The subject of psychology is the process. The subject of psychology as a science

02.07.2020

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1. Psychology as a science. The subject and tasks of psychology

Psychology - and very old and very young science. Having a thousand-year past, it is nevertheless all still in the future. Its existence as an independent scientific discipline barely dates back a century, but it can be said with certainty that the main problem has occupied human thought since the very moment when a person began to think about the secrets of the world around him and learn them.

Famous psychologist of the late XIX - early XX century. G. Ebbinghaus was able to say about psychology very succinctly and precisely: psychology has a huge prehistory and a very short history. History refers to that period in the study of the psyche, which was marked by a departure from philosophy, rapprochement with the natural sciences and the organization of its own experimental method. This happened in the last quarter of the 19th century, but the origins of psychology are lost in the mists of time.

Psychology as a science has special qualities that distinguish it from other scientific disciplines. As a system of proven knowledge, few people know psychology, mainly only those who are specially engaged in it, solving scientific and practical problems. At the same time, as a system of life phenomena, psychology is familiar to every person. It is presented to him in the form of his own sensations, images, ideas, phenomena of memory, thinking, speech, will, imagination, interests, motives, needs, emotions, feelings and much more. We can directly detect the basic mental phenomena in ourselves and indirectly observe in other people.

Subject of study psychology is, first of all, the psyche of man and animals, which includes many subjective phenomena. With the help of some, such as, for example, sensations and perception, attention and memory, imagination, thinking and speech, a person cognizes the world. Therefore, they are often called cognitive processes. Other phenomena regulate his communication with people, directly control his actions and deeds. They are called mental properties and states of the individual (these include needs, motives, goals, interests, will, feelings and emotions, inclinations and abilities, knowledge and consciousness). In addition, psychology studies human communication and behavior, their dependence on mental phenomena and, in turn, the dependence of the formation and development of mental phenomena on them.

A person does not just penetrate the world with the help of his cognitive processes. He lives and acts in this world, creating it for himself in order to satisfy his material, spiritual and other needs, performs certain actions. In order to understand and explain human actions, we turn to such a concept as personality.

In its turn, mental processes, the states and properties of a person, especially in their highest manifestations, can hardly be comprehended to the end, if they are not considered depending on the conditions of a person’s life, on how his interaction with nature and society (activity and communication) is organized. Communication and activity are also therefore the subject of modern psychological research.

Mental processes, properties and states of a person, his communication and activity are separated and studied separately, although in reality they are closely related to each other and form a single whole, called human life.

Main task psychology as a science is the study of objective psychological patterns (mental processes, psychological properties of personality and psychological characteristics of human activity).

This problem is solved primarily by general psychology, which studies the most general laws of the psyche as a property of the brain, expressed in the subjective reflection of the objective world.

At the same time, psychology sets itself the following interrelated tasks:

1. The study of qualitative (structural) features of mental processes as reflections of objective reality. “Psychology, as the study of the reflection of reality, as the subjective world, in a certain way contained in general formulas, is, of course, a necessary thing. Thanks to psychology, I can imagine the complexity of this subjective state” (IP Pavlov).

2. Analysis of the formation and development of mental phenomena in connection with the conditioning of the psyche by the objective conditions of human life and activity.

3. The study of the physiological mechanisms underlying mental processes, since without knowledge of the mechanisms of higher nervous activity it is impossible either to correctly understand the essence of mental processes or to master the practical means of their formation and development.

2. Basic principles of general psychology

General principles of psychology

The principle of reflection. It reveals the understanding of the essence of the mental and its main functions, levels in the development of the human psyche. The peculiarity of the human psyche - a special form of reflection, is due to many circumstances: features of the most objective reality, perceived both by the senses and with the help of speech; the state of the brain; physical and mental health of a person; the content and state of his psyche.

The principle of determinism. Explains the reasons for the development of the psyche, its source. The human psyche is conditioned and is the result of the interaction of biological, natural, social characters. At the same time, the psyche is not just a product, but the result of the interaction and impact on a person of social, biological and natural factors. Thus, the psyche is able to change and develop.

The principle of activity. Orients the researcher in the study of mental phenomena to take into account that external and other circumstances are reflected in the mind of a person consciously, purposefully, and not just a mirror image.

development principle. Reveals the origins of the human psyche as a dynamic phenomenon. The psyche can be correctly understood if it is considered as the result of social interaction, the interaction of a person with the social and natural environment as a result of his activity and communication with other people, the result of his training and education.

The principle of interconnection, unity. The identification of two facets of the manifestation of the mental: subjective (what and how a person thinks, experiences, evaluates) and objective (real behavior, actions and deeds of a person, materialized and objectified results of his actions) gives reason to assert that the most adequate understanding of the mental is possible on the basis of its systems. subjective and objective manifestations.

The principle of a holistic, systematic approach. It involves the understanding and study of interrelated and interdependent mental phenomena, orienting the specialist to the awareness of the psyche as a holistic integral phenomenon.

The principle of relative independence. It does not contradict the previous principle, but indicates that any mental phenomenon has its own originality, both of its physiological foundations and its own laws of formation, functioning and development.

The principle of a personal approach, taking into account group, public interests, values. The study of the psyche is adequate only when taking into account the totality of personal and group characteristics of people: their needs, interests, life and professional experience, abilities, taking into account the psychotypical and individual psychological characteristics of people.

The principle of unity. Focuses specialists on a meaningful, axiological analysis of the psyche of people, taking into account the specific historical conditions of their life and work.

The most general fundamental concepts reflecting essential properties and relations of objects and phenomena of objective reality.

The category of the image characterizes the psychological reality from the side of cognition and is the basis for the formation of individual and social-group pictures of the world. It is a sensual form of a psychic phenomenon. Being always sensual in its form, O. in its content can be. both sensual (O. of perception, O. of representation, consistent O.), and rational (O. of the atom, O. of the world, O. of war, etc.). O. is the most important component of the actions of the subject, orienting him in a specific situation, directing him to achieve the goal.

category of motive. A motive is 1) a material or ideal “object” that induces and directs an activity or act; 2) the mental image of the given object. In a broad sense, it is something inside the subject that prompts him to act, the meaning of his actions realized by a person. With the help of a motive, human behavior, its goals, values, decision-making mechanisms can be described.

Category personality. There are quite a few approaches to understanding and explaining personality. This is due to the fact that the concept of "personality" is integral and any definition that existed earlier and now singles out only some of its aspects.

Personality in a broad sense is a specific person, as a subject of activity, in the unity of his individual properties and social roles. In a narrow sense, it is the quality of an individual, which is formed due to a person's life in society, in the process of his social development.

Personality is the most important among metapsychological categories. All the basic categories are integrated in it, all the basic categories are tied to it: an individual, an image, an action, a motive, an attitude, an experience.

Action, like an act, is the true being of a person; individuality is manifested in it. Action m. relatively independent or included as a component in. broader structures of activity.

The Action Structure includes 3 main components: a) decision making; b) implementation; c) control and correction.

* Basic (image, motive, action, attitude, experience, individual)

* Metapsychological. (consciousness, value, activity, communication, feeling, "I")

4. The concept of method and methodology

The concept of method (from the Greek. methodos - the path to something) means a set of techniques and operations of practical and theoretical development of reality. The method equips a person with a system of principles, requirements, rules, guided by which he can achieve the intended goal. Possession of the method means for a person the knowledge of how, in what sequence to perform certain actions to solve certain problems, and the ability to apply this knowledge in practice.

The doctrine of the method began to develop in the science of modern times. Its representatives considered correct method guide in the movement towards reliable, true knowledge. Thus, the prominent philosopher of the 17th century, F. Bacon, compared the method of cognition with a lantern that illuminates the way for a traveler walking in the dark. And another well-known scientist and philosopher of the same period, R. Descartes, outlined his understanding of the method as follows: “By method,” he wrote, “I mean exact and simple rules, strict observance of which ... without wasting mental strength, but gradually and continuously increasing knowledge, contributes to the fact that the mind achieves true knowledge of everything that is available to it. "The main function of the method is the regulation of cognitive and other types of activity as a simple and accessible "instrument" of scientific discovery. The well-known Russian physicist, Nobel Prize winner L. D. Landau said that: "Method is more important than discovery."

There is a whole area of knowledge that specifically deals with the study of methods, which is usually called methodology. Methodology literally means "the doctrine of methods" (because this term comes from two Greek words: methodos - method and logos - teaching). By studying the patterns of human cognitive activity, the methodology develops on this basis the methods for its implementation. The most important task of methodology is to study the origin, essence, effectiveness and other characteristics of cognitive methods.

5. Objective research methods

One of the main tasks of psychological science was the development of such objective research methods that would be based on the methods of observing the course of this or that type of activity, common to all other sciences, and on the experimental change in the conditions for the course of this activity. They were the method of experiment and the method of observing human behavior in natural and experimental conditions.

observation method. If we study a phenomenon without changing the conditions under which it occurs, then we are talking about a simple objective observation. Distinguish between direct and indirect observation. An example of direct observation would be the study of a person's response to a stimulus, or observation of the behavior of children in a group if we are studying types of contact. Direct observations are also subdivided into active (scientific) and passive or ordinary (worldly). Repeatedly repeated, everyday observations are accumulated in proverbs, sayings, metaphors, and in this regard are of particular interest for cultural and psychological study. Scientific observation presupposes a well-defined goal, task, conditions of observation. At the same time, if we try to change the conditions or circumstances under which the observation is made, then this will already be an experiment.

