Chapter 1. Introduction to Psychology
2. The concept of the psyche
Traditionally, the concept of psyche is defined as a property of living, highly organized matter, consisting in the ability to reflect with its states the surrounding objective world in its connections and relationships.
Any joint work of people presupposes a division of labor, when different members of collective activity perform different operations; Some operations immediately lead to a biologically useful result, other operations do not give such a result, but act only as a condition for its achievement, i.e. these are intermediate operations. But within the framework of individual activity, this result becomes an independent goal, and a person understands the connection between the intermediate result and the final motive, i.e. understands the meaning of the action. meaning, as defined by A.N. Leontiev, and is a reflection of the relationship between the purpose of an action and the motive.
Table 2.
| The most important features of the activity | |
| animals | person |
| Instinctive-biological activity | Driven by cognitive and communication needs |
| There is no joint activity, group behavior of animals is subordinated exclusively to biological purposes (nutrition, reproduction, self-preservation) | Human society arose on the basis of joint labor activity. Each action acquires meaning for people only due to the place it occupies in their joint activity |
| Guided by visual impressions, acts within the framework of a visual situation | Abstracts, penetrates into connections and relationships of things, establishes causal dependencies |
| Hereditary behavioral programs (instincts) are typical. Learning is limited to the acquisition of individual experience, thanks to which the hereditary species behavior programs adapt to the specific conditions of the animal’s existence | Transfer and consolidation of experience through social means of communication (language and other sign systems). Consolidation and transmission of the experience of generations in material form, in the form of objects of material culture |
| They can create auxiliary means and tools, but do not preserve them, do not use the tools constantly. Animals are unable to make tools using another tool | Making and preserving tools, passing them on to subsequent generations. Making a tool with the help of another object or tool, making a tool for future use presupposed the presence of an image of a future action, i.e. emergence of the plane of consciousness |
| Adapt to the external environment | Transform the outside world to suit their needs |
Activity is the active interaction of a person with the environment in which he achieves a consciously set goal that arose as a result of the emergence of a certain need or motive (Fig. 1.5).
Motives and goals may not coincide. Why a person acts a certain way is often not the same as why he acts. When we are dealing with activity in which there is no conscious goal, then there is no activity in the human sense of the word, but impulsive behavior takes place, which is controlled directly by needs and emotions.
Behavior in psychology is usually understood as the external manifestations of a person’s mental activity.
Fig. 1.5 Activity structure
Behavioral facts include:
- individual movements and gestures (for example, bowing, nodding, squeezing a hand),
- external manifestations of physiological processes associated with the state, activity, communication of people (for example, posture, facial expressions, glances, redness of the face, trembling, etc.),
- actions that have a certain meaning, and finally,
- actions that have social significance and are associated with norms of behavior.
An act is an action, performing which a person realizes its significance for other people, i.e. its social meaning.
The main characteristic of activity is its objectivity. By object we mean not just a natural object, but a cultural object in which a certain socially developed way of acting with it is recorded. And this method is reproduced whenever objective activity is carried out. Another characteristic of activity is its social, socio-historical nature. A person cannot independently discover forms of activity with objects. This is done with the help of other people who demonstrate patterns of activity and include the person in joint activities. The transition from activity divided between people and carried out in external (material) form to individual (internal) activity constitutes the main line of interiorization, during which psychological new formations (knowledge, skills, abilities, motives, attitudes, etc.) are formed. .
Activity is always indirect. The role of means is played by tools, material objects, signs, symbols (interiorized, internal means) and communication with other people. Carrying out any act of activity, we realize in it a certain attitude towards other people, even if they are not actually present at the moment of performing the activity.
Human activity is always purposeful, subordinated to a goal as a consciously presented planned result, the achievement of which it serves. The goal directs the activity and corrects its course.
Activity is not a set of reactions, but a system of actions cemented into a single whole by the motive that motivates it.
A motive is what an activity is carried out for; it determines the meaning of what a person does. Basic knowledge about activities, motives, and skills are presented in diagrams.
Finally, activity is always productive, i.e. its result is transformations both in the external world and in the person himself, his knowledge, motives, abilities, etc. Depending on which changes play the main role or have the greatest share, different types of activity are distinguished (labor, cognitive, communicative, etc.).
Human activity has a complex hierarchical structure. It consists of several levels: the top level is the level of special types of activities, then the level of actions, the next is the level of operations, and finally, the lowest is the level of psychophysiological functions.
Action is the basic unit of activity analysis. Action is a process aimed at achieving a goal.
Action includes, as a necessary component, an act of consciousness in the form of setting a goal, and at the same time, action is at the same time an act of behavior, realized through external actions in inextricable unity with consciousness. Through actions, a person shows his activity, trying to achieve his goal, taking into account external conditions.
Action has a structure similar to activity: goal - motive, method - result. There are actions: sensory (actions to perceive an object), motor (motor actions), volitional, mental, mnemonic (actions of memory), external objective (actions aimed at changing the state or properties of objects in the external world) and mental (actions performed in internal plane of consciousness). The following components of action are distinguished: sensory (sensory), central (mental) and motor (motor) (Fig. 1.6).
Rice. 1.6 Action components and their function
Any action is a complex system consisting of several parts: indicative (control), executive (working) and control and correction. The indicative part of the action provides a reflection of the totality of objective conditions necessary for the successful implementation of this action. The executive part carries out the specified transformations in the action object. The control part monitors the progress of the action, compares the results obtained with given samples and, if necessary, provides correction of both the indicative and executive parts of the action.
An operation is a specific way of performing an action. The nature of the operations used depends on the conditions in which the action is performed and the experience of the person. Operations are usually little or not realized by the person, i.e. This is the level of automatic skills.
Speaking about the fact that a person carries out some kind of activity, we must not forget that a person is an organism with a highly organized nervous system, developed sensory organs, a complex musculoskeletal system, and psychophysiological functions, which are both prerequisites and means of activity.
For example, when a person sets a goal to remember something, he can use different actions and memorization techniques, but this activity is based on the existing mnemonic psychophysiological function: none of the memorization actions would lead to the desired result if the person did not have a mnemonic function. Psychophysiological functions constitute the organic foundation of activity processes.
sensorimotor processes are processes in which perception and movement are connected. In these processes, four mental acts are distinguished:
- sensory moment of reaction - the process of perception;
- the central moment of the reaction is more or less complex processes associated with the processing of what is perceived, sometimes discrimination, recognition, evaluation and choice;
- motor moment of reaction - processes that determine the beginning and course of movement;
- sensory motion corrections (feedback).
