Psychology- the science of man, his spiritual essence and psyche in their development and in all the variety of forms.

General psychology- a fundamental discipline that studies the general patterns of cognitive processes and states and the general mental properties of the individual.

The path of development of psychological science was more difficult than the development of other sciences, such as physics or chemistry. It is not difficult to understand the reasons for this difference. After all, as is well known, the objects of physics, chemistry, and other natural sciences, somehow visible, tangible, material. Psychology, on the other hand, deals with substance, which, although it constantly reveals itself, nevertheless acts as a special reality of the highest level and differs from material reality by its invisibility, intangibility, immateriality.

It is precisely this difference, which gives rise to the difficulties of fixing psychological phenomena, that made it difficult from the very beginning for the development of psychological knowledge, its transformation into an independent science, since its object itself seemed elusive and mysterious for a long time.

The history of psychological knowledge has more than 2000 years, during which it has developed mainly within the framework of philosophy and natural science.

The beginning of the transformation of psychology into an independent science is associated with the name of a German scientist Christian Wolf(1679-1754), who published the books Rational Psychology (1732), and Experimental Psychology (1734), in which he used the term "psychology".

However, only from the beginning of the XX century. psychology finally emerged as an independent science. At the turn of the XX-XXI centuries. Significantly increased the importance of psychology in connection with its increasing involvement in different kinds practical activities. There were such branches of psychology as pedagogical, legal, military, managerial, sports psychology, etc. At the same time, the originality of the object of psychological science gave rise to big number scientific schools and theories that complement each other and often contradict each other.

The meaning of the word "psychology" itself becomes clear if we consider that it consists of two Greek terms: « psyche» - soul, derived from the name of the Greek goddess Psyche, and « logos» - word, concept, doctrine, science.

From the moment of its appearance, psychology began to stand out among other sciences, since it turned out to be the only one among them that is named after the goddess.

Psychology owes its name to Greek mythology. According to one of the myths, the god of love Eros fell in love with a simple peasant woman Psyche. distinguished, however, by divine beauty. But the mother of Eros, the goddess Aphrodite, was very unhappy with the fact that her son. celestial, wanted to join his fate with a mere mortal. Aphrodite began to make efforts to separate the lovers. She made Psyche go through many trials. But Psyche's desire to connect her fate with Eros turned out to be so great that it made a strong impression on the gods of Olympus and they decided to help Psyche overcome all the trials that fell to her lot and fulfill her requirements of Aphrodite. Meanwhile, Eros managed to convince the supreme God - Zeus to turn Psyche into a goddess, to make her as immortal as the gods. So lovers manage to unite forever.

In fact, it is this deep thought about the integrity of the universe, which includes two main principles - material and spiritual. enclosed in ancient myth, has become the basis for the ideas of modern materialistic philosophy and psychology about the essence of the human psyche, as such a property of highly organized matter, which embodies the highest stage of the universal evolution of nature.

It is this idea that is expressed in the most common definition of psychological science today:

Psychology is a science whose object is the laws of the psyche as a special, higher form of human and animal life.

herself psyche today is understood not as something mysterious and inexplicable, but as the highest form of the relationship of living beings with the objective world, which has arisen as a result of a long process of self-organization of nature, expressed in their ability to realize their impulses on the basis of information about this world.

At the level of a person, expressing the highest stage of the organization process, the orderliness of being, the psyche acquires a qualitatively new character due to the fact that the biological nature of a person is transformed by sociocultural factors, due to which an extensive internal plan of life activity arises - consciousness, and a person becomes a personality.

However, even today it should be borne in mind that for many centuries the psyche was designated by the term “soul”, which was presented as an incorporeal entity, the history and fate of which, according to various religious beliefs that have survived to this day, depend not so much on processes of self-organization of natural being, not so much from a living body, how much from extraterrestrial, supernatural beginnings, from otherworldly forces inaccessible to our understanding. It is this idea of ​​the essence of the mental that underlies all modern world religions, including Christianity, and is also supported by some areas of philosophy and modern psychological science.

However, from the point of view of other psychological teachings, the psyche is the highest product of the processes of self-organization of nature and acts as an intermediary between the subjective, human and objective, outside world, providing a powerful rise in the effectiveness of human activity to transform the natural and social environment.

But one way or another, the basis of modern psychology is formed by historically established ideas about the correspondence of the mental and material worlds, the coexistence of internal and external, mental and bodily, subjective and objective being.

Of course, before coming to such an idea of ​​the essence of the mental, knowledge about it had to go through a long path of development, which includes a number of stages. Acquaintance with the content of these stages helps to understand psychic reality more deeply and, on this basis, to make a conscious choice between the various interpretations that still exist today.

The process of formation of psychological knowledge was long and difficult. These difficulties were not accidental. They are associated with the specifics of the mental, which generated in the past and generates today many problems in the development of psychological science, in particular, explains the preservation up to the present time. polytheoretical character this area of ​​knowledge.

Difficulties in the development of psychology are associated with the following features of the mental sphere:

special location, localization object of psychological science. The physical media of this object is located not outside, but within us. Moreover, the physical carriers of mental functions are “hidden” inside us especially reliably: in the skull, in other most durable bone structures of our skeleton.

This is a particularly reliable protection, created by nature to protect the psyche. at the same time, it greatly complicates the study of the secrets of this sphere.

The specificity of the mental world also lies in the fact that, being closely connected with the material, physical world, with the process of self-organization common to the entire universe, at the same time, it is opposite to it in a number of its properties. As already noted, the psyche is distinguished by such properties as incorporeality, intangibility, invisibility. Of course, mental properties sometimes come out, they are manifested in the words, gestures and actions of people and thus partly materialize.

However, between these visible, material manifestations and the psychic phenomena themselves there always remains a distance, sometimes of a huge size. No wonder some experts on the human psyche argue that language is given to us in order to hide our thoughts.

From these features of the sphere of the mental follows another one that researchers constantly encountered - impossibility of precise fixation, physical or chemical registration of mental processes occurring in nervous system, especially in the brain, the impossibility of objectively determining the thoughts and feelings that arise within us. That is why repeated attempts to create the so-called "lie detector" or chronograph turned out to be unsuccessful, because they were invariably found. that in the process of their experimental use, these devices fix only physiological processes (changes in pulse, body temperature, pressure, etc.), with which mental phenomena are associated, but not these psychic phenomena themselves.

And finally, another difficulty in the cognition of mental reality arises in connection with the impossibility of using the whole complex of our cognitive abilities, since psychic phenomena cannot be seen, smelled, or touched: they can only be perceived indirectly, speculatively, with the help of our ability for abstract thinking, since only this unique ability of ours makes it possible see the invisible.

All these features of psychic reality made the task of studying it especially difficult and led to the fact that the path of development of psychology turned out to be very long and contradictory. This path included a number of stages, each of which generated its own special form of psychological knowledge.

The study of the history of psychology, of course, cannot be reduced to a simple enumeration of particular psychological problems, ideas, and ideas. In order to understand them. it is necessary to understand their internal connection, the single logic of the formation of psychology as a science.

