Section I. Psychology

Topic 1. Introduction to psychology

1.1. Subject, object and methods of psychology

Psychology is the science of the laws of the emergence, development and functioning of the psyche as a special form of life. This is a field of knowledge about the inner, mental world of a person. Translated from Greek, it means "the doctrine of the soul" ( psyche- soul, logos- teaching). Psychology is a young branch of knowledge. It emerged as an independent scientific discipline in early XIX in. and is extremely promising, responding to the needs of modernity.

Psychology has gone through four stages in its development:

• The first is psychology as the science of the soul.

The ancients endowed every object with a soul. In it they saw the reason for the development of the phenomenon and movement. Aristotle extended the concept of the mental to all organic processes, distinguishing between plant, animal and rational souls. In those distant times, people distinguished the features of a person's mental make-up.

Democritus believed that the psyche, like all nature, is material. The soul is made up of atoms, only thinner than those of physical body. Knowledge of the world occurs through the senses.

According to Plato, the soul has nothing to do with matter, it is ideal. He considered it as something divine, which is located in the higher world, absorbs ideas - eternal and unchanging essences. Then she begins to remember everything she saw before birth. Cognition of the surrounding reality is something with which the soul has already met.

Later, there were two points of view on the psyche - materialistic and idealistic.

• The second is psychology as the science of consciousness.

Begins in the 17th century. in connection with the development of natural disciplines. The ability to think, feel, desire is called consciousness.

R. Descartes said that the individual has consciousness and in the process of thinking discovers the presence of an inner life.

D. Locke argued that there is nothing in the mind that would not pass through the senses. Psychic phenomena can be brought to primary, further indecomposable elements (sensations) and, on their basis, more complex formations are formed through associations.

• The third is psychology as a science of behavior.

At the beginning of the XX century. the founder of behaviorism, D. Watson, said that psychology should focus on what is observable, that is, on human behavior (the motives that cause actions were not taken into account).

• Fourth - psychology as a science that studies the facts, patterns and mechanism of the psyche.

It is characterized by the transformation of this science into a diversified field of knowledge that serves the interests of people's practical activities.

Psychology as an experimental science begins in 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt created the world's first laboratory (experimental) in Leipzig. In 1885, Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev organized a similar laboratory in Russia.

Psychology has always faced very difficult tasks. The main one: the study of the laws governing the functioning of mental phenomena and processes as a reflection of objective reality.

Prominent psychologists:

Domestic: B. G. Ananiev, V. M. Bekhterev, P. P. Blonsky, L. S. Vygotsky, N. N. Lange, K. K. Kornilov, A. N. Leontiev, A. R. Luria, I. P. Pavlov, A. P. Nechaev, S. L. Rubinstein, I. M. Sechenov, etc.

Foreign: A. Adler, E. Bern, W. Wundt, W. James, A. Maslow, K. Rogers, B. Skinner, D. Watson, F. Frankl, Z. Freud, E. Fromm, K. Horney, K. Jung, etc.

1.1.1. Object of psychology

Although psychology means the science of the soul, the existence of this phenomenon is debatable. So far, it has not been found and proven. It remains empirically elusive. If we talk not about the soul, but about the psyche, the situation will not change. She turns out to be just as irresistible. However, the existence of a world of mental phenomena in the form of thoughts, ideas, feelings, impulses, desires, etc. is obvious. This can be considered the object of psychology.

Psychology has its own subject - the basic laws of the generation and functioning of mental reality. Her areas of study include:

1. Psychic;
2. Consciousness;
3. Unconscious;
4. Personality;
5. Behavior;
6. Activity.

• The psyche is a property of the brain that provides humans and animals with the ability to reflect the effects of objects and phenomena of the outside world.
• Consciousness is the highest stage of the psyche and the product of socio-historical development, the result of labor.
• Unconscious- a form of reflection of reality, during which the individual is not aware of its sources, and the reflected reality merges with his experiences.
• Personality - a person with his own individual and socio-psychological characteristics.
• Behavior is an external manifestation of mental activity.
• Activity is a set of actions of an individual aimed at satisfying his needs and interests.

Psychology can be subdivided into worldly and scientific.

Zhiteiskaya- knowledge gained from everyday life. They are characterized by:

• concreteness- attachment to certain situations, people, tasks of activity;
• intuitiveness- insufficient awareness of their origin;
• limitation- weak ideas of the individual about the specifics of the functioning of mental phenomena;
• They are based only on observations and reflections.

Scientific - knowledge obtained in the process of theoretical and experimental study of the psyche. They have their own characteristics:

• generality- the meaningfulness of the phenomenon based on the specifics of its manifestation in many people, in a variety of conditions, in relation to any tasks of activity;
• rationalism– knowledge is maximally researched and realized;
• unlimitedawn- they can be used by a large number of people;
• Based on experiment.

1.1.2. Directions of foreign psychology

Psychoanalysis (Z. Freud, K. Jung, A. Adler) - is based on the position that human behavior is determined not so much by consciousness as by the unconscious;

Behaviorism (D. Watson, B. Skinner) - denies consciousness as a subject of study and reduces the psyche to various forms of behavior resulting from the body's response to the effects of the outside world;

Gestalt psychology(M. Wertheimer, K. Levin) - provides for the study of the psyche with the help of integral structures - gestalts, primary in relation to their components. For example, internal system organization perception determines the properties of sensations included in it.

Humanistic psychology(To Rogers, A. Maslow) - opposes himself to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. She argues that the individual is initially good or, in extreme cases, neutral, and his aggression, violence, etc. arise as a result of environmental influences.

Transpersonal psychology(S. Grof) - claims to be the "fourth force", declares mental phenomena "mystical experiences", "cosmic consciousness", i.e. forms of special spiritual experience that require a look at the human psyche from non-traditional positions.

Psychology is a widely developed field of knowledge, including many disciplines and areas that act as separate industries:

• Zoopsychology; Neuropsychology; pathopsychology;
• Psychogenetics; Psychodiagnostics; Psycholinguistics;
• Psychology - military, age, space, engineering, arts, historical, medical, general, pedagogical, social, labor, management, economic, legal;
• Psychotherapy; Sexology, etc.

1.1.3. Methodological and theoretical foundations of psychology

Each science relies on specific starting points, which are the methodology and theory. There are three levels of methodology: general, special and private. The following principles and methods belong to the special one.

Principles:

1. Principle of determinism(assumes a natural dependence of mental phenomena on the factors that give rise to them);
2. The principle of consistency(psychic phenomena act as internally connected components of a holistic organization);
3. The principle of unity of consciousness and activity(consciousness and activity are not opposite to each other, but they are not identical, but form a unity. Consciousness arises, develops and manifests itself in activity. And the latter acts as a form of activity of consciousness);
4. Development principle(means recognition of transformations, change mental processes, the emergence of their new forms);
5. Activity principle(asserts that activity is an active, purposeful process);
6. The principle of personal approach(focuses on the study of all individual and socio-psychological characteristics of a person), etc.

Methods:

1. Observational (from Lat obsevatio - observation): observation and self-observation;
2. Experiment (laboratory, natural, formative);
3. Biographical: analysis of events, facts, dates of a person's life path;
4. Psychodiagnostic: conversation, tests, questionnaires, interviews, expert assessments, etc.

Observation - the most common method by which the manifestations of feelings, behavior, actions and actions of an individual are studied in various conditions his life and work. It is used in various forms and can be:

• direct conducted by the scientist himself, and indirect, if he generalizes information received from other persons;
• Continuous - when fixing all the mental manifestations of a person for a certain time and selective, when only one question is investigated, for a short time, in any particular situation;
• Everyday - in which the registration of facts is random, and scientific - if the organization is thought out, a plan is drawn up, the results are recorded;
• Included - provides for the participation of a scientist in the activity, and not included, where this is not required.

During observation, objective data are usually obtained. In addition, all phenomena and processes are studied in natural conditions, their normal course is not disturbed. Along with the advantages, this method also has disadvantages: duration, difficulty in attracting objects, difficulty in collecting material and processing it.

Experiment involves the active intervention of a psychologist in the process under study. A situation is created (simulated) in advance in which the subject will be. It is a scientific experience under precisely measured and controlled circumstances. The experiment can be laboratory, natural, mixed.

In the laboratory, a set of conditions is artificially created that cause the desired phenomenon (for example, the study of mental reactions on special apparatus /cosmonautics/). In the natural - research is carried out in a normal environment, only individual elements of the program change.

Distinguish stating and forming (educational or teaching) experiments. Ascertaining - reveals knowledge, skills, abilities, personality traits. The orientation of an individual, for example, can be judged by placing him in conditions where a struggle of motives inevitably arises. Through his attitude, he reveals himself. Simple life situations (for example, tell your parents about your misconduct or remain silent) provide material for studying moral and psychological characteristics. Formative - combines the study of human psychology and the organization of influences in order to instill certain qualities.

Poll - a way to obtain information from the answers of the subjects in the course of direct or indirect communication.

Varieties:

According to the form

• Oral (conversation, interview);
• Written (questionnaire).

According to the degree of confidence

• Anonymous;
• Personalized.

By number of respondents

• Individual;
• Expert;
• Group.

Generalization independent characteristics - involves the identification and analysis of opinions about mental phenomena and processes received from various people.

Testing - during its implementation, the subjects perform certain actions on the instructions of the psychologist. It can be projective (manifestations of the psyche are studied) and psycho-correctional (methods of behavioral and cognitivist correction, psychoanalysis, etc. are used).

Performance analysis - an indirect study of psychological phenomena based on practical results and objects of labor, in which the creative abilities of a person are embodied.

General methodology of domestic psychology comes from the fact that:

1. The outer world is material;
2. Matter is primary and consciousness is secondary;
3. Matter is constantly moving and developing;
4. The external world and the psyche have come a long way of evolution.

Special methodology of psychology emphasizes:

• The psyche is a property of highly organized matter, a function of the brain;
• The essence of the psyche is to reflect the effects of objects and phenomena of reality;
• Consciousness is the highest stage in the development of the psyche;
• Psyche, consciousness are socially conditioned.

The natural scientific basis of psychology is the physiology of higher nervous activity (psychophysiology), which is based on the theory of functional systems by P. K. Anokhin: mental and physiological processes form a single whole.

Psychology also relies on biological and medical disciplines, as they help better understand the psyche.

1.2. The essence of the psyche, its functions and structure

The nature of psychic phenomena has been a subject of controversy for centuries between materialists and idealists. From the point of view of materialism, the psyche is not a property of any, but of a specially organized matter - the brain. The brain is an organ of mental life, the carrier of our thinking, feelings, will.

The psyche of an individual is everything that makes up his subjective inner world (his thoughts, experiences, intentions), which manifests itself in actions and deeds, in interaction with other people. It has come a long way - from the most elementary forms observed in the animal world to human consciousness. This is a product of public historical development, the result and conditions of work and communication.

The psyche is a systemic property of highly organized matter (the brain), which consists in the subject's active reflection of the external world, in the construction by him (the subject) of a picture of this world inalienable from him and self-regulation on this basis of his behavior and activity.

Psychic reflection is not a mirror, mechanically passive copying of the environment (like a mirror or a camera), it is associated with a search, a choice. In it, the incoming information is subjected to specific processing, i.e. it is an active, subjective, selective reflection of the surrounding reality, because belongs to the individual, does not exist outside of him, and depends on his characteristics.

The psyche is a subjective image of the objective world.

The psyche, understood as a reflection of the external environment, has a semantic load of the essence of any thing. In this case, we are talking about it as a substance. Substance (from lat. substantia - essence), the fundamental principle, the essence of all things and phenomena. Materialists recognize substance as eternally moving and changing matter. But the etymology of the term psyche contains another concept. If you listen to such expressions as “the soul left the body”, “the soul went to the heels from fear”, “the excitement of the soul”, then you can feel the movement. And something is always moving, there must be a substratum of this phenomenon. Substratum (from Latin substratum - lit. bedding, lining) - 1) the philosophical general basis of diverse phenomena; 2) the biological basis (object, substance) on which animals, plants, microorganisms live. In this sense, the ancients associated the substratum of the psyche, for example, with the processes of nutrition, respiration (its substratum is air), with the smallest atoms, etc.