Ideomotor processes link the idea of movement with the execution of the movement. The problem of the image and its role in the regulation of motor acts is the central problem of the psychology of correct human movements.
Emotional-motor processes- these are processes that connect the execution of movements with emotions, feelings, and mental states experienced by a person.
Interiorization- this is the process of transition from external, material action to internal, ideal action.
Exteriorization is the process of transforming internal mental action into external action.
The main types of activities that ensure the existence of a person and his formation as an individual are communication, play, learning and work.
It has already been noted that our needs push us to action, to activity. Need is a state of need for something experienced by a person. States of the organism's objective need for something that lies outside it and constitutes a necessary condition for its normal functioning are called needs. Hunger, thirst, or the need for oxygen are primary needs, the satisfaction of which is vital for all living beings. Any disturbance in the balance of sugar, water, oxygen or any other component needed by the body automatically leads to the emergence of a corresponding need and to the emergence of a biological impulse, which seems to push a person to satisfy it. The primary impulse thus generated triggers a series of coordinated actions aimed at restoring balance.
Maintaining a balance in which the body does not experience any needs is called homeostasis. From here homeostatic behavior- this is behavior that is aimed at eliminating motivation by satisfying the need that caused it. Often human behavior is caused by the perception of certain external objects, the action of some external stimuli. The perception of certain external objects plays the role of a stimulus, which can be as strong and significant as the internal drive itself. The need for movement, for receiving new information, new stimuli (cognitive need), new emotions allows the body to maintain an optimal level of activation, which allows it to function most effectively. This need for stimuli varies depending on the physiological and mental state of the person.
The need for social contacts, to communicate with people is one of the leading needs in a person, only over the course of life does it change its forms.
People are constantly busy with something, and in most cases they decide for themselves what they will do. To make a choice, people resort to a thinking process. We can consider motivation as a “selection mechanism” for some form of behavior. This mechanism, if necessary, responds to external stimuli, but most often it selects the opportunity that at the moment best corresponds to a physiological state, emotion, memory or thought that has come to mind, or an unconscious attraction, or innate characteristics. The choice of our immediate actions is guided by the goals and plans we have set for the future. The more important these goals are for nagas, the more powerfully they guide our choices.
Thus, there is a hierarchy of different needs from the most primitive to the most refined. The hierarchical pyramid of needs was developed by the famous psychologist Maslow: from innate physiological needs (the need for food, drink, sex, the desire to avoid pain, parental instinct, the need to explore the surrounding world, etc.) - to the needs for safety, then to the needs for affection, love , then to the needs for respect, approval, recognition, competence, then to cognitive and aesthetic needs (for order, beauty, justice, symmetry) - and, finally, the need for understanding the meaning of one’s life, for self-improvement, for self-development, self-realization.
But the same need can be satisfied with the help of different objects, with the help of different actions, i.e. in various ways objectified. In the process of objectifying a need, two important features of the need are revealed: 1) initially there is a fairly wide range of objects that can satisfy this need; 2) the need is quickly fixed on the first item that satisfies it. In the act of objectification, a motive is born as an object of need.
A motive is an objectified need, a need specifically for a given object, which encourages a person to take active action. One and the same motive can be satisfied by a set of different actions, and on the other hand, the same action can be motivated by different motives. Motives give rise to actions, i.e. lead to the formation of goals. These are motives-goals. But there are also unconscious motives that can manifest themselves in the form of emotions and personal meanings. emotions arise only about such events or results of actions that are associated with motives. The leading main motive determines personal meaning - the experience of increased subjective significance of an object or event that finds itself in the field of action of the leading motive.
A set of actions that are caused by one motive is called a special type of activity (play, study or work).
CONTROL QUESTIONS
- What is the subject of psychology as a science?
- List and give a brief description of the main views on the psyche and its role.
- What are the main functions and manifestations of the psyche?
- How is the development of forms of behavior and reflective function interconnected in the process of evolution? Is this related to the development of the nervous system?
- Why can't the complex behavior of ants be called work? What are the characteristic features of labor that played an important role in the development of human consciousness?
- What circles of influence of nature on the psyche exist?
- What research methods are used in psychology?
- What connection exists between the psyche and the body, between the psyche and the brain?
LITERATURE
- Hegel. Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences. T. 3. M., Mysl, 1977
- Vygotsky L.S. History of the development of higher mental functions. Collection op. T. 3. M., Pedagogy, 1983
- Leontyev A.N. Problems of mental development. M., 1987
- Godefroy J. What is psychology. In 2 vols. M., Mir, 1992
- Jarvilekto T. Brain and psyche. M., Progress, 1992
- Platonov K.K. Interesting psychology. M., 1990 , M., 1997
- Shibutani T. Social Psychology . Rostov n/d, 1998
- Romanov V.V. Legal Psychology. M., 1998
- Research methods in psychology: quasi-experiment. M., 1998
- Chufarovsky Yu.V. Legal Psychology. M., 1998
2. The concept of the psyche.
Psyche– this is a systemic property of highly organized matter (brain), which consists in the subject’s active reflection of the objective world. Psyche manifests itself in mental phenomena.
All mental phenomena are divided into three groups: 1) mental processes; 2) mental states; 3) mental properties of the individual.
Some authors note that the psyche is brain function. Various sciences study the brain. Its structure is being studied anatomy, and its complex activities are studied from various angles neurophysiology, medicine, biophysics, biochemistry, neurocybernetics.
Psychology studies that property of the brain, which consists in the mental reflection of material reality, as a result of which ideal (mental) images of real reality are formed, necessary for regulating the interaction of the organism with the environment.
Contents of the psyche are ideal images of objectively existing phenomena. But these images arise in different people in their own way. They depend on past experience, knowledge, needs, interests, mental state, etc. In other words, the psyche is a subjective reflection of the objective world. However, the subjective nature of a reflection does not mean that the reflection is incorrect; verification by socio-historical and personal practice provides an objective reflection of the surrounding world.