It is especially important to understand that psychology as the doctrine of the human soul is always conditioned anthropology, the doctrine of man in his wholeness. Studies, hypotheses, conclusions of psychology, no matter how abstract and private they may seem, imply a certain understanding human essence, are guided by one or another of his image.

In its turn, doctrine of man fits into general picture of the world, formed on the basis of the synthesis of knowledge, worldview attitudes of a particular historical era. Therefore, the history of the formation and development of psychological knowledge is, although a complex, contradictory, but quite logical process associated with a change in the understanding of the essence of man and the formation on this basis of new explanations of his psyche.

In this process, three main historical stages are usually distinguished, which correspond to three forms of psychological knowledge:

• , or worldly, psychology;

Structure of psychological science

The historical process of development of each science is associated with its increasingly significant differentiation, which is based on the process of expanding the object of this science. As a result modern sciences, especially fundamental ones, which include psychology. constitute a complex multi-branch system. As the structure of science becomes more complex, it becomes necessary to classify its constituent branches of science. The classification of branch sciences is understood as their systematic division, ordering scientific knowledge by decomposing this or that science as a generic concept into its constituent generic concepts.

Psychology at the present level of development is a very branched system of scientific disciplines.

Develop common problems and study the general laws of the psyche that are manifested in people, regardless of what activity they are engaged in. Due to the universality of knowledge of the fundamental branches of psychology, they are united by the term "general psychology".

It studies such mental processes as sensations, perceptions, attention, memory, imagination, thinking, speech. AT personality psychology the mental structure of the personality and the mental properties of the personality that determine the deeds and actions of a person are studied.

In addition to general psychology, psychological science includes a number of special psychological disciplines, associated with various areas human life and activities.

Among the special branches of psychology that study the psychological problems of specific types of activity, there are: labor psychology, educational psychology, medical psychology, legal psychology, military psychology, the psychology of trade and the psychology of scientific creativity, the psychology of sports, etc.

social Psychology.

The theory and practice of teaching and educating the younger generation is closely connected with both general psychology and special branches of psychology.

genetic, differential and developmental psychology.

For a mentally competent organization of education, it is necessary to know the psychological patterns of interaction between people in groups, such as a family, student and student groups. Relationships in groups are the subject of study of social psychology.

Psychology of abnormal development deals with deviations from the norm in the behavior and psyche of a person and is extremely necessary in pedagogical work with children who are lagging behind in mental development, or pedagogically neglected children.

Combines all information related to education and upbringing. The subject of pedagogical psychology is the psychological patterns of training and education of a person. The sections of pedagogical psychology are: the psychology of learning (the psychological foundations of didactics, private methods, the formation of mental actions); psychology of education (psychological foundations of education, psychological foundations of corrective labor pedagogy); psychology of teaching and educational work with difficult children: the psychology of the teacher).

Modern psychology is characterized by both the process of differentiation, which gives rise to numerous special branches of psychology, and the process of integration, which results in the docking of psychology with other sciences, such as, for example, through educational psychology with pedagogy.

Subject of Psychological Science

The very name of psychology means that psychology is the science of the soul. The study, explanation of the soul was the first stage in the formation. So, for the first time, psychology was defined as the science of the soul. But explore the soul scientific methods turned out to be quite difficult. During historical development Focusing on the natural scientific methods of research and the general scientific ideal of objectivity, psychologists abandoned the concept of the soul and began to develop programs for building psychology as a single scientific discipline based on a materialistic worldview. On this path, psychology has achieved significant success in studying the phenomena of the human psyche: the main components of the psyche were identified, the patterns of the formation of sensation and perception were studied, the types of memory, types and features of thinking were identified, the psychological problems of specific types of human activity were studied, etc.

However, as many psychologists state, the path of abandoning the concept of the soul and replacing it with the concept of the psyche ultimately turned out to be a dead end for psychology.

Throughout the 20th century Both Western and Soviet psychology proceeded from the world of existence, and spiritual life was considered as a product of "matter organized in a special way" - the brain and social interactions. The result of such a campaign was, as noted by B.S. Brother, not only a dead, soulless, soul-giving person as an object of research, but also a dead, soulless psychology.

No matter how psychology claims to be scientific objectivity, nevertheless, at the basis of any significant psychological concept of the 20th century, whether it be behaviorism or Marxist psychology, psychoanalysis or humanistic psychology, the initial image appears to be a person deprived of an immortal soul, subject to instincts, wandering in search of pleasure , comforts, activities, self-realization, self-aggrandizement, etc.

In the course of attempts to build psychology as an independent scientific discipline on the basis of a materialistic worldview, loss of unity psychological science itself. Psychology in the XX century. is a conglomeration of facts, schools, trends and studies, most of all almost in no way bound friend with a friend. At one time, hopes were pinned on general psychology, which was called upon to play a leading role in relation to specific psychological research, but these hopes were not justified.

Currently, within the framework of psychological science, there are general psychological theories, based on different scientific ideals, and psychological practice, based on certain psychological theories or on a number of them and developing special psycho-techniques for influencing consciousness and controlling it.

The presence of disparate psychological theories has led to the subject matter of psychology. For a behaviorist, the subject of study is behavior; for a supporter of the theory of activity, mentally controlled activity; for a Christian psychologist, living knowledge about the genesis of sinful passions and the pastoral art of healing them; for a psychoanalyst, the unconscious, etc.

The question naturally arises: is it possible to speak of psychology as a single science with a common subject of study, or should we recognize the existence of many psychologies?

Some scientists believe that psychology is a single science, which, like any other science, has its own special subject. Psychology as a science deals with the study of the factors of mental life, as well as the disclosure of the laws that govern mental phenomena. And no matter how complex ways psychological thought has advanced over the centuries, mastering its subject, no matter how knowledge about it changes and enriches, no matter what terms it denotes, it is possible to single out the signs that characterize the subject of psychology itself, which distinguishes it from other sciences. .

Psychology is a science that studies the facts, patterns and mechanisms of the psyche.

Other scientists are inclined to think that psychology is science and practice in unity, and science and practice in psychology are understood differently. But this means that there are many psychologies: no less than real experiments in the construction of a psychological science-practice.

The restoration of a single subject of psychology and the synthesis of psychological knowledge is possible only by returning psychology to recognition of reality and the dominant role of the soul. And although the soul will remain mostly outside the framework psychological research, its postulation, its reverent recognition, the constant need to correlate with the very fact and goals of its existence will inevitably change, transform the forms and essence of psychological research.

Many open-minded psychologists, both in the West and in Russia, have recognized the deep gulf that separates modern scientific psychology from the great religious systems. The wealth of deep knowledge about the human soul and consciousness accumulated in these systems over centuries and even millennia has not received adequate recognition and has not been studied until recently.

AT last years there is a convergence of spiritual-experimental and scientific-theoretical ways of knowing the world.

More and more, there is a desire to go beyond the understanding of psychology as a science about the psyche - a property of the brain. Many modern psychologists consider human psychology as a psychological anthropology and speak of spirituality as the deepest essence of man. The concepts of soul and spirituality from the standpoint of today are no longer interpreted as purely figurative expressions. Spirituality includes the meaning of life, conscience, higher moral values ​​and feelings, higher interests, ideas, beliefs. And although spirituality has no direct physical correlates, except for energy, psychologists believe that spirituality can be studied within the framework of psychology.