And in today's psychophysiology, this issue is also intensively discussed. The problem can be put like this: is the psyche just a property of the nervous system, a specific reflection of its work, or does it also have its own substratum? As some scientists suggest, they may be microleptons - the smallest nuclear particles. There are other hypotheses as well. The close relationship between the psyche and the brain is beyond doubt, damage to the latter leads to mental disorders. Although the brain is an organ whose activity determines the psyche, its content is not produced by itself, its source is the surrounding reality. Mental properties carry the characteristics of external objects, and not of physiological processes, with the help of which the psychic arises. Transformations of signals taking place in the brain are perceived by a person as events taking place outside him, in space and in the world.

According to the theory of psychophysiological parallelism, the mental and physiological make up two series of phenomena that correspond to one another, but at the same time, as two parallel lines never intersect, they do not affect each other. Thus, the presence of a “soul” is assumed, which is connected with the body, but lives according to its own laws.

The theory of mechanical identity, on the contrary, emphasizes that mental phenomena are, in fact, physiological, i.e. the brain secretes the psyche, thought, just as the liver secretes bile. Its representatives, identifying the psyche with nervous processes, do not see any differences between them.

Unity theory states that mental and physiological phenomena occur simultaneously, but they are distinct. Mental processes do not correlate with a single neurophysiological act, but with their organized aggregates, i.e. the psyche is a systemic quality of the brain, realized through its multi-level functional channels, which are formed in the subject in the course of life, mastering social experience and forms of activity through his active position.

The psyche is not given in finished form to an individual from the moment of birth, it does not develop by itself if the child is isolated from society. Only in the process of communication and interaction with other people does he form a human psyche (the Mowgli phenomenon). Specific qualities - consciousness, thinking, speech, memory are formed only in vivo in the process of assimilation of a culture created by many generations.

The human psyche includes:

1. Outside world, nature;
2. their reflection;
3. brain activity;
4. Interaction with people (active transfer of abilities and culture to new generations).

Rice. 1. Basic functions of the psyche

Psychic Reflection Features:

1. It makes it possible to correctly perceive reality, which is confirmed by practice;
2. The mental image itself is formed in the process of active actions of a person;
3. Psychic reflection deepens and improves;
4. Ensures the expediency of behavior and activities;
5. It is refracted through the individuality of the person;
6. Has a proactive character.

There are different approaches to understanding who has a psyche:

• Anthropopsychism (Descartes) - only a person has a psyche;
• Panpsychism (fr. materialists) - the universal spirituality of nature (stone);
• Biopsychism - the psyche is a property of all living things (plants);
• Neuropsychism (Ch. Darwin) - the psyche is inherent in everyone who has a nervous system;
• Brainpsychism (K. Platonov) - the psyche is only in organisms with a tubular nervous system that have a brain (insects do not);
• A. Leontiev - the criterion for the beginnings of the psyche is the presence of sensitivity.

Tab. 1. Stages of development of the psyche in animals:

At the stage of elementary sensitivity: the animal reacts to individual properties of objects, and its behavior is determined by innate instincts (nutrition, self-preservation, reproduction, etc.).

At the stage of object perception: reflection is carried out in the form of images of objects and the animal is able to learn, individually acquired behavioral skills appear.

At the stage of intellect: the animal can reflect interdisciplinary connections, the situation as a whole, is able to bypass obstacles, “invent” new solutions to two-phase tasks that require preparatory efforts (monkeys, dolphins). But all this does not go beyond the biological need and operates within the limits of visibility.

Thus, the psyche of animals arises and develops because otherwise they could not orient themselves in the environment and exist.

The psyche with all manifestations is complex and diverse. But it always appears in the unity of external and internal processes (thought or feeling can lead to action).

In the structure of the psyche, there are:

1. mental processes;
2. mental states;
3. mental properties;
4. mental education.

mental processes - provide the primary reflection and awareness by the individual of the influences of the external world;

Mental Properties - the most stable features that determine the behavior and activities typical of a given individual;

mental states - the level of efficiency and quality of functioning of the human psyche;

Psychic formations - knowledge, skills and abilities that are formed in the process of social experience.

Rice. 2. The main forms of manifestation of the human psyche

1.3. Mind and activity

The development of the individual's psyche took place in the process of labor activity, which has a productive character. Labor is imprinted in its product, i.e. there is an embodiment, objectification of the spiritual forces and abilities of people. Human activity, its activity differ significantly from the actions of animals.

Animal activity	human activity
Instinctively-biological character.	It is directed by cognitive need, has subjective significance (subjectivity).
There is no joint activity.	Each action acquires meaning only by virtue of what place it occupies in joint activity (objectivity).
Guided by visual impressions.	The individual abstracts, penetrates the connections and relations of things, establishes causal dependencies between them.
Hereditarily fixed programs of behavior (instincts) are typical.	Transfer and consolidation of experience through social means of communication (language and other systems of signs).
The beginnings of gun activity. Do not create any new operations.	Production and preservation of labor tools, their succession to subsequent generations.
Adaptation to the environment.	Transforms the outside world to suit your needs.

Tab. 2. The most important features of the activities of animals and humans

The psyche of people is known and manifested in activity. A person acts in life, first of all, as a creator, creator, regardless of what type of work he is engaged in. At the same time, the richness of his spiritual and mental world, the depth of his mind and experiences, the power of imagination and will, abilities and character traits are revealed.

The individual consciously distinguishes himself from nature. He sets goals for himself, formulates motives that encourage him to be active. Personality is formed, and manifested, and improved in activity.

Activity is an active and consciously regulated process of human interaction with the outside world. It is extremely diverse, not always unambiguous.

1.3.1. Essence of activity

Activity is a set of human actions aimed at satisfying his needs and interests.

Activities:

• A game;
• Teaching;
• Work.

Game - activity in conditional situations, aimed at the assimilation of social experience;

Teaching is a process of systematic acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to perform activities;

Labor is an activity that determines the creation of a socially useful product that satisfies the material and spiritual needs of people.

Activity features:

• public character;
• purposefulness;
• planning;
• Systematic.

1.3.2. Activity structure

Rice. 3. Structure of activity

Motives are the internal motive forces of the individual, forcing him to engage in activities.

Methods and techniques - actions undertaken by a person in order to achieve certain goals and results. The methods and techniques may consist of one or more operations.

Goals are the most significant objects, phenomena, tasks, objects for the personality, the achievement and possession of which constitute the essence of its activity.

Mental actions are formed at first as external, objective actions and are gradually transferred to the internal plane (internalization). Example: A child is learning to count. At first he uses chopsticks. There is a time when they are no longer needed. Why? The account turns into smart transactions. Words and numbers become objects. Cogitative actions gradually accumulate, which constitute mental activity.

Action is a structural unit of activity. This is an arbitrary deliberate activity aimed at achieving a perceived goal. The action is carried out using methods and techniques that are correlated with a specific situation and conditions (the lowest level of activity).

Rice. 4. Structure and functions of the action

The action has a structure similar to the activity: the goal is the motive, the method is the result. Distinguish actions are sensory (perception of an object), motor (motor), volitional, mental, mnemonic (memory), external object (aimed at changing the state or properties of objects in the world), mental (performed in the inner plane of consciousness).

According to the method of functioning, actions are divided into arbitrary and deliberate. In the course of their implementation, new goals of activity and a change in a specific place may appear.

In the characteristic of the action, the following aspects are usually observed:

• Action- simultaneously an act of consciousness and behavior;
• Action- actively and is not limited to reactions to external stimuli alone;
• The purpose of an action can be biological or social.

Psychology as a science about the laws of origin, improvement and functioning of the psyche has its own subject, object, principles, methods. The psyche has come a long way of development - from elementary forms observed in the animal world to human consciousness. It is a socio-historical product, the result and condition of labor and communication. Its main functions are to reflect the external world by the individual, regulate his behavior and activities, and realize his place in the surrounding reality.

The subject of this science is the basic laws of the generation and functioning of mental reality. The scope of its study includes: the psyche, consciousness, the unconscious, personality, behavior, activity. In the structure of the human psyche, mental processes, properties, states, and formations can be distinguished.

Literature on the topic

1. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya K.A. Activity and personality psychology. M.: 1980
2. Gippenreiter Yu.B. Introduction to general psychology. M.: 1998
3. Godfroy J. What is psychology. In 2 volumes / Per. from fr. M.: 1992
4. Leontiev A.N. Problems of the development of the psyche. M.: 1972
5. Leontiev A.N. Activity. Consciousness. Personality. M.: 1975
6. Nemov R.S. Psychology. Textbook. In 3 volumes. M.: 1999
7. General psychology./Comp. Rogov E.I. M.: 1998
8. Psychology. Textbook./Ed. Krylova A.A. M.: 1999
9. Psychology. Textbook./Ed. Druzhinina V.N. M.: 2000
10. Rean A.A. etc. Psychology and Pedagogy. Textbook. M.: 2000
11. Stolyarenko L.D. Fundamentals of psychology. Rostov n/a, 1997
12. Shadrikov V.D. Psychology of activity and human abilities: Proc. allowance M.: 1996

print version

Reader

Job title	annotation
Psychology as a science// Psychology. Textbook for economic universities / Under the general. ed. V. N. Druzhinina. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2000. - S. 12-26.	Methodology of scientific knowledge. Scientific and non-scientific psychological knowledge. Formation of science as social institution. Paradigms. Values ​​and norms of science. Explanatory principles of psychology. Principles of interaction, determinism, integrity, activity, subjectivity, reconstruction. Subject and methods of psychology. Definition of the subject of psychological research. Experimental-reconstructive method and methods of psychological research. The general scientific nature of the method of psychology and the specifics of its subject.
History of psychology// Psychology. Textbook for economic universities / Under the general. ed. V. N. Druzhinina. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2000. - S. 28-55.	The period of the formation of psychological knowledge within the framework of other scientific disciplines (IV - V centuries BC.- 60s 19th century). The development of ideas about the soul within the framework of religious systems and rituals. Teaching about the soul. Teachings about experience and about consciousness. General characteristics of the pre-paradigm period of the formation of psychological knowledge. Psychology as an independent scientific discipline (60s of the XIX century - present). The stage of formation of the first paradigms. The Crisis of Psychology (10-30s of the 20th century). The current state of psychology. The main directions of development of psychological science. Psychological science and psychological practice. Fundamental psychology and applied psychology. The main directions of practical psychology. Spheres of practical application of psychological knowledge.
The structure of the psyche / / Psychology. Textbook for economic universities / Under the general. ed. V. N. Druzhinina. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2000. - S. 86-102.	Functions of the psyche. Objective and subjective reality. Cognitive, regulatory and communicative functions of the psyche. The concept of mental functional system of activity. Mental processes, states and properties. Processes of mental regulation. emotional processes. Decision making processes. Control processes. cognitive processes. communication processes. The main groups of mental properties: features of temperament, abilities, personality traits. The main characteristics of mental states. Consciousness and the unconscious. Approaches to the study of consciousness and the unconscious. Classification of states of consciousness. Consciousness research in neuroscience. Altered states of consciousness. Spontaneously arising, artificially evoked and psychotechnically conditioned ASCs. Dream. The use of psychoactive substances.

