophy, which evaluates ideas and theories based on how they work in practice to benefit the individual.

B) Reflexology.

Pavlov introduced the principle of convention into this concept. Hence its main term - conditioned reflex.

V) Behaviorism.

The credo of this trend is embodied in the term "behavior" (English "behavior"), and it itself was called behaviorism. His "father" is considered to be Watson, who in 1913 outlined the manifesto of the new school.

G) Psychoanalysis.

The founder can be considered Freud (1856-1939), like many other classics of modern psychology, he studied the central nervous system for many years, gaining a solid reputation as a specialist in the field of psychoanalysis. The main among these processes was recognized as having a sexual nature of the energy of attraction.

D) Psychoanalytic attraction.

Created by the students and associates of Freud: Jung K. (1875-1961) and Adler A. (1870-1937). Jung called his psychology analytical, Adler called his individual.

2.3. Evolution of schools and directions

A) Non-bihiviorism.

Tolman E. (1886-1956) - a behavior formula should not consist of two, but of three members, and therefore look like this: stimulus (independent variable) - intermediate variables - dependent variable (reaction). The middle link (intermediate variables) is nothing more than psychological moments inadmissible for direct observation: expectations, attitudes, knowledge. Another version belongs to Hal (1884-1952) and his school. He introduced the formula "stimulus - reaction", as well as an additional link in the body's need (food, sexual, etc.)

B) Operant behaviorism.

Skinner called the conditioned reflex operant. Skinner's work, like that of other behaviorists, has enriched knowledge about the general rules for developing skills, about the role of reinforcement (which serves as an indispensable motive for these skills), about the dynamics of the transition from one form of behavior to another.

V) Vygotsky. The theory of higher mental functions.

All Vygodsky's thoughts were focused on putting an end to the version of "two psychologies", which regarded a person and made him involved in different worlds.

Conclusion

Having emerged as a branch of philosophical science, psychology has been inextricably linked with it for more than two millennia. Within the framework of philosophy, a huge amount of knowledge was accumulated about various mental processes and states, the processes of perception and cognition of the surrounding world, emotional processes, mechanisms of development of mental phenomena were investigated, attempts were made to typology of people.

The biological foundations of the mental have been investigated in medical science. Much knowledge about the psychic has been accumulated in astrology, the so-called occult sciences.

The accumulation of knowledge about the nature and mechanisms of the functioning of the mental went on at two levels: empirical (experimental) and theoretical and led in the second half of the 19th century to the emergence of psychology as an independent science. The emergence of scientific psychology is associated with the name of W. Wundt, who in 1879 created the largest psychological school, called the structuralist one.

Bibliography

Blum G. Psychoanalytic theories of personality. - M .: KSP, 2002 .-- 247 p.

Introduction to psychology / Under total. ed. prof. A.V. Petrovsky. - M .: Publishing Center "Academy", 1996. - 496 p.

Godefroy J. What is psychology: In 2 volumes. T. 1. - M .: Mir, 1992, - 496 p.

James W. Psychology / Ed. L.A. Petrovskaya. - M .: Pedagogika, 2000 .-- 368 p.

Zhmurov V.A. Psychopathology. Part II. Psychopathological syndromes: a textbook. - Irkutsk: Irkut Publishing House. University, 1994 .-- 304 p.

Leont'ev A. N. Activity, consciousness, personality. - M .: Education, 1975 .-- 304 p.

Kon IS Sociology of personality. - M .: Publishing house of political literature, 1967 .-- 243 p.

What is Psychology? It is incredibly difficult to give a definite answer to this question. The fundamental principles of the discipline were formulated in the nineteenth century, but the preconditions for the emergence of psychology as a science arose long before the advent of our era. Understanding the science that studies thoughts, behavioral features and subconscious processes of animals and humans, allows you to adapt in modern society, reveal the abilities and talents and gain recognition from others.