By the end of the XX century. the need to build a unified picture of the world is realized, in which both the results of scientific knowledge of nature and man, and the fruits of thousands of years of spiritual experience would be synthesized. The leader in this process, as has always been the case in the history of scientific knowledge, is physicists. Following physics in scientific psychology, the realization of the need to restructure the worldview and access to a multidimensional understanding of man also began to come.

Taking into account all of the above, psychologists come to understand psychology as a science about a person, his spiritual essence and psyche in their development and in all the variety of forms.

The structure of psychology as a science

Psychology at the present level of development is a very branched system of scientific disciplines, divided into fundamental and applied.

Fundamental Branches of Psychology develop common problems and study the general laws of the psyche that manifest themselves in people, regardless of what activity they are engaged in. Due to the universality of knowledge of the fundamental branches of psychology, they are united by the term "general psychology".

General psychology studies the individual, highlighting in him mental cognitive processes and personality. Psychology of cognitive processes studies such mental processes as sensations, perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking, speech. AT personality psychology the psychological structure of the personality and the mental properties of the personality, which determine the deeds and actions of a person, are studied.

In addition to general psychology, psychological science includes a number of special psychological disciplines that are at different stages of formation and are associated with various areas of human life and activity.

Among the special branches of psychology that study the psychological problems of specific types of activity, there are: labor psychology, educational psychology, medical psychology, legal psychology, military psychology, trade psychology, the psychology of scientific creativity, the psychology of sports, etc.

The psychological aspects of development are studied by developmental psychology and the psychology of abnormal development.

Psychological aspects of the relationship between the individual and society explores social Psychology.

The theory and practice of teaching and educating the younger generation is closely connected with both general psychology and special branches of psychology.

The scientific basis for understanding the laws of a child's mental development are genetic, differential and age-related psychology. Genetic psychology studies the hereditary mechanisms of the psyche and behavior of the child. Differential psychology reveals individual differences between people and explains the process of their formation. In developmental psychology, the stages of the mental development of the individual are studied.

For a mentally competent organization of education, you need to know the psychological patterns of interaction between people in groups, such as families, student and student groups. Relationships in groups are the subject of study of the social psyche.

The psychology of abnormal development deals with deviations from the norm in the behavior and psyche of a person and is extremely necessary in pedagogical work with children who are lagging behind in mental development.

Educational psychology combines all the information related to training and education. The subject of pedagogical psychology is the psychological patterns of training and education of a person. Sections of educational psychology are:

• psychology of learning (psychological foundations of didactics, private methods, formation of mental actions);
• psychology of education (psychological foundations of education, psychological foundations of corrective labor pedagogy);
• psychology of educational work with difficult children;
• teacher psychology.

Modern psychology is characterized by both the process of differentiation, which gives rise to numerous special branches of psychology, and the process of integration, which results in the docking of psychology with other sciences, for example, through educational psychology with pedagogy.

Dictionary

Transpersonal psychology- a trend in psychology of the 20th century, founded by the American psychologist S. Grof and considering a person as a cosmic and spiritual being, inextricably linked with all of humanity and the Universe, and his consciousness as part of the global information network.

Soviet psychology- a period in the development of domestic psychology, when Marxist-Leninist philosophy served as the ideological basis of psychological research.

Spiritually Oriented Psychology- a direction in modern domestic psychology, based on traditional spiritual values ​​and recognizing the reality of spiritual life.

from the Greek psyche - soul, logos - teaching, science) - the science of the laws of development and functioning of the psyche as a special form of life. The starting material for psychology is the facts of internal experience - memories, experiences, volitional impulses, etc. General psychology discovers and explores patterns mental life(the problem of body and soul, reality, consciousness, perception, recollection, attention), applied psychology deals with the problems of mental and spiritual development of a person, issues of education and training (child and youth psychology), people living together (social psychology, mass psychology), etc. The research practice of psychology is inseparable from the social, from social needs associated with the solution of the problems of training, education, selection of personnel, stimulation of the activity of the individual and the team. At the same time, as a result of contacts with other sciences, psychology itself is enriched with new ideas and approaches that develop its content. The study of the problems of "artificial intelligence", computerization, on the one hand, and creativity, on the other, is becoming an important area of ​​psychology in the modern era. Along with them, social psychology and the psychology of management are rapidly developing, and the tasks of the role of the "human factor" in the development of society and in management processes are being solved.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

PSYCHOLOGY

from the Greek psyche - soul and logos - teaching, science), the science of the laws and mechanisms of development and functioning of the psyche as a special form of life, mediated by the subjective image of the external. reality and an active attitude towards it.

For centuries, the phenomena studied by P. were designated by the term “soul” and were considered the subject of one of the sections of philosophy, which in the 16th century. received the name "P.". The nature of the soul and the nature of its relations with the body and external. the world has been interpreted differently. Under it was understood either a natural, incorporeal principle, or a form of life of the same order of being as other natural phenomena. The development of P. throughout its history is deeply influenced by social practice (in particular, medical and pedagogical). This development takes place in the system of culture and is mediated by the achievements of both natural and societies. Sciences. Already in the era of antiquity, it was discovered that the organ of the psyche is the brain (Alk-meon), the dependence of sensory perceptions on the impact of material processes on the senses (Democritus), as well as differences in people's temperaments from the structure of the body (Hippocrates).

The problem of a person's knowledge of himself and the importance of his orientation towards morality. value was set by Socrates, his student Plato presented the soul as an intangible entity, independent of the body. Plato believed that the rational part of the human soul is aimed at specific. ideal objects, which he contrasted with sensual earthly things.

The first integral system of P. was developed by Aristotle, to-ry, rejecting the dualism of Plato, interpreted the soul as a way of organizing a body capable of life, as an activity of this body, inseparable from it. He approved the holistic and genetic. approach to the organization and behavior of living beings, developed an idea of ​​the levels of evolution of their psyche, comparing, in particular, the undeveloped soul of a child with an animal. Aristotle owns many concepts included in the main. psychological fund. knowledge: about abilities, about fantasy (perceptions and ideas were demarcated), about the difference between theoretical and practical reason, about the formation of character in the process of committing actions by a person, about associations and their physiol. mechanism, etc.

A new era in the development of P. opened scientific. 17th century revolution The principle of a strictly causal explanation of the work of an organism was established, which appeared in the form of a device operating according to the laws of mechanics. Some philosophers taught that all psychics are subject to these laws. processes (T. Hobbes), others are only their lower forms (R. Descartes). The principle of mechanical causality became the basis of the most important concepts of P.: a reflex as a natural motor reaction of the body in response to external. incentives; associations as such a connection of phenomena, in which the occurrence of one of them entails others; causal theory of perception, according to which it captures in the brain the impact of external. object; the doctrine of affects as products of the activity of the body. In line with the mechanistic methodology, these concepts were combined with dualism in the interpretation of man. The body, which only moves, was opposed to the soul, which only thinks. New form dualism was radically different from the dualism of Plato, since the body was understood as a machine independent of the soul, while the soul began to mean the individual, consciousness as direct knowledge of the subject about the thoughts and states directly experienced by him. P. from the doctrine of the soul becomes the doctrine of consciousness or vnutr. experience given in self-observation as a person's perception of what is happening in his own mind (J. Locke). This concept of consciousness as internally visible to the individual psychic. phenomena determined the development of the introspective direction in P., associated with associationism, according to Krom its Ch. explain, the principle is the association of these phenomena due to the contiguity and frequency of their combination.