Teaching is an activity for the systematic assimilation of knowledge, skills and abilities. Doctrine takes place where a person's actions are directed by a consciously set goal to assimilate certain information and methods of action. To formulate in oneself the functional organs that make possible a fundamentally different way of life (see 20.2.). A way of life developed in the course of the historical and cultural development of mankind. Creating and driving a car, building airplanes and flying them, making musical instruments and playing, designing computers and working with them - all these are exclusively human ways of activity, the result of the historical and cultural development of mankind. Teaching is the process of mastering this historical and cultural heritage. The basis of the doctrine is the same need as the basis of knowledge - gnostic (from the Greek "gnosis" - knowledge), i.e. need for knowledge. However psychological entity the activity of cognition itself differs from that of the activity of learning. The fact is that in cognition a person discovers the unknown in the external world. And when teaching unknown is such only for the student, for the one who learns. For others, such as a teacher, it known. The psychological goal of teaching is to transform unknown external you in your internal known. Therefore, the psychological essence of the doctrine is internalization process, i.e. the transformation of the emerging forms of activity into internal forms that are now inherent in the psyche of a given individual. The idea of ​​interiorization was put forward by the French psychologist Pierre Janet. The Soviet psychologist L. S. Vygotsky (1896 - 1934) recreated the sequence of mastering new methods of action, in which the stages of internalization are described in detail. First stage the exercise involves general orientation in what is to be done. On the second stage the student, under the guidance of the teacher, performs the so-called materialized action with pronunciation, i.e. on models (examples) he tries to do what is necessary, explaining his actions aloud. Third stage- when a materialized action is performed (for example, counting on sticks) with whispering. On the fourth stage the action is performed without pronunciation, but still as an external one, i.e. with the help of models, objects, cards (sticks when counting). And on fifth the action itself interiorized, i.e. becomes mental, becomes the property of the psyche of the student.

In teaching, the presentation of a new, forthcoming assimilation, is called learning task. orientation actions, carrying out which the student comprehends what is to be learned (compares with the previous one, gets acquainted with the rules of execution, establishes the compliance of his attempts with the required exemplary) are called educational, t . because it is in the course of their implementation that the student learns. Independent actions, in which the compliance of the acquired material with the required standards is checked are called control actions. And the last action, in which the compliance or non-compliance of the results of assimilation with the requirements of the learning task is fixed, is called evaluation.

Around the same time as L.S. Vygotsky, American psychologist Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) formulated three laws of effective teaching. The first law is called the law of readiness. It means that those who experience a pronounced need to change the conditions of their existence successfully learn. The second law law of exercise. It says: the more often the correct actions are repeated, the more often he will be given preference in the future, i.e. the more successfully it is established. Third law - law of effect: an action that entails a positive effect will be more desirable for the individual, because positive reinforcement leads to reinforcement of the action.

In the psychology of learning, two fundamentally different types of stimuli are distinguished: reinforcement and reward. Reinforcement is an action that motivates the student in the learning process itself, and a reward is a prize (high score) for the final result. It is believed that reinforcement is more productive for self-development, while reward is more productive for gaining status. Since human instinctive forms of behavior are extremely limited, and the whole variety of forms of activity is the result of learning, teaching and learning, the significance of these processes in the life of a person and humanity can hardly be overestimated.

What will we do with the received material:

If this material turned out to be useful for you, you can save it to your page on social networks:

tweet

All topics in this section:

Definition of psychology as a science
The word "psychology" comes from two Greek words: "psyche" - soul and "logos" - science. Psychology is the science of the psyche, i.e. about this form of reflection of reality

The main stages of the history of psychology
In the history of psychology, the following stages can be distinguished: pre-scientific, pre-scientific, natural-science, the stage of scientific specialization. Donau lasted the longest in time

The objective nature of mental patterns
Since psychology is a science, insofar as it studies mental phenomena in their objective, i.e. not dependent on anything other than acting causes, form. What does this mean? This

Mind and brain
The psyche is a function of nerve matter, nerve cells, the largest accumulation of which is the brain. The brain is incredibly complex. It consists of two

The nervous system and its structure
The brain is the main organ of the nervous system of humans and animals. However, its activity is provided by the entire nervous system of the body. Since the human nervous system is the most complex

Mind and consciousness
The psyche of a living being is a product of the nervous system and the brain. In the process of evolution, the psyche arose from the primary forms of movements of plants and animals that occurred in response to external stimuli.

Structure of consciousness
Consciousness as the highest form of mental reflection has the following structure. First, it is a body of knowledge about the surrounding world. Therefore, the structure of consciousness includes cognitive

Conscious and unconscious
There are two levels in the human psyche: the conscious and the unconscious. The unconscious, the unconscious is the totality of all mental processes and consists

Modern psychology, its tasks and place in the system of sciences
Modern psychology is a complex science. It is a branched system of scientific disciplines that explore the psyche in all its diversity. Since the subject of psychology is the patterns of

Structure of modern psychology
Modern psychology is represented by many psychological disciplines. To understand the causes and essence of this diversity, one should take into account 1) the features of the study of the psyche in

Interdisciplinary connections of modern psychology
Since psychology is at the intersection of sciences, it widely develops ties with these sciences. First of all, these interdisciplinary connections are developed by borrowing research methods.

General description of the methods of psychology
The main methods of psychology are observation, conversation, experiment, testing. 1. Observation is a method of studying objects and phenomena, which concludes

The problem of objectivity in psychological research and the organization of a specific psychological research
The psyche is not a natural phenomenon. It cannot be touched, weighed, seen. The psyche belongs to a special reality - ideal. Therefore, the problem of obtaining objective, i.e. authentic,

When conducting psychological research, there are five stages
The first stage is indicative. It includes preliminary observations of the phenomenon under study, the formulation of assumptions about possible reasons and properties of the phenomenon and promotion

Correlation as an alternative to experiment
Correlation (from Latin correlation - ratio) is another method of both processing data and obtaining them. The fact is that sometimes an experiment in the study of the psyche cannot be applied

General characteristics of the physiological basis of sensations
Sensation is considered the simplest of all mental processes. The ability to feel exists in all living beings that have nerve cells. Feeling is a reflection in the psyche

And the general properties of sensations
Sensitivity is the property of the analyzer to respond to the corresponding stimulus. Special studies have shown that the stimulus causes in the analysis intended for it

And the physiological basis of perception
Perception is a mental process of reflection of objects and phenomena in the totality of their qualities and properties with their direct, but non-contact impact on the senses.

Properties of human perception
The primary property of human perception is objectivity. The objectivity of perception is expressed in the fact that everything that a person perceives when shaped into an image of perception, t

Perception of space
The main role in the perception of space is played by binocular vision. Only one two-dimensional image is created on the retina of each eye. But since our eyes are located at some distance d

Movement perception
The perception of movement is a reflection of the change in the position of objects in space. It is of vital importance. The main role in the perception of movement is played by visual and musculoskeletal

Perception of time
The perception of time is a reflection of the duration, speed and sequence of phenomena. Orientation in time in humans is carried out with the help of the cortical regions of the brain, where a number of analyzers, volume

And its physiological basis
Memory is a cumulative mental process of remembering, preserving and reproducing events and states related to the previous circumstances of life. Thanks to the memory

Psychological theories of memory
The psychological study of memory has a long tradition. There are currently three main theories of memory in psychology. The first one is called association theory.

Types of memory
There are several reasons for classifying the types of memory in humans. According to the duration of information storage, three types of memory are distinguished: long-term, short-term and about

Memory processes
Memorization. In terms of its physiological mechanisms, memorization is the formation and fixation in the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres of the required neural connections in the process.

Memory disorders
Memory impairment is called amnesia. With amnesia, a person forgets about certain events. The cause of amnesia is either a disease or other disorder (as a result of trauma, blood

General characteristics of thinking
Thinking is a mental process that provides the ability to compare, compare, i.e. analyze received in direct sensation and perception

Thinking and speech
For human mental activity, its close relationship with language and speech is essential. It is this relationship that fundamentally distinguishes the human psyche from the psyche of animals. Animal Thinking

The social nature of human thinking
The organic connection of thinking with speech and language at the same time forms and reveals the socio-historical, culturally conditioned, i.e. the social nature of thought. social nature thinking pr

Psychological specificity of human thinking
Many researchers distinguish two fundamentally different levels of thinking in humans. Concrete, based on more ancient brain structures and abstract, product

Logical aspects of thinking
Logic is the science that deals with the study of how to think correctly. It explores the basic logical forms of thinking and the rules for inferring one thought from another. V l

Thinking in problem solving
Thinking begins where a problem situation arises in front of a person, which is characterized by the fact that it does not provide all the necessary conditions for its solution. They must be found with the help of thinking

Types of thinking and quality of mind
In psychology, the following types of thinking are distinguished: visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical. Visually effective thinking is genetically the earliest. With

Basic functions of speech
Speech is the central mental process that distinguishes man from animals. It is thanks to speech that proper human thinking exists, including, and above all, theoretical thinking.

Physiological basis of speech
Like all mental processes, speech has a very definite and rather complex physiological basis. Its basis is the most complex and special system of temporary connections, which makes it possible to replace

Forms and types of speech
In psychology, there are two forms of speech: external and internal. External speech is divided into the following types: oral (monologues

The main disorders of speech function and properties of speech
Since speech is closely connected with neuro-brain mechanisms, any damage to the nerve centers (brain areas) responsible for speech processes causes speech disorders, which are called

General characteristics of the imagination
Imagination, or fantasy, is a mental process, the essence of which is the creation of new images (objects, phenomena and situations) based on the combination and transformation of

Physiological basis of imagination
Like all mental processes, imagination is due to the activity of the brain, its cortex. It closes connections during the perception and consolidation of impressions from about

Types and techniques of imagination
There are the following main types of imagination: active and passive. Active imagination is imagination that

Imagination and creativity
Imagination is a mental process that is a prerequisite and condition for such a productive human activity in which a product is created, i.e. ideal (in image, in text) or real

General characteristics of the will
Will is a mental process, the essence of which is the regulation by a person of behavior and activities related to overcoming internal and external obstacles. AT

Physiological basis of will
At the heart of volitional behavior are the special principles of the work of the brain and the central nervous system of a person. Chief among these principles is the principle of dominance. open ru

The psychological structure of volitional action
The will of a person, manifested in volitional effort, is expressed in volitional actions. Volitional action is always associated with awareness of the purpose of the action, its significance, its meaning, i.e. values,

Volitional properties of a person
The volitional properties (qualities) of a person are the skills fixed in his behavior and the readiness to perform volitional actions corresponding to them. To volitional qualities

Violations of will
Extreme degrees of human weakness are called violations of volitional regulation of behavior. The most typical disorders of the will are abulia, apathy and apraxia. Abulia - floor

General characteristics of attention
Attention is a mental process that regulates the degree of concentration, concentration of a living being on certain aspects of reality or on its states. Vn

Physiological basis of attention
The general physiological mechanism of attention is the orienting reflex, the essence and purpose of which is to ensure the safety of a living being. In addition, a person

Types of attention
There are the following types of attention: external and internal, voluntary (intentional) and involuntary (unintentional), as well as post-voluntary. External attention - uh

Attention Properties
Like other mental processes, attention has a number of properties. The properties of attention are the features of its manifestation. The main ones are: volume, distribution, concentration,

Development of attention
The role of attention in the human psyche is determined by the fact that it ensures the proper perception and understanding of the required information, as well as such a necessary condition for activity as control and self-confidence.

Preliminary explanations
The existence of any living being in the world consists of continuous interaction with the environment. Human life in this respect is especially complex and diverse. First of all, because

emotional states. general characteristics
The emotional state is such a way of mental reflection, which is expressed not in external objective actions that are provided by mental processes, but in an asset.

Physiological basis of emotional states
Special studies show that emotional states are primarily due to the excitation of subcortical centers and physiological processes in the autonomic nerve.