Indirect observation is used in situations where we want to study mental processes that are not amenable to direct observation using objective methods. For example, to establish the degree of fatigue or tension when a person performs a certain job. The researcher can use the methods of recording physiological processes (electroencephalograms, electromyograms, galvanic skin reaction, etc.), which do not themselves reveal the features of the course of mental activity, but may reflect the general physiological conditions that characterize the course of the studied processes.

In research practice, objective observations also differ in a number of other ways.

By the nature of the contact - direct observation, when the observer and the object of observation are in direct contact and interaction, and indirect, when the researcher gets acquainted with the observed subjects indirectly, through specially organized documents such as questionnaires, biographies, audio or video recordings, etc.

Under the terms of observation - field observation, which takes place under conditions Everyday life, study or work, and laboratory, when the subject or group is observed in artificial, specially created conditions.

By the nature of the interaction with the object, there is a distinction between included observation, when the researcher becomes a member of the group, and his presence and behavior become part of the observed situation, and non-included (from the side), i.e. without interaction and establishing any contact with the person or group being studied.

There is also a distinction between open observation, when the researcher reveals his role to the observed (the disadvantage of this method is the decrease in the natural behavior of the observed subjects), and hidden (incognito), when the presence of the observer is not reported to the group or individual.

According to the goals, observation is distinguished: purposeful, systematic, approaching experimental conditions in terms of its conditions, but differing in that the observed subject is not limited in the freedom of its manifestations, and random, search, not subject to any rules and not having a clearly defined goal. There are cases when researchers working in search mode managed to make observations that were not included in their original plans. Thus, major discoveries were made. For example, P. Fress describes how in 1888 a neuropsychiatrist drew attention to the complaints of a patient who had such dry skin that in cold, dry weather she felt sparks jump from her skin and hair. He had the idea to measure the static charge on her skin. As a result, he stated that this charge disappears under the influence of certain stimulations. Thus the psychogalvanic reflex was discovered. It later became known as galvanic skin response (GSR). In the same way, I.P. Pavlov, in the course of his experiments on the physiology of digestion, discovered conditioned reflexes

6. The concept of the psyche. Psychic Reflection Activity

Even in ancient times, it was discovered that along with the material, objective, external, objective world, there are non-material, internal, subjective phenomena - human feelings, desires, memories, etc. Every person is endowed with a psychic life.

The psyche is defined as a property of highly organized matter to reflect objective reality, and on the basis of the mental image formed in this case, it is expedient to regulate the activity of the subject and his behavior. From this definition it follows that the main functions of the psyche are the reflection of objective reality and the regulation of individual behavior and activity, which are closely interconnected.

Mental reflection is not a mirror and not passive - it is an active process associated with the search and choice of methods of action that are adequate to the prevailing conditions. A feature of mental reflection is subjectivity, i.e. mediation by the past experience of a person and his individuality. This is expressed, first of all, in the fact that we see one world, but it appears to each of us differently. At the same time, mental reflection makes it possible to build an “internal picture of the world” that is adequate to objective reality, in connection with which it is necessary to note such a property as objectivity. Only thanks to the correct reflection is it possible for a person to know the world around him. The criterion of correctness is practical activity, in which mental reflection is constantly deepened, improved and developed. An important feature of mental reflection is, finally, its anticipatory nature: it makes it possible to anticipate in human activity and behavior, which makes it possible to make decisions with a certain temporal-spatial lead in relation to the future.

7. The origin and evolution of the psyche in phylogenesis

psychology behavior psyche phylogenesis

Origin and development of the psyche in phylogenesis. The main stages in the development of the psyche.

The development of the psyche is a regular change in mental processes over time, expressed in their number and quality of structural transformations. The development of the psyche is a way of accumulating changes, each stage of mental development begins with a complication of activity, new form the psychic reflection makes it possible to further complicate this activity. To explain the emergence of the psyche in phylogenesis, Alexei Nikolaevich Leontiev proposes a theory of activity. Activity - the processes of implementing the active relation of the subject to the action. He considered sensitivity, that is, the ability of the body to respond to biologically neutral, abiotic properties of the environment (for example, a rustle in the bushes), as an objective criterion for the appearance of the psyche. Where there is sensitivity, there is psyche. Sensitivity is irritability to such conditions in which assimilation-dissimilation processes do not participate. Irritability is the ability of a living organism to respond to the biotic properties of the environment (where assimilation-dissimilation processes are involved).

Factors of influence on the development of phylogenesis (complication of the psyche):

1. External factors - the transition from life in a homogeneous environment to a terrestrial way of life;

2. Internal factors - complications of the anatomical structure - limbs, appearance and development nervous system and the brain. The more complex the form of mental reflection, the more complex the behavior.

Stages of development of the psyche: 1 Elementary sensitivity or sensory psyche. Main the form of reflection at this stage is sensations, and the form of behavior is taxis (mechanical movements, movements; innate species experience of animals), instincts, reflexes (if the bark is formed) - protozoa, annelids; 2. Perceptual psyche - the main form of reflection - objective perception. Includes higher vertebrates: birds and some mammals. Here it is already possible to detect the elements of the form of thinking, readiness for learning, for mastering the methods of solving problems, memorizing them and transferring them to new conditions. The transition to this stage of development is associated with a change in the structure of animal activity: activity is now directed not to the object itself, but to those conditions in which this object is objectively given in environment P-r the cat goes directly to the food if there is no obstacle and bypasses it immediately if there is one. So, for the first time, an operation appeared - a method for carrying out activities by specified conditions. 3. Intelligence, osn. the form of reflection is a reflection of interdisciplinary connections (visual-effective thinking and generalization). This stage is found in primates, they are able to generalize, but they are not able to abstract. Main form of behavior - intellectual. Features of intellectual behavior: 1. the ability to solve 2-phase tasks, consisting of the phase: preparation and completion. Leontiev: “There is intelligence where there is a preparation phase” - this means that the preparation phase has no biological meaning” (monkey, stick, banana). The possibility of transferring the found solution to similar conditions without preliminary trials.3. the presence of insight is an insight, a sudden finding of the right solution. 4. Availability of indicative research activities and use of tools. This periodization was improved by the domestic zoopsychologist Fabry.

He identified two stages in the development of the psyche in phylogenesis:

1. The stage of the sensory psyche, which was divided into the lower (animals have developed irritability and elementary sensitivity - the simplest) and the highest levels (sensations appear, important organs are the jaws and the ability to form simple reflexes).

2. The stage of the perceptual psyche, which was divided into lower (reflection occurs in the form of an image of objects, the formation of motor skills - fish, insects), higher (elementary forms of thinking, problem solving, good learning ability - birds, mammals) and the highest (for primates , dogs, dolphins - intelligence phase) levels.

8. Human consciousness and its structure. Consciousness and self-consciousness, their relationship

Consciousness and self-awareness.

Self-consciousness is defined as “a person’s awareness, assessment of his knowledge, moral character and interests, ideals and motives of behavior, a holistic assessment of himself as a feeling and thinking being, as a doer” (13).

Self-consciousness allows a person to distinguish himself from the outside world. Self-consciousness is a kind of reflection raised to the level of theoretical thinking. The formation of self-consciousness is not possible without a person's control of his actions and deeds. Self-consciousness has a social character, because its formation is impossible without a person relating himself to other people. Self-consciousness is inherent not only to an individual, but also to society, when it rises to an understanding of its position in the system of productive relations, its common interests and ideals.

It is important to say that in psychology the process of becoming a human personality is unthinkable without the formation of consciousness and self-awareness, which are integral components of the human personality. The whole personality, all its diversity cannot, of course, be reduced to self-consciousness, but one should not separate one from the other either.

The history of the development of self-consciousness is inextricably linked with the development of personality. In psychology, several stages of this development are distinguished.

The first stage, according to psychologists, is associated with "mastery of one's own body, with the emergence of voluntary movements that are developed in the process of the formation of the first objective actions."

The second stage is associated with the beginning of walking in the child. Mastering the technique of walking, movement, develop in the child some independence. At this stage, a person begins to become, to some extent, an independent subject of actions, standing out from the environment. This is where the self-consciousness of the individual, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Self is born. At this stage, a person realizes himself only through relationships, interaction with other people. The knowledge of one's Self is carried out through the knowledge of other people. Here, self-consciousness does not yet exist as a category inherent in the subject himself, that is, regardless of the awareness of another person or people.

At the third stage, the formation of self-consciousness goes along with the development of speech, which plays an important role here. A child who has mastered speech has the ability to direct the actions of others at will and through other people to influence the world. These changes in the child's behavior lead to a change in his consciousness, behavior and attitude towards other people.

The development of the Self is influenced by external events (the ability to self-service, the beginning of labor activity) and internal events (a person's communication with others, the development of an internal attitude towards oneself and others). However, personal development does not end there.

In a broad sense, everything experienced by a person is part of his personality.

