What is the science of psychology? TOP 4 books for beginners

Psychology is the main science that allows us to recognize the human soul and character. And also how and why relationships between people develop. Of course, many sciences study the characteristics of human behavior in one way or another. However, it is psychology and philosophy, as interconnected elements, that answer the fundamental questions of existence. But what is psychology? What is psychology as a science? Is it possible to study it independently, without receiving a special higher education? Let's answer these and many other questions in this article.

Psychology studies the most important areas of human life and existence

What is psychology as a science

Today there are many interpretations of the concept of “psychology”. Therefore, in order to better understand the nuances of this science, it is necessary to consider the basic definitions and interpretations of this term.

Psychology is the science of the psyche and various psychological and mental phenomena (for example, love, friendship, etc.), as well as the characteristics of the manifestation and development of these phenomena.

Psychology is a scientific discipline that determines the characteristics of human mental reactions and psychological phenomena in society.

Psychology is the study of the inner world of man and its characteristics.

The last definition, of course, has a simpler understanding. Indeed, in simple words, psychology studies the inner world of a person, his mental health, soul.

As already mentioned, psychology is closely related to philosophy. Therefore, many psychological theories and axioms were developed by famous philosophers. For the same reason, there are many concepts of psychology that have been developed by scientists in the field of philosophical teachings. The study of these scientific positions will allow us to delve into the study of this discipline in more detail. Here are some of the scientists and their definitions:

1. Wilhelm Wund. This scientist said that psychology is the science of human consciousness;
2. Sigmund Freud. Surely you have heard the name of this thinker more than once. He developed many fundamental psychological and philosophical theories. According to Freud, psychology is the science of the conscious and unconscious. It is worth noting that it was Freud who became the first researcher who divided the psyche of any person into the conscious and unconscious;
3. Watson defined psychology as the science of behavior.

As can be seen from the above definitions, some researchers perceive the science of psychology much narrower than it actually is. In fact, psychology is a broad scientific discipline that includes all of the listed factors and features.

“Psychology” from the ancient Greek “psychey” (soul) and “logos” (science) is the science of the soul.

Features of the discipline

The peculiarity of the discipline is that it is full of branches and subsections. Therefore, it is important to study the material as if layering applied knowledge with theoretical knowledge. That is why education in special psychological universities allows you to gain fundamental knowledge. Because the material is presented in the correct order. The chronology is not violated. At the same time, a person receives the most important knowledge.

History of the emergence and development of psychology

The fact that psychology is an ancient science is evidenced by its name. The term is derived from the Greek words “psyche” (soul, character) and “logos” (science). Also in ancient Greek mythology, the beautiful princess Psyche is described, who was the personification of the human soul. She had a mystical influence on people - Eros (Cupid) himself could not resist her charms and fell in love.

The first scientific works that can be called psychological belong to Plato and Aristotle (5th and 4th centuries BC). Avicenna (X-XI centuries) made a significant contribution to the development of the doctrine. An independent scientific direction was formed in the 18th century thanks to the German scientist Christian Wolf. Psychology became a modern scientific discipline in 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt created his psychological laboratory and began conducting the first research.

In different centuries, people understood differently what psychology is. In the history of the development of this science, there are 4 stages, each of which had its own object of study:

1. Soul
   . In ancient Greco-Roman civilization, it was believed that every living creature has a soul, which completely determines its behavior. This concept made it possible to explain the characteristics of temperament by connection with the cosmos, reincarnation and other mystical phenomena.
2. Consciousness
   . In the 17th century, the French scientist Rene Descartes described the reflexive nature of behavior and introduced the concept of “consciousness.” It was a kind of “life compass” that reacts to external influences and determines a person’s reaction.
3. Behavior
   . This approach was used at the beginning of the 20th century. This was a period when experiments were actively carried out to study people's reactions to certain events.
4. Psyche
   . As knowledge accumulated, the main subject of study gradually became the human psyche and the mechanisms that determine it.

Today psychology is a complex multidisciplinary science, including about 100 fairly independent areas.

What does psychology study?

The center of study of any science is its subject. But it is classically customary to distinguish three main blocks of studying psychological science. Simply put, these are certain branches of knowledge that are the subject of study of the science in question. Let's take a closer look at them:

Fundamental psychology

Studies the human personality itself. That is, it reveals the basic and basic laws of the human psyche - character, its elements, feelings, emotions, as well as basic psychological laws and theories.

Applied psychology

The applied industry, in turn, is placed in environmental conditions. What does it mean? This means that this field studies the features of fundamental psychology in naturalistic settings. For example, features of personality development in certain conditions.

Practical psychology

Practical is devoted to the application of acquired fundamental and applied knowledge in practice. In simple words, this is the same analysis of a specific personality. For example, you are trying to determine what type of personality your friend has. Or is it simply the work of a psychologist.

Thus, generalizing the above, psychological science studies social and personal phenomena, such as:

1. Basic basic concepts;
2. Inner world and personality consciousness;
3. Unconscious processes of personality and consciousness;
4. Features of behavior;
5. Relationships between people and their characteristics;
6. Psychosomatics;
7. Mental disorders and illnesses;
8. Peculiarities of influence on the human psyche.

Psychology is a science that allows you to understand yourself and others

Psychology

§ 3. Branches of psychology

General psychology

studies the general laws characteristic of all mental phenomena and gives the most general explanations of the psyche and human behavior. Various branches of psychology have their own characteristics and their own significance, while maintaining the general subject of research: facts, patterns, mechanisms of the psyche (Fig. 1.9).

Rice. 1.9.

Features of activity in industrial psychology

Modern psychology is characterized by a process of differentiation that gives rise to the branching of psychology into separate branches, often significantly different, but having a common subject of study - facts, patterns, mechanisms of the psyche. According to the classification of sciences by academician B. M. Kedrov, psychology occupies a central place not only as a product of other sciences, but also as a possible source of explanation for their formation and development.

Labor psychology

examines the psychological characteristics of human labor activity, patterns of development of labor skills.

Engineering psychology

studies the patterns of interaction between humans and modern technology with the aim of using them in the practice of designing, creating and operating automated control systems and new types of technology.

Social Psychology

studies the socio-psychological manifestations of a person’s personality, as well as his relationships with people, a group, the psychological compatibility of people, socio-psychological manifestations in large groups.

Pedagogical psychology

studies the patterns of personality development in the process of training and education.

Age-related psychology

studies the patterns of development of a normal healthy person and the psychological characteristics of people of different ages and is divided into child psychology, psychology of young and mature age, gerontopsychology. Child psychology studies the development of consciousness, mental processes, activity, and the entire personality of a growing person; conditions for accelerating development.

Psychophysiology

studies the physiological foundations of mental activity, and differential psychology studies individual differences in the psyche of people.

Medical psychology

studies the psychological characteristics of the doctor’s activities and the patient’s behavior, develops psychological methods of treatment and psychotherapy.

Pathopsychology

studies deviations in the development of the psyche, the breakdown of the psyche in various forms of brain pathology.

Clinical psychology

studies the manifestations and causes of various disorders in the human psyche and behavior.

There are branches of psychology that study the psychological problems of specific types of human activity.

Aviation and space

psychology analyzes the psychological characteristics of the activities of a pilot and cosmonaut. At the origins of the development of domestic aviation psychology were specialists well-known in aviation medicine, who determined the subject of research (the human psyche), the object of research (the activities of the individual and the team), and the subject of research (flight and engineering personnel), and, finally, the directions research (the influence of flight factors on the mental state, the study of mental patterns of interaction of the pilot in the process of flying an aircraft, the formation of professional suitability, psychological adaptation to operating conditions, accident rate analysis).

S. E. Mints showed the importance of psychological (psychotechnical) research methods in solving problems of selection and training of flight personnel, in the study of individual qualities and aviation accident rates, living conditions and work of the pilot. A.P. Nechaev was the first in our country to begin to use test tests in aviation.

N. M. Dobrotvorsky dealt with issues of professional description of the pilot’s activities, selection and training, design and equipment of workplaces.

By the beginning of the first human flight into space, aviation psychology already had a certain scientific basis, which ensured the formation and development of space psychology.

In his research, K.K. Platonov widely and deeply studied the functional structure of personality, flight abilities, and solved general methodological problems of psychology.

The works of foreign and domestic psychologists (D. Camus, A. Gemelli, V. McDougall, S. E. Mints, S. G. Gellerstein, Yu. A. Vasiliev, J. F. Sumter, V. A. Bodrov, B.L. Pokrovsky and others) gave a certain impetus to the development of methods and justification of the system of psychological selection for aviation.

Space psychology (from the Greek kosmos - Universe) is a branch of psychology that studies the psychological characteristics of an astronaut’s work, the dependence of these characteristics on a number of specific factors (weightlessness, physical inactivity, relative sensory deprivation [long-term, more or less complete deprivation of a person’s sensory impressions], etc. ), as well as ways and methods of purposeful organization of the mental activity of an astronaut during the preparation and implementation of space flights. Space psychology is a continuation of that branch of aviation psychology, which, due to the extreme extremeness of the living conditions of astronauts and the complexity of the tasks they perform, additionally included many sections of other branches of psychological science: engineering, medical, social, educational psychology, etc. As space psychology developed Engineering space psychology is becoming a fairly extensive section of it, which provides the stages of design, development and creation of manned spacecraft, taking into account the characteristics and properties of a person, that is, who specifically will live and work in these vehicles and control them. Engineering and psychological problems of space psychology are associated with the general progress of space research (control and docking of spacecraft, telemetric control of the lunar rover carried out from the Earth, etc.). An additional task of engineering space psychology is the development of special training devices and simulators of the cosmonaut's operating conditions, which would simulate the real conditions and factors of space flight as closely as possible.

Space psychology studies the following main features of human activity in space flight:

1) continuity of activity;

2) a mandatory sequence of work operations according to previously given or urgently adopted programs;

3) shortage or time limit;

4) the indirect nature of perception and processing of information by technical systems;

5) the influence of postural (changes in the position of the support area during the evolution of the ship, pressure of the support area during overloads, transformation and the “absence” of the support area during weightlessness) and spatial (height, limitation and confinement when cosmonauts are in small-volume cabins, unlimited space when entering free space, etc.) factors;

6) the influence of novelty as a stressor.

For selection purposes, cosmic psychology uses methods based on the principle of reproduction (noise immunity test, study of RAM, suggestibility, etc.). The data obtained are used in the general system for assessing the state of neuropsychic and somatic health, general physical and special preparedness of the astronaut.

Legal psychology

studies the psychological characteristics of participants in the trial (psychology of testimony, psychological requirements for interrogation, etc.), psychological problems of behavior and the formation of the personality of the criminal. It also has a number of branches: forensic psychology, criminal psychology, penitentiary, or correctional labor psychology.

Military psychology

studies human behavior in combat conditions, psychological characteristics of the relationship between superiors and subordinates, methods of psychological propaganda and counter-propaganda, psychological problems of controlling military equipment, etc.

Psychology of management

how science implements psychological knowledge used in solving the problem of managing the activities of the work collective. A distinctive feature of management psychology is that its object is the organized activity of people to create material and spiritual values, the psychological aspects of the activity of a manager, and the socio-psychological issues of relations between the manager and staff. As an applied branch of science, management psychology develops recommendations aimed at the practical use of the achievements of social psychology to optimize management functions, the activities of management institutions, taking into account socio-psychological factors of management, predicting the socio-psychological consequences of management decisions and actions. A special type of management, emerging in Russia as the economy of market relations develops, is management, and therefore in management psychology attention is paid to the formation of the image and traditions of business, building business relationships in business, and the possibility of developing an employee’s own potential.