Types of emotional reactions (emotions) and emotional states
Among simple emotions, i.e. biologically determined mental states, the following can be distinguished: aggression (anger), pain, hunger, thirst, orgasm, fatigue, fear, disgust, ra

Higher emotions (feelings) of a person
Higher emotions are the emotional states of a person caused by socially significant and culturally determined factors. They are called feelings or higher feelings of a person. By content

General characteristics of the levels of activity of consciousness
Since a person lives in a changing world, his psyche constantly reacts to the environment, either more or less actively. The physiological basis of mental response, as

Sleep, dreams and sleep disorders
Sleep is a periodically occurring state of protective inhibition, associated with the need to restore working capacity and the biological rhythms of the body's life, regulating

Trance states of consciousness
Trance (from Latin “trance” - through) states of consciousness are a more or less prolonged dream-like mental state in which self-control is reduced and habitual automatic

Hallucinatory and painful states of consciousness
States of consciousness in which people have false perceptions are called hallucinatory states. In other words, hallucinatory states are a state of perception in the absence of

Near-death states of consciousness
The human psyche is formed during life, thanks to the presence of the brain and the existence of man among people. Consciousness is the highest level of the human psyche. Sometimes, towards the end of life, consciousness

general characteristics
The term "temperament" comes from the Latin "temperamentum", which means "mixture". It was with this word that even in ancient Greece and Rome, where, in fact, this term was born, the famous doctors of Hippocrates

Physiological basis of human temperament
The physiological basis of a person's temperament is made up of two main determining factors: physique (constitution) and the type of higher nervous activity. Developed

And the psychological properties of temperament
Choleric temperament is characterized by great intensity and vivid expression of emotional experiences, the speed of their flow. This feature is manifested in the characteristic

Accounting for the typology of temperament and its psychological properties in everyday life
The fact that all people have a certain type of physique and a certain type of higher nervous activity determines the indisputable fact of their (our) belonging to a certain type of pace.

General characterization
Character is a set of individual psychological and typological properties of a person that determines stable ways of a person’s response to life circumstances and a system of relations with others.

character structure
The character structure is a stable and regular system of dependencies between its individual features: core and superficial, stable and situational, main and secondary.

Character properties
In contrast to the structure of character as a holistic formation, individual character properties are also distinguished, i.e. the main qualities of character that are the result of self-education.

Individual and typical in character
In the character of each person, one can distinguish both individual and typical character traits characteristic of people of a given era, a given layer, a given ethical affiliation. If an individual

General characteristics of abilities
Abilities are the mental properties of a person, the presence of which allows him to perform this or that activity in the most successful way. Other things being equal, life and activity

Inclinations, inclinations and abilities
The natural prerequisites for the manifestation and formation of abilities are called inclinations. The makings are a set of morphological (anatomical and physiological

Structure, types and levels of development of abilities
Abilities as developed functional systems that determine the modes of action inherent in a particular human activity have a complex structure. Ability structure

Development and formation of abilities
The development and formation of abilities is due to the specific socio-historical conditions of people's lives and is associated with the mastery of a person accumulated by generations of material and spiritual culture.

General characteristics of activities
Activity is a form of purposeful psychosocial activity of a person, the overall result of which is a constructive transformation of the surrounding world and the actor himself.

The psychological structure of activity and its meaning
Activity as a psychosocial formation has a harmonious psychological structure, which can be understood by comparing the content elements of this structure (needs - motives

Activities
The main types of human activity are: play, learning and work. Each of these activities is leading at different stages

General characteristics of the phenomenon
Personality is a special psychosocial education, the quality of a person, manifested in his spiritual maturity, social significance, meaningful and authorial entry.

To the study of personality
In modern psychology, stable approaches to the study of personality have developed, the most famous of which are: psychodynamic, behavioral, activity, cognitive, exi

The formation of personality
The formation of personality is a unity of the processes of its formation and development. Each type of concepts and theories discussed in the previous paragraph is associated with a special problem.

Social personality types
Since personality is a phenomenon determined by the social and socio-cultural characteristics of the life of a given society, psychologists from the first third of the 20th century tried to establish the dependence of ty

General characteristics of the phenomenon
Man, being a social being, does not live alone, on his own. One way or another, he is included in a certain primary community in which his life takes place. Such a relatively

Types of groups and levels of their development
In modern psychology, a fairly detailed classification of groups has been developed. First of all, there are conditional and real groups. Conditional (nominal

Interpersonal relationships in the group
Relationships in a group are an extremely important and interesting side of the life of both a person and human society. Distinguish, depending on the type of group relationship officially

Intimate interpersonal relationships
In addition to explicit interpersonal relationships, people enter into secret relationships with each other. This is an intimate relationship, i.e. those that concern only two, occasionally three, and which

General characteristics of the phenomenon
In the process of joint activities, interpersonal and social relations people constantly come into contact, which presupposes one or another effect of their

And features of social perception
The process of communication begins first of all with the first impression that we have about another person. If this impression is favorable, psychotherapy is established.

Communication efficiency
In the problematic of the effectiveness of communication, the main question is how to achieve the necessary impact of the transmitted messages. After all, it is the influence of some people on

Manipulation and psychological means of protection against it
The principles and rules of effective manipulation, outlined above, are applied in everyday life in all areas of professional information impact. However, there are also extremely

General characteristics of learning processes
Man is a creature that differs from other types of living beings by the type of its life activity. It is as a result of the human way of living life on the globe, in contrast to

The psychological essence of learning
Learning consists in the assimilation by a person of certain information and methods of action, as a result of which a functional organ arises in a person.

Education as the main condition for mental development
The specificity of the human psyche, all its functions (processes, properties and states) is that they develop in the course of the child's mastery of the socio-historical heritage, i.e. to

Mental development of a child from birth to a year (infancy)
A newborn is a child from the moment of birth to the end of the first month of life. Already at birth, a newborn has a number of reflexes, among which are respiratory, sucking

One to three years (early childhood)
The age period from one to the end of the third year of life is called early childhood. Early childhood is a whole era in the mental maturation of a child. Main n

From three years to seven years (first period of childhood)
The age period from three to seven years is also called pre-preschool or the first period of childhood. This is the most interesting period when all children become

At primary school age (second period of childhood)
The second period of childhood covers the age range of eight to twelve years. At this age, the place of play as the leading activity is occupied by learning.

adolescence
Adolescence occupies a very special place in the development of modern man. Differing in age period for boys (from 13 to 16 years old) and girls (from 12 to 15 years old), it is

Intellectual development of a teenager
In a teenager, unlike children, the ability to reason, using hypotheses and deductive conclusions, matures. In other words, the teenager puts forward sufficiently reasoned claims.

In adolescence
The main motivational determinants of adolescence are the desire for self-knowledge, self-expression and self-affirmation. Vozniknov

Characterological problems of adolescents
Due to the fact that adolescence is a period of rapid character formation, its typological features are so pronounced that they even received the name "teenagers".

Psychological specifics of behavior and relationships in early adolescence
It is a well-known fact that young people are uncompromising at the age of early adolescence. The limiting stress of personal resources associated with the consumption

At the age of early youth
The age of early youth, in addition to the formation of personality traits, is the most important stage in the development of mental processes and states. This development covers both quantitative

The core perspective of personal development
The age of early youth, in which for the first time the question of the meaning of life arises before a person in all depth and sharpness, involves decisions by young people, boys and girls.

The life of an adult
24.1. Definition of the term "adulthood" Chronologically, adult age ranges from 25-35 years (for men) and 21-35 years (for women) to 36-60 years (for men) and 36-55 years (

The specificity of mental processes in the period of adulthood
The adult period is usually the longest in a person's life. It is this period - from 21-22 years old to 55-60 years old - that is characterized by the highest level of intellectual, creative

Life tasks and crises of adulthood
Currently, there are two main approaches to the study of adult development: 1) the study of development throughout life; 2) study of the dynamics of life events

Advanced age. The total potential of human life
With the entry into the stage of old age, people come face to face with the aging process of the body. Aging occurs in various structures of the body - as an individual, personality and su

At first glance, it seems that the psyche is a phenomenon that is well known to everyone. Indeed, each of us knows well that the psyche is our perception of objects and phenomena of the external world, the processes of thinking, our experiences and desires. The psyche remains with us not only during waking hours, but also during sleep, revealing itself in the form of intricate dreams.

However, when trying to somehow understand the essence of the psyche, to give it a clear definition, it immediately turns out that external representations alone are not enough to answer the question of what the psyche is. It turns out, for example, that in the structure of this complex phenomenon it is difficult to separate those aspects of the psyche that belong to us from those aspects of it that belong to the outside world.

Psychologists have long noticed that the psyche literally dissolves in all the images of the world and nowhere acts as a separate object, remaining mysterious and indefinite in its nature and structure.

This enigma gives rise to many attempts to give a more or less clear definition of the essence of the psyche.

The nature of the psyche

Most often, the psyche is defined by a simple enumeration of certain types of mental phenomena. Many dictionaries and textbooks indicate that the psyche is our sensations, thinking, memory, feelings, etc. Such a definition of the essence of the mental by enumerating its constituent elements comes from the idea that parts are always simpler than the whole and through them it is easier to understand the whole. But this overlooks the fact that the whole is not reduced to the sum of its constituent parts, that the whole is something other than its constituent parts, it contains some new qualities that none of the parts have. As a result, it turns out that with such an approach, the essence of the psyche as a whole remains unrevealed. Here the situation is similar to that which also arises before a chemist who would like to understand what water is, while confining himself only to the study of the properties of hydrogen and oxygen, of which, as is known, water consists.

Another popular way of explaining the psyche is to indicate its location in the body, its connection with the brain, the nervous system. Through such localization, a clearer description of the psyche is achieved, however, only by indicating its connection with a specific part of the organism. However, the weakness of this definition also lies in the fact that in reality the psyche is a function not only of the brain and even not only of the nervous system, but a product of the activity of the whole organism as a whole. In addition, this or that organ does not at all determine the nature of the function that it performs. The situation is just the opposite: it is the need for the implementation of a certain function that gives rise to this or that organ and the corresponding physiological process. It was not the brain that gave rise to the psyche, but, on the contrary, the need for a developed mental function for the body at a certain stage led to the formation of the nervous system and the brain. Just as it was not the heart that gave rise to the function of blood circulation, but the need for this function that arose, as a result of long evolution, led to the formation of the heart and the circulatory system in some animals.

Hence it becomes clear that a meaningful explanation of the psyche is possible only by elucidating that special vital task, the function that it performs in the body. The correct definition of the psyche presupposes not only the elucidation of its constituent elements and not only the establishment of those organs with which it is connected, but, first of all, the answer to the question: what special task, function does the psyche perform in the life of the organism?

Therefore, in modern science, the psyche is increasingly defined as a function of the nervous system that ensures the organization and optimal behavior of the body to realize its needs and the motives, desires, goals, value orientations, relationships, etc. formed on their basis.

It is widely accepted that all animals have a mind, and some modern psychologists believe that it even exists in an elementary form in plants. At the same time, it is especially emphasized that in humans and animals, the brain performs the task of regulating their behavior in the environment, acting in accordance with the laws of information and energy supply of the body.

In this regard, it should be noted that in the historically established materialistic philosophical tradition, which was adhered to by Soviet psychology, when defining the psyche, emphasis was placed on the function it performs as a "reflection of objective reality." But at the same time, the most important thing for characterizing the essence of the psyche remained in the shade - the question of why a living organism, a person, needs this very “reflection”.

Of course, the processes of "reflection", expressed in sensations, perceptions, ideas and reflections, enable the individual to understand the features of the current life situation. But this is only the initial stage of the functioning of the psyche.

Its most important task is to organize, on the basis of the analysis, expedient behavior for the implementation of the current needs, desires, and goals chosen by the subject. Thus, it turns out that the “reflection” itself, as well as psychomotor processes, and speech, and consciousness, are only mental components that are subordinate to the basic foundations of the psyche in the form of needs and urges that trigger the entire mental process as a whole and manage them.