In associationism itself, the interpretation of associations as connections that have a bodily basis (Locke, D. Gartley, J. Priestley) was opposed by an interpretation that attributed the laws of associations to the properties of consciousness itself (J. Berkeley, D. Hume, T. Brown). In associationism, an analytical approach to consciousness: it was assumed that from a small number of simple ideas, the whole psychic gradually develops. human apparatus. This provision had an impact on pedagogy, on the solution of the question of how children should be formed. the mind, presenting at birth a "blank slate", on which experience puts its writings.

Along with P. consciousness in the 17-19 centuries. arose P. of the unconscious. It goes back to the philosophy of G. Leibniz, who attached an important role to the dynamics of unconscious representations (perceptions), for the realization of which a special psychic is necessary. activity - apperception. This doctrine was developed by I. Herbart, to-ry, using the experience of pedagogy (in particular, I. Pestalozzi), put forward the concept of "apperceptive mass" as a reserve of unconscious mental. elements, on which it depends which representations will appear in the mind. This mass is acquired in individual experience and can be formed by the educator.

K ser. 19th century advances in neurophysiology and biology contributed to the emergence of DOS. concepts (categories) P., edges thanks to the widely deployed experiment. work acquired the ability to separate itself from both philosophy and physiology. The study of the functions of the sense organs led to the creation of psychophysics, a special section of psychology that uses quantities, indicators, and scales to measure sensory processes (sensations). In the works of E. Weber and G. T. Fechner, the main was discovered. psychophysical law, according to Krom, the intensity of sensation is equal to the logarithm of the strength of irritation. Thus, the opinion of I. Kant that the study of mental. phenomena cannot reach the level of science because of the inapplicability of mat. methods. Along with psychophysics, these methods have been used in experiments. studies of the reaction rate (G. Helmholtz, F. Donders), to-rye became another important direction of P. Question. about whether the sensation depends on the structure of the organ or on the exercise, led to a dispute between those who considered mental. the image is innate (nativism) or acquired through experience (empiricism). Subsequently, both concepts were revised: both about natural organization and about experience. Of decisive importance for giving these concepts a new content was the introduction of the ideas of evolution into P.. biology (Ch. Darwin, G. Spencer), from the point of view of a cut, the psyche began to be considered as the most important tool for adapting the body to the environment. The organism acted as a flexible system, an integral factor in the development of a cut in phylogenesis and ontogenesis are mental. functions. These functions were now interpreted as properties of an organism striving for self-preservation, and not as functions of an incorporeal consciousness. This led to the idea that they are realized as a reflex, i.e. include the perception of external. stimulus, the transformation of this perception in the higher nerve centers and the expedient response of the organism into environment. This required the introduction of an objective method into P. turn it from a science of consciousness into a science of mentally regulated behavior. However, the solution of this problem, first posed by I. M. Sechenov, became possible only later. In the initial period of the formation of P. as a department. discipline it was dominated by the introspective direction, presented in the 70s. 19th century its two leaders - W. Wundt and F. Brentano. In 1879 Wundt set up the first experimental laboratory in Leipzig. P., on the model of a cut, similar institutions began to arise in many places. countries of the world. He considered the subject of P. directly. the experience of the subject, by the method - specially trained self-observation, which makes it possible to identify with the help of the experiment the primary elements of this experience - mental. processes, and the task is the discovery of laws, according to which they flow. At the same time, it was considered that the experiment only the simplest processes are available for study, while complex ones (thinking) can only be known through the analysis of cultural products (language, myth, art, etc.) in the system of a special science - ethnopsychology (the psychology of nations, peoples, ethnic groups). Wundt considered Ch. P.'s work is the study of the structure of consciousness (which is why his teaching is usually called structuralism). Brentano, for whom the main acts or functions of consciousness were, became the founder of functionalism in P. He saw the task of P. in identifying acts of representing an object, judging about it and its emotional evaluation. For this, it was supposed to use the phenomenological method. although different from the introspective, it is also subjective, since it was believed that consciousness reveals its secrets only to its carrier - the subject. However, the widely deployed experiment. the work led beyond these ideas, allowing the establishment of patterns and facts, the value of which did not depend on self-observation. They related to the processes of memory, attention, development of skills (G. Ebbinghaus, J. Cattell, W. Brian, N. Harder, etc.).

In parallel, various branches of P., where the objective genetic, comparative ist. methods, as well as new methods of quantities, analysis. Differential P. arises, studying individual differences between people (V. Stern, A. F. Lazursky). For its purposes, a test method is being developed (F. Galton, A. Binet, and others). Wide use this method was due to the needs of practice - schools, clinics, production. The technique of processing data on individual differences and correlations between them is being improved (C. Spearman). The concepts of mental age and general giftedness are put forward. Tests for vocational guidance and prof. selection. The massive nature of testing prompted a shift from individual tests to group ones, to develop procedures for standardizing tests.

In the practice of teaching, along with tests that have become Ch. channel for the use of data P. at school, are used in the interests of scientific. substantiation of pedagogy and other methods of P., in particular the experiment (E. Meiman, A. P. Nechaev), questionnaires (G. S. Hall), objective observation (K. Gros), clinical. analysis. P.'s rapprochement with pedagogy went in decomp. directions. The project of building a ped. psychology on the principles of natural science. knowledge about the child was offered by P.F. Kapterev. The role of muscle activity in the formation of children. the mind was illuminated by P. F. Lesgaft, who also owned a study of “school types”.

In the beginning. 20th century the idea of ​​creating a special complex science of children - pedology. Applied to children. psyche, along with the direction, a cut explained its development on the basis of the principles of evolution. biology, there are concepts that focus on the cultural-ist. approach and making the child's behavior dependent on social factors (N. Lange, T. Ribot, J. Mead). The study of children. psyche undermined confidence in introspection ("inner vision") as Ch. method P., encouraged to rely on objective indicators of the structure, functions and development of the psyche. Achievements in zoopsychology, ist. and ethnic. P. (studying the psyche of peoples standing at various historical stages of cultural development). Following the systematization of ethnographic facts widely developed comparative experiments. studies of perception, memory, thinking in children and adults living in decomp. cultures. Appeal to genetically dec. levels of development of the psyche revealed the imperfection of the methodological and logical. installations of both structural and functional P. consciousness.