Psychology of sports

examines the psychological characteristics of the personality and activities of athletes, the conditions and means of their psychological preparation, the psychological parameters of the athlete’s training and mobilization readiness, and the psychological factors associated with the organization and conduct of competitions.

Economic psychology

- a branch of psychology that studies psychological phenomena related to people's industrial relations. The subject of economic psychology is the reflection of economic relations in human consciousness and behavior. Within the framework of economic psychology, the effects and phenomena of economic behavior, mechanisms and patterns of economic activity, algorithms and models that describe economic preferences, decision choices and factors influencing business experience are considered.

Psychology of commerce

studies psychological patterns and mechanisms for regulating people's behavior in the process of commercial activity, as well as the development of some practical skills in the field of psychology of sales, management, and consulting.

Psychology of trading

clarifies the psychological conditions of the impact of advertising, individual, age and other characteristics of demand, psychological factors of customer service, explores issues of fashion psychology, etc.

Psychology of scientific creativity

studies the features of the development of a creative personality, psychological factors that stimulate creative activity, the role of intuition in making a scientific discovery, etc.

Ethnopsychology

studies the ethnic characteristics of the people’s psyche, national character, patterns of formation and functions of national self-awareness, ethnic stereotypes, etc. Great importance is given to interethnic relations, ethnotypical and sociotypical characteristics of individual behavior in different social groups.

The socio-psychological aspects of the influence of urbanization on the lifestyle of an ethnic community, problems of interethnic communication and interethnic relations, the specifics of interpersonal relationships in a multinational state, multinational groups, psychological problems of demographic behavior, psychological characteristics of ethnic communication and ethnocultural adaptation, ethnic characteristics of cognitive processes, ethnopsychological characteristics are explored. in ideological and political influence.

In modern conditions, much attention is paid to studying the psychological causes of ethnic conflicts, finding effective ways to resolve them, forming national identity, and developing it in different social and national environments.

Psychology of religion

- a branch of psychology that studies the psychological and socio-psychological factors that determine the characteristics of religious consciousness, its structure and functions.

Organizational psychology

is a branch of applied psychology that studies various psychological aspects of the behavior and activities of people in an organization that influence its organizational processes and effectiveness.

In a generalized form, the subject of organizational psychology is human behavior in an organizational environment. At the same time, the complexity of the individual as an object of research, the complexity and dynamic nature of the organizational environment as a subject of research, the ambiguity of the manifestation and influence of individual psychological and socio-psychological characteristics of the individual and group as factors of influence on organizational processes make the subject of organizational psychology a wide range of phenomena that connect it other branches of psychological science: personality psychology, differential psychology, social psychology, labor psychology, general psychology, developmental psychology.

Problems of psychology

So, we have figured out what is studied by psychological science. But what is this for? What are her tasks? Psychology textbooks highlight many problems. Here are some of the main ones:

1. Study and analysis of the fundamentals of psychology, personality patterns, as well as its development;
2. Study of psychic phenomena;
3. Analysis of how these phenomena form and develop;
4. Study of the mechanisms of various mental phenomena;
5. Finding ways to influence mental phenomena occurring in a person’s personality;
6. Formation of professional psychologists, as well as dissemination of valid knowledge about the science of psychology.

This is precisely the main task of this science. Studying psychology allows you not only to understand how social connections and relationships between people are built, but also allows you to better and deeper understand yourself.

Each person pursues his own goals when studying psychology

General characteristics of psychology as a science: subject, object, tasks and methods

Mental characteristics are stable individual psychological characteristics of a person.

These include the properties of the mind, thinking, volitional skills enshrined in character, temperament, abilities, as well as an established and newly emerging desire to act in the usual way, properties of feelings (temper, sentimentality, sensitivity), affectivity) and so on.

Mental characteristics are quite constant, but they can change and be influenced by biological and age-related changes, changes in field of activity and other living conditions. The diversity and multidimensionality of combinations of mental properties makes it possible to identify emerging complex personality systems, such as a person’s life position, temperament, abilities and character.

These groups fairly conventionally distinguish between manifestations of the psyche. The concept of “mental process” shows the course of the process, the development of a fact, its rooting and repetition in the structure of the personality. Anger (a short-term emotional outburst) is a mental fact, but it can be described as both a mental process (the dynamics of emotional development are expressed, successive stages are identified) and a mental state (the ability to describe mental activity over time). period of time) and as a manifestation of a person’s mental characteristics (personality traits such as temper, incontinence are revealed here).

Mental actions are aimed at external circumstances that surround a person (thinking about external events and attitudes towards them), and internal ones, in the area of ​​changes occurring in the body itself.

Mental processes concentrated internally can be traced back to the physical realm, including internal changes in organ systems, or to complex phenomena and constantly changing mental processes. The result of this orientation is that all spheres become objects of reflection in consciousness.

In his practice, Wernicke developed the concept of three types of human orientation. Allopsychic - orientation in surrounding objects and events; somatopsychic - in changing the states of one’s own body and autopsychic - orientation in oneself, one’s own mental processes.

External and internal influences form a single whole and interact. The psyche, which synthesizes and integrates these influences, determines a person’s sense of self and well-being. As a result, a person with an educated psyche carries out all external (physical, biological and social) influences directly through his internal properties, “experiences” of the body and psyche, and consciousness.

The interests of general psychology lie in the study of the general laws of the emergence, work and development of the psyche, and all other branches of psychology are based on this knowledge. Its most important task is to identify psychological functions from the point of view of the development of a person as an individual.

The study of the reflex nature of the psyche in general and human consciousness in particular is also an area of ​​interest for general psychology.

The main task of psychology is the study of objective patterns of functioning of mental phenomena and processes as a reflection of objective reality.

Psychology has other tasks:

Studying the history of psychology, problems of methodology, theory and research methods;

Analysis of the principles of the origin, development and existence of mental processes associated with the determinism of the psyche through objective conditions and human actions;

Studying knowledge and practices in different spheres of life of each person and society as a whole;

Study of general patterns of sensations, perceptions, memory, imagination, thinking, psychological self-regulation;

Studying patterns of behavior of individuals and groups; Character type, temperament, needs, etc.

The basis for the development of all areas and areas of psychology, its methods and basic scientific concepts are the results of research in the field of general psychology.

The tasks of psychology: 1) study of the emergence and changes in the consciousness of human society and the individual during his life, depending on the conditions of upbringing; 2) Study of the development of the animal psyche depending on changes in natural and climatic conditions.

Since human consciousness has a complex structure, psychology has a special A.

Subject and object of psychology

These concepts are studied in the process of obtaining professional education. And also when receiving medical education (a psychologist is not always a doctor, but a psychotherapist and psychiatrist have the status of doctors who can prescribe medication treatments for clients).

Item

The subject of psychology is the study of how various mental phenomena are formed, develop and cease

An object

The object is much wider than the subject. The object is the psyche as a whole and everything connected with it. The object includes elements of the subject

The objects of psychology as a science include the following elements and processes:

1. Mental processes (feelings and emotions, relationships, connections, love, friendship, manipulation, abusive and codependent relationships, etc.);
2. Conditions (also feelings and emotions, anxiety, nervousness, paranoia, perfectionism, empathy, melancholy, depression, bipolar disorder, nostalgia, schizophrenia, hedonism, conformism, frustration, sublimation, time pressure, misanthropy, etc.);
3. Properties (these include a person’s character, including egocentrism, psychotype, personality types, introversion and extraversion, cynicism, altruism, etc.);
4. Education (knowledge and skills, as well as habits of a particular person. For example, reflection, addictions, etc.)

Psychology is the science of the psyche and the patterns of its manifestation and development

Topic 1.1. Introduction to Psychology

Plan:

Psychology, its subject, principles, objects, principles and tasks

The content of human mental life: mental processes, mental states. mental properties

The structure of modern psychology.

Basic concepts: psyche, mental development, driving forces of development, ontogenesis and phylogeny

The connection between psychology and pedagogy, other sciences and practice

1.

Psychology, its subject, principles, objects, principles and tasks

Any mentally healthy person is capable of perceiving

and
learn
about the world around us, various objects and phenomena.

— We hear various sounds: the rustling of grass, birdsong, the hum of an airplane, transport.

— We see various objects, phenomena, people and animals, we distinguish shape, color, height.

- We feel

aromas and odors (for example, the smell of gasoline and the aroma of perfume).

“We think about a book we read, about a movie, we think about our actions, we make decisions.

- Our brain is able to remember, remember, remember.

- We are able to imagine something that we have never perceived (for example, a tropical forest, mammoths) and to imagine something that does not exist in the world (for example, the events of science fiction books, films, fairy tales).

A person not only learns about the world around him, but also has his own attitude towards objects and phenomena. Something makes him happy, gives him pleasure, something he is indifferent to, something he is upset about.

Each person is unique in his own way and has his own characteristics: some are engaged in dancing, others in music, sports, books.

All these various mental phenomena, manifestations of temperament, character, feelings and will, together make up the psyche. And the science that studies mental phenomena is called psychology.

Psychology is the science of the psyche and the patterns of its manifestation and development.

This name comes from the merger of two ancient Greek words - “psyche” - soul and “logos” - teaching, word, and means “science of the soul”.

The subject of psychology is the study of the psyche of animals and humans.

Psyche is the ability of the brain to receive information about the surrounding reality, create an image of the objective world and regulate its own behavior and activity on this basis.

The psyche includes, and, therefore, psychology studies mental processes, mental states and mental properties of the individual.

Mental processes are individual forms or types of mental activity. Mental processes describe three main aspects of human mental life: cognition, feeling and will. cognitive processes are distinguished in mental processes

- sensation, memory, perception, thinking, imagination, speech, and
emotional-volitional
ones include feelings, emotions and will.

Mental processes are called cognitive because with their help a person learns about the world around him and himself.

Sensation is a process that is associated with the identification of some individual properties of objects (color, shape, smell, taste).

Perception is the process of perceiving objects in the totality of their properties.

Memory is a process that gives us the right and opportunity to remember everything that we once did, saw, felt and at some point remember and reproduce.

With the help of thinking, a person learns general laws, establishes relationships between objects and phenomena of the surrounding world.

Imagination makes it possible to imagine something that a person has not seen, heard, done, or felt before.

Speech allows you to transfer knowledge and information from one generation to another, allows you to influence each other, evoke feelings, and call for action.

A special place among cognitive processes is occupied by attention,

which is present in all processes and allows you to focus on something. It underlies all cognitive mental processes.

Emotional processes include feelings and emotions.

They reflect a person’s experiences of his relationship to the phenomena of the surrounding world, the events of his inner life, and establish the personal significance of a particular event.

Volitional mental processes include will. Will

provides conscious regulation of command, the ability to act according to a consciously set goal, accepted intention.

Mental properties are the most significant and stable mental characteristics that distinguish a person or group of people from others. Mental properties include human characteristics - temperament, character, abilities and personality orientation, expressed in needs, motivation, interests, desires, beliefs...

Temperament is an individual combination of essential personality traits that determine the dynamics of a person’s mental activity.

Character is a combination of essential personality traits that are manifested in behavior.

Abilities are individual characteristics of a person, manifested in activities.

Interest - manifests itself in the orientation of a person towards a particular subject.

Motivation is the process of internal mental control of behavior.

Mental states are a special characteristic of a person’s mental activity over a certain period of time. Mental states are caused by the external situation, a person’s well-being, his individual characteristics and influence the person’s behavior during this period. These include: vigor, fatigue, apathy, absent-mindedness, affect, worry, frustration, euphoria, adaptation, aggressiveness, joy, etc.

Aggressiveness is a human command, manifested in the desire to cause trouble to another person, to cause harm.