So, psyche– this is a subjective reflection of objective reality in ideal images, on the basis of which human interaction with the external environment is regulated.
The basic concept of psychology is concept of mental image. A mental image is a holistic, integrative reflection of a relatively independent, discrete part of reality; this is an information model of reality used by higher animals and humans to regulate their life activities.
Mental images ensure the achievement of certain goals, and their content is determined by these goals.
The most common property of mental images is their adequacy of reality, and the universal function – regulation of activities.
A person’s mental reflection of the world is connected with his social nature; it is mediated by socially developed knowledge. Animals also have a psyche as a reflective ability, but the highest form of psyche is human consciousness, which arose in the process of social and labor practice. Consciousness is inextricably linked with language and speech. Thanks to consciousness, a person voluntarily regulates his behavior.
Consciousness does not photographically reflect the phenomena of reality. It reveals objective internal connections between phenomena. Associated with consciousness is the reflexive ability of a person, that is, the readiness of consciousness to know itself and other mental phenomena.
3. The emergence of psychology as a science. History of the development of psychological knowledge.
Psychology– a scientific discipline that studies the patterns of functioning and development of the psyche. It is based on the representation in a person’s self-observation of special experiences that are not attributable to the outside world. Its history as the study of the human soul, his mental world by the method of introspection (introspection) and introspection goes far back into centuries, into philosophical and medical teachings.
The term “psychology” appeared in scientific use only in the middle of the 16th century. The date of the beginning of scientific psychology is considered to be 1879, when in Leipzig V. Wundtom The first psychological laboratory was opened. From the second half of the nineteenth century. There was a separation of psychology from philosophy, which became possible due to the development of objective experimental methods that replaced introspection, and the formation of a special subject of human psychology, the main features of which were activity and the appropriation of socio-historical experience. Psychology as an independent science established itself only at the end of the 19th century, after it received an experimental basis and a natural scientific physiological basis. Subsequently, already at the beginning of the twentieth century, the scope of research by psychologists expanded significantly, incorporating both unconscious mental processes and human activities.
The scientific path to the formation of psychology was laid in the middle of the 19th century, when experimentally based concepts based on data from biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics began to develop. To date, a multidimensional and differentiated area of various branches of psychology has formed. Modern scientific psychology, along with pronounced pluralism, also contains attempts to integrate psychological consciousness. This is due to the use of general systems theory, classical evolutionary theory and ideas of development in nature and society. Psychology as a science is known mainly only to those who specifically study it, or those who need it for work. At the same time, everyone knows psychology as a system of life phenomena in a sense.
Everyday psychology is a diverse set of psychological knowledge and skills that have become the property of a wide range of people. We use this set every day, often without even noticing our qualifications as an everyday psychologist. In addition to the word “everyday”, the terms are also used "everyday psychology", or "ordinary psychology". We discover psychological information and psychological skills literally at every step. Knowledge of everyday psychology is enshrined in folk proverbs and sayings, in works of art. They record the relationships between a person’s character and behavior, indications of desirable behavior, and the dynamics of human aspirations.
Everyday psychological knowledge can help you navigate the behavior of people around you and respond correctly to their actions. But in general they lack depth and evidence.
Antiquity. It was during the heyday of ancient culture that the first attempts were made to understand, recognize, study and describe the human psyche.
One of the first directions was animism, which considered the human psyche largely from the point of view of mythology and the psychology of the gods (as is known, mythology was especially developed in the period of antiquity). Animism looked specifically at the behavior and thinking of the gods, studied their life, style of behavior and attitude to the outside world.
A real revolution in the development of thought was the transition from animism to hylozoism (from the Greek words meaning “matter” and “life”), according to which the whole world, the cosmos, was considered originally alive; no boundaries were drawn between living, nonliving and mental - they were all considered as products of a single living matter.
A completely new side of knowledge of these phenomena was discovered by the activity of the sophist philosophers (from the Greek sophia - “wisdom”). They were not interested in nature, with its laws independent of man, but in man himself, who, as the aphorism of the first sophist Protagoras said, “is the measure of all things.”
In the works of ancient Greek thinkers there are attempts to solve many problems that still guide the development of psychological ideas today. In their explanations of the genesis and structure of the soul, three directions are revealed in the search for those large spheres independent of the individual, in the image and likeness of which the microcosm of the individual—the human soul—was interpreted.
The first direction was the explanation of the psyche, based on the laws of movement and development of the material world, from the idea of the decisive dependence of mental manifestations on the general structure of things, their physical nature.
Only after the arbitrariness of the life of the soul from the physical world, their internal kinship, and thereby the need to study the psyche was understood, was psychological thought able to advance to new frontiers that revealed the uniqueness of its objects.
The second direction of ancient psychology, created by Aristotle, focused primarily on living nature; the starting point for him was the difference between the properties of organic bodies and inorganic ones. Since the psyche is a form of life, bringing the psychobiological problem to the forefront was a major step forward. It made it possible to see in the psyche not a soul living in the body, having spatial parameters and capable of leaving the organism with which it is externally connected, but a way of organizing the behavior of living systems.
The third direction made the mental activity of the individual dependent on forms that are created not by nature, but by human culture, namely, on concepts, ideas, and ethical values.
These forms, which indeed play a huge role in the structure and dynamics of mental processes, were, however, starting from the Pythagoreans and Plato, alienated from the material world, from the real history of culture and society and presented in the form of special spiritual essences, sensually perceived by the body.
What is psyche?
The psyche is the result of the interaction of the brain with the environment.
Nowadays, instead of the concept of “soul,” the concept of “psyche” is used, although the language still retains many words and expressions derived from the original root: animate, soulful, soulless, kinship of souls, mental illness, intimate conversation, etc. From a linguistic point of view, “soul” and “psyche” are one and the same. However, with the development of culture and especially science, the meanings of these concepts diverged.
To get a preliminary idea of what “psyche” is, let’s consider mental phenomena. Mental phenomena are usually understood as facts of internal, subjective experience.
What is internal or subjective experience? You will immediately understand what we are talking about if you look inside yourself. You are well aware of your sensations, thoughts, desires, feelings.
You see this room and everything in it; hear what I say and try to understand it; you may be happy or bored right now, you are remembering something, experiencing some aspirations or desires. All of the above are elements of your inner experience, subjective or mental phenomena.