If we keep in mind the narrow sense, then here only that which was experienced, independently understood and mastered by the personality can be attributed to the personality, to the Self, such as, for example, a thought that was the result of a person’s own activity. Here involuntarily there is a desire to draw a parallel with the philosophy of Rene Descartes, where the first obviously true position is the thesis “I think”, as a subjective-personal experience of the individual.

It would not be superfluous to mention in conclusion that a person is included in public relations and the personality is also determined by that social role, which, reflected in its self-consciousness, is included in the I.

So, as you can see, self-consciousness is not inherent in a person from the very beginning, but is a product of the development of an individual.

As I have already said, when considering a person as a thinking and experiencing something subject, the philosophy of Descartes comes to mind, where the central theme, practically the starting point, the beginning of the whole philosophy of Cartesianism is the person, the subject.

9. Unconscious in the human psyche

The unconscious in the human psyche

Speaking about the structure of the unconscious and the role of the unconscious in the human psyche, it is useful to determine what it, the unconscious, is. Let us take the generally accepted formulation that the unconscious is a set of mental processes in respect of which there is no conscious control. This includes unconscious motives, the meaning of which is suppressed or repressed, and stereotypes and behavioral automatisms, the control of which is unnecessary due to their development, and subthreshold perception, which is not realized due to the large amount of information. And most importantly - here you can find those reserves of the psyche that open access to hidden resources that make a reality much of what previously seemed inaccessible.

The structure of the unconscious

For the first time, an experimental study of unconscious processes was carried out by Sigmund Freud, who singled out the components of the Id (It), Ego (I) and Superego (Super-I) in the structure of the psyche. Subsequently, the structure of the unconscious was expanded by Freud's student Carl Gustav Jung, who identified levels of both the personal and the collective unconscious. Also, the concept of the unconscious was supplemented by the psycholinguistic concepts of Jacques Lacan, who suggested that the unconscious is structured like a language. In Soviet science, the concept of the unconscious in the human psyche was represented by the developments of D.N. Uznadze, who put forward the theory of "attitude" - the Soviet analogue of the concept of the unconscious, as well as the psychophysiological discoveries of I.P. Pavlov and I.M. Sechenov.

10. The concept of activity. The structure of human activity

If the behavior of animals is entirely determined by the immediate environment, then the activity of a person from the earliest years is regulated by the experience of all mankind and the requirements of society. This type of behavior is so specific that a special term is used in psychology to designate it - activity. What are the distinctive psychological features of this special, special human type of activity?

The first of these distinguishing features is that the content of an activity is not entirely determined by the need that gave rise to it. If the need as a motive gives impetus to activity, stimulates it, then the very forms and content of activity are determined by social conditions, requirements and experience. So, the motive that makes a person work may be the need for food. However, a person, for example, operates a machine tool not because it satisfies his hunger, but because it allows him to produce the part entrusted to him. The content of his activity is determined not by the need, as such, but by the goal - the production of a certain product that society requires from him. Why a person acts in a certain way is not the same as what he acts for. Motivations, motives that give rise to his activity, diverge from the immediate goal that governs this activity.

So the first distinguishing feature activity lies in the fact that, being generated by a need as a source of activity, it is controlled by a conscious goal as a regulator of activity. This most important feature of activity was noted by K. Marx when he wrote: “The spider performs operations resembling the operations of a weaver, and the bee, by building its wax cells, puts some human architects to shame. But even the worst architect differs from the best bee from the very beginning in that, before than to build a cell out of wax, he has already built it in his head. At the end of the process of labor, a result is obtained that already at the beginning of this process was already in the mind of man, that is, ideally. Man not only changes the form of what is given by nature; what is given by nature, he realizes at the same time his conscious goal, which, like a law, determines the method and nature of his actions and to which he must subordinate his will.

In the words cited, Marx also notes one more necessary feature of the mental regulation of activity. For it to be successful, the psyche must reflect its own objective properties of things and determine by them (and not by the needs of the organism) the ways to achieve the goal. Finally, the activity must have the ability to control human behavior in such a way as to realize these purposeful actions, namely, to stimulate and maintain activity that does not immediately satisfy the needs that have arisen, i.e., is not accompanied by direct reinforcement. This shows that activity is inextricably linked with cognition and will, relies on them, and is impossible without cognitive and volitional processes.

So, activity is the internal (mental) and external (physical) activity of a person, regulated by a conscious goal.

Thus, in order to be able to talk about activity, it is necessary to reveal the presence of a conscious goal in human activity. All other aspects of the activity - its motives, methods of implementation, selection and processing of the necessary information - may or may not be realized. They may also be realized incompletely and even incorrectly. For example, a preschooler is rarely aware of the needs that push him to play, and a younger student is seldom aware of the motives of his learning activities. Incompletely, and most often incorrectly, an undisciplined teenager realizes the true motives of his actions. Yes, and adults sometimes take on faith secondary, "masking" motives that "throw" their consciousness to justify erroneous and unworthy actions or deeds.

Not only motives, but also many mental processes that led to the choice of certain plans of activity are far from being fully realized by a person. As for the ways of carrying out activities, most of them, as a rule, are regulated in addition to consciousness. Any habitual actions can serve as an example of this: walking, speaking, writing, driving a car, playing a musical instrument, etc.

The degree and completeness of the reflection of all these aspects of activity in the mind determine the level of awareness of the corresponding activity.

Whatever this level of awareness of activity, awareness of the goal always remains a necessary feature of it. In cases where this feature is absent, there is no activity in human sense words, but impulsive behavior takes place. Unlike activity, impulsive behavior is driven directly by needs and emotions. It expresses only the affects and inclinations of the individual and therefore often has an egoistic, antisocial character. So, a person acts impulsively, blinded by anger or irresistible passion.

Impulsive behavior does not mean its unconsciousness. But at the same time, only its personal motive is recognized and regulated, and not its social content, embodied in the goal.

Activity structure

Activity is that form of an active relationship to reality through which a real connection is established between a person and the world around him. Through activity, a person influences nature, things, other people. Realizing and revealing its internal properties in activity, it acts as a subject in relation to things, and as a personality in relation to people. Experiencing, in turn, their response effects, he discovers in this way the true, objective, essential properties of people, things, nature and society. Things appear before him as objects, and people as persons.

Actions and movements

To detect the weight of a stone, one must lift it, and to reveal the reliability of a parachute, one must descend from an airplane on it. Raising a stone and descending on a parachute, a person through activity discovers their real properties. He can replace these real actions with symbolic ones - say "the stone is heavy" or calculate the speed and trajectory of the parachute descent using the appropriate formula. But first there is always a matter, practical activity. In this activity, not only the properties of a stone or a parachute are revealed, but also the person himself (for which he lifted a stone, used a parachute, etc.). Practice determines and reveals what a person knows and what he does not know, what he sees in the world and what he does not see, what he chooses and what he rejects. In other words, it determines and at the same time reveals the content of the human psyche and its mechanisms.

The goal to which the activity is directed is, as a rule, more or less distant. Therefore, its achievement consists of a consistent solution by a person of a number of particular tasks that confront him as he moves towards this goal. For example, the labor activity of a worker as a whole is aimed at achieving a common goal - the production of certain products at the level of the required quality and a given labor productivity. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to successfully solve certain current work tasks in each period of time, for example, turn a part, mark a workpiece, load raw materials into the machine, etc. Each such relatively completed element of activity aimed at performing one simple current task is called an action .

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A Brief Historical Sketch of the Development of Psychology

Since ancient times, the needs of social life have forced a person to distinguish and take into account the peculiarities of the mental make-up of people. In the philosophical teachings of antiquity, certain psychological aspects were already touched upon, of which they were solved either in terms of idealism or in terms of materialism. Thus, the materialistic philosophers of antiquity Democrat, Lucretius, Epicurus understood the human soul as a kind of matter, as a bodily formation formed from spherical, small and most mobile atoms.

Plato

The father of idealism was Plato(large slave owner) It is worth noting that he divided all people according to their superior qualities — intelligence(in my head) courage(in chest) lust(in abdominal cavity) All governing bodies - have the mind of war - courage, slaves - lust. Plato will be the ancestor not only of idealism, but also of dualism. But the idealist philosopher Plato understood the human soul as something divine, different from the body. The soul, before entering the human body, exists separately in upper world, where he cognizes ideas - eternal and unchanging essences. Once in the body, the soul begins to remember what it saw before birth. Plato's idealistic theory, which treats the body and mind as two independent and antagonistic principles, laid the foundation for all subsequent idealistic theories.

Aristotle

The successor of Plato's work was Aristotle. It is worth noting that he not only overcame dualism (a direction that recognizes two independent principles at the basis of the world - matter and spirit), but also will be the ancestor of materialism(a direction that affirms the primacy of matter and the secondary nature of consciousness, the materiality of the world, the independence of its existence from the consciousness of people and its cognizability) Aristotle tried to put psychology on the basis of medicine. But Aristotle could not fully explain human behavior only through medicine. The great philosopher Aristotle in his treatise “On the Soul” singled out psychology as a unique field of knowledge and for the first time put forward the idea of the inseparability of the soul and the living body.