Adaptation is adaptation, getting used to a new area.

Fatigue —

bad mood, fatigue.

Frustration is a person’s emotional, difficult experience of his failure, accompanied by a feeling of hopelessness and frustration in achieving the desired goal.

Euphoria –

a state of excessive cheerfulness not caused by any objective circumstances.

Absent-mindedness is a state of forgetfulness that affects a person.

Self-actualization is the desire for personal self-improvement.

Mental states, mental processes and mental properties do not exist separately from each other, they interact with each other.

The human psyche manifests itself, forms and develops in activity. It is possible to judge the mental processes and mental properties of a person only by observing and studying his activities. Therefore, psychology also studies various types of human activity (play, study, work, productive).

Manifestations of the psyche are characteristic only of animals and humans. The human psyche is qualitatively different from the animal psyche. The animal psyche is much simpler and more elementary than the human psyche. Only man is inherent in the highest form of mental life - consciousness. Therefore, psychology deals with issues of consciousness.

Thus, psychology is a science that studies mental properties, processes and states, patterns of development and manifestation.

2. Brief history of the development of psychology.

Psychology is a science, on the one hand, very old, and on the other, very young. On the one hand, its age is 2400 years. The first systematic presentation of mental phenomena was proposed by the ancient Greek scientist Aristotle in his treatise “On the Soul”.

Aristotle is considered the founder of psychology.

On the other hand, scientific and experimental studies of mental phenomena and patterns began in the middle of the 19th century, and truly scientific psychology began to take shape later - at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

In the history of the development of psychology as a science, 4 periods can be distinguished.

Period I: Psychology is the science of the soul. This period lasted from the 4th century BC to the 16th century AD.

The science of psychology began with Aristotle’s treatise “On the Soul,” therefore, translated from ancient Greek, psychology means “the science of the soul.” Scientists during this period were engaged in the study of mental or mental phenomena that every person can detect in his consciousness through introspection. The main method of studying the psyche was introspection, i.e. introspection.

During this period, Socrates, Plato, Heraclitus, and Democritus made a great contribution to the development of science .

II period: Psychology - the science of consciousness. It lasted from the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century AD.

This is a time of discoveries in the field of physiology and anatomy. Discoveries in the field of physiology and anatomy were a new starting point in the development of psychology; they brought new impetus to the development of science. This is a new era in the development of psychological data.

Descartes discovered the reflex. Czech scientist I. Prochazka - reflex arc. The German scientist E. Weber studied the work of the senses. C. Darwin and Russian scientists I.P. Pavlovi I.N. Sechenov studied the functioning of the nervous system and brain.

These discoveries in the field of physiology made it possible to come to the idea that the psyche is determined by the work of the nervous system and cerebral cortex, i.e. The psyche is based on the activity of the nervous system and brain.

III period: Psychology - the science of behavior. Beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.

This is the stage of experimental and differential psychology. At this stage, truly scientific psychology takes shape - the first laboratories, special equipment, and instruments for studying the psyche appear. New research methods are emerging, for example, laboratory experiments. One of the first laboratories appeared in Leipzig in Germany, its founder was the German scientist W. Wundt. A new research method is emerging - a natural experiment, its author is the Russian scientist A.F. Lazursky. New methods are emerging: testing, questioning. New techniques are being developed.

A huge number of scientists both in Russia and abroad are developing the science of psychology. For example, G. Eysenck creates a “Test for Determining Temperament”. R. Cattell - “16-factor questionnaire for the study of personality.” Psychoanalyst Z. Freud deals with issues of the unconscious. A huge contribution was made by Russian scientists D.M. Teplov S.L. Rubinstein, L.S. Vygotsky, A.V. Petrovsky.

IV period: The current stage of development of psychology. Scientists study facts, patterns, and mechanisms of the psyche. New branches of psychology are being created: genetic, parapsychology, psychodiagnostics. Representatives of this stage are: I.V.Dubrovina, P.Ya.Yaroshevsky, E.EKravtsova, N.I. Gutkin.

3. Structure of modern psychology.

Today psychology represents a complex structure of its various branches. Psychology can be figuratively represented as a tree, where the trunk is general psychology, and the branches extending from it are branches of psychology. There are a lot of industries.

General psychology

studies the history of this science, methods and theories of human research. Studies the general patterns of cognitive and practical activity of an adult.

Psychodiagnostics

poses and solves problems of psychological assessment of the level of development of adults and children.

Parapsychology

studies unusual mental phenomena: clairvoyance, lethargic sleep, telepathy, extrasensory perception.

Genetic

Psychology studies the hereditary mechanisms of the psyche and behavior.

The subject of study is ecopsychology

is environmental consciousness. One of the tasks is to study the influence of the external environment on a person’s mental state.

Age-related psychology

explores the features of mental development at various age stages. The sections are highlighted here:

1. Child psychology - from birth to 10 years.

2. Psychology of a teenager - from 10 years to 14-15 years.

3. Psychology of youth - from 14-15 to 17-18 years.

4. Psychology of an adult – from 7-18 years to 60 (by stages).

5. Gerontopsychology – from 60 years to 90 years.

6. Psychology of a long-liver - over 90 years.

Pedagogical psychology deals with the psychological laws of education and training of the younger generation.

The subject of studying social

psychology is the psychology of groups and teams, the relationships of people in them.

Pathopsychology studies painful mental disorders. Its sections:

1. Oligophrenopsychology – congenital brain defects.

2. Deaf psychology – hearing impairment.

3. Typhlopsychology – visual defect.

Medical psychology studies the activities of the doctor and the behavior of the patient.

Animal psychology studies the psyche and behavior of animals.

Labor psychology examines the psychological characteristics of various types of work activity.

Space psychology studies the psyche in conditions of weightlessness.

Military psychology studies the mental characteristics of a person in combat and military situations; mental activity of military personnel.

Sports psychology studies the laws of developing sports skills; activity and personality of the athlete.

Thus, modern psychology represents a complex system of its various branches.

Psychology Research Methods

To correctly study the subject and object of psychological science, various methods are used. A method is a way of cognition, a certain set of mechanisms of cognition. As in any other science, general methods, special and specific, are used. In this section we will look at more specific and psychology-specific ways of knowing. These are the methods that are most applicable and effective in practice.

Observation

Observation allows us to recognize external factors of human behavior and its characteristics. When communicating with a client, psychologists pay attention not only to what he says, but also to how he behaves.

Body language and reactions allow us to draw conclusions about a person’s state, whether he is tense, afraid, and how important this or that issue is for him.

Self-observation

Self-observation is most often carried out through diaries and notes. For example, a person might keep an emotional diary. This allows you to analyze your emotional state, identify irritating factors and subsequently eliminate them from your life.

Self-observation allows you to say much more about yourself

Psychological tests

Psychological tests also reveal more about a person's personality. Of course, you can take tests online. There are a lot of them. Such tests are also available on our website.

However, for a complete clinical picture, their analysis from a professional is necessary. A psychologist will help you choose the right test option, assessment system, and also leave a clinical picture.

Conversations

Conversations are a way to find out more about someone. That is why meetings with a psychologist, psychotherapist and psychiatrist take place in the form of a dialogue. You can ask leading questions, clarify what will help you learn more about the situation and the person’s condition.

Suggestion

This method can be considered both negative and positive. Sometimes such a suggestion from the outside is enough to make a person feel insignificant. Suggestion at its core is the obsessive repetition of the same idea. Therefore, it is possible that in order to get out of a state of self-dislike, suggestion from the outside or self-hypnosis is also necessary.

Other methods

Today other methods can be used. Someone is trying to combine psychology and astrology. You can meet psychologists who use occult objects for their sessions (tarot, runes, etc.). Some people use hypnosis.

There is nothing wrong with expanding the possible methods. The most important thing is that they do not harm clients and patients.

Every psychologist looks for his own way to work with clients.

Methods of psychology

All methods used in psychology are divided into two large groups:

1. Empirical
   . This group includes the collection and interpretation of available facts, statistical analysis of large volumes of data, and search for patterns.
2. Experimental
   . These methods are based on artificial modeling of various situations for research purposes. This group includes, for example, social experiments.

In order to collect data suitable for research and analysis, methods such as:

• observation - the study of human emotions and reactions;
• introspection – a meaningful study of one’s own perceptions, emotions, reactions, desires and other mental processes;
• interview - a conversation with a person, allowing you to obtain information from him that is not available for observation;
• experiment – ​​purposeful modeling of a situation that allows one to obtain the necessary information about the psyche of the subject;
• survey - identifying the individual psychological characteristics of the subject using pre-formulated questions;
• testing - assessment of psychological qualities using pre-prepared tests, for which a mechanism for interpreting the reactions and answers of the subject has already been developed;
• biographical research is an analysis of a person’s life path, allowing one to determine the characteristics of his psyche, build a relatively accurate prognosis for his future life and give recommendations for its improvement.

In applied psychology, the listed methods are usually combined in order to conduct the most accurate and comprehensive analysis of the subject’s psyche. For example, almost every person at least once applied for a job and underwent an interview and testing. And psychotherapists combine methods such as interview, observation and biographical research, and also invite the client to conduct self-observation in certain situations.

A brief history of the development of psychology as a science

Psychology was formed over a long period of time. In fact, its occurrence is associated with the emergence of man and his socialization. Therefore, in the most ancient times, people studied the mental processes of the individual.

Brief table of periods of development of science
The first of these periods is characterized by such famous names as Aristotle, Plato, Democritus. They were the first people who tried to find the answer to the question “what is the human soul?” Aristotle's work “On the Soul” is considered the first psychological work in our world.

The second period, in turn, confirms the relationship between psychology and philosophy. Various philosophical attitudes move into the sphere of knowledge of psychology. Famous personalities of that period - Descartes, Locke, Spinoza.

At the junction of the second and third periods, the so-called crisis of psychology as a science occurs. This is due to the fact that people studying the human psyche lacked practice and practical knowledge. Therefore, for the most part, the study of mental phenomena of personality has entered a state of stagnation.

In the 20th century, a transformation of views began. There was more practice and the study of practical cases. Therefore, a new stage in the formation of science has arrived.

Today psychology is one of the most popular fields. Not only are psychological universities very popular among people. But people also try to independently understand this area of ​​​​knowledge.

Psychology as a science has a long history of formation

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Chapter 1. Psychology as a science.
1.1 Subject and tasks of psychology.

1.1.1 Psychology is the science of the psyche

Literally translated, psychology is the science of the soul (psyche - soul, logos - concept, teaching), thus psychology is the science of the psyche and mental phenomena.

What is the psyche? Materialist scientists define it as a special form of reflection of the surrounding world, characteristic of highly organized matter.[1] It should be noted here that the psyche arises where there is a rather complexly organized nervous system, which means that mental phenomena are characteristic not only of humans, but also of animals. Moreover, science does not exclude the possibility that, over time, quite complex computer systems may be artificially created in which psychic phenomena may arise.

The peculiarity of psychology that determines its difficulties is the non-materiality of mental phenomena, as a result of which they are not accessible to direct study.

The psyche cannot be seen, heard, tasted or touched.

Neither a super-powerful microscope nor the most sensitive methods of chemical analysis will help in studying it. We can study the psyche only indirectly, drawing certain conclusions about mental phenomena only from the external, material signs of their manifestations. This is the complexity of psychology as a science, but this is what makes it fascinating.

Psychology is the science of the psyche and mental phenomena.

The psyche is a special form of reflection of the surrounding world, characteristic of highly organized matter (humans and animals). For a person who has the highest form of psyche - consciousness, another definition of psyche is given:

The human psyche is a subjective image of the objective world, which arises in the process of interaction of a person with his environment and other people.