The fundamental property of subjective phenomena is their direct presentation to the subject. What does this mean? This means that we not only see, feel, think, remember, desire, but also know what we see, feel, think, etc.; We not only strive, hesitate, or make decisions, but we also know about these aspirations, hesitations, and decisions.
In other words, mental processes not only occur in us, but are also revealed directly to us. Our inner world is like a big stage on which various events take place, and we are both actors and spectators. This unique feature of subjective phenomena being revealed to our consciousness amazed the imagination of everyone who thought about the mental life of man.
excerpts from the book by Gippenreiter Yu.B. "Introduction to General Psychology"
OBJECTIVE CRITERION OF THE PSYCHE.
Psyche is a special property of highly organized matter, subjectively reflecting objective reality, necessary for humans (and animals) to navigate and actively interact with the environment, and at the human level it is necessary to control their behavior.
Reflection (reaction) - is the result of the interaction of something with something.
Types of reflection: physical, biological, subjective (psyche).
Mental development is worth in direct dependence on the body’s ability to reflect certain parts/conditions/environmental factors.
The emergence of sensitivity associated with the complication of their life activities. This depends on the fact that processes of external activity are identified that mediate the relationship of organisms to the properties of the environment, which are directly related to their survival.
The appearance of irritability to influences, performing a signaling function. This is how the ability to reflect external influences in their objective connections arises - mental reflection. The development of forms of mental reflection occurs in direct dependence on the development of animal activity.
Types of mental reflection at different stages of evolutionary development of the psyche:
1. ELEMENTARY SENSOR PSYCHE (or stage of elementary sensitivity).
At this stage, the ability to react only to individual properties of objects in the external world appears. A reaction occurs to biologically neutral stimuli, i.e. the animal is able to avoid unfavorable environmental conditions and actively search for positive stimuli.
The main feature of this stage is that the leading role is played by embedded behavior programs and instincts, and the role of learning is minimal. Only elementary conditioned reflexes appear (protozoa, from protozoa to annelids, gastropods and the simplest gastropods).
2.STAGE OF PERCEPTUAL PSYCHE (stage of objective perception).
At this stage, the integration of individual influencing properties into a holistic image of the object occurs. (Reflection of external reality into objective forms.)
Various and complex types of motor behavior appear, an active search for positive stimuli is characteristic, protective behavior develops, and elementary forms of thinking appear.
Highly developed and complex instincts appear. The role of learning is increasing. (Insects, fish, lower vertebrates, higher level invertebrates, birds and mammals.)
3. STAGE OF INTELLIGENCE.
The ability to reflect interdisciplinary connections and relationships appears.
Features of behavior at this stage:
A) the most important research...
b) the ability to solve a problem in different ways;
c) the ability to transfer the found solution to new conditions (adaptation).
The role of innate programs (instinct) of behavior is minimal. The role of individual experience (learning) is predominant. (Monkey)
4. STAGE OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
Reflected:
The world around us (generalized in the form of concepts recorded in language);
Your own inner world;
Your own attitude towards yourself and towards the world.
Features of behavior:
Characteristic is verbal (verbal) behavior;
Having the ability for purposeful activity, and this makes it possible not only to adapt to the environment, but also to adapt the environment to oneself;
The ability to voluntarily regulate one’s mental processes;
The ability for abstract, abstract thinking appears.
Congenital is practically absent.
The cultural and historical experience that a person assimilates plays a decisive role. (Feeling, thinking, imagination).
Humans and animals are characterized by natural mental functions.
For a person - higher mental functions.
Intellectual impairment.
Intelligence is the system of all cognitive abilities of an individual (in particular, the ability to learn and solve problems that determine the success of any activity). For the quantitative analysis of intelligence, the concept of IQ is used - mental development coefficient.
There are three forms of intelligence:
- verbal intelligence (vocabulary, erudition, ability to understand what is read);
- problem solving ability;
- practical intelligence (the ability to adapt to the environment).
The structure of practical intelligence includes:
- Processes of adequate perception and understanding of ongoing events.
- Adequate self-esteem.
- The ability to act rationally in a new environment.
The intellectual sphere includes some cognitive processes, but intelligence is not just the sum of these cognitive processes. The prerequisites for intelligence are attention and memory, but they do not exhaust the understanding of the essence of intellectual activity. There are three forms of organization of intelligence, which reflect different ways of knowing objective reality,
particularly in the area of interpersonal contacts.
- Common sense – a process of adequately reflecting reality, based on an analysis of the essential motives of the behavior of surrounding people and using a rational way of thinking.
- Reason – the process of cognition of reality and a method of activity based on the use of formalized knowledge, interpretations of the motives of the activities of communication participants.
- Intelligence – the highest form of organization of intellectual activity, in which the thought process contributes to the formation of theoretical knowledge and the creative transformation of reality.
- rational (requires the application of formal logical laws, the formulation of hypotheses and their confirmation);
- irrational (based on unconscious factors, does not have a strictly defined sequence, does not require the use of logical laws to prove the truth).
The following concepts are closely related to the concept of intelligence:
- anticipatory abilities - the ability to anticipate the course of events and plan one’s activities in such a way as to avoid undesirable consequences and experiences;
- reflection is the creation of an idea of the true attitude towards the subject on the part of others.
Consciousness is the highest form of reflection of reality, a way of relating to objective laws
The concept of will is inextricably linked with the concept of motivation.
Motivation – is a process of purposeful, organized sustainable activity (the main goal is to satisfy needs). Motives and needs are expressed in desires and intentions. Interest, which plays the most important role in the acquisition of new knowledge, can also be a stimulus for human cognitive activity. Motivation and activity are closely related to motor processes, therefore the volitional sphere is sometimes referred to as motor-volitional.
Feeling - this is the simplest mental process, consisting in the reflection of individual properties, objects and phenomena of the external world, as well as the internal states of the body under the direct influence of stimuli on the corresponding receptors.
Immediate memory - this is the ability to reproduce information immediately after the action of a particular stimulus.
Thinking determined by the set goal or task. When a person loses the purposefulness of mental activity, thinking ceases to be a regulator of human actions.