At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. P. enters a period of acute crisis, ext. a manifestation of which was the emergence of a number of new schools. Their concepts reflected the demands of the logic of scientific development. knowledge, the need to transform DOS. categories P., going beyond the version that the mental. processes begin and end in the mind of the subject. max. Three schools influenced P.'s progress: behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, and Freudianism. Behaviorism rejected the centuries-old tradition in understanding the subject of P., suggesting that it is not consciousness that should be considered as such, but behavior as a system of objectively observed reactions of the body to external. irritants. The problem of including real actions of the organism in the environment in the area of ​​P. was first posed by I. M. Sechenov, who believed that mental. the act is performed according to the type of reflex and therefore includes, along with the center. a link (consciousness) as the perception of signals coming from outside, as well as response bodily actions. Further transformation of the concept of the reflex was associated with the need to explain how the body acquires new forms of behavior. This problem was solved by IP Pavlov, the doctrine of which about conditioned reflexes laid the foundation for an objective study of a wide range of mental. phenomena (primarily the learning process). V. M. Bekhterev put forward the concept of associative reflexes, to-rye, like conditioned reflexes are acquired, not congenital. Thus, the most important concept for P. about experience acquired a new content, since it was translated into natural science. language: experience is not reduced to what imprints and processes consciousness; it means the transformation of the actual actions of the organism. In the same years, from other positions, the variability of behavior in situations requiring action, for which the body does not have a ready-made program, was studied by E. Thorndike. In order to explain these actions, he proposed the formula "trial, error and random success", which did not require an appeal to consciousness as a regulator of the organism's relationship with the environment.

Thus, the introduction of the category of behavior into P. went with decomp. sides. Behaviorism made it fundamental. Its limitations consisted in the fact that behavior was opposed to consciousness, the reality of which was generally rejected. For all subjective phenomena, a bodily equivalent was sought (for example, for thinking, since it is associated with speech, reactions vocal cords). Human behavior was biologized, qualities, differences between him and the behavior of animals were not seen. This reduced the value of the positive contribution of behaviorism to the development of P.

If behaviorism opposed behavior to consciousness, then Freudianism opposed the unconscious psyche. A prerequisite for this was the achievements of pathopsychology in the study of neurosis, suggestion, hypnosis (A. Liebeau, I. Bernheim, J. Char-ko), which opened up clinically. material failure of traditional. interpretation of motivation as driven by fully conscious motives of human actions. Based on the facts gleaned in the clinic of neuroses, 3. Freud concluded that all mental health is predetermined. acts with the energy of sexual impulses that are irrational and hostile to consciousness; phenomena of consciousness serve as a masking mechanism for them in the face of the social environment opposed to the individual. Prohibitions from the latter, inflicting mental trauma, suppress the energy of unconscious drives, which breaks through on detours in the form of neurotic. symptoms, dreams, forgetting the unpleasant, etc.

Representatives of Gestalt psychology (M. Wertheimer, W. Koehler, K. Levin, K. Koffka) sought to prove that behavior is determined by holistic conscious psychic. structures (gestalts), to-rye arise and change according to special laws. These structures were given a universal character. They were considered organizers of the psyche and behavior at all levels and in any form. Therefore, like the behaviorists, with whom they sharply argued, the Gestaltists did not see any qualitative differences between the human psyche and the animal psyche.

All three major schools in P. turned to children. psyche, seeking to substantiate their concepts of empirical. material from her research. A number of their concepts, the revealed facts and the problems put forward stimulated the development of P., made it possible to reveal the limitations of previous ideas. In particular, Gestalt psychology has shown the failure of "atomistic" P., which decomposes complex and integral psychol. education at the elements; behaviorism has destroyed concepts that reduce the psyche to the phenomena of consciousness and ignore the real practical. actions like the most important factor behavior history. Question. about the role of unconscious motivation in this story, about the complex relationship between decomp. Freudianism set the levels of organization of the individual with great urgency.

Dr. the directions of the period of crisis P. were fr. sociological school, which relied on the ideas of E. Durkheim and explained the mental. properties of the individual by his involvement in the system social relations, and the "understanding" psychology of V. Dilthey, which opposed itself to natural science. P. on the grounds that the soul of a person can be understood only by correlating it with the values ​​of culture (a causal explanation is not applicable to it). Both of these schools have influenced the study of children's problems. P. The first deduced the development of mental. functions in the child from the process of his communication with other people, the second interpreted the development of the personality, based on the idea that it is determined by its focus on decomp. classes of cultural values.

In all these concepts, the need for scientific research was inadequately refracted. P. to include in the system of their categories concepts that cover the psychosocial relations of the subject and his personally significant experiences. The logic of P.'s development was faced with the task of overcoming the splitting of its concepts, methods, and explanatory principles into those devoid of internal. connections fragments of knowledge. The integrity of P. as a science was lost. This gave rise to attempts to get out of the crisis by integrating ideas and categories that were developed in different, opposing schools and systems. A reflection of this trend has been the incorporation by former schools of new concepts into their original schemes in order to avoid the one-sidedness of these schemes. In behaviorism, the concept of "intermediate variables" (E. Tolman) comes to the fore. This direction was called neobehaviorism. It became on the way of studying the center. physiol. processes unfolding between the sensory "input" and motor "output" of the body system (K. Hull). This trend finally wins in the 1950s and 1960s, in particular under the influence of computer programming experience. The look and on a role ney-rofiziol changes. mechanisms, to-rye are now considered as an integral component of the overall structure of behavior (D. Hebb, K. Pribram). Attempts are being made to extend the objective method to the study of the sensory-figurative aspect of life without reducing it to motor functions, as was typical of early behaviorism. Freudianism is also undergoing a transformation. Neo-Freudianism arises - a current that connects the unconscious psychic. dynamics with the action of sociocultural factors (K. Horney, G. Sullyvan, E. Fromm) and using psychotherapy not only to treat neuroses, but also to relieve normal people from a sense of fear of a hostile social environment.

Along with new variants of behaviorism and Freudianism, humanistic (“existential”) P. (K. Rogers, A. Maslow, G. Allport, etc.) arose, claiming that the use of scientific. concepts and objective aspects of the study of personality leads to its "dehumanization" and disintegration, hinders its desire for self-development.

Installation on the construction of an integrative scheme of mental. activity was distinguished by the work of the school of J. Piaget, which took into account the experience of the French. psychologists who explained the functions of the individual's consciousness by the internalization of interindividual relations, as well as the Freudian version of the antagonism between the child's drives and the need to adapt thinking to the requirements of the social environment, as well as the Gestalt principle of mental integrity. organizations. By correlating these provisions with one's own program of study, one cognizes. processes, Piaget created an innovative theory of their development in ontogeny.

In the USSR after Oct. During the revolution, the restructuring of Petrograd on the foundations of Marxism unfolded. In sharp discussions, ideas about the psyche as a function of the brain, adequate to the Marxist methodology, developed, but qualitatively different from its physiol. functions, about its conditionality at the level of a person by the social environment, about the need to introduce objective methods into P., about the dialectic of the development of consciousness. These provisions were defended by K. N. Kornilov, P. P. Blonsky, M. Ya. Basov and others. Formation of owls. The item went taking into account achievements psihofiziol. concepts of I. P. Pavlov, Bekhterev, A. A. Ukhtomsky, N. A. Bernshtein and others. Ch. task, on the solution of which the efforts of owls were concentrated. psychologists, was to overcome the splitting of concepts of consciousness and behavior. An attempt to approach this problem, put forward by the general course of the development of world P., by simply combining these concepts, undertaken by Kornilov in a concept that he called reactology, turned out to be unsuccessful. A radical transformation of both concepts was required in order to integrate them into new system. This approach determined the formation of the largest in owls. P. of the school of L. S. Vygotsky, among the achievements of which the most. significant are cultural-ist. theory of the development of the psyche and the theory of activity developed by A. N. Leontiev. This school proceeds from the position that the mental. functions of a person are mediated by his involvement in the world of culture and real activity in it, w. h. activities of communication. Between practical ext. activity, edges former P. or in general was withdrawn from a research, or was reduced to reactions to incentives, and vnutr. mental activity there are mutual transitions. Along with the transformation of the external actions into internal (mental), the process of translating the latter into objective forms, in particular the products of creativity, unfolds. The introduction of the category of activity made it possible to more adequately approach the problem of the biological and social in the development of the human psyche, to trace how, in the process of assimilation by the individual, social history. experience its initial biol are transformed. needs, innate ways of behavior and cognition. The principle of dialectics. unity of consciousness and activity formed the basis of numerous. research owls. psychologists (S. L. Rubinshtein, B. M. Teploe, A. R. Luria, etc.).