1.1.2 Features of psychology as a science

1.1.3 Main directions of psychology

Freudianism and neo-Freudianism are the predominant role of the subconscious in human mental life.

Behaviorism – behavior as the main object of research and rejection of attempts to study the mechanisms of mental activity.

Gestalt psychology is an attempt to explain the phenomena of mental life based on the concept of a holistic image (gestalt), irreducible to the sum of individual elements of perception.

Humanistic psychology - perceives a person as an active, free, creative and autonomous subject with a desire for self-realization.

1.1.4 Subject of psychology

The subject of psychology changed during its formation as a separate science. At first, the subject of its study was the soul, then consciousness, then human behavior and his unconscious, etc., depending on the general approaches that psychologists adhered to at certain stages of the development of science.

Currently, there are two views on the subject of psychology. According to the first of them, the subject of study of psychology is mental processes, mental states and mental properties of the individual. According to the second, the subject of this science is the facts of mental life, psychological laws and mechanisms of mental activity.

Let's consider the first approach to the subject of psychology (Fig. 1.3):

Mental processes act as primary regulators of behavior; they have a beginning, course and end. Usually there are three types of them: cognitive, emotional and volitional.

In addition to the above, there is another classification of mental processes. According to it, mental processes are divided into individual and group, and then into internal and external (Fig. 1.4).

On the basis of mental processes, mental states can be formed that characterize the state of the psyche as a whole. These include, for example, a state of activity or passivity, vigor or depression, efficiency or fatigue, irritability, absent-mindedness, good or bad mood. Mental states influence the course of mental processes. They can be external and internal, individual and group.

For example, a group mental state such as panic is the cause of financial crises, defaults and bank failures. Another negative mental state is conflict, which can lead to the breakdown of business negotiations or the destruction of family relationships. Both of these states are intermediate in nature, since, on the one hand, they are an internal mental experience, and on the other hand, they have a pronounced external manifestation.

In addition to negative group psychological states, there are also positive ones, for example, the cohesion of the enterprise team or a favorable psychological climate within the organization.

The third group of mental phenomena are mental properties that are characterized by greater stability and constancy. They determine the uniqueness of a person and are the basis of his personality. When we call a person brave, hot-tempered, honest or gambling, then with these words we describe precisely the stable personality traits.

Some authors believe that within the framework of this classification, one more type of mental phenomena can be additionally distinguished: mental formations - what becomes the result of the development of the human psyche. Mental formations are formed in the process of a person acquiring life and professional experience. These include knowledge, skills, abilities, habits, attitudes, attitudes, beliefs, etc.

According to another approach to defining the subject of psychology, it is the facts of mental life, psychological laws and mechanisms of mental activity

The facts of mental life include the speed of the sensorimotor reaction, some processes of sensation and perception of reality (for example, optical illusions), facts of psychological defense of established beliefs, emotional reactions that arise when new information arrives, etc.

An example of a mental law is the Weber-Fechner law concerning relative thresholds of sensations: “the intensity of sensation is proportional to the logarithm of the strength of stimulation.”

Another example: the law of changes in the rate of development of a motor skill. The figure below shows the exponential nature of the change in the rate of development of a motor skill - the speed of working on the keyboard. At first the result grows very quickly, and then slows down

The mechanisms of mental phenomena are the most difficult to identify and study. To date, they have been little studied, but the progress of psychology is associated precisely with this direction. An example is the occurrence of a feeling of pleasure when the electrical activity of certain centers of the hypothalamus in the diencephalon increases.

1.1.5 Object and tasks of psychology

The main task of psychology as a science is to study the objective laws of the formation, development and manifestation of mental phenomena and processes.

Particular tasks of psychology are:

1) study of the mechanisms of mental phenomena and processes;

2) analysis of the patterns of development of mental phenomena and processes in the process of ontogenesis, social interaction of people and work activity;

3) to promote the introduction of knowledge of psychological science into the practice of people’s lives and activities.

As for the object of psychology , we encounter certain difficulties in defining it. It is usually believed that the objects of science are the carriers of the phenomena and processes that this science studies. Thus, the object of psychology must be recognized as a person. However, according to the ethical standards of Russian methodology, a person cannot be an object, since he is a subject of knowledge. To get out of this terminological contradiction, we can designate the object of general psychology as a process of interaction between a person and the surrounding world.

1.1.6 Cultural-historical paradigm

The cultural-historical paradigm (theory) was developed by the Soviet psychologist L.S. Vygotsky, and was further developed in the works of A.N. Leontyev. It was based on the ideas of the French sociological school: the idea of ​​historicism and the social conditioning of the psyche. Before this, there was a natural science paradigm in psychology, the differences between which and the cultural-historical paradigm are shown in Fig. 1.9:

According to the views of L.S. Vygotsky and A.N. Leontiev, the social environment acts as a source of development of the child’s higher mental functions. Attitudes toward the environment change with age, and therefore the role of the environment in development also changes. The development of a child is subject to the action of socio-historical laws.

The driving force of mental development is learning (and development and learning are different processes). Education is an internally necessary moment in the process of development in a child of properties historically inherent in man. Learning is not identical to development: it creates a zone of proximal development, i.e. awakens and sets in motion the child’s internal developmental processes, which at first are possible for the child only in the sphere of relationships with adults and cooperation with peers.

1.1.7 Psychology as a science and as a system of everyday knowledge:

Please note that by the word “psychology” people understand not only science, but also a certain system of everyday knowledge. There are both similarities and differences between these areas of human culture. The similarity is that both of these areas study the same thing - the human psyche, but the differences between them are very significant (Table 1.2).

Nevertheless, there is a certain correspondence between everyday and scientific knowledge. Often everyday knowledge is manifested in folk proverbs and sayings.

1.2 Structure of psychology.

The modern structure of psychological science consists of a number of relatively independent scientific disciplines or branches: General psychology, Psychophysiology, Developmental psychology, Educational psychology, Medical psychology, Social psychology, Psychodiagnostics, Psychotherapy, etc.

There are also branches of psychology associated with certain areas of human activity: military psychology, sports psychology, engineering psychology, legal psychology, space psychology, etc.

1.3 Relationship between psychology and other sciences.

Philosophy. The greatest philosopher of antiquity, Aristotle, is considered the founder of psychology. Philosophy is a system of views on the world and man, and psychology is the study of man. Therefore, until recently, psychology was studied in philosophy departments of universities, and some of its sections (for example, general psychology, where definitions of the basic concepts of science are given) are closely intertwined with philosophy. However, psychology cannot be the “handmaiden of philosophy,” as was the case in the Soviet Union, where Marxist-Leninist philosophy strictly defined the basic postulates of psychology. These are two independent sciences that can mutually enrich and complement each other. At the intersection of philosophy and psychology there is such a branch of the latter as “General Psychology”.

Natural science is closely related to psychology. The development of theoretical and practical psychology in recent years would have been impossible without advances in biology, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and medicine. Thanks to these sciences, psychologists better understand the structure and functioning of the human brain, which is the material basis of the psyche. “Psychophysiology” is located at the intersection of physiology and psychology.

Sociology as an independent science is closely related to social psychology, which is the bridge that connects the thoughts, feelings and attitudes of individuals with the phenomena of mass consciousness. In addition, sociology provides psychology with facts about the social activities of people, which are then used by psychology. The connection between psychology and sociology is provided by “Social Psychology”.

Technical sciences are also related to psychology, since they often have the problem of “docking” complex technical systems and humans. These issues are dealt with by “Engineering Psychology” and “Occupational Psychology”.

Story. Modern man is a product of historical development, during which the interaction of biological and mental factors took place - from the biological process of natural selection to the mental processes of speech, thinking and work. Historical psychology studies changes in the psyche of people in the process of historical development and the role of the psychological qualities of historical figures on the course of history.

Medicine helps psychology better understand the possible mechanisms of mental disorders in people and find ways to treat it (psychocorrection and psychotherapy). At the intersection of medicine and psychology there are such branches of psychology as “Medical Psychology” and “Psychotherapy”.

Pedagogy provides psychology with information about the main directions and patterns of training and education of people, which makes it possible to develop recommendations for the psychological support of these processes. The connection between these related sciences is provided by “Educational Psychology” and “Developmental Psychology”.

Rice. 1.10 Relationship between psychology and other sciences.

1.4 Development of ideas about the nature of psychological phenomena.

People have always been interested in the external world (“macrocosm”), but in order to achieve their goals in it, a person needed to understand the behavior of other people and himself. Therefore, people have long tried to study the inner world of man (“microcosm”).

Stage 1: General animation of nature.

Since primitive times, people have tried to explain all the incomprehensible phenomena in human life by the presence of a special substance - the soul. In those days, it was believed that the soul lives everywhere - in people, animals, plants, and natural phenomena. Since then, such expressions as “gentle sun”, “harsh wind”, “cruel frost” have taken root in our speech. This universal animation of nature is called animism.

Stage 2: Psychology as the science of the soul.

The development of this stage of psychology is associated with the works of ancient Greek philosophers. Democritus believed that the soul is a particle of nature and is subject to its laws. Hippocrates - developed the doctrine of temperaments. He believed that a person's temperament is associated with the predominance of some kind of liquid in his body. For example, the bilious and hot-tempered character of a choleric person is caused by an excess of bile (in Greek - “chole”), and the slow and calm character of a phlegmatic person is determined by the mucus that predominates among other body fluids. The mechanisms of the psyche were revealed incorrectly by Hippocrates, but phenomenology (description of phenomena) turned out to be so accurate that this taxonomy of temperaments (choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic) is still used today.

A representative of idealistic philosophy, Plato believed that the soul is immaterial and immortal. According to Plato, it consists of 3 parts: lust (located in the stomach), courage (in the heart) and reason (in the head). Some people are dominated by lust, others by reason, and others by courage. The first eke out a primitive semi-animal existence, the second become philosophers, and the third become warriors or heroes. Plato also developed the doctrine of “ideas” - eternal and unchanging essences that form the invisible higher world that lies beyond nature. According to Plato, real things are only faint shadows of ideas. Plato is considered the founder of “dualism” (a doctrine that considers the body and psyche as two independent, antagonistic principles).

Aristotle is the author of the first known work on psychology, On the Soul. He put forward the idea of ​​the inseparability of soul and body. For the first time he introduced the concept of ideas, as images of objects that previously acted on the senses. He indicated the main types of associations (by similarity, contiguity, contrast).

Stage 3 – Psychology as the science of the divine and immortal soul

This stage coincides with the so-called “Middle Ages,” when the Christian Church dominated all sciences. This is a period of stagnation in psychology. At these times, the prevailing idea was the soul as a kind of incorporeal substance, which God puts into a person’s body at birth and takes back after his death. The body was declared mortal, and the soul immortal. The Christian Church emphasized the contradiction between the “divine soul” and the “sinful body,” which provoked the development of psychosomatic diseases.

Stage 4: Psychology as the science of consciousness (consciousness was the human ability to think and feel).

The basis of the method is introspection (self-observation). Rene Descartes introduced the concept of reflex - the body's response to irritation. At this time, there was a return to dualism - what could not be explained by reflexes was explained by the activity of the soul. Some scientists went further and abandoned the concept of the soul altogether, trying to reduce all types of human activity to mechanical movement. Similar views. In particular, it was propagated by the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, and then by Jules La Mettrie, who wrote the book “Man is a Machine.” In addition to the above essay, La Mettrie wrote two more works - “The Natural History of the Soul” and “Man is More than a Machine”, in which he defended a materialistic view of the psyche.