Inertia of thinking is characterized by pronounced difficulty switching from one type of activity to another. This thinking disorder is the antipode of lability of mental activity. In this case, patients cannot change the course of their judgments. Such switching difficulties are usually accompanied by a decrease in the level of generalization and distraction. Stiffness of thinking leads to the fact that subjects cannot cope even with simple tasks that require switching (mediation tasks).
The request for “Theory of Mind” is redirected here. A separate article is needed on this topic. Wiktionary has an article "psyche"Psyche(from ancient Greek ψῡχικός “mental, spiritual, vital”) is a complex concept in philosophy, psychology and medicine.
- A set of mental processes and phenomena (sensations, perceptions, emotions, memory, etc.); a specific aspect of the life of animals and humans in their interaction with the environment.
- “A form of active reflection by a subject of objective reality, which arises in the process of interaction of highly organized living beings with the outside world and carries out a regulatory function in their behavior (activity”).
- A systemic property of highly organized matter, which consists in the subject’s active reflection of the objective world and self-regulation on this basis of his behavior and activities.
The psyche of animals is the subjective world of the animal, covering the entire complex of subjectively experienced processes and states: perception, memory, thinking, intentions, dreams, etc.
The psyche is characterized by such qualities as integrity, activity, development, self-regulation, communication, adaptation, etc.; associated with somatic (bodily) processes. Appears at a certain stage of biological evolution. Man has the highest form of psyche - consciousness. The science of psychology studies the psyche.
Questions of the origin and development of the psyche
In the history of science, various points of view have been expressed on the place of the psyche in nature. Thus, according to panpsychism, all nature is animate. Biopsychism attributed a psyche to all living organisms, including plants. The theory of neuropsychism recognized the presence of a psyche only in creatures with a nervous system. From the point of view of anthropopsychism, only humans have a psyche, and animals are a kind of automata.
In more modern hypotheses, one or another ability of a living organism (for example, the ability to search behavior) is accepted as a criterion for the presence of a psyche. Among the many such hypotheses, the hypothesis of A. N. Leontiev, who proposed to consider the ability of the body to respond to biologically neutral influences as an objective criterion for the presence of a psyche, received special recognition [ clarify]. This ability is called sensitivity; according to Leontiev, it has objective and subjective aspects. Objectively, it manifests itself in a reaction, primarily motor, to a given agent. Subjectively - in the internal experience, the feeling of a given agent. Reaction to biologically neutral influences is found in almost all animals, so there is reason to believe that animals have a psyche. This ability to respond is already present in the simplest single-celled organisms, for example, ciliates.
In plants, science knows only reactions to biologically significant influences. For example, when plant roots come into contact with a solution of nutrients in the soil, they begin to absorb them. The ability to respond to biologically significant influences is called irritability. Unlike sensitivity, irritability does not have a subjective aspect.
In the evolution of mental forms, A. N. Leontiev identified three stages:
- stage of elementary sensory psyche;
- stage of perceptual psyche;
- stage of intelligence.
K. E. Fabry left only the first two stages, “dissolving” the stage of intellect in the stage of the perceptual psyche.
At the stage of the elementary sensory psyche, animals are capable of reflecting only individual properties of external influences. At the stage of the perceptual psyche, living beings reflect the external world in the form not of individual sensations, but of holistic images of things.
1.2. The specific nature of psychological phenomena
As mentioned above, the complexity of mastering the system of psychological concepts is determined by the specifics of the subject of psychology. This specificity lies in the fact that each person, when familiar with the data of psychology, being a bearer of the psyche and having the opportunity to observe the phenomena under discussion “from the inside,” can, it seems, act as an “expert” in verifying the stated provisions. This test does not always turn out to be successful, and the results are not convincing due to the fact that in order to obtain an unambiguous result in psychology, it is very often necessary to observe and take into account a large number of conditions. Almost any psychological phenomenon, any psychological effect is a consequence of many objective and subjective factors, and therefore their reproduction requires careful organization. When reading psychological literature, there is often a temptation to argue, since it is enough to change one of the conditions, and the result can be exactly the opposite. In this regard, I would like to emphasize: in psychology, almost any statement is true only in the context of the conditions described. Everything that is said should be taken into account.
The psyche is a very subtle tool for adapting to the environment. Its mechanisms work smoothly, harmoniously and mostly unnoticed by the subject. Figuratively speaking, it is important for the psyche to give the subject a reliable result, without diverting his attention to the procedure and process of obtaining this result. The accuracy and efficiency of human practical activity is precisely ensured by the “transparency” of mental processes, the direct reality of their results. In everyday life, we “do not see” many mental phenomena, just as we do not see well-polished glasses when reading. The psyche in the context under consideration can be likened to a well-functioning technical device, the details of which and their purpose you pay attention to only when they begin to work poorly or completely fail. Moreover, in the human psyche there are special mechanisms that actively prevent the subject from understanding certain processes occurring in his “internal economy.” In this regard, even more so, not everything that is stated in psychology can be immediately perceived, realized and understood by comparing these statements with the experience gained as a result of observing oneself and analyzing one’s experiences. In psychology, by the way, experiences are understood not only as emotions about an event, but also as any event directly represented in the mind of the subject at a given moment.
1.3. Definition of psyche
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The reader has probably already noticed that in this text terms“soul” and “psyche” are used interchangeably. Is not it concepts |
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Are “soul” and “psyche” equivalent? It is worth remembering here that meaning any term, word, i.e. the concept with which a given word or term is in a more or less unambiguous connection is revealed in its content only in a certain context. It all depends on what system this concept is included in, not to mention what kind meaning gives this |
The term “psyche” in psychology refers to all phenomena of internal, spiritual, mental life that reveal themselves in the consciousness or behavior of a person. |
the term specific person. Repeatedly addressing the problem of the relationship between a word and its meaning here is not at all a trick or a desire to divert the reader’s attention away from the conversation on the merits. The point is precisely that, as will be shown below, man as a conscious being really lives in a symbolic environment, i.e. in a world defined by his ability to categorize perceived phenomena, and this ability, in turn, is largely determined by the peculiarities of his word usage.