The works of Aristotle, Plato and other philosophers formed the basis of the works of philosophers of the middle ages of the 17th century. — ϶ᴛᴏ starting point from the materialism of philosophy.

History of psychology as an experimental science starts in 1879 in the world's first experimental psychological laboratory founded by the German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig. Soon, in 1885, V. M. Bekhterev organized a similar laboratory in Russia.

Famous psychologist of the late XIX - early XX centuries. G. Ebbinghaus was able to say very briefly and precisely about psychology - psychology has a huge prehistory and a very short history. History refers to that period in the study of the psyche, which was marked by a departure from philosophy, rapprochement with the natural sciences and the organization of its own experimental method. This happened in the last quarter of the 19th century, but the origins of psychology are lost in the mists of time.

Rene de Cartes - biologist, physician, philosopher. He opened the coordinate system, put forward the idea of a reflex, the idea of a reflex behavior. But he could not fully explain the behavior of the organism and therefore remained on the position of dualism. It was very difficult to separate the inner world of a person from his internal organs. The prerequisites for idealism were created.

There was another approach to understanding the psyche in the history of psychology, developed by domestic psychologists in line with the philosophy of dialectical materialism in the Soviet historical period. The essence of this understanding of the psyche can be shone to four words, the formal authorship of which belongs to V. I. Lenin (1870-1924) The psyche is a subjective image of the objective world.

General idea of the subject of psychology

It is worth saying that every science has a ϲʙᴏth subject of study. Let us give a brief description of the approaches associated with a fundamental change in the view of the subject of psychology.

By the way, the stages of development of psychology

I stage- psychology as the science of the soul. This definition of psychology was given more than two thousand years ago. The presence of the soul tried to explain all the incomprehensible phenomena in human life. This long stage, called in the literature pre-scientific, is determined from the 5th - 4th centuries. BC. until the beginning of the 18th century.

II stage- psychology as the science of consciousness. It arises in the 17th century in connection with the development of the natural sciences. The ability to think, feel, desire is called consciousness.
It is worth noting that the main method of study was the observation of a person for himself and the description of facts. According to the new approach, a person always sees, hears, touches, feels, remembers something. It is precisely such phenomena that psychology should study, since, unlike the soul, they can be experimentally investigated, measured, scientifically generalized, and cause-and-effect relationships and relationships can be established in them.

Stage III- psychology as behavioral science. Behaviorism took shape in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. in the USA. "Behavior" in English - "behavior". The task of psychology is to set up experiments and observe what can be directly seen, namely, behavior, actions, reactions of a person (motives that cause actions were not taken into account)

At the same time, many "traditional" psychologists have expressed serious objections to some of the initial components of the behaviorist approach. Behavior and psyche are ϶ᴛᴏ, though related, but by no means identical to reality. Material published on http: // site
So, when exposed to the same stimulus, there may be not one reaction, but a certain set of them, and, conversely, the same response is sometimes obtained in the presence of different stimuli. It is recognized in psychology, for example, that a person often looks at one thing and sees another, thinks about one thing, experiences another, says a third, does a fourth.

IV stage- psychology as a science that studies objective patterns, manifestations and mental mechanisms.

Methods of psychology

To solve a complex of problems in science, there is a developed system of means, directions, ways, and techniques.

Method- ϶ᴛᴏ the path of scientific knowledge. The way by which the subject of science is known.

Methodology- ϶ᴛᴏ option, private implementation of the method in specific conditions: organizational, social, historical.

A set or system of methods and techniques of any science will not be random, arbitrary. It is worth noting that they are formed historically, modified, developed, obeying certain patterns, methodological rules.

Methodology— ϶ᴛᴏ not only the doctrine of methods, the rules for their selection or use. It is a systematic description of the very philosophy, ideology, strategy and tactics of scientific research. The methodology specifies what exactly, how and why we study, how we interpret the results obtained, and how we implement them in practice.

Chapter 1. Subject, tasks, principles and methods of psychology

Subject, principles and tasks of psychology

Many years ago, in the forests of Aveyron, in the south of France, hunters found a boy fed, apparently, by some kind of animal and completely feral. Later, two girls were found in the jungles of India, kidnapped, as it turned out, by a she-wolf and fed by her. Science knows dozens of such tragic cases. What is the tragedy of these incidents, because the children found were alive and physically quite healthy? Ike these children, who spent their early childhood among the animals, did not have a single human quality. Even physically they resembled animals: they moved on all fours, ate just like animals, tearing pieces of meat with their teeth and holding them with two forelimbs, growling and biting everyone who came close to them. Their sense of smell and hearing were very developed, they caught the slightest changes in the forest environment. Making inarticulate sounds, they hurried to hide from people.

Scientists examined these children and tried to teach them human behavior, teach them to speak and understand human speech. But. as a rule, such attempts were unsuccessful: the time for the intensive formation of basic human qualities had already been irretrievably lost. A human being is formed as a human only in human society. And many human qualities are formed only in early childhood.

According to its biological organization, man is the result of an evolutionary process. The anatomical and physiological structure of his body is in many ways similar to the body of higher primates. But man is qualitatively different from all living beings. Its life activity, needs and ways of satisfying these needs differ from the life activity of animals. socio-cultural conditioning.

Man is a social being.

The natural features of man changed in the course of his socio-historical development. The human world is a field of socially developed meanings, meanings, and symbols. It is worth noting that he lives in the world of social culture, which forms his so-called second nature, determines his essence. All human activity from birth to the end of his life is regulated by the regulations adopted in a given society, social norms, customs, and traditions. The individual formed in society becomes socialized personality- a person included in the system of general social, cultural and historical achievements of mankind, his life activity is realized in certain social conditions. Note that each individual becomes a person to the extent that he masters the universal human culture. He perceives the whole world as a world of humanly significant objects, interacts with them on the basis of socially developed concepts. “Man is the measure of all things,” the ancient Greek philosopher Protahors remarked deeply. A person correlates everything in the world with his inner spiritual world: he experiences emotional excitement when contemplating distant stars, admires the beauty of forests, mountains and seas, appreciates the harmony of colors, shapes and sounds, the integrity of personal relationships and the sublime manifestations of the human spirit. Man actively interacts with the world - he seeks to know and purposefully transform reality.

The behavior of animals is predetermined by an innate, instinctive program of life. Material published on http: // site
Human behavior is determined by his mental, socially formed world, in which strategic and tactical planning of his life is carried out, the joys and sorrows of his human existence are experienced. A person is able to measure the present with the past and future, to think about the meaning of life, to reflect - to reflect not only the world but also himself.

A person is endowed with such a socially formed mental regulator as conscience - the ability to control his command with the help of general social standards, to evaluate his own Self through the eyes of other people. The socialized individual is a socio-spiritual being. The spirituality of a person will awaken in his ability to rise above everything base, primitive and mundane, to maintain an unchanging commitment to human dignity and duty.

Man is a complex and multifaceted being. It is studied by many sciences - biology, anthropology, history, cultural studies, sociology, etc. The study of the inner world of a person, the general patterns of his interaction with the outside world is carried out by a special science - psychology.

The subject of psychology there will be a person as a subject of activity, systemic qualities of his self-regulation; patterns of formation and functioning of the human psyche: its ability to reflect the world, to know it and to regulate its interaction with it.

Psychology studies the emergence and development of the psyche; neurophysiological foundations of mental activity; human consciousness as the highest form of the psyche; patterns of transition of the external to the internal; the conditionality of the functioning of the psyche by socio-historical factors; patterns of formation of mental images of the world and the embodiment of these images in the external, practical activity of a person; the unity of biological and social factors in the mental self-regulation of a person; the structure of the psyche; reflective-regulatory essence of cognitive, volitional and emotional processes, individual psychological characteristics of the personality; psychological features of human behavior in a social environment; the psychology of specific types of human activity; and etc.

Every educated person should master the basics of general psychological knowledge. Knowing yourself is no less important than knowing the various aspects of the surrounding reality. Material published on http: // site
Psychological knowledge is necessary for a person to properly organize his relationships with other people, effectively organize his activities, introspection and personal self-improvement. It is no coincidence that the main commandment of the ancient thinkers reads: "Man, know thyself."

The practical need for the application of psychological knowledge in various fields of human activity has caused intensive development along with general psychology and its applied branches: pedagogical, medical, legal, engineering, aviation, space, psychology of art, labor, military affairs, sports, management, marketing, etc. With ϶ᴛᴏm, the study of applied branches of psychology is possible only on the basis of general psychological knowledge.

Psychological knowledge is needed wherever there is a need for the scientific organization of labor and the effective use of the resources of the human psyche. Psychologists fruitfully work in schools and clinics, in production, in cosmonaut training centers and management structures, in the law enforcement system and in analytical centers for social development.

The main tasks of psychology

The main task of psychology will be the knowledge of the mental by revealing those objective connections from which mental phenomena first arose and began to be defined as objective facts. Therefore, psychological knowledge is understood today as an indirect knowledge of the mental through the disclosure of its essential connections with the outside world.

With this understanding of the essence of the mental, it becomes obvious that of all the sciences of man, the most practical will be psychology. After all, studying it. You can find a lot in the world around you, in yourself and in other people.