Another direction of scientific thought of that period was “empiricism,” which defended the priority of experience over pure reason. The representative is John Locke, who put forward the hypothesis of a “blank slate,” that is, an empty consciousness with which a person comes into this world, and which is gradually filled in the process of life experience.

The outstanding Russian natural scientist Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov, in his book “Reflexes of the Brain,” tried to explain many mental phenomena from the standpoint of the reflex theory. He discovered the phenomenon of “central inhibition” in the nervous system and suggested the existence of reflexes arising from within the human body. He also owns the laws of muscle contraction, in particular the “law of active rest,” which states that the best rest is a change of activity.

Stage 5: Psychology as a science of behavior.

This stage begins at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the American psychologist John Watson pointed out the inconsistency of the Deccarto-Lockean concept of consciousness and stated that psychology should move away from the study of consciousness and should focus its attention only on what is observable, i.e. on behavior person. Within the framework of this concept, psychologists should study only the actions and reactions of humans and animals, without trying to penetrate the mechanisms of mental activity. One of the prominent representatives of this trend was B.F. Skinner, who showed that living beings are capable of effective learning through trial and error. This direction of psychology is called behaviorism. The main method of behaviorism is the creation of experimental situations, recording reactions to influence and observation. From the point of view of behaviorists, the psyche is an abstraction that cannot be studied scientifically.

Rice. 1.11 Behaviourists’ ideas about how the brain works

Behaviorists used the mechanism of conditioned reflexes to explain complex behavioral acts. They also discovered conditioned reflexes of the second kind (instrumental reflexes) - the basis for the transformation of the external environment - a transitional stage to conscious human activity.

Stage 6: Psychology as the science of the unconscious.

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

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

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

The second part of a person’s consciousness, the “Ego,” is more consistent with a person’s idea of ​​himself, and performs two important functions: firstly, it manages contact with reality, and, secondly, it communicates with the unconscious.

Finally, the third component of our consciousness is the “Super Ego” - a person’s conscience, his internal guard, who exercises supervision as if from within consciousness. Freud believed that the “Super Ego” is a modified parental authority, a sublimation of the strict but fair Father, who in childhood watched over the child, controlled his actions and punished him for breaking the rules.

To identify these three components of the psyche, S. Freud developed a new method - psychoanalysis, which allows one to come into contact with the unconscious by weakening the control of consciousness, using the method of “free associations”.

Stage 7: Study of the mechanisms of mental functioning.

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

Among the scientists representing this stage are James Olds, who first discovered the mechanisms of the emergence of emotions, Roger Sperry, who discovered interhemispheric asymmetry of the brain, Abraham Maslow, who created the concept of the “pyramid of actual needs,” and other researchers.

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

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

FAQ

In this section, we will try to answer the most common questions that arise among people who have begun to take an active interest in the peculiarities of the human psyche.

How are philosophy and psychology related?

As already mentioned, psychology and philosophy are interrelated sciences. Since many ideas and patterns are blackened by philosophy. Moreover, learned philosophers have made just as significant contributions to the development of psychology as learned psychologists.

These two sciences have the same methods and similar subjects. Psychology is an opportunity to answer the fundamental philosophical questions “What is the soul?”, “What is the meaning of life”, “How to live correctly”, “What is love” and others like that.

What can you become after receiving professional education as a psychologist?

This area of ​​knowledge is very universal. It can be used everywhere, including for personal purposes.

When you receive education as a psychologist, or as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, you can work in your specialty. In addition to the monetary component, you also have the goal of helping people who need it.

With a psychological education, you can become a consultant, coach, or teacher. Personal consultants in companies are now in great demand, so it is not necessary to engage in psychological practice.

But even in a situation where you do not want to connect your life with psychology in any way, getting an education has significant benefits. You can recognize an abuser in the early stages, see the tyrant behind the mask of virtue. Moreover, you can more correctly choose the necessary way out of conflict and communication. This knowledge will allow you to build a healthy and ecological relationship with a loving person.

Can psychologists have psychological and mental problems?

A psychologist and a person who studies psychology is a person like everyone else. Therefore, it is normal if at some point he has psychological problems (trauma, stress, depression). The only difference is that the psychologist can notice the symptoms of some diseases and disorders in himself. But his illnesses also need to be treated.

Is knowledge of psychology always enough for self-medication?

Of course not. If we are talking about easy problems - worries, obsessive thoughts, then Nana's psychology will be enough. However, there are also mental illnesses, as well as serious injuries. Their diagnosis and treatment is only possible from the outside. Therefore, it is necessary to contact a specialist, even if you yourself have a professional education in this industry.

There are many questions regarding the study of psychology

Text of the book “Methodological foundations of psychology”

Chapter 2 Psychology as a science. Subject and object of psychology

Topics
2.1. Psychology as a science

2.2. Subject and object of psychology

Historical analysis of psychological teachings shows that at different times and from different angles of view, various aspects and essences of mental phenomena were accepted as the subject of psychology and psychological research. A completely legitimate question arises: which position corresponds to the truth or will lead to a true understanding and knowledge of the essence of mental phenomena?

What is the modern understanding of psychology as a science, what is its subject and object?

Let us consider some of the available points of view in order to be able to highlight the general position of the authors and what is specific in their approaches.

2.1. Psychology as a science

The first term for psychological reality is psyche -

introduced by the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (IV century BC).
But the first written mention of the term “psychology” dates back to approximately 1520, when the Serbo-Croatian philosopher Marulich used it in his writings [19, p. 10]. In this regard, the works of the German scholastic scientists O. Kassmann and R. Gocklenius should also be noted. It was the latter who wrote the treatise “Psychology”, published in 1590 [29]. But only starting with the works of H. Wolf “Empirical Psychology” (1732) and “Rational Psychology” (1734) the term “psychology” becomes commonly used for the science that studies the human psyche. “Psychology” translated into Russian literally means “the study of the soul”
(Greek
psyhe -
soul,
logos -
teaching).

However, you and I have already understood that psychology as a science about the soul and mental phenomena ends in the 18th century. In subsequent centuries, this is already the science of consciousness, the unconscious, behavior, the processes of holistic perception and thinking, the inner self of a person and the possibilities of its self-actualization, etc. What is the understanding of psychology as a science in modern Russian psychology? For the purpose of analysis, let's look at some definitions.

• Psychology is the science of the psyche and the patterns of its manifestation and development [39, p. 6].

• Psychology in the most general sense is the science of the psyche [ibid., p. 5].

• Psychology as a science studies facts, mechanisms and patterns of mental life [69, p. 47].

• In its most general form, human psychology is the science of the human psyche, the laws of its structure, functioning, development and change [59, p. 6].

• Psychology is the science of the structure and patterns of emergence, development and functioning of the psyche in its various forms, including consciousness as the highest form of mental reflection [88, p. 7, 116].

Apparently, there are enough definitions to allow certain conclusions to be drawn. It should be noted that short definitions are good because they are easy to remember. However, further clarification is required. At the same time, one of the methodological requirements and logical rules is that the definition (definition) of science must sufficiently fully and clearly define its subject and object of research. Therefore, each of the given definitions has a certain incompleteness. Before trying to eliminate it, it is apparently necessary to find out: what is science in general and how does it differ from other spheres of human activity?

Example from history

In the Middle Ages, during the scholastic disputes in 1432, a heated debate arose in one of the large monasteries of Italy, which attracted outstanding scientists of the time from all over Europe. At the debate, the question was discussed: how many teeth does a horse have? For thirteen days, heated debate continued from morning to night. All Holy Scripture, the writings of the Church Fathers and saints were raised. Tremendous erudition was demonstrated, opposing opinions collided, but the disputants could not come to any definite conclusion. And on the fourteenth day, one young monk made an unheard-of and monstrous proposal. He suggested bringing the horse, opening its mouth and counting how many teeth it has. This proposal aroused the furious anger of the entire highly learned audience. Pundits and monks attacked the young blasphemer with cries that he was proposing unprecedented, heretical, blasphemous methods of research. He was beaten and thrown out of the audience. And the high scientific council decided that the question of the number of teeth a horse has will forever remain a deep mystery for people, because, unfortunately, nowhere in the Scriptures of the Holy Fathers of the Church is this mentioned [32].

In essence, what the young monk proposed was the beginning of a scientific approach. For science begins where, instead of relying on someone’s words, on everyday experience, we strive to understand the essence of the facts themselves. Or, in other words, science begins where, instead of asking the opinion of authorities, we question nature itself through scientific methods (experience and experiment) and try to identify the essential and natural connections of the phenomena taking place.

Observing natural phenomena, a person turns them into scientific facts, which he studies using certain methods of scientific knowledge, trying to identify the natural, essential connections of what is happening. This is the main difference between scientific knowledge and everyday observation and experience.

However, there is not and will not be a science that deals with everything. Each science explores some area of ​​objective reality. For psychology, this reality is the psyche and the entire world of mental phenomena associated with it.

However, scientific psychology cannot limit itself to describing mental phenomena (mental phenomena) and psychological facts - they must be explained, that is, the laws to which these facts and phenomena obey must be revealed.

The task of identifying the laws of the psyche, revealing those connections and relationships that could be qualified as natural, is one of the most difficult in science. In the 1970-1980s. Soviet psychologists, on the basis of the dialectical-materialistic method, approached a constructive solution to the most important problem of psychology as a science - the problem of identifying the laws of the psyche, for, as B. F. Lomov noted, “scientific knowledge consists in revealing essential, necessary, stable, repeating connections (relationships) ) between phenomena" [51, p. 105], i.e. laws. The specificity of the laws discovered in psychology was revealed. It is characterized by the fact that psychological laws are not rigid and unambiguous absolutes, but act as laws-trends.

In other words, the laws of psychology, firstly, are statistical in nature, i.e. probabilistic, and act as laws-trends, since any mental phenomenon is caused by many factors, the action of which and the strength of influence, as well as the constantly changing combination, cannot be completely taken into account. Secondly, behavior and activity, all relationships of a person with the world, with other people and with himself, on the one hand, are subject to both the general principles of human psychology and the factors of the individuality of this particular person; are directed by the entire content of the individual’s inner world, which stores the person’s personal history. They bear the imprint of the uniqueness of the understood, experienced and realized personal meaning of every concept, every thing and events of the surrounding world. This uniqueness is fundamentally unknowable to the end, therefore reactions, attitudes, actions, and behavior of a person are always only relatively predictable. For these reasons, psychological patterns do not always appear with the desired accuracy and consistency, but act as tendencies. Almost every rule in psychology is supplemented by many restrictions, clarifications and amendments.

Statistical and dynamic patterns are two main forms of natural connection between phenomena of the objective world, which differ in the nature of the predictions arising from them.

In the laws of the dynamic type, predictions have a precisely defined, unambiguous character (these are a number of laws of mechanics, physics, chemistry and other natural sciences). Dynamic laws characterize the behavior of relatively isolated systems consisting of a small number of elements and in which it is possible to abstract from a number of random factors.

In statistical laws, predictions are not reliable, but only probabilistic. This nature of predictions is due to the action of many random factors that take place in statistical groups, groups or mass events. A statistical pattern arises as a result of the interaction of a large number of elements that make up a group or community, and therefore characterizes not so much the behavior of an individual, a representative of a set, but rather the behavior of the population as a whole.

Thus, psychology, together with the study of the psyche and the world of mental phenomena, reveals psychological laws that have their own specifics.

But knowledge of regular connections does not in itself reveal the specific mechanisms through which the regularity can manifest itself. Therefore, the task of psychology includes, along with the study of mental phenomena, psychological facts and patterns, the establishment and identification of mechanisms

mental activity.

Moreover, any phenomenon, including the mental one, arises at some point, has certain stages and patterns of development and functions until it ceases to exist. Consequently, the scope of scientific research also includes the features of the genesis

subject and object areas.