Psychology as a science deals with the study of the behavior and thinking processes of animals and humans. Translated from Latin, Psyche means "Soul", the existence of which is still disputed by most scientists. Logos translates as “concept; thought or word "and is a term first used by Heraclitus of Ephesus (Greek philosopher and founder of dialectics). Among other founders of modern psychology, it is worth highlighting such famous figures of the times of antiquity as Plato and Socrates.

They, like other representatives of the Stoic school (Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Democritus and a number of others), adhered to the point of view that the soul is a completely material object subject to comprehensive study. Many historians believe that the father of psychology as a scientific discipline is Aristotle, who in the fourth century BC published the later famous treatise On the Soul. The author puts forward the theory that the soul has various abilities such as thinking, sensing and developing, and represents the fundamental principle of movement.

The next stage in the formation of psychology as a science falls on the beginning of the sixteenth century. René Descartes (an outstanding physiologist, mechanic, physicist and mathematician who lived in the seventeenth century) was able in theory and practice to identify the presence of such a psychophysical problem as the relationship between body and soul. He was also able to identify a number of patterns concerning the work of consciousness and reflexes at the subconscious level. Subsequently, the main methods of studying consciousness based on Descartes' theory were supplemented by the influential thinker of the Enlightenment, John Locke.

Fields and structure of psychology

As a result of the development of psychological science, a huge number of areas have arisen, covering the most diverse areas. Cognitive psychology examines human thinking and the development of cognitive function. A comparative branch of the discipline studies the behavioral patterns of representatives of the animal world to establish relationships with patterns that are inherent in humans. It is also customary to distinguish the following areas of psychological science:

1. Judicial. Research in this area is used primarily in the justice system.
2. Pathopsychology, which studies all kinds of pathologies and behavior that goes beyond the accepted norms.
3. Clinical. Pioneers in clinical psychology are looking for effective treatments for a variety of mental disorders.

Neuropsychology is an interdisciplinary scientific field aimed at understanding the characteristics of mental processes and how the brain functions. In this area, advances in computer science, neurobiology and philosophy are used, and its main methods include: irritation and destruction of structural connections, as well as research in a comparative anatomical way.

Basic concepts and terms on the topic: psychology, psyche, reflection, mental processes, mental states, mental properties, sensitivity, instinct, skill, intellectual behavior, reflection, reflex, imprinting, skill, conscious, unconscious, intuition, insight, self-awareness, self-esteem, Self-image, reflective consciousness ...

Topic study plan(list of questions required for study):

1. Subject of psychology. The relationship of psychology with other sciences. Branches of psychology.

2. Stages of formation of psychology as a science.

3. Tasks of modern psychology.

4. The concept of the psyche, the structure of the psyche.

5. Consciousness as a form of mental reflection. The psychological structure of consciousness.

Brief summary of theoretical questions:

Subject, object and methods of psychology.
Psychology in translation from Greek means teaching, knowledge about the soul ("psyche" - soul, "logos" - teaching, knowledge). This is the science of the laws of mental life and human activity and various forms of communities of people. Psychology as a science studies the facts, patterns and mechanisms of the psyche (A.V. Petrovsky). Object In psychology, a person is not only a specific and individual person, but also various social groups, masses and other forms of communities of people and other highly organized animals, the peculiarities of the mental life of which are studied by such a branch of psychology as zoopsychology. However, traditionally, the main object of psychology is a person. In this case psychology- is the science of the laws of the emergence, formation, development, functioning and manifestations of the psyche of people in different conditions and at different stages of their life and activity.
Subject studying psychology is the psyche. In its most general form psyche - it is the inner spiritual world of a person: his needs and interests, desires and inclinations, attitudes, value judgments, attitudes, experiences, goals, knowledge, skills, behavior and activity skills, etc. The human psyche is manifested in his statements, emotional states, facial expressions , pantomime, behavior and activity, their results and other externally expressed reactions: for example, reddening (blanching) of the face, sweating, changes in the rhythm of the heart, blood pressure, etc. It is important to remember that a person can hide his real thoughts, relationships, experiences and other mental states.
All diversity forms of mental existence are usually grouped into the following four groups.
1 . ^ Mental processes human: a) cognitive (attention, sensation, perception, imagination, memory, thinking, speech);
b) emotional (feelings);
c) strong-willed.
2. ^ Mental education person (knowledge, abilities, skills, habits, attitudes, views, beliefs, etc.).
3. Mental properties person (focus, character, temperament, personality abilities).
4. Mental states: functional (intellectual and cognitive, emotional and volitional) and general (mobilization, relaxation)
The main task psychology consists in the knowledge of the origins and characteristics of the psyche of people, the laws of its occurrence, formation, functioning and manifestations, the capabilities of the human psyche, its influence on human behavior and activity. An equally important task of psychology is to develop recommendations for people to increase their stress resistance and psychological reliability when solving professional and other tasks in various circumstances of life and work.
In general, psychology as a science performs two main functions: as fundamental science, it is called upon to develop a psychological theory, to reveal the laws of the individual and group psyche of people and its individual phenomena; as an applied knowledge area- to formulate recommendations for improving professional activities and everyday life of people.

Psychology methods: observation- purposeful perception of any pedagogical phenomenon, in the process of which the researcher receives specific factual material. Distinguish observation included, when the researcher becomes a member of the group being observed, and not included -"From the outside"; open and hidden (incognito); solid and selective.
Methods poll- conversation, interview, questioning. Conversation - an independent or additional research method used in order to obtain the necessary information or clarify what was not clear enough during observation. The conversation is conducted according to a pre-planned plan with the highlighting of issues requiring clarification. It is conducted in a free form without recording the interlocutor's answers. A kind of conversation is interviewing, brought into pedagogy from sociology. When interviewing, the researcher adheres to pre-planned questions, asked in a certain sequence. During the interview, the answers are recorded openly.
Questionnaire - method of mass collection of material using a questionnaire. Those to whom the questionnaires are addressed give written answers to questions. Conversation and interviews are called face-to-face polls, and questionnaires are called absentee polls.
Valuable material can give study of products of activity: written, graphic, creative and test works, drawings, drawings, details, notebooks for individual disciplines, etc. These works can provide the necessary information about the student's personality, about the achieved level of skills and abilities in a particular area.
A special role in pedagogical research is played by experiment- a specially organized test of a particular method, work acceptance to identify its pedagogical effectiveness. Distinguish experiment natural(in the context of the usual educational process) and laboratory - the creation of artificial conditions for testing, for example, one or another teaching method, when individual students are isolated from the rest. Natural experiment is most often used. It can be long-term or short-term.
The place of psychology in the system of sciences.
Psychology is an area of ​​humanitarian, anthropological knowledge. It is closely related to many sciences. At the same time, two aspects of such interrelations are quite clearly manifested.

• There are sciences that act as a kind of theoretical basis, the basis for psychology: for example, philosophy, physiology of human higher nervous activity. Philosophical sciences are primarily of theoretical and methodological significance for psychology. They equip a person with an understanding of the most general laws of the development of objective reality, the origins of life, the meaning of human existence, form in him a certain vision of the picture of the world, an understanding of the causes of processes and phenomena occurring in living and inanimate matter and in the minds of people, explain the essence of real events and facts. Philosophy makes a decisive contribution to the formation of a person's worldview.
• There are sciences in relation to which psychology is one of the basic, theoretical foundations. These sciences primarily include pedagogical, legal, medical, political science and a number of others. The development of their problems by these sciences at the present time cannot be sufficiently complete and justified without taking into account the human factor, including the human psyche, the psychology of age, ethnic, professional and other groups of people.
• 3. The history of the development of psychological knowledge.
  The doctrine of the soul (5th century BC - early 17th century AD)
  The doctrine of the soul evolved within the framework of ancient Greek philosophy and medicine. The new ideas about the soul were not religious, but secular, open to all, accessible to rational criticism. The purpose of constructing the doctrine of the soul was to identify the properties and laws of its existence.
  The most important directions in the development of ideas about the soul are associated with the teachings of Plato (427-347 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC). Plato drew the line between the material, material, mortal body and the immaterial, immaterial, immortal soul. Individual souls - imperfect images of a single universal world soul - have a part of the universal spiritual experience, the recollection of which is the essence of the process of individual cognition. This doctrine laid the foundations of the philosophical theory of knowledge and determined the orientation of psychological knowledge to the solution of the actual philosophical, ethical, pedagogical and religious problems.