The growing interest in the inner spiritual world of people is also connected with the fact that modern era reveals more and more clearly as host a tendency to integrate all aspects of the life of modern society: economic, political and spiritual. By the way, this integrative trend, the line towards strengthening the integrity of social development will also be reflected in the fact that today the traditional, very narrow, technocratic understanding of the tasks of economic activity is being replaced by modernized concepts that bring to the fore in economic activity not technological tasks, but humanitarian and psychological problems.

Workers employed in the field of modern production are increasingly aware of this activity not only as the use of high technologies, but also as an area in which participation in which requires workers managing oneself, other people, their communities.

By the way, this setting has now become an elementary truth for specialists, entrepreneurs, managers developed countries both in the West and in the East.

The head of one of the largest American automobile companies, Li Ya Kokka, believes that “everything business transactions can ultimately be summed up in three words: people, product, profit. People come first."

Akio Morita - CEO of a well-known Japanese electrical company - claims that "Only people can make a successful enterprise."

Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that in order to be successful, a modern worker, businessman, manager, any specialist must provide a solution dual task:

achievement of economic results;
impact on people creating ϶ᴛᴏt result.

Therefore, in modern conditions for a domestic entrepreneur, manager, highly qualified specialist of any profile, as well as for each person, the most urgent task is the psychological recovery of labor groups, production teams, and with them the whole society. Modern leader, a specialist, and any thinking person should know and take into account psychological factors activities of people and, on a ϶ᴛᴏ basis, ensure the growth of labor and social activity.

To the topic: Different ideas about the subject of psychology. The term "Psychology" in translation into Russian from Greek means "the science of the soul." The term "Psychology" first appeared in scientific use in the 16th century. At first, he belonged to a special science that dealt with the study of mental (mental phenomena). Later, in the 17th-19th centuries. the field studied by psychology is expanding and includes not only conscious, but also unconscious phenomena. Psychology is the science of the mind and mental phenomena. Mental phenomena are 1) mental processes 2) mental states 3) mental properties of a person. 1) Psychic processes act as primary regulators of human behavior, have a definite beginning, course and end. Based on these processes, knowledge, skills and abilities are formed. 2) On the basis of mental processes, mental states are formed that characterize the state of the psyche as a whole and have their own dynamics (duration, direction, stability, intensity). These states affect the outcome of mental processes and can either promote or inhibit activity. This rise, depression, fear, cheerfulness, despondency. 3) Mental properties of the personality - the most essential features of the personality, providing a certain quantitative and qualitative level of human activity and behavior (orientation, temperament, abilities, character). They are characterized by greater stability and constancy. The level of development of mental properties, the features of the development of mental processes and the prevailing mental states determine the uniqueness of a person, his individuality. The subject of psychology is the psyche and mental phenomena of both one particular person and mental phenomena observed in a group and collectives. The main task is the study of mental phenomena.

Galperin P.Ya. – Item Evolution. Soul was recognized by everyone until the beginning of the 18th century, before the main ideas were formed, and then the first system of psychology of the modern type. Ideas about the soul were mainly idealistic. But there were also materialistic theories of the soul. They originated from performances

Democritus and described the soul as the finest matter, pneuma, whose particles - round, smooth and extremely active - penetrated between larger and less mobile atoms and, pushing, set them in motion. The soul was considered the cause of all processes in the body, including the actual “spiritual movements”.

Phenomena of consciousness as a subject of psychology . The place of the soul was occupied by phenomena that we actually observe, find "in ourselves", turning to our "inner mental activity". These are our thoughts, desires, feelings, memories, etc. John Locke - he can be considered the founder of such an understanding of the subject of psychology, pointed out that, unlike the soul, the phenomena of consciousness are something not supposed, but actually given, and in In this sense, the same indisputable facts of internal experience as are the facts of external experience studied by other sciences. Behavior as a subject of psychology.

Behavior as a subject of psychology

Behaviorism (from the English behavior - behavior) is a psychological direction, which was initiated by the publication in 1913 of an article by an American psychologist J. Watson"Psychology from the Behaviorist's Perspective". As a subject of psychology, it does not include the subjective world of a person, but objectively fixed characteristics. behavior caused by some external influence. However, as a unit analysis behavior postulates the relationship of stimulus (S) and response (R).

Representatives of behaviorism faced a tough choice: either go to the study of the physiological mechanisms of behavior, that is, become physiologists and say: there is no psychology, there is only the physiology of behavior; or to study the mechanisms of behavior without physiology, that is, only as a ratio of stimuli and reactions. This was the fundamental position of "classical" behaviorism. But very soon, already in the late 1920s, it became obvious that neither human behavior nor animal behavior could be explained by a single combination of present stimuli and past experience; that in the interval between the action of stimuli and behavioral reactions, there is some kind of active processing of incoming information that cannot be reduced to the influence of traces of past experience; that these are some kind of active processes, without taking into account which it is impossible to explain the reaction of the animal to the available stimuli. This is how “neo-behaviorism” arises with its most important concept of “incoming (or intermediate) variables” and the main position of the original behaviorism (which is now often called naive) is canceled. Behaviorism has failed twice: it has failed to isolate the psychological content of behavior and it has failed to explain behavior without the help of traditional psychological "variables". Orientation activity as a subject of psychology. All forms of mental activity are different forms of orientation of the subject in problem situations. These various forms arise because the circumstances in which the subject finds himself are essentially different, the tasks facing him and the means by which these tasks are solved are different. If all forms of mental life are different forms of orienting activity, then the other side of this situation lies in that psychology in all so-called mental processes or functions studies precisely this orienting side of them. This means that it would be wrong to say that psychology studies thinking, feelings, imagination, will, etc., incorrectly, first of all, because psychology does not study at all all sides (aspects) of thinking, feelings, will and other mental functions. The subject of psychology lies in the study of precisely the orienting side of any mental process.

Modern psychology and its place in the system of sciences. Due to its specificity, psychology occupies a special place in the system of modern sciences that study nature and man. At the moment, it exists not as a single science, but as a number of directions, different in subject, but conditionally united by an object, although differently interpreted. Psychology and medicine, biological sciences: Man is a social and biological being at the same time.

Most mental phenomena, mental processes have a physiological condition, therefore, the knowledge gained by physiologists and biologists is used in psychology to better understand certain mental phenomena. Directly related to the physiology of higher nervous activity is such a branch of psychology as psychophysiology, which studies the psyche in unity with the brain. Among the biological disciplines of the applied plan, medicine stands out, primarily neuropathology and psychiatry. Neuropsychology, founded by A.R. Luria, is especially distinguished, which exists at the intersection of psychology, physiology and medicine and studies the brain mechanisms of higher mental functions based on local brain lesions. Closely related to medicine is the so-called special psychology, which studies various variants of the pathology of mental development. Relationship between psychology and natural sciences. Psychologists and history: Psychology is brought closer to history by interest in the peculiarities of the mental image of a person in various historical epochs and in various cultures (personal characteristics, worldview, thinking, the formation of behavioral standards, relationships, characteristics of emerging groups, etc.). With sociology - the science of social systems and processes - psychology is connected through the study of the patterns of interaction between the individual and his social environment, intragroup and intergroup relations. Social psychology studies the psychological characteristics of a person, due to his existence in a group, and the characteristics of the groups themselves. Ethnopsychology studies the characteristics of the psyche of people of different peoples and cultures, developing problems of national character, self-consciousness, national characteristics of the worldview, relationships, the formation of communities, etc. Political psychology studies the characteristics of a person and groups, due to their involvement in political life - at the level of the individual and at the level of small and large groups of various plans. Linguistics is the problem of speech formation based on the assimilation of language structures, the analysis of language in connection with thinking, psycholinguistics arose.

Psychology and philosophy: questions of psychology were solved within the framework of philosophy for a very long time, and only in the middle of the 19th century. psychology became an independent science, separated from philosophy, and, nevertheless, retained a close connection with philosophy. There are psychological theories that are psychological and philosophical in nature: the theoretical work of modern followers of Z. Freud - neo-Freudians (E. Fromm). In psychology, scientists such as Aristotle, R. Descartes, J. Locke are known - they are, first of all, great philosophers, the founders of philosophical schools. Psychology and pedagogy: at first glance, these sciences are inseparable from each other, since the upbringing and education of children cannot but take into account the psychological characteristics of the individual. Pedagogy was formed as an independent science. As a result, psychology and pedagogy took shape as independent sciences and exist separately. At the beginning of the 20th century, a complex science of children, their education and upbringing - pedology - existed and developed. Within the framework of this science, teachers, psychologists, physicians, physiologists, etc. have successfully collaborated.

Physics - the idea of the atomic structure of the world led to the transfer of the principle - of the atomic structure of the soul. Such concepts came: energy, field. Communication of psychology and chemistry. Chemical processes are considered in the analysis of biological phenomena important for psychology; Psychology is closely related to the technical sciences, in particular the development of socio-technical systems ( spaceship), involves taking into account the mental and psychophysical capabilities of a person (aviation simulators). The main branches of psychology: General psychology - combines fundamental psychological knowledge and solves problems in the study of the individual.

Pedagogical psychology - studies the psychological problems of training and education.