“Reflection” is only a primary mental cognitive process that “works” to satisfy some basic desires and interests. Therefore, the activity of reflective processes is always maintained or terminated depending on the degree of satisfaction of the need that caused it.

So, the main function of the psyche is to organize and implement the optimal behavior of the organism to meet the needs of the individual, taking into account its capabilities and the characteristics of the environment.

In the proposed definition of the psyche, as you can see, the main emphasis is on its organizing, controlling role, and not on its subordinate "reflection". Needs are closely intertwined with the psyche, initially built into the body. According to many Western and Russian psychologists, it is the needs that form the core of the psyche (Sigmund Freud, Kurt Lewin, William McDougall, Lev Vygotsky, Abraham Maslow, etc.). While interpreting the essence and structure of the psyche in different ways, these psychologists were nevertheless unanimous in recognizing that it is needs that generate and organize behavior and determine its general direction. On this foundation, cognitive and motor processes are formed, the work of consciousness is carried out, without which the effective fulfillment of needs, of course, is impossible.

It is easy to see that in the proposed understanding of the essence of the psyche, an explanation is proposed based on the recognition of its close connection with the work of the human body, i.e. with material organs and processes. However, as shown in Chap. I of this manual, the image of the psyche for a long time was formed in the course of solving the general philosophical problem of the relationship between spirit and matter.

Moreover, philosophers have long held different positions on whether the spirit can exist outside the mother, and the soul can live apart from the body. As a result, two different understandings have developed: materialistic and idealistic. The problem of priority, the primacy of matter or consciousness still divides philosophers.

According to the materialistic approach, mental phenomena are a property of highly organized living matter to reflect reality in the form of mental images.

In the view of materialists, psychic phenomena arose as a result of a long biological evolution of living matter and at present represent the highest result of development achieved by it.

At first living matter possessed only the biological properties of irritability and self-preservation, manifested through the mechanisms of metabolism with the environment, its own growth and reproduction. Later, already at the level of more complexly organized living beings, sensitivity and the ability to learn were added to them.

In the process of evolutionary self-improvement of living beings, a special organ emerged in their organisms, which assumed the function of managing development, behavior and reproduction - nervous system. As it became more complex and improved, the forms of behavior and activity developed, as well as the emergence of more complex forms of mental reflation of life activity.

The human psyche is qualitatively more high level than the psyche of animals. Consciousness, the human mind developed in the process labor activity, which arose out of the need to joint action for getting food. The manufacture and use of grud tools, the division of labor contributed to the development of abstract thinking, speech, and the development of socio-historical relations between people. In the process of the historical development of society, a person changed the ways and methods of his behavior. Natural inclinations and functions were transformed into higher mental functions - specifically human, socially and historically conditioned forms of memory, thinking, perception. Their effectiveness increased through the use of auxiliary means, speech signs created in the process of historical development. The totality of higher mental functions forms the consciousness of man.

Philosophers-idealists present the matter quite differently. According to them, the psyche is not a property of living matter and is not a product of its development. It, like matter, exists forever.

The genesis of the psyche on the basis of matter is completely rejected. On the other hand, the own evolution of the mental is recognized, its movement from lower forms to higher ones. Idealism is thus the philosophical antipode of materialism.

The classic example of idealism created Plato. In his teaching, the world of things and people is declared to be derived from intelligible ideas, eternal, unchanging and perfect, which exist more realistically than mortal and changeable things. The spiritual, according to Plato, is essential, substantial, and therefore more real than the corporeal. The spiritual in a person, his thoughts, concepts, images, is a manifestation of the spiritual, objectively existing outside of a person.

Platonism is a variety of idealism, which later became known as objective. By virtue of its proximity to religion, objective idealism reigned supreme in the philosophy and psychology of the Middle Ages.

In modern times, subjective idealism takes shape in the philosophy of George Berkeley and David Hume.

Berkeley's creed of subjective idealism says: "To exist is to be in perception." Subjective idealism thus takes an extremely anti-realistic position, denying the existence of anything outside the sphere of our experience (both things and incorporeal ideas). Being in subjective idealism coincides with experience, with the consciousness of the cognizing subject, which is the only reality available to us.

The most popular idealist currents at present are neo-Thomism and existentialism.

The first of these currents is based on the concept objective idealism in and the content of the second is close subjective idealism.

Neo-Thomism, or New Thomism, - philosophy of modern Catholicism.

This philosophical direction is an updated Thomism, those. the philosophy of Thomas (lat. Tohmas) Aquinas, 13th century philosopher In 1879, neo-Thomism was recognized by the head of the Catholic Church and since that time has been an important part of the doctrine of Catholicism. Neo-Thomism is the most deeply developed version of modern religious philosophy. Its famous representatives are E. Zhipson. J. Maritain, K. Wojtylla (Pope Paul) and others.

Referring to the inability of modern science to provide clear answers to such the toughest questions, as the origin of the Universe, the emergence of life, the origin of man and others, neo-Thomists again try to prove the existence of God. According to neo-Thomists, the belief of medieval philosophers that matter, like consciousness, are the result of divine creation, was completely correct and has enduring significance. And all the philosophical teachings of the New Age, especially the teachings of a materialistic wing, which criticized this conviction, represent an uninterrupted chain of delusions and errors, which gave rise only to chaos in the minds and confusion in public life.

The psyche for neo-Thomists is in no way connected with matter, it exists independently as an active substance. The very possibility of self-movement of matter, the possibility of its transition from lower forms to higher forms, and even more so the possibility of generating consciousness by matter, is denied. The living, say the neo-Thomists, can never emerge from the inanimate, the sentient from the non-sentient, the rational from the unintelligent.

All these miraculous transformations, which modern science cannot explain in any clear way, could only happen as a result of divine intervention at each of these stages of development. In these great deeds, God visibly showed such qualities as love and the desire for creativity, which he passed on to his highest creation - man.

From this follows the main conclusion of neo-Thomism that human consciousness is not material, but divine in its origin, and the mind is the "heavenly gift" of the creator. But since human consciousness is a creation of God, a person feels and thinks without having any connection with the sense organs and the brain.

Fine, one currently popular idealistic philosophical movement dealing with the problems of the psyche and consciousness is existentialism, philosophy of existence(from lat. Existence).

The most prominent representatives of existentialism are Russian philosophers Nikolai Berdyaev and Lev Shestov, German philosophers Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, French philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus.

The central category in this philosophy is the concept human being, or existence. Moreover, the existence of the human race is characterized as unique, unrepeatable, one of a kind. Human existence is fundamentally different from the existence of other objects and living beings. J.-P. Sartre points out that the philosophy of existentialism opposes both the assertions of traditional religion that man and his psyche were created by God, and against the ideas of materialists that supposedly man was created by nature. In fact, there is an "absolute leap" between matter and human consciousness.

But at birth, a person receives his spiritual world not in a finished form, but only in the form of its outline, project.

Improving his inner world, in the course of life a person must create himself. It is this “incompleteness” of a person that gives rise to an urgent need for everyone to create himself, as well as the corresponding psychological consequences in the form of a sense of care, anxiety, responsibility, and sometimes despair that accompany and color human existence. Against the background of general social pessimism and disappointment, this single existence is the only, stable, unshakable value that allows a person to preserve the freedom of the individual and the dignity of his "I".

The most important point in the philosophy of existentialism is the thesis of the unknowability of human existence both by the methods of science and by the methods of religious-idealistic doctrines. According to K. Jaspers, the only way to characterize existence is not “knowledge”, but only “appeal to the possibility”, and all existential philosophy is only an “infinite approximation” to clarifying the nature of human existence and consciousness.

In existentialism, philosophical knowledge is closely intertwined with psychology, the main categories of existentialism are such psychological concepts as suffering, despair, tragedy, longing, fear, absurdity, responsibility, mental illness, etc.

Transpersonal psychology adjoins the philosophy of existentialism, considering a person as a cosmic, spiritual being, inextricably linked, like all mankind, with the Universe.

Human consciousness is considered here as part of the global information network.

As an independent branch of psychological science, transpersonal psychology took shape in the 1960s. of the last century, standing out from humanistic psychology.

Transpersonal psychology takes most of its materials from the interpretation of dreams, experiences after taking soft drugs, oriental meditation practices, altered states of consciousness during intense breathing, which create special conditions for the brain to work. Representatives of transpersonal psychology ( Stanislav Grof, Abraham Maslow, etc.), as a rule, they admit the existence of Higher powers, but avoid recognizing their connection with any particular religion.

Supporters of the new direction believe that just as there are several ways of knowing, in the same way there are many states of consciousness, and all of them are important for psychology. Moreover, altered states of consciousness function according to laws that are different from those according to which normal consciousness functions. So, ordinary consciousness acts in accordance with the laws of logic and is expressed in words and numbers, and what transpersonal psychology describes is more related to the work of the right hemisphere and is expressed in images rather than concepts.

Representatives of the new psychology mostly focused on Eastern practices, organized seminars on the development and use of meditation and breathing techniques.

It should, however, be avenged that the assessment of transpersonal psychology in modern times is ambiguous.

It is recognized that the merit of the new direction lies in the discovery of the connection between man and the cosmos, the possibility of human consciousness going beyond ordinary barriers, overcoming spatial and temporal restrictions during transpersonal experiences, etc.

But at the same time, it is noted that the way of studying the human psyche proposed by the new direction is very dangerous, since the proposed methods are designed to penetrate into the spiritual space of the individual by destroying it. defense mechanisms. Since transpersonal experiences occur when a person is intoxicated with psychedelics, hypnosis, or enhanced breathing, they cannot lead to a person's spiritual and physical recovery.

Thus, as we see, for centuries there has been a debate about the psyche as the most mysterious phenomenon that exists in the world. Two opposing approaches that have long existed in the interpretation of this essence (materialistic and idealistic) are now being integrated by modern psychological science, which interprets the psyche as the embodiment of the indissoluble unity of objective and subjective being, the coexistence of external and internal, bodily and spiritual.

Course work

General psychology

Psychological entity attention and its properties

Goroshkov Sergey Evgenievich

Introduction

The concept of attention

1 Attention and consciousness

2 Physiological mechanisms of attention

3 Orienting reflex

5 Development of attention

Main types

1 Types of attention

2 Main properties

3 Absence

4 Psychologist in KRO classes

Conclusion

Glossary

Appendix

Introduction

The theme of this course work is the essence of attention and its properties.

Attention is the focus and concentration of consciousness on any object, phenomenon or activity. Attention can be represented as a cognitive process that ensures the ordering of information coming from outside, depending on the primacy and importance of the tasks facing the person.

Already from this definition attention follows that it is characterized by a focus on what the consciousness is occupied with, and a concentration of consciousness on something that requires special awareness.

In the life of any person, there may be cases when something is better done with dispersed attention, and sometimes a person is required to clearly concentrate on a particular subject.

Dispersed attention is also obligatory for a person in the case when he needs to perform several actions at the same time. More difficulty in performing complex tasks is reduced in the case of constant attention training, and the performance of these tasks becomes habitual. A person achieves automatism, that is, automatic processing of information takes place, therefore, fewer cognitive resources are required to complete these tasks.

In modern psychology, attention studies are included, along with general psychology, into engineering psychology and labor psychology, neuropsychology and medical psychology, developmental and educational psychology.

The purpose of the study is to reveal the essence of attention and consider its properties.

Research objectives:

find out what attention is;

consider the theory of attention;

identify the properties of attention;

determine the main types of attention;

consider the development and defects of attention.

The object of this course work is attention in psychology, and the subject is the psychological essence of attention and its properties.

When writing a term paper, the ideas of such authors as M.M. Ivanova, A.N. Leontiev, R.S. Nemov, V.S. Romanova and others were used.