  The main directions of psychology.
  A person in his physiological and mental formation and development goes through various stages, participates in many spheres of social life, and is engaged in various types of activities. The forms of communities of people are also diverse: small and large social groups, age, professional, educational, ethnic, religious, family, organized and spontaneously emerging groups and other communities of people. In this regard, modern psychological science is a diversified field of knowledge and includes more than 40 relatively independent branches. General psychology and social psychology are basic in relation to other branches of psychological knowledge: labor psychology, sports, higher education, religion, mass media (mass media), art, age, pedagogical, engineering, military, medical, legal, political, ethnic, etc.

  The concept of the psyche. Functions of the psyche.
  Psyche- This is a property of highly organized living matter, which consists in the active reflection by the subject of the objective world, in the construction by the subject of an inalienable picture of this world and regulation on this basis of behavior and activity.

  Fundamental judgments about the nature and mechanisms of manifestation of the psyche.

the psyche is a property of only living matter, only highly organized living matter (by specific organs that determine the possibility of the existence of the psyche);

the psyche has the ability to reflect the objective world (obtaining information about the world around it);

the information received by a living creature about the world around them serves as the basis for the regulation of the internal environment of a living organism and the formation of its behavior, which in general determines the possibility of a relatively long existence of this organism in the conditions of its habitat.
Psychic functions:

• reflection of the influences of the surrounding world;
• a person's awareness of his place in the world around him;
• regulation of behavior and activity.

^ Development of the psyche in phylogeny and ontogeny.
The development of the psyche in phylogeny is associated with the development of the nervous system. The level of development of the sense organs and the nervous system invariably determines the level and forms of mental reflection. At the lowest stage of development (for example, in coelenterates), the nervous system is a nervous network consisting of nerve cells scattered throughout the body with intertwining processes. It is the reticular nervous system. Animals with a reticular nervous system generally respond with tropisms. Temporary connections are formed with difficulty and poorly preserved.

At the next stage of development, the nervous system undergoes a number of qualitative changes. Nerve cells are organized not only in the network, but also in nodes (ganglia). The nodal, or ganglionic, nervous system allows receiving and processing the greatest amount of stimuli, since sensory nerve cells are in close proximity to stimuli, which changes the quality of the analysis of the received stimuli.
The complication of the nodal nervous system is observed in higher invertebrates - insects. In each part of the body, ganglia merge to form nerve centers that are interconnected by nerve pathways. The head center is especially complicated.
The highest type of nervous system is the tubular nervous system. It is a combination of nerve cells organized into a tube (in chordates). In the process of evolution, vertebrates develop and develop the spinal cord and brain - the central nervous system. Simultaneously with the development of the nervous system and receptors, the sense organs of animals develop and improve, and the forms of mental reflection also become more complex.
The development of the brain is of particular importance in the evolution of vertebrates. Localized centers are formed in the brain, representing different functions.
Thus, the evolution of the psyche is expressed in the improvement of the sense organs that perform receptor functions, and the development of the nervous system, as well as in the complication of the forms of mental reflection, that is, signaling activity.

There are four main levels of development of the psyche of living organisms:

• Irritability;
• Sensitivity (sensation);
• Behavior of higher animals (externally conditioned behavior);
• Human consciousness (externally conditioned behavior).