If we turn to the etymology of the word “psyche”, we can find complete identity of the meanings of the words “psyche” and “soul”, since the word “psyche” is derived from the Greek words psyche(soul) and psychicos(spiritual). However, the emergence of new words to denote homogeneous phenomena is not accidental. The new word also emphasizes a new aspect in their understanding. In those historical times, when the phenomena of a person’s inner world were perceived rather as an indivisible whole and the experience of identifying the many elements that constitute it and their designations had not yet been accumulated, this entire inner world was designated by the general term (word) soul. In ordinary consciousness, this still happens today, when, for example, about the emotional experience of uncertainty they say “the soul is not in the right place,” but about the emotional release that accompanies the satisfaction of some need - “the soul has become lighter.” As experience in observing the facts of mental life accumulated and individual phenomena were designated with specific terms, ideas about the soul became more complex, and the term “psyche” gradually became established to denote the entire complex of these phenomena, mainly in a professional environment. Thus, the term “psyche” in psychology refers to all phenomena of internal, spiritual, mental life that reveal themselves in the consciousness or behavior of a person. This is consciousness itself, and the unconscious, manifested in involuntarily arising mental images and elements of human behavior, and the mental images themselves, and needs, and motives, and will, and emotions, and the very personality of a person as a way of organizing all mental phenomena. The term “psyche” also denotes certain hypothetical “mental”, “internal” mechanisms that have a controlling influence on the behavior of animals.
To give a scientific definition of a concept means to show its most important connections with other concepts and categories, to attribute the phenomenon reflected in this concept to some previously defined category, while listing its specific features that distinguish it from phenomena of the same order. Since comprehensive definitions are rather an unattainable ideal, broader comments are usually given to each of them, revealing the content of the concepts included in it. We will do the same.
So, the psyche is a systemic property of highly organized matter, which consists in the subject’s active reflection of the objective world, in his construction of a picture of the world that is inalienable from him, and self-regulation on this basis of his behavior and activities (Psychology, 1990).
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Here you should stop and carefully understand the content of the concepts included in this definition. Firstly, the psyche is not matter, but its property. The property of this highly organized matter (nervous system) is connected with the matter itself in the same way as, for example, the property of a mirror to reflect - with the mirror itself as a material object. Here it is appropriate to remember that any property of any material object (entity) is manifested only during its interaction with other objects (entities). There is no and cannot be a property |
Psyche is a systemic property of highly organized matter, which consists in the subject’s active reflection of the objective world, in his construction of a picture of the world that is inalienable from him, and self-regulation on this basis of his behavior and activities. |
object as such! It makes no sense to ask, for example, whether lead is soluble at all, since the indicated property - solubility - appears when it is placed in nitric acid, but when placed in water it does not exhibit such a property. Consequently, psyche as a property of matter is not some kind of emanation emanating from a given matter, but a certain quality that manifests itself in the specific nature of its interaction with other objects (entities).
Secondly, the psyche - systemic property highly organized matter. High organization, complexity, is due primarily to the complexity of life processes that constitute the essence of the element of a given alive matter, cells - this is one level of its complexity. It is also determined by the complexity of organizing elements into a whole of a higher level - the nervous system - this is the second level, which includes the first. The psyche of an individual person in the form in which we observe it under normal conditions is a consequence of the third, supraorganismal (social) level of organization of the same living matter. It is necessary to emphasize here procedural nature the organization of the material basis within which mental phenomena unfold. To simplify the picture extremely, we can say that the psyche is possible only in process vital activity of living organisms. The psyche is not only the result of this process, not just some epiphenomenon, its side consequence, it is a process in itself, and an active process.
What is the specific property of this matter organized into a certain system? The answer is: its main property is the active reflection of the surrounding reality, i.e. in active formation image the surrounding world. For what? In order to, having it available, structure the behavior of the entire organism in this surrounding reality (environment) in such a way as to satisfy the needs that constantly arise in it and at the same time ensure its safety.
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Here the question may arise: “If the psyche is a property of matter, then what is the intrinsic nature of the psyche? Is it material or ideal? Are the images of the world it forms material? If images are ideal, then how is this ideal connected with the matter of the nervous system? The problem raised by these questions is more philosophical than psychological. It has excited the minds of scientists for many centuries. The answers given were very different - from the denial of the psyche as such through the recognition of the psyche as a kind of epiphenomenon to dualism and psychophysical parallelism. With the development of information theory and cybernetics, this problem has practically been eliminated. At present, the question posed can be answered this way: the psyche is ideal, but it is possible only when certain physiological processes occur. |
The subject of psychology is the natural connections of the subject with the natural and sociocultural world, imprinted in the system of sensory and mental images of this world, motives prompting action, as well as in the actions themselves, experiences of their relationships to other people and to themselves, in the properties of the individual as the core of this system . A. V. Petrovsky |
The relationship between the material basis of the image and the ideal image itself, formed through this material basis, can be demonstrated in an extremely simplified manner using the example of a melody recorded on a record. No matter how much we look at the record, no matter how much we analyze the picture we see, we will not see the melody there. All we can see are grooves of various configurations. We can get a melody only by creating certain conditions for the flow of process, at which the melody is performed: a certain speed of rotation of the record, placing the needle in the groove, increasing the vibrations that arise. Here it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that when playing a melody, it is not the material that is used that is reproduced, but structure, those. a system of relationships between oscillatory movements captured on a plate. It can then be reproduced in unchanged V structure electrical potentials on magnetic tape or in the structure of darkening on celluloid film, or in the structure of air vibrations (sound waves), vibrations of the eardrum and, finally, in the structure of nerve impulses. The important thing here is that melody is a process. If the record is stopped or the device for playing it is damaged, the melody will disappear maybe forever. If the psyche, with certain reservations, is figuratively likened to a melody, and the living nervous system to a record player, then we will obtain the simplest model of the relationship between the nervous system (material carrier) and mental phenomena. Roughly speaking, the psyche exists and occurs at the time and as long as the “plate” is spinning.
To complicate this simple analogy somewhat, we can demonstrate how this structure of vibrations (rather than the vibrations themselves) have an inverse effect on the material substrate. To do this, it is enough to imagine that this player has a sensitive sensor that responds only to one musical phrase (i.e. structure air fluctuations) by closing the contacts of the relay, which turns off the power to the player. Here we are faced with a very important point - the moment comparisons all the relationships “perceived” by this sensor with the sample of these relationships it has. At the extreme simplification, the “ideal” in the entire chain of this sequence arises when they coincide, which causes response actions. This is a very simplified model of the moment of emergence of the meaning of an object, meaning as the only content of the psyche.