Main part

attention distraction

1 The concept of attention

1.1 Attention and consciousness

If we single out the common thing that stands behind all examples of the connection between attention and memory, then we cannot do without consciousness. Attention is necessary in order to keep in the mind the momentary perceived, transient - otherwise it will not be able to become the property of memory. More attention is needed in order for the memory to again be in the mind, to rise from the depths of memory. Keeping the image and thought in the mind is behind the joint functioning of attention and perception, attention and thinking.

The problem of the connection between attention and consciousness began to be developed within the framework of tail philosophy. In Eastern philosophy, tradition has a special place for attention to both “concentration” and “correct vision”, “penetration” in achieving enlightenment, true divine wisdom. Without attention, "enlightened consciousness" is impossible. It is no coincidence that the practice and technique of meditation, based on the ultimate concentration of consciousness, is defined in the Eastern religious and philosophical tradition.

In the second half of the 19th century, a line of research began to actively develop in psychology, which notes the connection between attention and consciousness. The first direction is the classical psychology of consciousness, within which a systematic experimental study of attention began. Since then, psychology has developed a number of diverse ideas about the relationship between attention and consciousness, in which attention is assigned different roles.

The most common idea of ​​attention in modern psychology is its interpretation as a mechanism of access to consciousness, which determines what of the perceived and experienced by us at the moment reaches consciousness and will affect our behavior. This process can be represented in different ways. For example, as a kind of manhole, similar to the one through which Carroll's Alice tried to get into the magical garden in Wonderland, but did not fit completely. From the court follows the question: what and why remains outside of consciousness, occupies an important place in the modern psychology of attention.

In the classical psychology of consciousness, several more approaches to considering the relationship between attention and consciousness were identified. Consciousness ceases as a structure similar to the visual field with a focus and periphery, and attention as a part of consciousness, its focus, a zone that has the greatest clarity and reporting of the contents of consciousness. However, here the question arises: how exactly do the individual components of individual experience find themselves in this zone? To answer this question, attention must be represented as a special process of transferring a certain content of consciousness, or its element, to its central part.

Attention can also be considered as one of the properties of consciousness or its inherent features. This property is the degree of subjective clarity of the impressions in the mind, which, in the case of a lack of attention, turn out to be vague, and in the case of the utmost attention, they appear to us most clearly.

At the initial stage of the conversation about attention, the connection between attention and consciousness will allow us to approach the description of the subjective phenomena of attention and the fulfillment of the criteria for the presence of this elusive.

Consciousness is the ability to give an account of oneself, and therefore, it is through consciousness that we can know what it means to "be attentive" or "to be inattentive."

1.2 Physiological mechanisms of attention

The works of the outstanding Russian physiologists A.A. Ukhtomsky and I.P. Pavlov are of great importance for understanding the physiological foundations of attention. The idea put forward by IP Pavlov about the special reactions of an uneven system of orienting reflexes already contained a proposal about the reflex nature of involuntary attention. “We peer into the emerging image, listen to the emerging sounds; we strongly draw in the smell that has touched us ... ”- wrote I.P. Pavlov. Orientation reactions are very complex according to modern data. They are associated with the activity of a significant part of the body. The orienting complex includes both external movements (for example, the head towards the sound) and changes in the sensitivity of certain analyzers; the nature of metabolism changes; breathing changes; cardiovascular and galvanic skin reactions, that is, vegetative changes occur; there are simultaneous changes in the electrical activity of the brain. According to the ideas of I.P. Pavlov and A.A. Ukhtomsky, the phenomena of attention are associated with an increase in the excitability of certain brain structures as a result of the interaction of excitation and inhibition processes. I.P. Pavlov believed that at every moment in the cortex there is some area characterized by the most favorable, optimal conditions for excitation. It is this area that arises according to the law of induction of nervous processes, according to which the nervous processes that concentrate in one area of ​​the cerebral cortex cause inhibition in other areas and vice versa. In the focus of excitation, new conditioned reflexes are easily formed, differentiation is successfully developed, this is currently the “creative department of the cerebral hemispheres”. The focus of optimal excitability is dynamic. “If it were possible to see through the cranium and if the place of the cerebral hemispheres with optimal excitability shone, then we would be on a thinking conscious person how a bright spot, constantly changing in shape and size, of a bizarrely irregular shape, surrounded by a more or less significant shadow in the rest of the hemispheres, moves around its large hemispheres, ”wrote I.P. Pavlov. This corresponds to the center of optimal excitation, its “movement” is a physical condition for the dynamics of attention. The position of I.P. Pavlov about the movement of foci of excitation along the cerebral cortex is confirmed by modern experimental studies (data by N.M. Livanov). The dominant principle is important for understanding the physiological mechanisms of attention. In the brain, there is always a dominant, dominant focus of excitation according to A.A. Ukhtomsky. A.A. Ukhtomsky characterizes the dominant as a constellation of "centers with increased excitability." A feature of the dominant as a dominant focus is that it not only suppresses newly emerging foci of excitation, but is also capable of attracting weak excitations to itself, thereby amplifying at the expense of dominating them even more. The dominant is a stable focus of excitation. “The name “dominant” means a more or less stable focus of increased excitability…” wrote A.A. Ukhtomsky. AA Ukhtomsky's ideas about the dominant make it possible to understand the nervous mechanism of prolonged intensive attention. The high efficiency of all cognitive processes with directed concentration is determined by the most favorable conditions for brain activity that arise in centers with increased excitability. AT last years in the studies of Soviet and foreign scientists, new results have been obtained that reveal the neurophysiological mechanisms of attention. Attention arises against the background of general wakefulness of the body associated with active brain activity. If active attention is possible in a state of optimal wakefulness, then concentration difficulties arise both against a background of relaxed, diffuse, and against a background of excessive wakefulness. The transition from passive to active attention provides a general activation of the brain. At a certain level of brain activity, attention is possible. Currently, psychophysiology has anatomical, physiological, and clinical data that testify to the direct relationship to the phenomena of attention of various structures of the nonspecific brain system (the reticular formation, the diffuse thalamic system, the hypothalamic structure, the hippocampus, and others). The main physiological function of the non-specific system is the regulation of various forms of non-specific activation of the brain (short-term and long-term, general, global and local, limited). It is assumed that involuntary attention is associated primarily with general, generalized forms of nonspecific brain activation. Voluntary attention is associated both with an increase in the general level of brain activation and with significant local shifts in the activity of certain brain structures.

In recent years, ideas about the leading role of the cerebral cortex in the system of neurophysiological mechanisms of attention have begun to play an important role. At the level of the cerebral cortex, attention processes are associated with the presence of a special type of neurons (attention neurons - novelty detectors and setting cells - expectation cells).

It was revealed that in healthy people under conditions of intense attention, there are changes in the bioelectrical activity in the frontal lobes of the brain. In patients with lesions, use verbal instructions to induce sustained voluntary attention. Simultaneously with the weakness of voluntary attention in case of damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, a pathological increase in involuntary forms of attention is noted. Thus, attention is associated with the activity of a number of brain structures, but their role in the regulation of various forms and types of attention is different.

1.3 Orienting reflex

The raticular formation is an accumulation of nerve cells located in the brain stem and is a trace of the nerve pathways connecting the receptors of the sense organs with areas of the cerebral cortex. It is thanks to the raticular formation that a person can be alert, react to the slightest changes in the environment. It also provides the appearance of an orienting reflex. With its ascending and descending fibers, it is a neurophysiological apparatus that provides one of the most important forms of reflex activity, known as the orienting reflex. For understanding the physiological foundations of attention, its importance is especially great.

Each unconditioned reflex, which is based on some biologically important effect for the animal, causes a selective system of responses to the stimulus with simultaneous inhibition of all reactions to side effects. Conditioned reflexes are of the same character. With them, one system of reactions, which is reinforced by an unconditioned stimulus, dominates, while all other side reactions are inhibited. Both unconditioned and conditioned reflexes formed on their basis create a well-known dominant focus of excitation, the flow of which is subject to the dominant.

The orienting reflex manifests itself in a series of distinct electrophysiological, motor and vascular reactions that appear every time something unusual or significant occurs in the environment surrounding the animal. These reactions include: turning the eyes and head towards a new object; alert and listening response.

In humans, the appearance of a galvanic skin reaction, vascular reactions, a change in breathing, and the occurrence of “desynchronization” phenomena in the bioelectrical reactions of the brain, expressed in depression of the “alpha rhythm”. We observe all these phenomena every time when the reaction of alertness, or the orienting reflex, is caused by the appearance of a new or usual stimulus for the subject.

Among scientists there is still no definite answer to the question whether the orienting reflex is an unconditioned or conditioned reaction. By its innate nature, the orienting reflex can be classified as an unconditioned reflex. The animal responds with a reaction of alertness to any new or usual stimuli without any training; according to this feature, the orienting reflex is one of the unconditioned, innate reactions of the body. The presence of certain neurons that respond with discharges to each change in the situation indicates that it is based on the action of special neural devices. On the other hand, the orienting reflex reveals a number of features that significantly distinguish it from ordinary unconditioned reflexes: with repeated use of the same stimulus, the phenomenon of the orienting reflex soon fades away, the body gets used to this stimulus, and its presentation ceases to cause the described reactions - this is the disappearance of the orienting reflex to repeated stimuli is called habituation.

4 Classification of attention theories

One of this direction was N.N. Lange. He proposed a motor theory of attention - a phenomenon in which the internal activity and selectivity of consciousness appear in a concentrated form.

Lange's motor theory of attention was the antipode of the interpretation of attention, which is captured in Wundt's concept of apperception. According to Lange, the initial fundamental is the involuntary behavior of the organism, which has a biological meaning, which lies in the fact that through muscle movements the organism takes the most advantageous position in relation to external objects in order to perceive them as clearly and distinctly as possible.

Lange made involuntary fluctuations in attention during auditory and visual perception the subject of a special experimental study.

This phenomenon and its explanation, proposed by Lange, caused in psychological literature a lively discussion in which the leaders of Western psychology were involved - W. Wundt, W. James, T. Ribot, J. Baldwin, G. Munsterberg and others.

Motor theory of attention T. Ribot. he believed that involuntary and voluntary attention are directly related to the duration and intensity of the emotional states associated with the object of attention.

In Ribot's rheory, important attention is paid to the study of the human family tree. With the help of the family tree, Ribot studied the properties of attention, character, memory, and so on for several generations of the same family. Thanks to the genogram, he found that cases of deep and sustained involuntary attention show all the signs of an indefatigable passion, constantly renewed and constantly thirsting for satisfaction.

T. Ribot defines attention as "mental monoideism" accompanied by natural or artificial adjustment of the individual.

Attention is a certain psycho-physiological combination, for which motor and subjective components are necessary elements. Attention is a psychological immobility that is contrary to the normal course of life processes.

Taking into account the importance of physiological correlates of mental processes and states for studying the mechanisms of attention, R.S. Nemov proposes to call the concentration of T. Ribot psychophysiological. As a purely physiological state, attention includes a complex of vascular, motor, respiratory and other voluntary and involuntary reactions.

Intellectual attention is also accompanied by an effort of blood circulation in the organs that provide the processes of thinking. According to T. Ribot, the motor effect of attention consists in the fact that some sensations, thoughts, memories receive special intensity and clarity due to the fact that motor activity is the concentration and delay of movements associated with their adjustment and control. The ability to control movements is precisely the secret of voluntary attention.

According to P. Ya. Galperin, when attention is denied along with other mental functions, this does not affect it in particular. And when attention is identified with other mental phenomena, then the real difficulties of the problem of attention, the impossibility of isolating it, already appear in this. An analysis of such difficulties leads to the conclusion that two cardinal facts underlie the most diverse views on the nature of attention.

The first one. Attention is nowhere as an independent process. It reveals itself both to oneself and to external observation as the direction, attunement and concentration of any mental activity, therefore, only as a side or property of this activity.