Dependence of human behavior on biol. and social factors determines the originality of his research in P., which develops in a “dialogue” between data on nature and culture, integrated into its own. concepts.

The doctrine of consciousness as an active reflection of reality, due to social.-ist. practice, allowed with new methodological. positions to develop the main problems of P., among which stood out psychophysiological (about the relationship of the psyche to its bodily substrate), psychosocial (about the dependence of the psyche on social processes and its active role in their implementation by specific individuals and groups), psychopractical (about the formation of the psyche in the process of real practical activity and the dependence of this activity on its psychic regulators - images, operations, motives, personal characteristics), psychognostic (about the relationship of sensory and mental psychic images to the reality they reflect), and other problems. The development of these problems was carried out on the basis of the principles of determinism (disclosure of the conditionality of phenomena by the action of the factors that produce them), systemicity (interpretation of these phenomena as internally connected components of a holistic mental organization), development (recognition of transformation, changes in mental processes, their transition from one level to another , the emergence of new forms of mental processes). P. represented a combination of otd. industries, many of which have become independent. status.

Already in the 2nd floor. 19th century there was a psychophysiology, edges investigates fiziol. mechanisms that implement mental. phenomena and processes. K ser. In the 20th century, based on advances in the study of higher nervous activity, psychophysiology reached high level development both in the USSR and in many others. zarub. countries.

Dr. branch P. - honey. P., to-paradise was originally focused on the practice of psychotherapy. Subsequently, it differentiated into honey itself. P., covering the issues of psychotherapy, psychohygiene, pathopsychology, studying the psyche of the mentally ill as in theoretical. purposes, and in the interests of medical psychiatry. practice, and neuropsychology, which solves the problems of localizing a defect in focal brain lesions and restoring impaired functions.

Det. and ped. P., closely related, since the mental. the development of the child takes place in the conditions of assimilation by him of historically developed knowledge, skills and norms of behavior, and the process of training and education should take into account age psychol. characteristics of students and the achieved level of development of their personality. Ped. P. also studies the process of adult education. In addition, age-related P. also appeared, covering changes in the psyche in all periods of an individual's life, including the period of aging. T. o., det. P. can be considered as a section of age P.

Development of prom. production set before P. the task of studying labor processes in order to increase their efficiency by rationalizing the engine. operations, adaptation of tools and machines to human capabilities, improvement of eco-logical. conditions on pro-ve and prof. selection. In this regard, P. labor stood out. In the conditions of automation of production, the perception and processing of information, decision-making, and other complex mental processes came to the fore. processes; specialist. research required questions of the distribution of functions between the human operator and the machine and their coordination. Engineer appeared. P., which is important not only for the rationalization of automation. control systems, but also for their design. From the beginning 60s cosmic is formed. P., studying the features of human activity in space conditions. flights.

The study of psychology. features of sports, activities determines the subject of P. sports.

One of the most important areas of P. is social P., investigating human activity in collectives - labor, educational, and others, which have both a formal and informal character, as well as various. internal structure. The subject of social P. also includes questions of the formation of interpersonal relations in a team, the differentiation of functions (roles) in it, and questions of psychol. compatibility of participants in collective activities and its management. Social P. is closely connected with the problems of the influence of the mass media on a person and with P. speech communication studied by psycholinguistics. Unlike many. foreign directions. social P., psychologizing societies. phenomena, father. social P. considers the processes she studies as determined by objective relations in society, to-rye governed by the laws of East. development. With socio-psychol. problems are closely related to certain issues of P. education.

In general P., a section devoted to P. tech., scientific. and artist creativity, which connected P. with the science of science and aesthetics.

P. of the individual acts as a special section, integrating the facts and patterns of almost all areas of P., especially social and age P.

Differential-integral. the processes that have turned P. into a "bush" of industries are due to the demands of various industries. branches of practice that confront P. with problems specific to each of them. These problems are, as a rule, complex and therefore are developed by many. disciplines. The inclusion of P. in the composition of interdisciplinary research and participation in them is productive only when she enriches them with concepts, methods, and principles inherent only to her. At the same time, as a result of contacts with other sciences, P. itself is enriched with new ideas and approaches that develop its content and categorical apparatus, which ensures its integrity as independent. science.

An important impact on the further development of P. was exerted by the transfer to electronic devices of certain functions that occurred in the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution, which were previously a unique property of the human brain - the functions of accumulating and processing information, management and control. This made it possible to widely use cybernetic in P.. and information-theoretic. concepts and models (which have received special distribution in cognitive psychology), which contributed to the formalization and mathematization of P., the introduction of cybernetic into it. thinking style. Automation and cybernetization have sharply increased interest in operational diagnostics and prognosis, the effective use and cultivation of those human functions that cannot be transferred to electronic devices, primarily creative abilities that provide further scientific and technical. progress. The study of the problems of "artificial intelligence", on the one hand, and creative activity, on the other, are becoming modern. era important areas of P. Along with them are rapidly developing research related to polit., demographic., Ecological. and other topical problems of our time.

Lit .: Leontiev A. N., Problems of the development of the psyche, M .; Rubinshtein S. L., Fundamentals of General Psychology, M.; his, Problems of General Psychology, M.; Petrovsky A.V., The history of owls. psychology, M., 1967; Experiment. psychology, ed.-sost. P. Fress and J. Piaget, trans. from French, c. 1-6, M., 1966-78; Yaroshevsky M. G., Psychology in the XX century, M.; his, History of Psychology, M.; Yaroshevsky M. G., Antsyferova L. I., Development and modern. state of the ruble psychology, M., 1974; Smirnov A. A., Development and modern. psychological state. Sciences in the USSR, M., 1975; LuriaA. R., On the place of psychology in a number of social and biol. Nauk, VF, 1977, No. 9; Piaget J., Psychology, interdisciplinary connections and the system of sciences, in the book: Reader in psychology, ed. A. V. Petrovsky, M., 1977; Ananiev B. G., Man as an object of knowledge, in his book: Izbr. psychol. works, vol. 1, M., 1980; Volkov KN, Psychology about ped. problems, M., 1981; Psych. science and ped. practice, K., 1983; Lomov B.F., Methodology, and theoretical. problems of psychology, M., 1984; Petrovsky A. V., Yaroshevsky M. G., History of Psychology, M., 1994; Psychology: a study of a science, ed. by S. Koch, v. l-6, N. Y., 1959-63; Classics in psychology, ed. by T. Shipley, N. Y., 1961; The science of psychology: critical reflections, ed. by D. P. Schultz, N. Y., 1970. M. G. Yaroshevsky.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Psychology("psyche" - soul, "logos" - teaching, science) - the word Greek origin literally means "science of the soul". This is the basis of the well-known definition, according to which psychology is the science of the psyche. In general, this is correct, although some clarifications are required. In modern public consciousness, the words "soul" and "psyche" are actually synonymous: scientific psychology prefers to use the term "psyche", religious thinkers and some philosophers speak of "soul".