Taking into account the above, we can give the following detailed definition of psychology as a science.

Psychology is the science of patterns, essential relationships and mechanisms of the emergence, development and functioning of the psyche and the world of mental phenomena inherent in their material carriers.

The material carriers of the psyche are understood as higher animals, communities of higher animals, humans and social groups that possess the psyche in its expanded sense.

2.2. Subject and object of psychology

The next methodological problem that we will consider is the subject and object of psychology as a science. What are the peculiarities and specifics of identifying the subject and object of psychology as a science and scientific research in particular?

Considering the evolution of views on the subject of psychology, we noted that at different historical times the subject of psychology was the soul, consciousness, unconscious, behavior, holistic perception and thinking, etc. Moreover, we immediately made a reservation that the subject of science can be defined in this way only in first approach. For the subject of science

is to identify
natural, essential relationships and mechanisms
of the emergence, development and functioning of those objects that this science studies. In relation to the subject of psychology, these are the patterns of mental (mental) activity, behavior, the sphere of the unconscious, mental life, etc.

From these positions, there are no significant disagreements in defining the subject of psychology among the overwhelming majority of domestic psychologists. However, there are certain features in understanding the subject of modern psychological science. To illustrate, let's take a look at some definitions.

• The subject of scientific knowledge in psychology from the position of dialectical materialism. This is first of all... facts, patterns

and
mechanisms
of the psyche [86, p. 11-12].

• The subject of the science of psychology is the patterns of emergence, development

and manifestations of the psyche in general and the consciousness of a person as a specific historical personality in particular [65, p. 3].

• The subject of psychology is the study of patterns

manifestations and
development
of the psyche as a specific form of reflection of reality [35, p. 10].

• The object of psychology as a science is the psyche, the subject is the basic laws

generation and
functioning
of mental reality [22, p. 21].

• The subject of the study of psychology is, first of all, the psyche of humans and animals, which includes many subjective phenomena [61, p. 9].

Thus, with the exception of the last position, all authors are united by a common fundamental position: the subject of psychology is the identification and study of natural relationships

, as well as
the mechanisms of emergence, development and functioning
of the psyche and the whole world of mental phenomena (phenomena).

Regarding the supporters of the latter position, we only note that the authors do not see the differences between the subject and the object of science and do not highlight their fundamental specificity. We will look at what this methodological approach leads to in the process of planning and implementing practical psychological research a little later.

As you can see, the positions of the authors from the first to the fourth are closest in their interpretation of the subject of psychology. We also share this approach and believe that the subject of psychology

– these are
natural
, essential relationships and mechanisms of the emergence, development and functioning of the psyche and the world of mental phenomena.

So, some domestic authors who broadly interpret psychology as a science take the position that the subject of psychology

there are
patterns, essential relationships, characteristics, features and mechanisms of the emergence, development and functioning
of the psyche and the whole world of mental phenomena inherent in their very specific material carriers. This definition also corresponds to our understanding of the subject of psychology.

Another part of the authors limits the subject of psychology only to the sphere of research of the human psyche. With this approach, the interpretation is quite legitimate, according to which the subject of psychology
is the natural connections of the subject with the natural and sociocultural world, imprinted in the system of sensory and mental images of this world, motives prompting action, as well as in the actions themselves, experiences of their relationships with other people and to oneself, in the properties of the individual as the core of this system.
The general thing is that the subject of psychology is always the identification of natural relationships and mechanisms

in the field of mental health.

The next problem, which raises many questions, and often misunderstanding, is the problem of the object in psychology. When considering it as a whole, the following positions can be distinguished.

1. In a number of textbooks and monographs, the object of psychology is simply not highlighted.

2. In a number of other sources, the object of psychology is interpreted as follows: “The object of psychology... the main object of psychology... is a person. The group also acts as an object of study for psychology

people or
higher animals
."
“...Another group of objects of research in human psychology consists of material products of his activity or, as they are also called, artifacts
” [84, p. 20-21; 59, etc.]. “The object of psychology as a science is the psyche” [22, p. 21, etc.].

Let us analyze these approaches and the validity of these points of view on the object of psychology as a science.

One can only guess about the position of those authors who do not clearly identify the object of psychology. Because if a thought is not expressed, this does not mean that there is no position on the noted problem. For our part, we can only assume that the authors, having limited themselves to the main thing, i.e., having defined science and its subject, do not consider it necessary to multiply entities indefinitely, while highlighting the object of research. This position may be quite acceptable for a textbook or monograph. But in any scientific, theoretical and applied research, it is necessary to clearly define the subject and object of research. A practical problem arises: what methodological approach should be followed? We have to choose between supporters of the second and third points of view we have identified.

There are quite a lot of supporters of the second position when identifying the object of psychology or psychological research. Because the simpler, the clearer and more understandable. The reasoning and logical justification in this case are simple and fairly straightforward. The general line of reasoning is something like this. If psychology is the science of the psyche, and its subject is the laws of the mental sphere and life activity, which [sphere] is inherent in a person, a group of people, higher animals, a community of animals, then it is quite natural that they ( a person, a group of people, a higher animal, a community animals)

and are the object of psychology or psychological research.

But is this approach completely methodologically sound? The fact is that defining the object of psychology and psychological research in this way is not as harmless as it may seem at first glance. Because then the methodological basis is emasculated from psychology, theoretical and applied psychological research, the specificity of the object

psychological research.

The question quite rightly arises: is a person, a society, an object primarily of psychological science or an object for research by many, mainly humanities, sciences?

At one time, B. G. Ananiev called his famous monograph “Man as an Object of Knowledge” [3], and, apparently, for good reason, putting such a deep meaning into this name.

So, man, society -

is it
a subject
or is it
an object
of any of the humanities? And what do we mean when, on the one hand, we define them as a subject, and on the other, as an object of study?

Before answering these questions, let us turn to the thoughts of the classics of Russian psychology on the problem of subject and object in psychology. Even S. L. Rubinstein in the book “Fundamentals of General Psychology” [86] wrote: “The specific range of phenomena that psychology studies stands out clearly and clearly - these are our perceptions, feelings, thoughts, aspirations, intentions, desires, etc. , that is, everything that constitutes the inner content of our life and which seems to be directly given to us as an experience.”

Thus, the object area of ​​psychology is the psyche and the whole world of mental phenomena.

in the infinite variety of their manifestations, which are undoubtedly inherent in any person, groups of people, higher animals, and their communities. For without their material, bodily carriers they simply do not exist. This is precisely, philosophically speaking, that objective, ideal (subjective) reality that exists before, independently and after the researcher and which is the object of psychology and psychological research.

The same position on this problem of B. G. Ananyev, when he defines a person as an object

knowledge for all sciences about man and humanity, each of which, as a subject, explores certain patterns, and as an object, aspects of man and various areas of his life.

Emphasizing the need to create a unified theory of human knowledge, B. G. Ananyev [3, p. eleven].

In line with these views, it is methodologically, to put it mildly, not entirely correct to reduce a person as an object of the theory of human knowledge to an object in psychology.

Therefore, the most acceptable and methodologically correct approach is the approach of supporters of the third position we have outlined. In accordance with these views, the object of psychology

as a science is
the psyche and the whole world of mental phenomena
in their infinite variety of manifestations,
inherent
in their very
specific material carriers.
Since it is natural that “psyche” and “mental phenomena” are not abstract concepts, they cannot and do not exist outside of material, bodily content and in all their manifestations belong to humans, animals, groups of people, communities of animals. Therefore, one should completely agree with L.V. Kulikov that, when determining the material carrier of applied research (students, employees, specialists, etc.), one should indicate exactly what psychological property, side, characteristic you are going to study from them [41 , With. 12].

In this case, the object of psychological research will be mental phenomena (curiosity, intelligence, attention, aggressiveness, empathy, etc.) inherent in their specific material carriers (junior schoolchildren, young men, women, specialists in extreme activities, etc.).

In conclusion, let us clarify some points that, in our opinion, would allow us to deepen our understanding of the specifics of the object and subject in psychology and psychological research, and to understand their methodological significance.

Analyzing the above views, it should be noted that the objective content of the human psyche is not the psyche, but patterns

mental activity of a person.
But the psyche itself and the entire world of mental phenomena act as an objective area
of ​​psychology as a science, in which each specific theoretical and applied psychological study identifies its own subject and its own object of study.

Therefore, when defining the object of psychology as a science (as, indeed, for any other science), it is more correct to talk about the object domain

Sciences. Each science in the holistic and diverse world around us identifies its own object area and specific subject of research.

What is the relationship in this case between the subject and the object of science? We will try to illustrate this with the following simplified diagram (Fig. 2.1).

Rice. 2.1.

The relationship between the subject and the object of science

Thus, the object field of science, as a rule, limits a certain sphere of objective reality and can include an infinite number of objects of specific theoretical and applied research. Psychology extends its objective domain to all diverse forms of existence and manifestations of the psyche and the world of mental phenomena. The peculiarity of psychological objects is that they are ideal in nature, subjective and subjective in their representation, and are products of completely material processes and their carriers. With this understanding, the objects of theoretical and applied psychological research will no longer be boys and girls, men and women, schoolchildren or students, military personnel or managers, but such mental phenomena as, for example, the attention of a preschooler, the memory of a junior schoolchild, abstract logical thinking in adolescence. age, neuropsychic stability of specialists in extreme profiles of activity, adaptive abilities of elderly people, etc. However, the object area can also cover interdisciplinary problems, in which case it expands significantly and new areas and branches of scientific knowledge arise.

The subject of science as a whole is to identify patterns, essential relationships, structure, structure, mechanisms, features of the processes of emergence, development and functioning of objects in the field that this science studies. Therefore, the subject of science is objective in terms of the reality of the existence of the entity that we strive to know. However, the object is ideal in nature and in the form of its presentation. For it is pasha

an idea of ​​objective reality, an ideal construct, or model, of the phenomenon under study. This explains the evolution of the subject of psychology. At each historical stage, a deeper and more versatile essence of the psyche and the world of mental phenomena is revealed to us. In this regard, the process of scientific research and comprehension of the psyche is endless. And the extent to which the object we have identified and defined correlates with reality and reflects it is shown by practice, specific empirical research, and experiment.

Thus, for psychology as a science, the subject will be patterns, essential relationships and mechanisms of emergence, development and functioning

the psyche in all forms of its manifestation, up to the highest – consciousness, and the entire boundless world of mental phenomena inherent in specific material media.

The above, in our opinion, fully explains why the subject of science (in this case psychology) and the object domain are the same, but there are countless subjects and objects of specific theoretical and applied psychological research. The subject of research can be relationships, mutual influences, certain essential features of mental phenomena, processes, states, personality traits, types of behavior, activity and communication, their spatial, temporal, intensity characteristics, etc.

To summarize the above, we define psychology as the study of patterns, essential relationships and mechanisms of the emergence, development and functioning of the psyche and the whole world of mental phenomena inherent in their material carriers.

This definition broadly refers to both the subject and the object of science.
The subject
of psychology as a science is
the identification of patterns, essential features and mechanisms of the psyche.
The object area of ​​psychology (object of science) covers
the psyche
and
the whole world of mental phenomena
inherent in specific material media.

Should you consult a psychologist if you have problems?

Of course it's worth it. What is more important here is the ability to contact a specialist in case of problems. You can contact a psychologist if you have problems of varying importance. Consultation is necessary for mental illnesses (for example, depression, bipolar mental disorder), as well as serious and profound injuries.