Developmental psychology - patterns of stages of mental development and personality formation from birth to old age. Differentiated psychology - differences between individuals, groups, causes of differences. Social psychology - patterns of behavior and activities of people, due to the fact of their inclusion in society. Political psychology - the psychological components of political life and people's activities.

Psychology of art - personality traits, groups of people that determine the creation of artistic values. Engineering psychology - processes and means of interaction between man and machine. Clinical psychology - neuropsychology, pathopsychology, somatopsychology, special psychology, etc.

Tasks of modern psychology: 1. study of the patterns of mental processes and states; 2. development of criteria for assessing the levels of development of mental processes; 3. study of the relationship between the characteristics of mental reflection and forms of behavior; 4. study of the laws governing the mechanisms of the functioning of the psyche

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

Topic study plan(list of questions to be studied):

1. The subject of psychology. Communication of psychology with other sciences. Branches of psychology.

2. Stages of the formation of psychology as a science.

3. Tasks of modern psychology.

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

5. Consciousness as a form of mental reflection. Psychological structure of consciousness.

Brief summary of theoretical issues:

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

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

There are sciences that act as a kind of theoretical basis, the basis for psychology: for example, philosophy, the physiology of higher human nervous activity. Philosophical sciences are primarily of theoretical and methodological significance for psychology. They equip a person with an understanding of the most general laws of the development of objective reality, the origins of life, the meaning of human existence, form in him a certain vision of the picture of the world, an understanding of the causes of processes and phenomena occurring in living and inanimate matter and in the minds of people, explain the essence of real events, facts. Philosophy makes a decisive contribution to the formation of a person's worldview.
There are sciences in respect of which psychology is one of the basic, theoretical foundations. These sciences primarily include pedagogical, legal, medical, political science and a number of others. The development of their problems by these sciences at the present time cannot be sufficiently complete and justified without taking into account the human factor, including the human psyche, the psychology of age, ethnic, professional and other groups of people.
3. The history of the development of psychological knowledge.
The Doctrine of the Soul (5th century BC - early 17th century AD)
The doctrine of the soul developed within the framework of ancient Greek philosophy and medicine. New ideas about the soul were not religious, but secular, open to all, accessible to rational criticism. The purpose of constructing the doctrine of the soul was to identify the properties and patterns of its existence.
The most important directions in the development of ideas about the soul are associated with the teachings of Plato (427-347 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC). Plato drew a line between the material, material, mortal body and the immaterial, immaterial, immortal soul. Individual souls - imperfect images of a single universal world soul - possess a part of the universal spiritual experience, the recollection of which is the essence of the process of individual cognition. This doctrine laid the foundation philosophical theory knowledge and determined the orientation of psychological knowledge to the solution of philosophical, ethical, pedagogical and religious problems.
The main directions of psychology.
A person in his physiological and mental formation and development goes through various stages, participates in many areas of social life, and engages in various activities. The forms of human communities are also diverse: small and large social groups, age, professional, educational, ethnic, religious, family, organized and spontaneously formed groups and other communities of people. In this regard, modern psychological science is a diversified field of knowledge and includes more than 40 relatively independent branches. General psychology and social psychology are basic in relation to other branches of psychological knowledge: labor psychology, sports, higher education, religion, mass media (media), art, age, pedagogical, engineering, military, medical, legal, political, ethnic, etc.
The concept of the psyche. Functions of the psyche.
Psyche- this is a property of highly organized living matter, which consists in the active reflection of the objective world by the subject, in the construction by the subject of an inalienable picture of this world and in the regulation of behavior and activity on this basis.
Fundamental judgments about the nature and mechanisms of manifestation of the psyche.

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

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

information about the surrounding world received by a living being serves as the basis for regulating the internal environment of a living organism and shaping its behavior, which generally determines the possibility of a relatively long existence of this organism in the environment.
Functions of the psyche:

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

^ Development of the psyche in phylogenesis and ontogenesis.
The development of the psyche in phylogenesis is associated with the development of the nervous system. The level of development of the sense organs and the nervous system invariably determines the level and forms of mental reflection. At the lowest stage of development (for example, in intestinal cavities), the nervous system is a nervous network consisting of nerve cells scattered throughout the body with intertwining processes. This is the network nervous system. Animals with a reticulate nervous system mainly respond with tropisms. Temporary connections are formed with difficulty and are poorly preserved.

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

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

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

The development of the psyche in ontogeny. Without assimilation of the experience of mankind, without communication with one's own kind, there will be no developed, actually human feelings, the ability to voluntary attention and memory, the ability to abstract thinking will not develop, the human personality will not be formed. This is evidenced by cases of raising human children among animals.
So, all children - "Mowgli" showed primitive animal reactions, and it was impossible to detect in them those features that distinguish a person from an animal. While a little monkey, by chance, left alone, without a herd, will still manifest itself as a monkey, a person becomes a person only if his development takes place among people.

The structure of the psyche. Relationship between consciousness and the unconscious.
The structure of consciousness and the unconscious in the human psyche. Highest level psyche, characteristic of man, forms consciousness. Consciousness is the highest, integrating form of the psyche, the result of the socio-historical conditions of the formation of a person in labor activity, with constant. communicating (using language) with other people. In this sense, consciousness is a "social product", consciousness is nothing but conscious being.

Characteristics of human consciousness:
1) consciousness, i.e., the totality of knowledge about the world around us.
2) fixed in it a distinct distinction between subject and object, i.e., what belongs to the “I” of a person and his “non-I”.
3) ensuring goal-setting human activity.
4) the presence of emotional assessments in interpersonal relationships.
A prerequisite for the formation and manifestation of all the above specific qualities of consciousness are speech and language as a sign system.
lowest level psyche forms the unconscious. Unconscious - it is a set of mental processes, acts and states caused by influences, in the influence of which a person does not give himself an account. Being mental (since the concept of the psyche is broader than the concept of "consciousness", "conscious"), the unconscious is a form of reflection of reality in which the completeness of orientation in time and place of action is lost, speech regulation of behavior is violated. In the unconscious, unlike consciousness, purposeful control over the actions performed is impossible, and it is also impossible to evaluate their results.
The area of the unconscious includes mental phenomena that occur in a dream (dreams); responses that are caused by imperceptible, but really affecting stimuli ("subsensory" or "subceptive" reactions); movements that were conscious in the past, but due to repetition have become automated and therefore become unconscious; some impulses for activity in which there is no consciousness of the goal, etc. Some pathological phenomena that arise in the psyche of a sick person also belong to the unconscious phenomena: delirium, hallucinations, etc.

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

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

1. proper unconscious- such a psychic that under no circumstances becomes conscious. - sleep, unconscious urges, automated movements, reaction to unconscious stimuli

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

Self-awareness criteria:

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

2. awareness of one's activity - "I control myself";

3. awareness of oneself "through another" ("What I see in others, this may be my quality");

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

In the structure of self-consciousness, one can distinguish:

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

2. awareness of one's real and desired qualities ("Real Self" and "Ideal Self");

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

4. emotional, sensual self-image.

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

I concept - self-perception and self-management

I am spiritual
I am material
I am social
I am bodily

Despite the fact that a person is in constant development, and the world around him is changing all the time, the very nature of a person and his behavior remain unchanged - they obey the same laws as many centuries ago. That is why the general human psychology is still the object of interest of a huge number of scientists and specialists today. General psychology as a science retains its importance and relevance. Numerous seminars, theoretical and workshops are devoted to teaching the basics of general psychology. different kinds trainings.

In this lesson, you will get acquainted with the subject and method of general psychology, find out what problems, tasks, laws and features of this scientific discipline exist.

Introduction to General Psychology

This is a science that studies how cognitive processes, states, patterns and properties of the human psyche arise and form, and also summarizes various psychological studies, forms psychological knowledge, principles, methods and basic concepts.

Most Full description of these components is given precisely in the sections of general psychology. But, at the same time, individual manifestations of the psyche are not studied by general psychology, as, for example, in sections of special psychology (pedagogical, developmental, etc.).

The main subject of study of general psychology are such forms of mental activity as memory, character, thinking, temperament, perception, motivation, emotions, sensations and other processes, which we will discuss in more detail below. They are considered by this science in close connection with human life and activities, as well as with the special characteristics of individual ethnic groups and historical background. Cognitive processes, the personality of a person and its development inside and outside society, interpersonal relationships in different groups of people are subject to detailed study. General psychology is of great importance for such sciences as pedagogy, sociology, philosophy, art history, linguistics, etc. And the results of research conducted in the field of general psychology can be considered Starting point for all branches of psychological science.

The theoretical course of general psychology usually includes the study of any specific thematic sections, directions, research, history and problems of this science. A practical course is, as a rule, mastering the methods of research, pedagogical and practical psychological work.

Methods of General Psychology

Like any other science, general psychology uses a system of various methods. The basic methods for obtaining various facts in psychology are considered to be observation, conversation and experiments. Each of these methods can be modified to improve the result.

Observation

Observation This is the most ancient way of knowing. Its simplest form is everyday observations. Every person uses it in their daily life. In general psychology, such types of observation are distinguished as short-term, long-term (it can even take place for several years), selective, continuous and special (included observation, during which the observer is immersed in the group he is studying).