The word "psychology" has many meanings. In everyday language, the word "psychology" is used to characterize the mental make-up of a person, the characteristics of a particular person, a group of people: "he (they) have such a psychology."

Prescientific psychology- this is the knowledge of another person and oneself directly in the processes of activity and mutual communication of people. In the words of the French psychologist P. Janet (1859-1947), this is a psychology that the people create even before psychologists. Here, activity and knowledge are merged, due to the need to understand another person and anticipate his actions. The source of knowledge about the psyche in prescientific psychology is:
1) personal experience(everyday generalizations arising from observation of other people, oneself); 2) social experience (representations, traditions, customs that are passed down from generation to generation).

The concepts of pre-scientific psychology coincide in their content with linguistic meanings. Rogovin emphasizes that the very essence of pre-scientific psychology corresponds to a method of explanation called "explanation from the standpoint of common sense." Prescientific psychological knowledge unsystematized, unreflected, and therefore often not recognized at all as knowledge. In pre-scientific knowledge, correct ideas can coexist with erroneous generalizations and prejudices.

Philosophical psychology- knowledge about the psyche, obtained with the help of speculative reasoning. Knowledge about the psyche is either derived from general philosophical principles, or is the result of reasoning by analogy. Philosophical knowledge about the psyche is usually ordered in accordance with certain initial principles. As Rogovin points out, at the level of philosophical psychology, the initially vague, integral concept of the soul is subjected to analysis and mental dismemberment, followed by unification on the basis of principles that directly follow from materialistic or idealistic worldviews. Compared with pre-scientific psychology, which precedes it and, especially in its early stages, has a great influence on it, characteristic of philosophical psychology is not only the search for some explanatory principle for the mental, but also the desire to establish general laws that the soul must obey in the same way. as all natural elements obey them.

Scientific psychology emerged relatively recently - in the second half of the XIX century. Usually its appearance is associated with the use of the experimental method in psychology. There are undoubtedly some reasons for this: the "creator" of scientific psychology, W. Wundt, wrote that if we define the physiological psychology he developed by the method, then it can be characterized as "experimental". Another thing is that the method of experiment remained with Wundt auxiliary, creating optimal conditions for the actual psychological method- self-observation. In addition, Wundt himself repeatedly emphasized that experimental psychology is by no means the whole of psychology, but only a part of it. Although the 19th century gave many examples of the successful use of the experimental method, enough time passed before psychology became a truly experimental science.

Knowledge in scientific psychology has an empirical, factual basis. Facts are obtained in a specially conducted research, which uses special procedures (methods) for this, the main ones among which are purposeful systematic observation and experiment. Theories constructed by scientific psychology have an empirical basis and are (ideally) subjected to comprehensive testing.

Psychology… Spelling Dictionary

PSYCHOLOGY- PSYCHOLOGY, the science of the psyche, personality processes and their specifically human forms: perception and thinking, consciousness and character, speech and behavior. Soviet P. builds its own understanding of the subject of P. on the basis of the development of the ideological legacy of Marx ... ... Big Medical Encyclopedia

- (from the Greek soul and word, teaching), the science of the laws, mechanisms and facts of mental. human and animal life. The relationship of living beings with the world is realized through feelings. and wit. images, motivations, communication processes, ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

psychology- (from the Greek psyche soul and logos teaching, science) the science of the laws of development and functioning of the psyche as a special form of life. The interaction of living beings with the outside world is realized through qualitatively different from ... ... Great Psychological Encyclopedia

- (from psycho ... and ... ology) the science of the patterns, mechanism and facts of the mental life of humans and animals. The main theme of the psychological thought of antiquity and the Middle Ages is the problem of the soul (Aristotle, On the Soul, etc.). In the 17th and 18th centuries based… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (from psycho ... and ... ology), the science of the laws, mechanisms and facts of the mental life of humans and animals. The main theme of the psychological thought of antiquity and the Middle Ages is the problem of the soul (On the soul of Aristotle, etc.). In the 17th and 18th centuries based… … Modern Encyclopedia

psychology- and. and. psychology f. 1. The science of the psyche, the mental activity of a person. General psychology. ALS 1. Experimental psychology. Animal psychology. Ush. 1939. || Subject stating the content of this science. BAS 1. || A book that presents... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

Psychology- (from psycho ... and ... ology), the science of the laws, mechanisms and facts of the mental life of humans and animals. The main theme of the psychological thought of antiquity and the Middle Ages is the problem of the soul (“On the Soul” by Aristotle and others). In the 17th and 18th centuries based… … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Greek, from psyche soul, and logos teaching, science). The science of mental activity. Dictionary foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. PSYCHOLOGY Greek, from psyche, soul, and lego, I say. The science of the soul. Explanation of 25000… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

PSYCHOLOGY, psychology, pl. no, female (Greek psyche soul and logos teaching) (book). 1. A science that studies mental processes that arise as a result of the constant impact of the objective world, the social environment on humans (and animals). ... ... Dictionary Ushakov

psychology i- PSYCHOLOGY I (ego psychology) is one of the areas of psychoanalytic psychology that arose in the middle of the 20th century, reflected in the works of A. Freud, X. Hartmann and focused on the study of the defense mechanisms of the I, as well as their connections and ... Encyclopedia of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science

Books

• Psychology, Abraham P. Sperling. Without confining itself within the framework of a strict encyclopedic definition, which states that psychology is a diversified science about the patterns, mechanisms and facts of the mental life of humans and animals, ...

The science of psychology appeared in the middle of the 19th century. She has come a long and difficult way in the study of the state of mind of the individual. With the help of this science, the character, attention, memory of a person is determined. Many people like psychology. It helps to understand not only the people around you, but also yourself. Psychology is very broad. You can write and talk about it a lot. In this article, we will look at some important aspects of the psychology of social groups and personality.

Psychology as a science

Consciousness, attention, memory, will, human soul - this is a whole science of personality. It's called psychology. Only through this science does a person know himself and those around him. Not everyone understands what psychology is. The definition is pretty simple. This is a science that studies the behavior, thoughts, processes of both humans and animals. A good knowledge of psychology helps to understand any personality. After all, everyone is interested, for example, what drives a child when he performs some action that is incomprehensible to parents. Or you want to understand what kind of inner world your boss has.

Psychology will answer all questions concerning the human soul. This science will help to correctly understand your loved one, child, director or subordinate. To understand yourself or close person, some people visit a psychologist on their own initiative. Just because they want to be happy. However, someone is afraid to turn to a psychologist, but in vain. If it doesn’t work out for you, a specialist will definitely help you understand the problem and sort it out. So we figured out the question of what psychology as a science is. Now you can understand the intricacies of personality.