The development of the psyche in ontogenesis. Without assimilating the experience of mankind, without communicating with others like ourselves, there will not be developed, in fact human feelings, the ability to voluntary attention and memory, the ability to abstract thinking will not develop, a human personality will not be formed. This is evidenced by the cases of raising human children among animals.
So, all children - "Mowgli" showed primitive animal reactions, and it was impossible to find in them those features that distinguish a person from an animal. While a little monkey, left alone by chance, without a herd, will still manifest itself as a monkey, a person only then becomes a person if his development takes place among people.

The structure of the psyche. The ratio of consciousness and unconsciousness.
The structure of consciousness and the unconscious in the human psyche. The highest level of the psyche inherent in a person forms consciousness... Consciousness is the highest, integrating form of the psyche, the result of socio-historical conditions for the formation of a person in labor activity, with constant. communication (using language) with other people. In this sense, consciousness is a "social product", consciousness is nothing more than conscious being.

Characteristics of human consciousness:
1) consciousness, that is, the body of knowledge about the world around us.
2) fixed in it a distinct distinction between subject and object, that is, what belongs to a person's “I” and his “not-I”.
3) ensuring purposeful human activity.
4) the presence of emotional assessments in interpersonal relationships.
A prerequisite for the formation and manifestation of all the above specific qualities of consciousness are speech and language as a sign system.
The lower level of the psyche forms the unconscious. Unconscious - it is a set of mental processes, acts and states caused by influences, in the influence of which a person does not realize. Being mental (since the concept of the psyche is broader than the concept of "consciousness", "conscious"), the unconscious is a form of reflection of reality, in which the completeness of orientation in time and place of action is lost, speech regulation of behavior is violated. In the unconscious, in contrast to consciousness, purposeful control over the actions performed is impossible, and the assessment of their result is also impossible.
The area of ​​the unconscious includes mental phenomena that arise in sleep (dreams); response reactions that are caused by imperceptible, but really influencing stimuli ("subsensory" or "subceptive" reactions); movements that were conscious in the past, but thanks to repetition were automated and therefore became unconscious; some motives for activity, in which there is no consciousness of the goal, etc. Unconscious phenomena also include some pathological phenomena that arise in the psyche of a sick person: delirium, hallucinations, etc.

Functions of consciousness: reflective, generative (creative-creative), regulatory-evaluative, reflexive function - the main function, characterizes the essence of consciousness.
The object of reflection can be: reflection of the world, thinking about it, ways of regulating a person's behavior, the processes of reflection themselves, their personal consciousness.

Most of the processes taking place in the inner world of a person are not realized by him, but in principle, each of them can become conscious. subconscious- those ideas, desires, actions, aspirations that have now left consciousness, but can then come to consciousness;

1. the unconscious itself- such a mental, which under no circumstances becomes conscious. - sleep, unconscious urges, automated movements, reaction to unconscious stimuli

The epicenter of consciousness is the consciousness of one's own "I". Self-awareness-It is formed when interacting with other people, mainly with those with whom especially significant contacts arise. The image of "I", or self-awareness (self-image), does not arise in a person immediately, but develops gradually, throughout his life under the influence of social influences

Self-awareness criteria:

1.distinguishing oneself from the environment, consciousness of oneself as a subject, autonomous from the environment (physical environment, social environment);

2. awareness of my activity - "I control myself";

3. awareness of myself "through the other" ("What I see in others, it may be my quality");

4. moral assessment of oneself, the presence of reflection - awareness of one's inner experience.

The structure of self-awareness can be distinguished:

1. awareness of near and distant goals, motives of their "I" ("I as an acting subject");

2. awareness of their real and desired qualities ("Real I" and "Ideal I");

3. cognitive, cognitive ideas about oneself ("I am as an observed object");

4. emotional, sensual self-image.

5. Self-esteem - adequate, underestimated, overestimated.

I concept - self-perception and self-control

1. I am spiritual
2. I am material
3. I am social
4. I am bodily