Second fact. Attention does not have its own separate product. Its result is the improvement of every activity to which it joins. Meanwhile, it is the presence of a characteristic product that is the main evidence of the presence of the corresponding function. Attention does not have such a product, and this is most of all against the evaluation of attention as a separate form of mental activity.

One cannot deny the significance of such facts and the legitimacy of the conclusion that follows from them and is so discouraging. We always have some kind of internal disagreement with him, and in favor of such a disagreement one could add a number of considerations about the strange and difficult position in which such an understanding of attention places us. But as long as facts are opposed to considerations, and psychology has no other sources of facts than observation, the above facts retain their absolute significance, and the denial of attention as a separate form of mental activity seems both inevitable and justified.

We note that this disappearance of the orienting reflex, as one gets used to it, may be a temporary phenomenon, and the slightest change in the stimulus is sufficient for the orienting reaction to arise again. This phenomenon, the occurrence of an orienting reflex with a slight change in irritation, is sometimes called the “awakening” reaction. It is characteristic that such an appearance of an orienting reflex can occur not only with an increase, but also with a weakening of the habitual stimulus and even with its disappearance. Thus, it is sufficient first to "extinguish" the orienting reflexes to rhythmically presented stimuli, and then, after the orienting reactions to each stimulus have died out as a result of habituation, to skip one of the rhythmically presented stimuli. In this case, the absence of the expected stimulus will cause the appearance of an orienting reflex.

5 Development of attention

Cultural development of attention is called that, with the help of an adult, a child learns a number of artificial stimuli-means (signs), with the help of which he further directs his own behavior and attention.

A.N. Leontiev presented the process of age-related development of attention according to the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky. with age, the child's attention improves, but the development of externally mediated attention goes much faster than its development as a whole, especially natural attention.

At school age, there is a turning point in development. It is characterized by the fact that initially externally mediated attention gradually turns into internally mediated attention, and with time this last form of attention probably occupies the main place among all kinds.

The difference in the characteristics of voluntary and involuntary attention increases, it starts from preschool age, and reaches a maximum at school age, and then again shows a tendency to equalize. This is due to the fact that in the process of its development, the system of actions that provide voluntary attention gradually turns from external into internal.

A baby from the cradle is surrounded by unknown objects that attract his attention with their brightness or unusual appearance, he also pays attention to his relatives, rejoicing at their appearance in sight or starting to cry so that they take him in their arms.

Close people pronounce words, the meaning of which the child gradually comprehends, they guide him, direct his involuntary attention. That is, his attention from an early age is directed with the help of special stimulus words.

Comprehending active speech, the child begins to control the primary process of his own attention, and first - in relation to other people, orienting their own attention to them in the right direction, and then - in relation to himself.

Initially, the processes of voluntary attention directed by the adult's speech are for the child processes of his external discipline rather than self-regulation. Gradually, using the same means of mastering attention in relation to himself, the child passes to self-control of behavior, that is, to voluntary attention.

The sequence of the main stages in the development of children's attention:

the first weeks - months of life. The appearance of an orienting reflex as an objective, innate sign of the child's involuntary attention;

end of the first year of life. The emergence of orienting-research activity as a means of the future development of voluntary attention;

the beginning of the second year of life. Detection of the rudiments of voluntary attention under the influence of the adult's speech instructions, the direction of the gaze on the object named by the adult;

second or third year of life. Enough good development the above-mentioned initial form of voluntary attention;

four or five years. The emergence of the ability to direct attention under the influence of a complex instruction from an adult;

five or six years. The emergence of an elementary form of voluntary attention under the influence of self-instruction;

school age. Further development and improvement of voluntary attention, including volitional.

2 Main types

2.1 Types of attention

Involuntary attention, in the occurrence of which our intention does not take any part, and arbitrary, arising due to our intention, as a result of our efforts. Therefore, what is remembered is what involuntary attention is directed to, what, it is necessary to remember, is necessary in voluntary attention (see Appendix A).

Involuntary attention is a low form of attention that occurs as a result of the impact of a stimulus on any of the analyzers. It appears according to the law of the orienting reflex common to man and animals.

The emergence of involuntary attention can be caused by the peculiarity of the acting stimulus, and be determined by the correspondence of these stimuli to past experience or the psychological state of a person.

Involuntary attention can be useful at work, at home. It gives us the opportunity to timely identify the appearance of an irritant and take the necessary measures.

At the same time, involuntary attention can have a negative effect on the success of the activity performed, distracting us from the main thing in the task being solved, reducing the productivity of work in general.

The reasons for the occurrence of involuntary can be:

unexpected stimulus;

the relative strength of the stimulus;

novelty of the stimulus;

moving objects (T. Ribot singled out this factor, believing that as a result of purposeful activation of visions, concentration and increased attention on the subject occur);

contrast of objects or phenomena;

the inner state of a person.

The French psychologist T. Ribot believed that the nature of involuntary attention occurs in the deep recesses of our being. Direction of involuntary attention this person exposes his character, or at least his aspirations.

Based on this feature, one can conclude that a person is frivolous, banal, narrow-minded, or sincere and deep.

Arbitrary attention is possible only in a person, and it arose due to conscious labor activity. To achieve a specific goal, a person has to deal not only with what is interesting in itself, but with everything that is necessary.

Voluntary attention is more complex and is formed in the learning process: at home, at school, at work. It is characterized by the fact that it is directed to the object under the influence of our intention and goal.

The physiological mechanism of voluntary attention is the beginning of optimal excitation in the cerebral cortex, which is supported by signals that come from the second signaling system. From this one can see the role of the word of the parents or the teacher for the formation of voluntary attention in the child.

The emergence of voluntary attention in a person is historically associated with the labor process, since without controlling one's attention it is impossible to carry out conscious and planned activity.

The psychological feature of voluntary attention is its accompaniment by experiencing more and less volitional effort, stress, and prolonged maintenance of voluntary attention causes fatigue, often even more than physical stress.

It is helpful to change a strong concentration of attention with less strenuous work, by switching to easier or more interesting activities, or by creating a strong interest in a person in an activity that requires intense attention.

People make significant efforts of will, concentrate their attention, understand the content necessary for themselves, and then, without volitional tension, carefully follow the material being studied.

This attention now becomes secondarily involuntary, or post-voluntary. It will greatly facilitate the process of the condition of knowledge, and prevent the development of fatigue.

Post-voluntary attention is an active, purposeful concentration of consciousness, which does not require volitional efforts due to a high interest in activity. According to K.K. Platonov, post-voluntary attention is the highest form of voluntary attention. The work of a person absorbs him so much that interruptions in it begin to annoy him, as he has to be re-engaged in the process, to work in. Post-voluntary attention occurs in situations where the purpose of the activity is preserved, but there is no need for volitional effort.

N.F. Dobrynin argues that in this case, the direction of activity remains consistent with consciously accepted goals, but its implementation no longer requires conscious mental efforts and is limited in time only by the depletion of the body's resources.

But not all psychologists consider post-voluntary attention to be an independent type, since it resembles voluntary attention in the mechanism of occurrence, and involuntary attention in terms of the way it functions.

2 Main properties

The main properties of attention include: concentration, stability, intensity, volume, switching, distribution (see Appendix B).

Concentration of attention or concentration is the selection by consciousness of an object and directing attention to it. The role of concentrated attention is different. On the one hand, it is necessary for a more complete study of a particular object, and on the other hand, excessive concentration of attention leads to a sharp narrowing of the field of attention, which creates difficulties in the perception of other important objects.

Sustainability of attention is the length of time during which a person can maintain their attention on an object. It is needed in conditions of monotonous and monotonous work, when complex, but the same type of actions are performed for a long time.

Experiments have established that intensive forty-minute attention can be maintained arbitrarily without noticeable weakening and involuntary switching. In the future, the intensity of attention liquefies the faster, the less trained a person is and the less stable his attention is.

One of important values to achieve success in any activity, it has concentration and stability of attention, which characterize the depth, duration and intensity of a person’s mental activity. It is they that distinguish people who are passionately passionate about their work, who are able to disconnect from numerous side stimuli for the sake of the main thing.

Even with very stable and concentrated attention, there are always short-term involuntary changes in the degree of its intensity, tension - this is a fluctuation of attention.

You can force yourself to read the same text carefully several times if you set new tasks before each repetition.

The amount of attention is the number of objects that a person can be simultaneously aware of when perceiving in connection with any one task. At the same time, you can realize 3-7 objects, although the objects are different. And they don't get the same amount of attention. Much depends on the experience of a person, his professional training, which makes it possible to form a volume of attention that combines several objects into one, more complex one.

For some occupations, high intensity and a high amount of attention are needed almost all the time of work, and motor skills are of much less importance. These professions belong to the psychology of work.

High intensity of concentrated attention for other professions is needed only in some moments of work.

it is the ability to perform several actions at the same time. The distribution depends on the individual characteristics of the individual and on professional skills. No one can do two things at the same time without being able to do each separately.

The ability of a person to keep a certain number of different objects in the center of attention at the same time allows you to perform several actions at once, while maintaining the form of conscious mental activity, and the subjective feeling of the simultaneity of performing several is due to a quick sequential switch from one to another.

W. Wundt showed that a person cannot focus on two limiting stimuli at the same time. But sometimes a person is really able to perform two types of activity at the same time. In fact, in such cases, one of the activities performed must be fully automated, and do not require attention. If this condition is not met, then the combination of activities is impossible.

large group professions associated with the management of moving mechanisms are called driver's in labor psychology. For them, such qualities of attention as a wide distribution and rapid switching, which determine the success of controlling mechanisms under conditions of multifaceted influence in the conditions of the outside world.

The physiological mechanism of the distribution of attention is related to the fact that habitual actions that do not cause any difficulties due to already developed strong systems of temporary connections can be controlled by areas of the cortex that are outside of optimal excitation.

The dynamics of any work leads to the need to constantly change the objects to which a person pays attention. This is expressed in switching attention.

Switching is the conscious process of attention from one object to another. The involuntary switching of attention is called distraction.

Physiologically, voluntary switching of attention is explained by the movement of an area with optimal excitability along the cerebral cortex. High mobility of nervous processes as an individual trait of temperament allows you to quickly move from one object to another. In such cases, it is mobile attention.

For example, if a person has insufficient mobility of nerve fibers, then this transition occurs with effort, difficultly and slowly. Such attention is called inert. When a person has poor switchability in general, this is sticky attention. Sometimes poor switching in a person is due to poor preparedness for work.

3 Absence

Absent-mindedness is the inability of a person to focus on anything specific for a long time.

There are two types of absent-mindedness imaginary and genuine. Imaginary absent-mindedness is a person's inattention to the immediate surrounding objects and phenomena, which is caused by the extreme concentration of his attention on some object.

Imaginary absent-mindedness is the result of great concentration and narrowness of attention. Sometimes it is called "professional", as it is often found in people of this category. The attention of a scientist can be so concentrated on the problem that occupies him that he does not pay attention to anything.

Absent-mindedness as a result of internal concentration does not cause much harm to the cause, but it makes it difficult for a person to orient himself in the world around him. Much worse is genuine absent-mindedness. A person suffering from absent-mindedness of this type has difficulty establishing and maintaining voluntary attention on any object or action. To do this, he needs much more willpower than an undistracted person. The voluntary attention of an absent-minded person is very unstable and easily distracted.

The causes of truly distracted attention are very different. The causes of true absent-mindedness may be a general disorder of the nervous system, anemia, diseases of the nasopharynx, which impede the flow of air into the lungs. Sometimes absent-mindedness appears as a result of physical and mental fatigue and overwork, any difficult experiences.

One of the reasons for true absent-mindedness is overload with a lot of impressions. Therefore, children should not be allowed to go to the cinema, the theater often during school hours, take them to visit, and be allowed to watch TV every day. Scattered interests can also lead to genuine absent-mindedness.