Of course, the example given is an extremely simplified diagram. In reality, the physiological and psychological processes they generate, as well as their mutual influences, are immeasurably more complex, but their fundamental basis, as it currently appears, is reflected in it.
Thus, psychology studies ideal mental formations, their mutual influence on each other, as well as their role and participation in the regulation of human life.
The concept of the psyche. Psyche and activity
Any research in the field of psychology has as its ultimate goal the determination of the nature of the psyche.
The first definition of the soul (psyche - Greek), formulated rather as a question, was given by Heraclitus. He taught: everything flows, everything changes, you cannot enter the same river twice. What allows a river to remain a river? Bed? But it also changes. One should look for the unchangeable in the changeable, that which gives this changeable certainty. This unchangeable thing is never accessible to sensory perception and at the same time gives existence to the world of things. When applied to the human body, this something acts as a soul.
The philosopher who developed this position was Plato. He attributed the eternal and unchangeable to the world of being, and the temporary and changeable to the world of existence. The soul is the idea of the body. It unites with matter (hora), and thus man arises. Other names for the idea, as Plato understood it, are morphe, form, in the German translation - die Gestalt. Today we could find an equivalent to this concept: a matrix or a program.
Plato's student Aristotle, developing these ideas, gave the final definition of the psyche, which still exists today, despite the differences in terminology. Objecting to Plato, Aristotle declared that if what is common is what is common to many objects, then it cannot be a substance, that is, a completely original being. Therefore, only a single being can be a substance. Single being is a combination of form and matter. In terms of being, form is the essence of an object. In terms of cognition, form is the concept of an object. The matter from which man is formed on the basis of form is the substratum. Today we say: the physiological substrate of the psyche. For Aristotle, the soul is the form of the body. The full definition is: soul (psyche) is a way of organizing a living body. And in fact, from the point of view of modern biology, a person looks more like a waterfall than a stone (remember the river of Heraclitus). During plastic exchange, the composition of human atoms almost completely changes over eight years, but at the same time each of the individual people remains himself. Over the course of a person’s entire life, an average of 75 tons of water, 17 tons of carbohydrates, and 2.5 tons of proteins are spent on the continuous construction and renewal of his body. And all this time, something, remaining unchanged, “knows” where, in what place to put this or that structural element. Now we know that this something is the psyche. That is why, by influencing the psyche, we can influence the body, and the properties of the psyche and the laws of its functioning cannot be deduced from the properties and laws of functioning of the body. Where does it come from? From outside. From the world of existence, which each psychological school interprets differently. For example, for L. S. Vygotsky this is the world of culture deposited in signs. “Every mental function,” he writes, “appears on stage twice. Once as interpsychic, the second time as intropsychic.” That is, first outside a person, and then inside him. Higher mental functions arise as a result of interiorization, that is, the immersion of a sign and the method of its use in a natural function. Form connects with matter.
So, following Aristotle, we defined the psyche as a way of organizing a living body. Now we should consider the question of the relationship between the psyche and the brain. This problem is more broadly formulated as the problem of the relationship between the biological and the social in man.
The starting point here may be S. L. Rubinstein’s position that the brain and psyche are substantively the same reality. What does it mean? Let's take some object, the simplest one, for example a pencil. According to S. L. Rubinstein, any subject can be considered in different systems of connections and relationships. For example, a pencil can be thought of as both a writing aid and a pointer. In the first case, we can say that this object leaves a mark on paper or other smooth surface. When it stops writing, it needs to be sharpened; what is written can be erased with an eraser attached to the end opposite the lead. In the second case, we will say that this object is pointed at the end, it is light, it is comfortable to hold in your hands, but it is not long enough. If you now re-read these two groups of characteristics, forgetting that they relate to the same subject, it will seem that we are talking about two completely different realities.
So, the brain and the psyche are essentially the same reality. Taken from the point of view of biological determination, it acts as the brain, more precisely, as the central nervous system, carrying out higher nervous activity; and taken from the point of view of social determination, more broadly, human interaction with the world - as the psyche. The psyche is all those changes in the structure of the nervous system that arose as a result of human interaction with the world both in onto- and phylogenesis.
Thus, the psyche is objective, it has its own properties and qualities and is determined by its own laws.
Possessing its own objective existence, the psyche also has its own structure. In the most general terms, it has a vertical and horizontal organization. The vertical ones include: consciousness, individual unconscious, collective unconscious. To horizontal - mental processes, properties and states.
The psyche is not given to a person in a ready-made form from the moment of birth and does not develop on its own. Only in the process of interaction, communication of a child with other people, assimilation of the culture created by previous generations, in the process of activity, the psyche is formed and develops.
Activity- a system of processes of active and purposeful interaction of a person with the surrounding objective world, during which he realizes certain life relationships to it and satisfies leading needs.
The relationship between the psyche and activity is dialectical in nature. On the one hand, the psyche is formed in the process of activity. On the other hand, the mental reflection of the properties and qualities of objects in the surrounding world, the relationships between them, itself mediates the processes of activity. Thanks to the mental activity of the subject, it acquires an indirect character. Mental reflection, mediating the interaction of an individual with the world around him, makes possible the anticipatory, purposeful nature of activity, ensures his orientation towards the future result. A subject with a psyche becomes active and selectively reacts to external influences.
With the development of activity, both in phylo- and ontogenesis, the forms of its mediation, the forms of mental reflection, become more complex. The highest of them, inherent only to man, is consciousness.
Human activity has a public, social character. In the course of his mental development, in the process of socialization, the subject masters the forms, methods and means of activity accumulated in culture, assimilates its tasks and motives.
Depending on the form of implementation, they distinguish between external, occurring on the external plane (subject-practical), and internal, occurring on the internal plane (mental). External and internal activities are closely interconnected with each other and represent not two different realities, but a single process of activity. Internal activity is formed on the basis of external activity, in the process of it interiorization, and has the same structure as it. Process interiorization does not mean “shifting” external activity into the internal plan, but the formation (from the Latin forma - structure, structure, system of organizing something) of internal activity in the process of implementing external activity. The reverse process is also possible - exteriorization - the unfolding of the internal plan of activity outward.