Understanding personality in psychology

Man is an individual. It is unlikely that anyone asks the question: “What is a personality in psychology?”. This is the youngest psychological science. It is very extensive. Let's stop on the main thing.

No one even thinks that it is necessary to communicate loyally with a person, even with a small child. First of all, he is a person who deserves a normal attitude towards himself. After all, one person may not pay attention to your words, the other, on the contrary, passes even facial expressions through himself, not like words.

As you may have guessed, psychology is directly related to personality. A person thinks, pays attention to you, knows how to listen, manages his emotions, character, feelings, etc. All this is controlled by personal psychology. A person heard bad or good news, and accordingly showed certain emotions at that time. Any unpredictability affects the state of mind very much. Therefore, if you cannot cope with yourself, something is eating you, try to understand yourself first. Maybe you were stressed or overjoyed the other day, switch to a good, positive, but calm book, or just go for a walk. This will help you to relax and understand your inner world. Now you have an idea what a personality is in psychology? It has some subsections: character, state of mind, attention, thinking, etc.

Representation of memory in psychology

Memory is in some way a storage device that stores, and over time, voices some events or facts. It can be short term or long term.

Psychologists have identified several types of memory:

1. Visual - saw and remembered.
2. Auditory - heard, remembered, voiced after a while.
3. Motor - memorization of movements.
4. Tangible - remembering by touch.
5. figurative - even through certain time the image you see comes to mind.
6. Emotional - a person remembers the feelings he experienced earlier.

In principle, everyone understands what memory is in psychology. This is a very complex and difficult process. It is memory that helps to pass on our experience and knowledge to our children and grandchildren. This is the longest process. After all, it is not for nothing that a grandmother who is 80 years old will remember her experience of the time when she was only 25 or 30. Quite often a person may not remember some events from his life. This mainly happens when the information was very painful, and the memory erases this process on a subconscious level.

The manifestation of attention in psychology

If a person is focused on one object and observes it, what does this mean? Of course, attention. Without it psychological aspect it would be hard for a man to exist. Let's turn to the terminology to understand what attention is in psychology. This is the reaction of a living organism to external stimuli. When psychologists analyzed the types of attention, they concluded: there is selective attention (when it is possible to choose an object of attention), distributed attention (focusing on several objects at the same time), switched attention (attention is not constant). What happens to a person when he chooses an object of attention? Take, for example, a child who was shown a green square and the teacher asked, "What color?" Do you think he will answer on the merits? Maybe. However, without fail it will be noticed that this is a square that has corners, etc. Attention will not be focused only on color. It's the same with an adult. For example, you will meet your old friend, stop to chat, and in any case, you will divert your attention to some trifle. Therefore, when talking, you can miss an important detail. Attention cannot be evenly distributed to every object. This is how our brain functions.

In principle, what is attention in psychology has become clear. It's just that many do not think about such issues, and this is very important. Especially for parents who raise kids and get angry at them for inattention. Listen to psychologists.

Personality abilities in psychology

Many parents with the birth of a child understand that it needs to be put on its feet. What does this mean? Grow by itself, and even give him a decent education. FROM preschool age children begin to go to sections in order to understand what abilities they have and begin to develop them. It can be art or music school, swimming, dancing, and more. others

A child, on the other hand, cannot take a brush in his hands and draw from birth, but, perhaps, he has the makings of this. They need to be developed. If the parents go the way that only they like, the child will not be able to use his abilities. Therefore, it is necessary to give your baby the opportunity to do what he likes. Only then will he have a chance to develop in the right direction and become a great artist or composer. Every person has talent. One parent was able to open it in early childhood, the other could not.

Personality temperament in psychology

Character is an individual trait of each person. Temperament refers to human behavior. I. P. Pavlov developed a very long time ago the main features of temperament and divided them into 4 types:

1. Sanguine - a cheerful person, does not detain his attention on one object. Sociable, but does not stay long in one place of work. Dislikes monotony. A new environment for him is only a joy, he is happy to make contact with strangers.

2. Phlegmatic - slow, calm, stormy emotions are extremely rare. He approaches any case very thoughtfully. Never take a wrong step. No one ever knows the true feelings of a phlegmatic.

3. Choleric - very mobile, emotions always overflow. He does not know how to restrain himself, he can flare up because of a trifle. How quickly the choleric takes over new job, just as quickly she will get tired of him. Sometimes people around hard to endure the choleric for his excessive mobility.

4. Melancholic - a passive person who does not like to be interested in anything new. Feelings and emotions in slow motion. Very quickly offended, upset, although he does not show it. He is closed and prefers loneliness rather than noisy companies. Melancholic people in their usual environment feel calm, confident.

In any work, knowledge of temperaments is necessary. This will make it easier to communicate with people.

Psychology of emotions

Very often people do not know what feelings are. This is the emotional state of the human soul, which is expressed by certain body movements, facial expressions or voice.

Since childhood, we hear about the cessation of emotions, that we need to express our feelings less. However, psychologists say otherwise. Each person should be able to throw away emotions, and not accumulate them for years. What causes diseases, mental disorders? From the fact that a person keeps all his feelings and emotions in himself for years. You need to be able to express your opinion everywhere: at work, at home, in communication with others. Thanks to emotions, a person quickly determines for himself all the needs he needs. Don't be afraid to let your feelings and emotions out. The circle that needs you will accept you. Others don't have to prove anything. After all, health is more valuable.

The Need for Psychology

A person does not always know what he needs. A need is something that a person is in dire need of. There are 3 types:

1. Labor need - a person needs to know the world, to work.

2. Developing need - a person learns, self-actualizes.

3. Social need - a person needs to communicate with friends, team, etc.

These are sociological needs. The need ends when the goal is reached. Then a person has something else that is necessary. Need is the whole mechanism in the human psyche. In other words, needs are the mental state of the individual. Thanks to them, a person strives for his goal in order to achieve what he wants, that is, he becomes more active, and passivity disappears almost completely.

It became clear to you what psychology is, the definition can now be given more accurate. Need, attention, memory, emotions - that's what human psychology is.

Social psychology as a science

Each person lives in a world where he has many relatives, friends, colleagues, etc. For this, a person needs social psychology. Thanks to her, people get to know each other and relationships. Relations develop not only between two individuals, but also between entire groups. You probably guessed what social psychology is. Two sciences are intertwined in this subject. Sociology and psychology. Therefore, relations are studied here not just between people, but such types are distinguished: social, economic, political, and many others. Social psychology in society allows you to occupy a certain place among people. There are 3 types of personality in social psychology:

1. Picnics - They adapt well to social environment. Strive to build relationships with the right people. They know how to defend their interests without conflict.

2. Athletics - sociable, like to pay due attention to themselves, a dominant personality.

3. Asthenics - it is not easy for them in society. They are not sociable, closed, reserved.

To each person his own. Some people like to be in the center of attention in society, others like to be in the shadows. There's nothing you can do about it. You have to accept the person as they are. Much can be written about what social psychology is. Since this is not a book, but just an article, the most important definitions and concepts are given.