Many students enroll in several circles at once, take books from many libraries, are fond of collecting and at the same time do nothing seriously. The reason for true absent-mindedness can also be the wrong upbringing of the child in the family: the lack of a regime in the classroom, entertainment and recreation of the child, the fulfillment of all his whims and more. Boring teaching, which does not awaken thought, does not affect feelings, does not require effort of will, is one of the sources of absent-mindedness of students.

4 Psychologist in KRO classes

The concentration of correctional and developmental education (CRO) in schools, which includes the principle of complex diagnostics, correction and rehabilitation of children with persistent learning difficulties, was developed at the Institute of Developmental Education of the Russian Academy of Education and approved by the RF Ministry of Defense in 1994. The KRO system is a form of differentiation that allows solving the problems of modern active assistance to children with learning difficulties and adaptation to school.

One of the main places in the KRO system is given to the psychologist. The work of a psychologist in the KRO system is not just to provide psychological assistance, support for children with learning difficulties. This is the psychological support of children at all stages of education as a complex process of interaction, the result of which should be the creation of conditions for the development of the child, mastering his activities and behavior, for the formation of readiness for life self-determination, including personal, social and professional aspects.

Producing psychological support for the educational process in the KRO system, the psychologist conducts individual and group preventive, diagnostic, consultative, corrective work with students; expert, advisory, educational work with teachers and parents on the development, education and upbringing of children in a general education institution; participates in the work of the psychological-medical-pedagogical council of the educational institution.

The work of a psychologist in the KRO system cannot proceed in isolation from the work of other specialists of a general education institution. A collegial discussion of the results of the examination by all PMPK specialists makes it possible to develop a unified idea of ​​the nature and characteristics of the child's development, to determine his developmental defects.

Conclusion

So, with the help of our research, we found out that attention is the concentration of the subject's activity at a given moment in time on some real or ideal object. Attention also characterizes the consistency of various links in the functional structure of an action, which determines the success of its implementation. The range of problems in the study of attention emerged as a result of the differentiation of the broader philosophical concept of apperception. In the developments of Wundt, this concept was attributed to the processes through which a clear awareness of the content of the perceived and its integration into the integral structure of past experience is carried out. A significant contribution to the development of ideas about attention was made by the Russian psychologist Lange, who developed the theory of volitional attention. Like the French psychologist Ribot, he connected attention with the regulation of ideomotor movements.

There are three types of attention. The simplest and genetically initial is involuntary attention. It is passive. The physiological manifestation of this fork of attention is the orienting reaction. If the activity is carried out in line with the conscious intentions of the subject and requires volitional efforts on his part, then they speak of arbitrary attention. As the operational and technical side develops due to its automation and the transition of actions into operations, as well as as a result of changes in motivation, the so-called post-voluntary attention may appear.

Among the characteristics of attention, determined by experimental studies, are selectivity, volume, stability, the possibility of distribution and switchability.

In modern psychology, a theory of attention has been developed as a function of internal control over the correspondence of mental actions to programs for their implementation (P. Ya. Galperin). The development of such control improves the effectiveness of any activity, in particular its systematic formation, allows you to overcome some defects in attention, such as absent-mindedness.

Glossary

No. p / n Concept Definition 1 Attention is the focus of the subject's activity at a given point in time on some real or ideal object 2 Concentration of attention<#"justify">List of sources used

1Gippenreiter Yu.B., Romanov V.Ya. Psychology of attention, - M.: CheRo, 2001, 858 p.

Gonobolin F.N. Attention and its upbringing, - M .: Pedagogy, 2002, 600s.

Dormashev Yu.B., Romanov V.Ya. Psychology of attention, - M .: Education, 2005, 765s.

Dubrovinskaya N.V. Neurophysiological mechanisms of attention: an ontogenetic study, - St. Petersburg: Academy, 2005, 469p.

5Ivanov M.M. Technique of effective memorization, - M .: Enlightenment, 2003, 308s.

Leontiev A.N. Reader for attention, - St. Petersburg: Academy, 2002, 402s.

Nemov R.S. Psychology, -M .: Education, 2006, 378s.

Petrovsky A.V. Introduction to psychology, -M: Education, 2004, 346s.

Slobodchikov V.I., Isaev E.I. Human psychology, -M: Sphere, 2005, 367p.

10Rogov I.E. General psychology (course of lectures), - M .: Vlados, 2008, 500s.

11Romanov B.C., Petukhov B.M. Psychology of attention, - M .: Education, 2006, 630s.

Tutoring

Need help learning a topic?

Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Submit an application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

The psychology of people in relations with the legal system (the subject of legal psychology) is a reality presented in their peculiar psychology, in the form of a special psychological functional subsystem of their psyche, reflecting the system of law and regulating relationships with it, which, like reality, they call legal psychology of people. Adequate scientific ideas about this psychology, the model of the psychology of people in the legal system is developing special branch scientific knowledge, located at the intersection of legal and psychological sciences. It is obvious that this knowledge will be adequate to reality if they are worn legal-psychological character.

The world of mental phenomena is primarily divided into the world of individual psychological phenomena and socio-psychological, group, closely related to each other, but still qualitatively unique.

Individual psychological phenomena classified according to different bases.

1) According to their essence and representation to our perception, mental phenomena are divided into psychological facts, psychological patterns and psychological mechanisms.

Psychological facts - relatively superficial, observable (including those fixed with the help of psychological techniques) psychological phenomena are manifestations of the existence and action of the psyche. The ability to notice psychological phenomena, to explain, to understand what they testify to, what is hidden behind them, is necessary for a professional lawyer.

Psychological patterns - objectively existing causal relationships of psychological phenomena and their conditions. The observed psychological facts cannot be understood, let alone influenced them, without understanding the patterns associated with them. In the psyche, regularities are probabilistic in nature. Therefore, when studying, evaluating and taking them into account, it is more correct to reason by type: “as a rule”, “most often”, etc.

Psychological mechanisms - psychological transformations, through which the action of laws is performed and transitions from cause to effect occur. Psychological facts and regularities are always conditioned by such mechanisms. For example, the knowledge of a legal norm and the belief in the need to follow it are connected, but the transition from one to the other is mediated by psychological mechanisms that will “work” if we know them and know how to put them into action.

2) According to the form of existence, all psychological phenomena are divided into mental processes, mental states and mental formations (properties, stereotypes).

mental processes - changes at the level of the psyche: this is everything that arises, develops, dies away, turns into something else. Thus, testimonies are a product of the processes of perception of an event, its understanding, memorization, preservation and reproduction. Without understanding the mental processes, it is difficult to understand anything in the human psyche, and without causing the necessary processes, it is impossible to change something in it. Any impact - the impact of the rule of law, preventive, managerial and other - is able to change something in a person and his behavior, only by causing the necessary mental processes for this.

mental states- integral features of the totality of mental processes occurring in a person at a given moment or over a certain period of time. States of excitement, anxiety, fear, euphoria, carelessness, vigilance, etc., experienced by a lawyer or a person in front of him, significantly affect their behavior, perception of the environment, etc. The result of the impact on a citizen largely depends on his mental state, on the ability of a lawyer to change an unfavorable state to the right one.

Psychic formations(properties, stereotypes) - mental phenomena fixed in the human psyche (i.e. tending to repetition, facilitated reproduction and flow).

3) A number of psychological phenomena stand out in terms of qualitative and meaningful features.

Motivational phenomena perform a motivating function in mental activity and determine the selectivity of the relationship and activity of a lawyer, citizen, offender to the environment, to current events, problems, opportunities, future, etc. Needs, motives, goals, plans, aspirations, psychological attitudes, interests, beliefs, views - the most important of them and dominating among other psychological factors, patterns and mechanisms of the psyche of each person, which are of decisive importance in his legally significant intentions, actions, lifestyle, etc.,

cognitive mental processes, states and formations characterize intellectual activity and the corresponding capabilities of a person. They are responsible for what and how, in particular, is perceived and understood by him in legal and psychological reality, what picture of the world and society is formed and functions in his mind. These include: sensations, perceptions, attention, memory, representations, imagination, thinking and speech.

AT emotional mental phenomena, a person experiences and expresses his attitude to the environment, to legal reality, the rule of law, lawful behavior and offenses, law enforcement etc. Feelings and emotions are the main varieties of these phenomena, which greatly affect the life, actions, relationships and development of the person himself. Positive emotions affect attractively in relation to their object or subject, and negative ones - repulsively, which (depending on the specific case and its content characteristics) positively or negatively affects the person, her behavior and the results she achieves. No issues of strengthening the rule of law can be thoroughly resolved without solving the problem of human emotions and feelings. This has to be emphasized because it is emotions and feelings that are most often neglected in solving creative legal problems.

Volitional mental phenomena provide the mobilization of the forces and capabilities of a person when faced with difficulties. They are expressed in volitional effort, tension, perseverance, perseverance, self-control, etc.

Psychomotor phenomena are included in the regulation of the movements of the body, arms, legs of a person and are expressed in the “muscular feeling” (kinesthetic sensations), the “feeling of the body”, motor memory, the processes of visual-muscular coordination that regulate the movements of their mental images, etc. They are actively involved in the formation motor skills in the training of law enforcement specialists.

4) According to the level of reflection, the phenomena of consciousness and the unconscious are distinguished (sometimes some authors add to them the subconscious).

Consciousness includes the entire set of mental phenomena that determine a meaningful attitude of a person to the world with an understanding of its essential properties, patterns and what is happening in it.

An important element of consciousness - self-awareness , meaningfulness of one's own existence in the objective world, one's needs, oneself (the image of one's "I"). Subconscious - a set of phenomena of the psyche that are not realized at some time, but can be realized. The subconscious mind is still little taken into account in legal activities.

The listed psychological phenomena always appear in a complex, in the form of a holistic, systemic mental activity of each and every person. At any moment, it takes place in the aggregate of motivational, cognitive, emotional and other mental processes mediated by human properties and laws, under the action of various mechanisms, against the background of certain mental states. The depth and quality of lawful or wrongful behavior is the resultant product of all this complex activity and the degree of its legal optimality.

5) According to the prevailing determinism of the characteristics of mental phenomena, they differ: personal socio-psychological, proper psychological and psychophysiological.

Personal socio-psychological phenomena are predominantly social, i.e. social factors - the social environment: people, social conditions, events and processes, group socio-psychological factors. They dominate in the most important properties(orientation, character) and personality traits (social needs, attitude to work and other people, worldview, sense of duty, law-abidingness, moral upbringing, demanding of oneself, etc.), her habits, mental states, processes and are manifested especially in motivation, norms of behavior, actions, activities, relationships, etc. They are constantly manifested in the mental activity of a person, play an important role in it and are characterized by meaningful, qualitative characteristics. It is important that they are highly susceptible to socio-psychological influences from other people and groups.

O proper psychological phenomena can only be spoken of in an effort to single out in the psyche those of them that are approximately equally conditioned both socio-psychologically and psycho-physiologically and at the same time their own characteristics, connections and dependencies predominate in them. Most often, these include the majority of cognitive qualities (thinking, speech, memory, ideas, attention, perceptions), states, processes, a significant part of abilities, knowledge, skills, etc.

Psychophysiological phenomena have clear dependence on the part of physiology, primarily the central nervous system. Socio-psychological influences are represented least of all in them. These include, first of all, those that are traditionally combined in a person’s temperament (sensitivity, balance, anxiety, risk resistance, mobility, emotionality, etc.).

The subject of psychology (and legal psychology) includes and group psychology.

The main groups of socio-psychological phenomena are:

massive: public, collective, group goals, interests, requests, motives, opinions, norms of behavior, customs and traditions, moods, etc.;

relationship: intergroup, interpersonal, personal-group;

personal socio-psychological.

Being the property of the individual psyche, they nevertheless express the representation, “life” in it of the influences of the first two groups of socio-psychological phenomena (a person thinks, experiences, relates, strives, often does as they think, experience, etc. the people around him).