IN activity structure the activity itself and the individual actions and operations included in it are isolated. The structural elements of activity correlate with its substantive content - motives, goals and conditions. Activity is always subordinated to the motive - the object of need. It consists of individual actions aimed at a consciously set goal. The goal, as a rule, does not coincide with the subject of the need (motive), but presupposes a meaningful correlation with it.
In psychology there are various activities: subject-manipulative, gaming, educational, labor, etc. The main one influencing the formation of a person’s personality was recognized in domestic psychology as labor (subject-practical) activity. This idea goes back to the labor theory of anthropogenesis, developed in the 19th century. German philosophers based on the theory of Charles Darwin.
Psyche is
Fatamorgana
In psychology, the psyche is one of the elements that explains the mechanism of human behavior.
In the typology of life worlds, the psyche is an organ, a tool for a person’s orientation in the difficult external world.
One should distinguish from the psyche consciousness - an organ, a tool for orientation in the values of a complex inner world, and will - what organizes the life of a creative person in a complex internal and difficult external world.
Psyche (from “breath, soul”) is a special aspect of the life of animals and humans and their interaction with the environment; the ability to actively reflect reality or a set of mental processes and phenomena (perception of information, subjective sensations, emotions, memory). The psyche is in interaction with somatic (bodily) processes. The psyche is assessed according to a number of parameters: integrity, activity, development, self-regulation, communication, adaptation. The psyche manifests itself at a certain stage of biological evolution. Man has the highest form of psyche - consciousness. The sciences of psychology, neurophysiology, and psychiatry mainly study the psyche.
Psyche [Greek. psychê - soul] -
1) according to M. G. Yaroshevsky, the highest form of relationship between living beings and the objective world, expressed in their ability to realize their motives and act on the basis of information about it. At the level of the human psyche. acquires a qualitatively new character, due to the fact that its biological nature is transformed by sociocultural factors, thanks to which an internal plan of life activity - consciousness - arises, and the individual becomes a personality. Knowledge about the psyche has changed over the centuries, reflecting advances in research into the function of the body (as its bodily substrate) and in understanding the dependence of man on the social environment of his activity. This knowledge, interpreted in various ideological contexts, served as the subject of heated discussions, since it touched upon fundamental philosophical questions about the place of man in the universe, about the material and spiritual foundations of his existence. For many centuries, the psyche was designated by the term “soul,” the interpretation of which, in turn, reflected differences in the explanation of the driving forces, the internal plan and the meaning of human behavior. Along with the understanding of the soul, dating back to Aristotle, as a form of existence of a living body, a direction has developed that represents it in the image of an ethereal entity, the history and fate of which, according to various religious beliefs, depend on extraterrestrial principles;
Http://www.syntone.ru/library/psychology_dict/psihika.php
Psyche (from ancient Greek (ψυχή) “breath, soul”) is a complex concept in philosophy, psychology and medicine.
* A special aspect of the life of animals and humans and their interaction with the environment.
* The ability to actively reflect reality or a set of mental processes and phenomena (perception of information, subjective sensations, emotions, memory, etc.).
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See the definition of "psychic" in Wikipedia + additionally:
The psyche is a mirror, reflecting both puddles on the road and palace chambers, at the speed of light 300 thousand km/sec.
It also reflects piles of crap on the asphalt. and this is normal for a healthy psyche.
Psychology(Greek - soul; Greek - knowledge) is a science that studies the behavior and mental processes of people and animals. Psyche- this is the highest form of relationship between living beings and the objective world, expressed in their ability to realize their motives and act on the basis of information about it . Through the psyche, a person reflects the laws of the surrounding world.
Thinking, memory, perception, imagination, sensation, emotions, feelings, inclinations, temperament, - all these points are studied by psychology. But the main question remains: what motivates a person, his behavior in a given situation, what are the processes of his inner world? The range of issues addressed by psychology is quite wide. Thus, in modern psychology there are a large number of sections:
- general psychology,
- age-related psychology,
- social Psychology,
- psychology of religion,
- pathopsychology,
- neuropsychology,
- family psychology,
- psychology of sports
- etc.
Other sciences and branches of scientific knowledge also penetrate into psychology ( genetics, speech therapy, law, anthropology, psychiatry and etc.). Happening integration of classical psychology with eastern practices. To live in harmony with oneself and with the world around us, modern man needs to master the basics of psychology.
"Psychology is the expression in words of what cannot be expressed in words", wrote John Galsworthy.
Psychology operates with the following methods:
- Introspection- observation of one’s own mental processes, knowledge of one’s own mental life without using any tools.
- Observation- study of certain characteristics of a particular process without active involvement in the process itself.
- Experiment— experimental research of a certain process. The experiment can be based on modeling activities under specially specified conditions or can be carried out in conditions close to normal activities.
- Development Research- the study of certain characteristics of the same children who are observed for several years.
The origins of modern psychology were Aristotle, Ibn Sina, Rudolf Gocklenius, who first used the concept of “psychology”, Sigmund Freud, which even a person who is not related to psychology has probably heard about. As a science, psychology originated in the second half of the 19th century, separating from philosophy and physiology. Psychology explores unconscious and conscious mechanisms of the psyche person.
A person turns to psychology to know himself and better understand his loved ones. This knowledge helps you see and realize the true motives of your actions. Psychology is also called the science of the soul., which at certain moments in life begins to ask questions, “ who am I?", "where am I?", "why am I here?" Why does a person need this knowledge and awareness? To stay on the road of life and not fall into one ditch or another. And having fallen, find the strength to get up and move on.
Interest in this area of knowledge is growing. By training the body, athletes necessarily come to psychological knowledge and expand it. Moving towards our goals, building relationships with people, overcoming difficult situations, we also turn to psychology. Psychology is actively integrated into training and education, business, and art.
A person is not only a storehouse of certain knowledge, skills and abilities, but also an individual with his own emotions, feelings, ideas about this world.
Today you cannot do without knowledge of psychology, either at work or at home. To sell yourself or a manufactured product, you need certain knowledge. To have well-being in the family and be able to resolve conflicts, knowledge of psychology is also necessary. Understand the motives of people’s behavior, learn to manage your emotions, be able to establish relationships, be able to convey your thoughts to your interlocutor - and here psychological knowledge will come to the rescue. Psychology begins where a person appears and, Knowing the basics of psychology, you can avoid many mistakes in life. "Psychology is the ability to live."
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