The standard monitoring procedure consists of several steps:

Setting goals and objectives;
Definition of the situation, subject and object;
Determination of methods that will have the least impact on the object under study, and provide the necessary data;
Determining how data is maintained;
Processing of received data.

External observation (by an outsider) is considered objective. It can be direct or indirect. There is also self-observation. It can be both immediate - in the current moment, and delayed, based on memories, entries from diaries, memoirs, etc. In this case, the person himself analyzes his thoughts, feelings and experiences.

Observation is an integral part of the other two methods - conversation and experiment.

Conversation

Conversation as a psychological method involves direct / indirect, oral / written collection of information about the person being studied and his activities, as a result of which his characteristic psychological phenomena. There are such types of conversations as collecting information about a person and his life (from the person himself or from people who know him), interviews (a person answers pre-prepared questions), questionnaires and different types questionnaires (written answers to questions).

Best of all, there is a personal conversation between the researcher and the person being examined. At the same time, it is important to think over the conversation in advance, draw up a plan for it and identify problems that should be identified. During the conversation, questions from the person being examined are also expected. Two-way conversation gives the best result and provides more information than just answers to questions.

But the main method of research is experiment.

Experiment

Experiment- this is the active intervention of a specialist in the process of the subject's activity in order to create certain conditions under which a psychological fact will be revealed.

There is a laboratory experiment taking place under special conditions using special equipment. All actions of the subject are directed by the instruction. A person knows about the experiment, although he may not guess about its true meaning. Some experiments are carried out repeatedly and on a whole group of people - this allows you to establish important patterns in the development of mental phenomena.

Another method is tests. These are tests that serve to establish any mental qualities in a person. Tests are short-term and similar tasks for all, the results of which determine the presence of certain mental qualities in the subjects and the level of their development. Different tests are designed to make some predictions or make a diagnosis. They must always have a scientific basis, and must also be reliable and reveal accurate characteristics.

Since the genetic principle plays a special role in the methods of psychological research, the genetic method is also distinguished. Its essence is the study of the development of the psyche in order to reveal the general psychological patterns. This method is based on observations and experiments and builds on their results.

In the process of using various methods, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the problem being studied. Therefore, along with the main methods of psychological research, a number of special auxiliary and intermediate methods are often used.

Subject and object of general psychology

Any science is characterized, among other things, by the presence of its subject and object of study. Moreover, the subject and object of science are two different things. The object is only an aspect of the subject of science, which is investigated by the subject, i.e. researcher. Awareness of this fact is very important for understanding the specifics of general psychology as a multifaceted and diverse science. Given this fact, we can say the following.

Object of general psychology- this is the psyche itself, as a form of interaction of living beings with the world, which is expressed in their ability to translate their impulses into reality and function in the world based on the available information. And the human psyche, from the point of view of modern science, performs the function of an intermediary between the subjective and the objective, and also realizes a person's ideas about the external and internal, bodily and spiritual.

The subject of general psychology- these are the laws of the psyche, as a form of human interaction with the outside world. This form, due to its versatility, is subject to research in completely different aspects, which are studied by different branches of psychological science. The object is the development of the psyche, norms and pathologies in it, the types of human activities in life, as well as his attitude to the world around him.

Due to the scale of the subject of general psychology and the ability to single out in its composition many objects for research, there are currently general theories psychology, which are guided by different scientific ideals and psychological practice itself, which develops certain psychotechnics for influencing consciousness and its control. But no matter how complex the paths along which psychological thought advances, constantly transforming the object of its research and plunging deeper into the subject due to this, no matter what changes and additions it is subject to and no matter what terms it denotes, it is still possible to single out the main blocks of terms, which characterizes the object of psychology. These include:

mental processes - psychology studies mental phenomena in the process of formation and development, the product of which is the results that take shape in images, thoughts, emotions, etc.;
mental states - activity, depression, cheerfulness, etc.;
mental properties of the personality - purposefulness, diligence, temperament, character;
mental neoplasms - those knowledge, skills and abilities that a person acquires during his life.

Naturally, all mental phenomena cannot exist in isolation, but are closely connected with each other and influence each other. But we can consider each of them separately.

Feel

Feel- these are mental processes that are mental reflections of individual states and properties of the external world, arising from direct impact on the sense organs, subjective perception by a person of external and internal stimuli with the participation of the nervous system. In psychology, sensations are usually understood as the process of reflecting various properties of objects in the surrounding world.

Feelings have the following properties:

Modality - a qualitative indicator of sensations (for vision - color, saturation, for hearing - loudness, timbre, etc.);
Intensity - a quantitative indicator of sensations;
Duration - a temporary indicator of sensations;
Localization is a spatial indicator.

There are several classifications of sensations. The first one belongs to Aristotle. They identified five basic senses: touch, hearing, sight, taste and smell. But in the 19th century, due to the increase in the types of sensations, the need arose for a more serious classification of them. To date, the following classifications exist:

Wundt's classification - depending on the mechanical, chemical and physical properties of stimuli;
Sherrington classification - based on the location of the receptors: exteroceptive, interoceptive and proprioceptive sensations;
Head's classification - based on origin: protopathic and epicritical sensitivity.

Perception

Perception is a cognitive process that forms a picture of the world in the subject. A mental operation that reflects an object or phenomenon that affects the receptors of the sense organs. Perception is the most complex function that determines the reception and transformation of information and forms the subjective image of the object for the subject. Through attention, the whole object is revealed, its special features and content are distinguished, and a sensual image is formed, i.e. comprehension takes place.

Perception is divided into four levels:

Detection (perceptual action) - formation of an image;
Discrimination (perceptual action) - the very perception of the image;
Identification (identification action) - identification of an object with existing images;
Identification (identification action) - categorization of an object.

Perception also has its own properties: structure, objectivity, apperception, selectivity, constancy, meaningfulness. Read more about perception.

Attention

Attention is a selective perception of an object. It is expressed in how a person relates to an object. Behind attention can often be such psychological characteristics of a person as need, interest, orientation, attitudes, and others. Attention also determines how a person orients himself in the surrounding world and how this world is reflected in his psyche. The object of attention is always in the center of consciousness, and the rest is perceived more weakly. But the focus of attention tends to change.

The objects of attention are, as a rule, what has the greatest significance for a person at the moment. Holding attention for a long time on an object is called concentration.

Attention functions:

Detection
selective attention
Divided attention

Attention can be arbitrary and involuntary. It varies in form as follows:

External - directed to the world around;
Internal - directed to the inner world of a person;
Motor

Properties of attention: focus, distribution, volume, intensity, concentration, switchability, stability.

All of them are closely related to human activity. And depending on its purpose, they can become more or less intense.

Representation

During representation there is a mental recreation of images of phenomena or objects that are not currently affecting the senses. There are two meanings to this concept. The first denotes the image of a phenomenon or object that was perceived earlier, but not perceived now. The second describes the reproduction of images itself. As mental phenomena, representations can be somewhat similar to perception, hallucinations and pseudo-hallucinations, or different from them.

Views are classified in several ways:

According to the leading analyzers: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile and temperature representations;
According to the degree of generalization - single, general and schematized;
By origin - based on perception, thinking or imagination;
According to the degree of volitional efforts - involuntary and arbitrary.

Representations have the following properties: generalization, fragmentation, visibility, instability.

Read more about representation in psychology in this Wikipedia article.

Memory

Memory- this is a mental function and a type of mental activity designed to store, accumulate and reproduce information. The ability to store data about the events of the surrounding world and the reactions of the body for a long period of time, and use it.

The following memory processes are distinguished:

memorization;
Storage;
playback;
Forgetting.

Memory is also divided into typologies:

By sensory modality - visual, kinesthetic, sound, taste, pain;
By content - emotional, figurative, motor;
According to the organization of memorization - procedural, semantic, episodic;
According to temporal characteristics - ultra-short-term, short-term, long-term;
According to physiological characteristics - long-term and short-term;
According to the availability of funds - unmediated and indirect;
By the presence of a goal - involuntary and arbitrary;
According to the level of development - verbal-logical, figurative, emotional and motor.

You will find methods and techniques for developing memory in a separate.

Imagination

Imagination- this is the ability of human consciousness to create ideas, representations and images and manage them. It plays a major role in such mental processes as planning, modeling, play, memory and creativity. This is the basis of visual-figurative thinking of a person, which allows you to solve certain problems and understand the situation without practical intervention. Fantasy is a kind of imagination.

There is also a classification of imagination:

According to the degree of orientation - active and passive imagination;
According to the results - reproductive and creative imagination;
By the type of images - abstract and concrete;
According to the degree of volitional efforts - unintentional and deliberate;
By methods - typification, schematization, hyperbolization, agglutination.

Imagination mechanisms:

Typing;
Accent;
schematization;
Agglutination;
Hyperbole.

Imagination is directly related to creativity. And in finding creative solutions sensitivity to emerging problems, the ease of combining any things and observation contribute. The characteristics of the imagination can be considered accuracy, originality, flexibility and fluency of thinking.

Read more about imagination in psychology in this article.

In addition, the problems of the development of the imagination are devoted to our website.