For example, victims of domestic violence need specialist advice. Since it is impossible to work through this moment on your own. For many factors. For example, due to the presence of Stockholm syndrome, when the victim idealizes the rapist and begins to justify him. Therefore, a professional view and approach from the outside is needed.

Is it possible to learn psychology on your own?

In the modern world, when there is the Internet and the opportunity to get all the resources for learning, this is possible. You can take courses in psychology (they are not equivalent to professional education), buy and read specialized literature, watch video lessons, or go to our website. Therefore, knowledge is quite accessible.

The main thing is to have time and desire. And also the purpose of your training.

It is important to understand that such self-education cannot be equated with education at a university. What does it mean? You will not be able to provide services to people on a monetary and professional basis.

Why study psychology

There can be a lot of goals. Let's look at some of them:

1. Know yourself better;
2. Help other people;
3. Build healthy and environmentally friendly relationships with other people;
4. Get out of conflicts correctly;
5. Adequately analyze the people around you;
6. Save a person (friend, buddy, relative) from problems. For example, help get out of abusive relationships, help with addictions, and also convince you of the need to see a specialist;
7. Work professionally and earn money (independent familiarization with the science of psychology can only be the first step to obtaining a higher education);
8. Experience your own stress and traumatic events correctly;
9. Personal growth.

In general, there are many goals for studying psychology. They can compile with each other. And also supplemented by personal motivation. For example, a person grew up in a family in which the mother used physical and psychological violence against the child. To prevent the vicious circle of violence and unhealthy psyche, the child begins to be interested in psychology. Tries to work through the problem so as not to repeat the same behavior in his own family.

Studying psychology provides many benefits to an individual.

Where to start studying

We have already looked at what psychology studies. But where should a beginner start? In fact, you can read information randomly on topics of interest if you do not want to study science systematically. For example, you are interested in how to get out of conflict situations. That's why you read the relevant materials. Such study, of course, will not make you a professional.

If you want a more comprehensive approach to learning, then you need to start with the theoretical foundations. Just the same, we need to focus on studying the subject and object of psychology, tasks, branches and sections. And then layer on the theory other material, more applied and practical.

Advice: buy books on psychology. Everything in them is put together in the correct and necessary sequence. Given definitions and theory. For practical knowledge, you can turn to the Internet.

General outlook

Studying psychology for overall development is a good idea. The general horizons need to be constantly expanded. Firstly, this will allow you to improve the quality of your self-education and the depth of your personality. Secondly, you will be able to discuss a wider range of topics. Thirdly, this is a good way of self-knowledge.

Child psychology

Many young parents and expectant mothers are often interested in how to properly raise their child. It is in this situation that the section of child psychology comes to the rescue. The child's psyche is strikingly different from that of an adult.

Special books and manuals can answer many questions:

1. How to talk to a child;
2. How to build trusting relationships;
3. How to overcome a crisis of a certain age (3, 7, 13 years);
4. How to explain something to a child;
5. How to help him;
6. How to love and show love towards children, etc.

Psychology of creativity

Many creative works influence the human psyche, evoking in him feelings of beauty, compassion, empathy, disgust, etc. Therefore, in order for a picture or film to achieve its result, it is necessary to understand how and what elements can influence the human psyche.

If you pay attention to works of the horror genre, you will see special techniques that are used to create an atmosphere of fear and fear. It is also based on the functioning of our brain and subconscious mind. Therefore, studying psychological foundations can be a good basis for creativity.

Another example is designers. They have the concept of “color psychology”. The psyche reacts to certain shades in a specific way. Therefore, when creating logos, projects, websites, banners, designers should be guided by the basics of color psychology.

Psychology is common in design, business

Psychology of success

Motivation and self-confidence are the engines of our success in life. Therefore, now on the shelves of bookstores you can often find literature that is devoted to how to achieve success, profit, and how to build a business.

Studying psychological science allows you to choose the right method for achieving goals and results. You can find many techniques for visualizing your dreams, for working through insecurities, etc. This really allows you to achieve success, since everything comes from our head.

Self-development

Using knowledge of psychology, you can work through your own conflicts and problems:

1. Excessive self-esteem;
2. Egocentrism;
3. Excessive altruism;
4. Uncertainty;
5. Closedness;
6. Work through negative character traits;
7. Understand which relationships are pulling you back and get out of them;
8. Correctly defend your personal boundaries;
9. Protect your interests and desires;
10. Self-esteem and respect from others.

Lecture 1. The subject of psychology, its tasks and methods

Goal: To develop students’ knowledge about psychology as a science

Plan:

1. Subject and tasks of general psychology.
2. Stages of development of psychology
3. The world of psychic phenomena.
4. The relationship between everyday and scientific psychology.
5. Branches of psychology.
6. Methods of psychology.

Basic concepts: psychology, science, soul, consciousness, activity, psyche, methods, mental processes, properties, phenomena, states

1. Subject and tasks of general psychology.

Psychology is the science of the patterns of emergence, development and manifestation of the human psyche and consciousness.

Literally translated, psychology is the science of the soul ( psyche

- soul,
logos
- concept, doctrine), thus psychology is the science of the psyche and mental phenomena.

The human psyche is a subjective image of the objective world, which arises in the process of interaction of a person with his environment and other people.

The subject of psychology is the basic laws of the generation and functioning of mental reality. The main task of psychology is the study of objective patterns, mental phenomena and processes, as a reflection of objective reality.

Tasks of general psychology:

· Study the qualitative features of mental phenomena and processes, which is not only theoretical, but also of great practical importance.

· Analyze the formation and development of mental phenomena and processes in connection with the conditioning of the psyche by the objective conditions of people’s lives and activities.

· Promote the legitimate implementation of scientific knowledge of psychology into practice (development of scientific and practical methods of teaching education...).

2. Stages of development of psychology.

Stage 1.

In ancient times, it was believed that the soul was present in nature wherever there was movement and warmth. The first philosophical doctrine, based on the belief in the universal spirituality of the world, was called “animism”, from the Latin “anima” - spirit, soul. It is based on the belief that everything that exists in the world has elements of the soul. The soul was understood as an independent entity, separate from the body and capable of controlling all living and inanimate objects. Spirituality was seen as the cause of phenomena and movements.

Subsequently, the animistic idea of ​​the soul gave way to “hylosolism” - from the Greek - “substance, life”.

The whole world seemed initially alive. Everything was seen as generated by a single primary matter or primordial matter. Gelusoism for the first time placed the soul and psyche under common legal substances (?)

. Later, two contradictory points of view on the psyche emerged: materialistic (Democritus, 5-4 centuries BC) and idealistic (Plato, 428-348 BC).

Democritus believed that the psyche, like all nature, is material. The soul is made up of atoms. Knowledge of the world occurs through the senses. With the death of the body, the soul also dies.

According to Plato, the soul has nothing in common with matter and, unlike the latter, is ideal. Plato argued that everything is based on ideas that exist by themselves. Ideas form their own world and this world is opposed to the world of matter. There is an intermediary between them, this is the world soul. Knowledge of the world is not the interaction of the psyche with the outside world, but the soul’s memories of what it saw in the ideal world before it entered the human body.

Plato is the founder of the dualism of psychology, which interprets the material and spiritual body and psyche as two independent and ontogonestic principles. Plato's dualism was largely successfully overcome by his student Aristotle, who returned psychological thought to natural science. His “treatise on the soul” is considered the first psychological work.

Hippocrates - doctor, philosopher, pioneer.

Stage 2

In the 17th century, the methodological prerequisites for the scientific understanding of the psyche and consciousness were laid. The soul begins to be understood as consciousness, the activity of which is directly related to the work of the brain. Unlike the psychology of the soul, which is based on reasoning, in the psychology of consciousness the main sources of knowledge are considered to be introspection of one’s inner world. This is a method of introspection (self-observation).

Rene Dekar. He laid the foundations for the deterministic concept of behavior and the interspective concept of consciousness. He claims that the body, i.e. physical, mechanical, it only moves, but the soul…………..

Baroque Spinoza is the founder of one of the basic principles of scientific psychology, the principle of determinism, according to which all phenomena are generated by the action of material causes and laws.

John Luke, confessed the experiential origin of human consciousness. In the experience itself, the scientist identified two sources: the activity of the external senses (external experience) and the internal activity of the mind, perceiving its own work (internal experience).

Consciousness is a person’s perception of what is happening in his own mind. This position became justified in the development of introspective psychology.

Leibniz introduced consciousness to the unconscious psyche. The scientist believed that in the consciousness of the subject there is a continuous work of mental forces hidden from him in the form of special dynamics, unconscious of perception.

Stage 3.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the founder of “pyhebiorism,” Watson, opposed the view of psychology as a science about directly experienced subjective phenomena. He proposed a program for building a new psychology, the subject of which he considered behavior, not consciousness. Watson believed that the ultimate goal of the science of behavior is to understand and explain the cause of it, and not mental phenomena, without which the science of behavior can do without. Watson believed that the following conditions were necessary:

1) accurately describe the behavior,

2) find out those physical stimuli on which it depends and establish the connections that exist between the stimulus and behavior.

The scientific search of behaviorists was aimed at clarifying the relevant connections in order to explain on their basis behavior in reactions as reactions to stimuli.

Stage 4

Characteristic is the diversity of approaches to the essence of the psyche, the transformation of psychology into a multidisciplinary applied field of knowledge that serves the interests of practical human activity.

Russian psychological science adheres to a dialect-psychological view of the origin of the psyche.

3. The world of mental phenomena.

The world of mental phenomena is the totality of all phenomena and processes that reflect the basic content of the human psyche.

Mental processes (attention, memory, etc.) are mental phenomena that provide a person’s primary reflection and awareness of environmental influences. They are divided into cognitive (sensation, perception, memory, attention, imagination, thinking), as well as emotional and volitional processes.

Mental properties are the most stable and constantly manifested personality traits, providing a certain qualitative and quantitative level of behavior and activity typical for a given person (temperament, character, abilities).

Mental states are a certain level of performance and quality of functioning of the human psyche at a given moment in time that is characteristic of him. Mental states include: manifestation of feelings (emotionality, euphoria, affect), manifestation of attention (concentration, absent-mindedness) and doubt.

4. Correlation between everyday and scientific psychology.

Everyday psychology is psychological knowledge gleaned by people from everyday life. They have the following main characteristics: specificity (i.e., attachment to specific situations), intuitiveness (sometimes indicating a lack of awareness of the origin and functioning), limitation (i.e., a person’s weak ideas about the specifics and areas of functioning of specific psychological phenomena). Based on observations and reflections. Ordinary psychological knowledge has not been subjected to scientific comprehension.

Everyday psychology is characterized by limited material, i.e. a person who has certain everyday observations cannot compare them with similar ones from other people.

Scientific psychology is stable psychological knowledge obtained in the process of theoretical and experimental study of psychology. Peculiarities:

· generality (i.e. the meaningfulness of a specific psychological phenomenon based on the specificity of its manifestation in many people in different conditions, etc.),

· inherent rationalism, indicating that scientific psychological knowledge has been maximally researched and understood,

· unlimited, i.e. the information obtained by scientific psychology can be used by many people,

· based on experiment.

5. Branches of psychology.

There are more than a hundred industries, divided into:

2. By the nature of the activity.

· Labor psychology - studies the psychological characteristics of human activity in various spheres of public life. (Ex, engineering psychology - man and machine, aviation psychology - psychology of flight, space psychology).

· Pedagogical psychology - psychology of learning, i.e. basics of didactics and teaching, etc.; and psychology of education.

· Medical psychology - neuropsychology, psychopharmacology (study of the effect of drugs on human psychological activity), mental impact, psychoprophylaxis.

· Legal psychology - forensic psychology, criminal psychology, correctional labor psychology.

· Military psychology - interpersonal relationships, training soldiers for various psychological situations.

· Psychology of sports.

· Psychology of trading.

· Psychology of art.

1. By development:

· Developmental psychology - studies the ontogenesis of various processes and the psychological qualities of the personality of a developing person.

· Special psychology - studies deviations of the human psyche. (Parapsychology, deaf psychology, typhlopsychology, i.e. when people lost their sight.)

1. Based on the principle of the relationship between the individual and society:

· Social psychology - studies mental phenomena that arise in the process of interaction between people in various organized and unorganized groups.

· Personality Psychology – studies the psychology of personality.

6Methods of psychology.

Method (path of research) - a way to achieve a goal, solve a specific problem; a set of techniques and operations for the practical or theoretical development of reality.

Scientific research methods are techniques and means with the help of which scientists obtain reliable information, which is then used to build scientific theories and develop practical recommendations.

Methods of psychology are the main ways and techniques of scientific knowledge of mental phenomena and their patterns.

Stages of psychological research:

1) Preparatory. Studying the state of the issue, defining tasks and working hypotheses of research, developing methods;

2) Collection of actual data. It implements a specific research methodology and, in turn, breaks down into a number of sequentially included links in experimental series.

3) Quantitative and qualitative processing of research data. Calculation of average values, construction of graphs and tables.

4) Interpretation of data and formulation of conclusions.

Classification of methods.

Anaev highlights:

1)Organizational methods:

-Comparative method – involves comparing research objects according to various characteristics and indicators.

-Longitudinal method – involves multiple examinations of the same individuals over a long period of time. This makes it possible to determine the individual personal characteristics of students and to trace the dynamics of the development of the studied personality traits.

-Comprehensive method - consists of considering an object from the position of various sciences or from the position of various points. Research of this kind makes it possible to establish connections and dependencies between phenomena of different types. For example: between a physiologist, a psychologist and the social development of a person.

2) Empirical methods - include observation, introspection, experiment, psycho-diagnostic methods, analysis of activity products.

3) Data processing methods - include quantitative, static and qualitative (differentiation of material into groups, analysis) methods.

4) Interpretive methods - including genetic (analysis of materials in terms of development, highlighting individual phases, stages, critical moments) and structural (identifying the connection between all personality characteristics) methods.

Famous psychologists and their theories

Today, science is actively developing. Therefore, there are many theories now. Let's look at the most popular of them.

Table of theories of famous psychologists and philosophers

What books will help a beginner

What books should I start with to get to know myself and the science of psychology? Initially, let’s say that this can be either non-educational literature or textbooks or monographs on the topic under consideration.

1. L. Burbo “5 injuries that prevent you from being yourself.” This book will tell you in an easy and understandable way about the five main personal traumas. He will also tell you what methods and methods can be used to work them out;
2. D. Kehoe “The subconscious can do anything.” Reveals such elements as consciousness and subconsciousness, as well as how they work and interact with each other;
3. K. Jung “Memories, Reflections, Dreams.” The book is quite popular in Jung's writings. It reveals deep psychology. In general, all of Jung's works are required reading, as they reveal the basis and basis of psychology;
4. D. Goleman “Emotional Intelligence.” Reveals the characteristics of our emotions and the emotional functioning of the brain.

If you want to go deeper into more theoretical knowledge, any general psychology textbook will do. It can be purchased, downloaded or borrowed from the library. The choice is yours.

General psychology: Answers to exam papers

1. Psychology. Subject, object and methods of psychology

Psychology (from Greek psyche

- soul,
logos
- doctrine, science) - the science of the laws of development and functioning
of the psyche
(as a special form of life) and
mental phenomena
.

Currently, the subject of psychology is the psyche

and
mental phenomena.
Let us dwell in more detail on what these concepts include. Psyche

- this is a property of highly organized living matter, which consists in the subject’s active reflection of the objective world, in the subject’s construction of an inalienable picture of this world and the regulation of behavior and activity on this basis.

From this definition follows a number of fundamental judgments about the nature and mechanisms of manifestation of the psyche. Firstly, it is not just living matter that has a psyche, but only that which has specific organs that determine the possibility of the existence of the psyche (i.e., the nervous system, nerve nodes, etc.).

Secondly, the main feature of the psyche is the ability to reflect the objective world: highly organized living matter with a psyche has the ability to receive information about the world around it. At the same time, obtaining information is associated with the creation of a certain mental image by this highly organized matter, which, with a certain degree of accuracy, is a copy of material objects of the real world.

Thirdly, the 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 constantly changing environmental conditions.

The laws of the psyche are manifested in actually existing various mental phenomena.

It should be noted that there are different points of view on the structure of mental phenomena. However, the most common division of mental phenomena into three main classes is: mental processes

,
mental states and mental properties of the individual
(Fig. 1).

Rice. 1.

Structure of mental phenomena

Mental processes act as primary regulators of human behavior. And the main distinctive feature of mental processes

(in comparison with other mental phenomena) is that they have
a beginning
,
a course
and
an end
, that is, they have dynamic characteristics, which primarily include parameters that determine the duration and stability of the mental process. In turn, mental processes can be divided into three groups: cognitive, emotional and volitional.

On cognitive mental processes

include mental processes associated with the perception and processing of information. These include sensation, perception, representation, memory, imagination, thinking, speech and attention. Thanks to these processes, a person receives information about the world around him and about himself.

, emotional mental processes are distinguished as independent ones

.

Within this group of mental processes, mental phenomena such as affects, emotions, feelings, moods and emotional stress are considered.

Volitional mental processes

They are most clearly manifested in situations related to decision-making, overcoming difficulties, managing one’s behavior, etc.

Sometimes another group of mental processes is identified as an independent group - unconscious processes

. It includes those processes that occur or are carried out outside the control of consciousness. However, it is probably more appropriate to classify this group as independent mental phenomena rather than processes, since they include not only dynamic, but also static phenomena.

Mental states characterize the state of the psyche as a whole. They, like mental processes, have their own dynamics, which are characterized by duration, direction, stability and intensity. In turn, mental states influence the course and outcome of mental processes and can promote or inhibit activity. Mental states include such phenomena as elation, depression, fear, cheerfulness, despondency.

The next class of mental phenomena is the mental properties of the individual.

- characterized by greater stability and greater constancy. Mental properties of a person are usually understood as the most significant characteristics of a person, ensuring a certain quantitative and qualitative level of human activity and behavior. Mental properties include orientation, temperament, abilities and character. The level of development of these properties, as well as the peculiarities of the development of mental processes and the prevailing (most characteristic of a person) mental states determine the uniqueness of a person, his individuality.

The phenomena studied by psychology are associated not only with a specific person, but also with groups. Mental phenomena associated with the life of groups and collectives are studied in detail within the framework of social psychology.

All group psychic phenomena

can also be divided into mental processes, mental states and mental properties. Unlike individual mental phenomena, mental phenomena of groups and collectives have a clearer division into internal and external.

Collective mental processes that act as the primary factor in regulating the existence of a collective or group include communication, interpersonal perception, interpersonal relationships, the formation of group norms, intergroup relationships, etc. Mental states of a group include conflict, cohesion, psychological climate, openness or closedness of the group , panic, etc. The most significant mental properties of a group include organization, leadership style, and efficiency.

Thus, the subject of psychology is both the psyche and mental phenomena of one specific person, and mental phenomena observed in groups and collectives.

In turn, the main task of psychology is to study mental phenomena.

The object of study in psychology is a person (a group of people), as well as animals with a psyche - as carriers of the psyche.

Psychology, like any other science, has its own methods. Scientific research methods are the techniques and means by which information necessary for making practical recommendations and constructing scientific theories is obtained. The development of any science depends on how perfect the methods it uses are and how reliable

and
valid
.

Reliability

method is a characteristic of the method, showing the stability and consistency of the results obtained with its help.

Validity

method - the most important criterion for the good quality of the method, characterizing the accuracy of measurement of the property being studied; assessment of the adequacy of the method to the problem under study.

All methods currently used in psychology can be divided into two large groups (Fig. 2): objective and subjective methods. Subjective methods

, in contrast to objective ones, are based either on the self-esteem of the subjects, or on the point of view of a research psychologist on a particular problem.

Subjective methods include: observation, survey and tests (questionnaire test and task test). Objective ones include experiment and tests (objective and projective). It is worth going into more detail about what these methods are.

Observation method

is one of the oldest methods used in science in general.
It is a method of passive
and
direct exploration
of reality. The objectivity of the results obtained with its help depends primarily on the researcher himself, on his ability to conduct observations and notice significant, significant details.

Rice. 2.

Basic methods of psychological research

Currently, there are up to 14 different types of observation. The most common are: self-observation (for example, diary entries); external (the observer is not a member of the group under study, and the subjects perceive him as an outsider); included (the observer is a member of the group being studied, the subjects perceive him as a colleague); free (there are no strict requirements for the organization, the observation procedure, or the data registration procedure); standard (there is a strict observation plan), etc.

Survey

is a method based on obtaining the necessary information from the subjects themselves through questions and answers. There are several options for conducting a survey. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. There are three main types of questioning: oral, written and free.

Oral survey

, as a rule, is used in cases where it is necessary to monitor the reactions and behavior of the subject.

This type of survey allows you to penetrate deeper into human psychology than a written survey, since the questions asked by the researcher can be adjusted during the research process depending on the characteristics of the behavior and reactions of the subject. However, this version of the survey requires more time to conduct it, as well as special training for the researcher. One of the types of oral questioning is conversation.

A written survey allows you to reach a large number of people in a relatively short time. The most common form of this survey is a questionnaire. But its disadvantage is that it is impossible to predict the reaction of the subjects to its questions and change its content during the study.

Free poll

- a type of written or oral survey in which the list of questions asked is not determined in advance.

Test

is the most widely used method in psychology today. Its popularity is due to the possibility of obtaining an accurate and high-quality characterization of a psychological phenomenon, as well as the ability to compare research results, which is primarily necessary for solving practical problems. Tests differ from other methods in that they have a clear procedure for collecting and processing data, as well as a clear procedure for psychological interpretation of the results obtained.

It is customary to distinguish several variants of tests: questionnaire tests, task tests, projective tests.

Test questionnaire

as a method it is based on the analysis of test subjects' answers to questions that allow one to obtain reliable and reliable information about the presence or severity of a certain psychological characteristic.

Test task

involves obtaining information about a person’s psychological characteristics based on an analysis of the success of completing certain tasks.

Projective tests.

This category of tests is considered the most objective, since it does not use self-reports from subjects. They assume free interpretation by the researcher of the tasks performed by the subject. For example, based on the most preferred choice of color cards for a subject, a psychologist determines his emotional state. However, tests of the projective type place increased demands on the level of professional training and practical experience of the psychologist, and also require a sufficiently high level of intellectual development in the test subject.

Objective data can be obtained through experiment

- a method based on the creation of an artificial situation in which the property being studied is highlighted, manifested and assessed best. There are two main types of experiment: laboratory and natural. They differ from each other in the conditions of the experiment.

A laboratory experiment, unlike a natural one, involves the creation of an artificial situation in which the property being studied can be best assessed.

Another group of methods of psychological science consists of modeling

. They are used when using other methods is difficult. Their peculiarity is that, on the one hand, they rely on certain information about a particular mental phenomenon, and on the other hand, when using them, as a rule, the participation of subjects or taking into account the real situation is not required. Therefore, it can be very difficult to classify various modeling techniques as objective or subjective methods. Models can be technical, logical, mathematical, cybernetic, etc.

However, it should be borne in mind that the most effective study of mental phenomena is carried out through the integrated use of various methods.