Thinking

In general psychology, there are many definitions of the process of thinking. According to one of the most popular definitions:

Thinking- this is the highest stage of human information processing and the process of establishing links between phenomena and objects of the outside world.

It is the highest stage of human cognition, as a process of reflection in his brain of the surrounding reality.

Thinking is divided into:

Abstract-logical;
Visual-figurative;
Specific subject;
Visually effective.

And the main forms of thinking are:

Concept - thoughts that single out and generalize phenomena and objects;
Judgment is the denial or affirmation of something;
Inference is a conclusion.

These and other components of the thought process are considered in ours.

Speech

speech called a form of communication between people through language constructions. In this process, thoughts are formed and formulated with the help of language, as well as the perception of the received speech information and its understanding. Speech is a form of existence of human language, because speech is language in action.

Language (speech) performs the following functions:

Intellectual activity tool;
Way of communication;
A way of existence, as well as the assimilation and transfer of experience.

Speech is the most important part of human activity, which contributes to the knowledge of the world, the transfer of knowledge and experience to others. Representing a means of expressing thoughts, it is one of the main mechanisms of human thinking. It depends on the form of communication and, thus, is divided into oral (speaking/listening) and written (writing/reading).

Speech has the following properties:

Content - the number and significance of the expressed aspirations, feelings and thoughts;
Clarity - correctness;
Expressiveness - emotional coloring and richness of the language;
Effectiveness - the impact on other people, their feelings, thoughts, emotions, etc.

You can read more about oral and written speech in our trainings on and.

Emotions

Emotions- These are mental processes that reflect the attitude of the subject to possible or real situations. Emotions should not be confused with such emotional processes as feelings, affects and moods. To date, emotions have been studied rather poorly and are understood by many experts in different ways. For this reason, the definition given above cannot be considered the only correct one.

The characteristics of emotions are:

Tone (valence) - positive or negative emotions;
Intensity - strong or weak emotions;
Sthenicity - influence on human activity: sthenic (inciting to action) and asthenic (reducing activity);
Content - reflects different facets of the meaning of the situations that caused emotions.

Emotions in most cases are manifested in physiological reactions, tk. the latter depend on them. But today there is a debate about the fact that intentional physiological states can cause certain emotions.

These and other issues of understanding and managing emotions are discussed in ours.

Will

Will- this is the property of a person to make conscious control of his psyche and actions. The manifestation of the will can be considered the achievement of goals and results. It has many positive qualities that affect the success of human activity. The main volitional qualities are considered to be perseverance, courage, patience, independence, purposefulness, determination, initiative, endurance, courage, self-control and others. The will prompts to action, allows a person to control desires and realize them, develops self-control and strength of character.

Signs of an act of will:

Efforts of the will in many cases are aimed at overcoming one's weaknesses;
Performing an action without getting pleasure from this process;
Having an action plan;
The effort to do something.

Read more about will in psychology on Wikipedia.

Mental properties and states

Mental properties- these are stable mental phenomena that influence what a person does and give his socio-psychological characteristics. The structure of mental properties includes abilities, character, temperament and orientation.

Orientation is a conglomeration of needs, goals and motives of a person that determine the nature of his activity. It expresses the whole meaning of human actions and his worldview.

Temperament gives characteristics of human activity and behavior. It can manifest itself in hypersensitivity, emotionality, resistance to stress, the ability to adapt to external conditions or lack thereof, etc.

A character is a set of traits and qualities regularly manifested in a person. There are always individual characteristics, but there are also those that are characteristic of all people - purposefulness, initiative, discipline, activity, determination, steadfastness, endurance, courage, will, etc.

Abilities are the mental properties of a person, reflecting its features, which allow a person to successfully engage in certain activities. Abilities distinguish between special (for a particular type of activity) and general (for most types of activity).

mental states It is a system of psychological characteristics that provide a subjective perception of the world by a person. Mental states have an impact on how mental processes proceed, and being regularly repeated, they can become part of a person's personality - its property.

Mental states are related to each other. But still they can be classified. Most often distinguished:

Personality states;
States of consciousness;
States of intelligence.

Types of mental states are divided according to the following criteria:

According to the source of formation - due to the situation or personally;
In terms of severity - superficial and deep;
By emotional coloring - positive, neutral and negative;
By duration - short-term, medium-term, long-term;
According to the degree of awareness - conscious and unconscious;
According to the level of manifestation - physiological, psychophysiological, psychological.

The following mental states are common to most people:

Optimal performance;
tension;
Interest;
Inspiration;
Fatigue;
monotony;
Stress;
Relaxation;
Awake.

Other common mental states include love, anger, fear, surprise, admiration, depression, detachment, and others.

Read more about mental properties and states on Wikipedia.

Motivation

Motivation is the urge to take action. This process controls human behavior and determines its direction, stability, activity and organization. Through motivation, a person can satisfy his needs.

There are several types of motivation:

External - due to external conditions;
Internal - due to internal circumstances (the content of the activity);
Positive - based on positive incentives;
Negative - based on negative incentives;
Sustainable - determined by human needs;
Unstable - requires additional stimulus.

Motivation is of the following types:

From something (basic type);
To something (basic type);
Individual;
Group;
Cognitive.

There are certain motives that in most cases are guided by people:

Self-affirmation;
Identification with other people;
Power;
Self-development;
Achieving something;
public importance;
The desire to be in the company of certain people;
negative factors.

Motivation issues are discussed in more detail in this training.

Temperament and character

Temperament- this is a complex of mental characteristics of a person associated with its dynamic characteristics (that is, with the pace, rhythm, intensity of individual mental processes and states). The basis of character formation.

There are the following main types of temperament:

Phlegmatic - signs: emotional stability, perseverance, calmness, regularity;
Choleric - signs: frequent mood swings, emotionality, imbalance;
Sanguine - signs: liveliness, mobility, productivity;
Melancholic - signs: impressionability, vulnerability.

Different types of temperament have different properties that can have a positive or negative effect on a person's personality. Temperament type does not affect abilities, but affects how people manifest themselves in life. Depending on the temperament are:

Perception, thinking, attention and other mental processes;
Stability and plasticity of mental phenomena;
The pace and rhythm of actions;
Emotions, will and other mental properties;
Direction of mental activity.

Character is a complex of permanent mental properties of a person that determine her behavior. Character traits form the properties of a person that determine his lifestyle and form of behavior.

Character traits vary by group. There are four in total:

Attitude towards people - respect, sociability, callousness, etc.;
Attitude to activity - conscientiousness, diligence, responsibility, etc.;
Attitude towards oneself - modesty, arrogance, self-criticism, selfishness, etc.;
Attitude to things - care, accuracy, etc.

Each person has a character inherent only to him, the properties and characteristics of which are determined, for the most part, by social factors. Also, there is always a place to be an accentuation of character - the strengthening of its individual features. It should also be noted that there is a close relationship between character and temperament, because temperament influences the development of any character traits and the manifestation of its features, and at the same time, using some traits of its character, a person, if necessary, can control the manifestations of his temperament.

Read more about the character and temperament in our training.

All of the above, of course, is not comprehensive information about what general human psychology is. This lesson is intended only to give a general idea and indicate directions for further study.

In order to immerse yourself in the study of general psychology more deeply, you need to arm yourself with the most popular and weighty tools in scientific circles, which are the works of famous authors of textbooks and manuals on psychology. Below is a brief description of some of them.

Maklakov A. G. General psychology. In compiling this textbook, the most modern achievements in the field of psychology and pedagogy were used. On their basis, questions of psychology, mental processes, properties and their states, as well as many other features are considered. The textbook contains illustrations and explanations, as well as a bibliographic reference. Designed for teachers, graduate students and university students.

Rubinshtein S. L. Fundamentals of general psychology. For more than 50 years, this textbook has been considered one of the best psychology textbooks in Russia. It presents and summarizes the achievements of Soviet and world psychological science. The work is intended for teachers, graduate students and university students.

Gippenreiter Yu. B. Introduction to general psychology. This manual presents the basic concepts of psychological science, its methods and problems. The book contains a lot of data on the results of research, examples from fiction and situations from life, as well as a perfect combination of a serious scientific level and an accessible presentation of the material. The work will be of interest to a wide range of readers and people who are just starting to master psychology.

Petrovsky A. V. General psychology. Supplemented and revised edition of General Psychology. The textbook presents the basics of psychological science, as well as summarizes information from many teaching aids("Age and pedagogical psychology", "Workshops on psychology", "Collection of problems in general psychology"). The book is intended for students who are serious about the study of human psychology.

The role played by general psychology in modern society, cannot be overestimated. Today it is necessary to have at least a minimum of psychological knowledge, because general psychology opens the door to the world of a person’s mind and his soul. Any educated person should master the basics of this science of life, because. It is very important to know not only the world around us, but also other people. Thanks to psychological knowledge you can build your relationships with others much more effectively and organize your personal activities, as well as self-improvement. It is for these reasons that all thinkers of antiquity have always said that a person must first of all know himself.

Test your knowledge

If you want to test your knowledge on the topic of this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions. Only 1 option can be correct for each question. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question. The points you receive are affected by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on passing. Please note that the questions are different each time, and the options are shuffled.