Everyday and scientific - two directions of psychology for a better understanding of man

The human soul has been a subject of study since ancient times. The great thinkers of antiquity studied the behavior and reactions of people, but ordinary people also drew their own conclusions. They were transformed into sayings and proverbs, fairy tales and legends with deep meaning. Studying them gives an understanding of what it is everyday psychology

.

Personal experience, beliefs, worldview are the basis of everyday philosophy. It is formed in the process of observing the behavior of other people, as well as in an attempt to draw a conclusion about its causes and patterns. Everyday philosophy became the basis for the formation of psychological science, which became a separate branch only at the end of the 19th century.

What is everyday psychology

The concept of “everyday psychology” is often put on a par with wisdom and rich experience. When a person says that he is his own psychologist, he relies on conclusions and facts obtained as a result of his own actions, as well as on the experience accumulated by other people over many generations. This experience is transmitted through:

• traditions;
• beliefs;
• sayings, proverbs, sayings;
• parables

Knowledge

about life, about the difficulties and victories that other people had to face, allows you to understand how in most cases they acted and what results they got. This understanding can be very practical in some situations.

At the same time, everyday psychology gives the illusion that relying on the experience accumulated by others, you can correctly build a strategy for your own life. In fact, someone else's everyday

experience is not always applicable to a specific situation. Techniques that work for one person may not work for another.

Knowledge of everyday psychology helps to communicate with family, friends, strangers in everyday life.

life. But, if a person is not familiar with the patterns of functioning of the psyche, then he may experience discomfort and encounter difficult situations in communication.

In everyday psychology, all conclusions are based on reflections on a specific situation. Usually these conclusions are very superficial, because it seems that the reason for what is happening is very simple. Thus, in “wise” proverbs it is stated that:

• they don’t wash dirty linen in public;
• not knowing the ford, they don’t go into the water;
• silence is gold;
• modesty is an adornment.

A critical examination of the validity of these statements shows that they are not relevant for today's life. Similar attitudes were formed in ancient times under the influence of vivid mental manifestations. They were influenced by:

• emotional states - affects, fear, frustration, anxiety;
• personal characteristics - high or low degree of stress resistance, hard work, ability to rely on one’s own strengths, truthfulness or deceit, egocentrism or altruism.

There is no systematicity in everyday psychology, since it reflects and explains only certain facets of people’s lives. This is explained by the fact that the formation of views on life took place in the absence of adequate methods for studying reality.

Everyday psychology may correspond to the narrow needs of a particular community, tied to a place or connected by family ties. Developed on the basis of personal experience, it is always practical and gives an answer to the question of what to do in a given situation. But for universal application by a large number of people, life psychology is ineffective.

Everyday psychological knowledge is intuitive. Scientific - rational and conscious

The ability to unconsciously process information allows even a one-year-old child to understand perfectly with which adults he can be capricious and with whom he cannot, but such data is not supported by either logical reasoning or evidence. This is intuition. Of course, some researchers have well-developed intuition, but they always support their guesses with the results of experiments.

Situation

The story of her ninth-grader son drives the mother to despair: “At school they complain about him: he studies well, but in class he makes his classmates laugh and disrupts classes. At home he is quiet and attentive. I feel good about him - well, he can’t behave like that! I don’t know who to believe: myself, my son or my teachers? My husband advises me to write a complaint to the Department of Education and let them sort it out. But something is stopping me from taking such a step..."

Everyday psychology

Intuitive “I feel” and “something” quite correctly prevent a woman from taking the wrong step, but she does not receive an answer to her question with the help of intuition.

Scientific psychology

What is the scientific explanation for this situation? In social psychology, the dependence of behavior on the presence of other people has long been studied and described.

American psychologist Norman Triplett noticed at the end of the 19th century that cyclists rode faster when there were a lot of people around, and slower when the park was deserted. This is how the effect was discovered, which later became known as social facilitation. It is he who stands behind the teenager’s actions, and reinforces his social motive “to occupy a certain status in the reference (standard, significant) peer group”: it doesn’t work through grades, let’s try through jokes.

Scientific psychology

Psychology, as a branch of scientific knowledge, deals with the study and interpretation of the laws of the work of the human mental sphere. In scientific

psychology comes to the fore:

• general patterns;
• empirically proven facts;
• development of research methods;
• analysis of results.

Scientific psychology has a set of methods that make it possible to measure various psychological

processes, check the results.
The scientific approach is distinguished by its focus on academic knowledge and scientific thinking. All knowledge
and methods used in the work of a psychologist:

• clearly structured;
• rational;
• are based on experiments performed and professional observation.

The task of a psychologist when working with a client or group of people is to remain as objective as possible. At the same time, a specialist can interpret the information obtained during work or an experiment within the framework of a certain model chosen by him. Such interpretations may be more or less subjective.

Scientific psychology operates with concepts that reflect the most important properties of individuals, phenomena, objects, and the relationships between them. A scientific psychologist operates with standardized terminology, and his ability to use metaphors is limited. Many concepts from scientific psychology sound the same as in everyday psychology, but they differ in meaning.

Ordinary or everyday knowledge

Common or everyday knowledge is based on daily experience. It is in complete agreement with common sense and coincides with it in many ways. Ordinary knowledge involves the statement and description of facts. The sphere of the everyday is constantly expanding, this happens in waves due to the uneven development of science, philosophy, art, through the expansion of the range of known facts. Everyday knowledge has a special meaning against the background of the fact that it is the basis for all other knowledge. That is why one should not reduce his role in society and human existence.

Differences between everyday and scientific psychology

Although everyday and scientific psychology are closely related, they also have differences . Both directions are aimed at the deepest possible understanding of the human psyche, processes and phenomena caused by different mental states.

Very clearly highlighted the differences

two psychological directions Julia Gippenreiter.

1. Everyday psychology operates with specific knowledge, while scientific psychology operates with patterns.

To solve a specific problem in everyday psychology, a person seeks advice from other people, listens to different opinions and makes a decision. This strategy very rarely leads to real positive changes - each of the advisers, speaking about the request, relies on his own experience, but it often does not suit the other person.

If you turn to a psychologist who works on a scientific basis, then the search for a solution is carried out by the person who needs it. The psychologist does not advise or indicate what to do. He listens, identifies the causes of difficulties, helps to see the problematic situation from a new perspective, based on knowledge about the patterns of mental processes, asks questions that allow you to find the optimal solution.

1. The basis of everyday psychology is everyday experience, scientific psychology is based on experiments.

Daily events force a person to limit himself to observations and search for an answer to the question: “How to act to achieve a goal?” The scientific approach uses a different scheme. It includes experimental research, theory and practice. To resolve client requests, scientific psychologists use methods with experimentally proven effectiveness.

For example, it causes great discomfort to a person that, when talking with older colleagues, he blushes, becomes embarrassed, and lowers his eyes. Everyday psychology in such a situation advises looking between the eyebrows of the interlocutor during communication, and not directly into the eyes. Scientific psychology helps to find the reason for such behavior, reveals the origins of such a reaction, teaches how to cope with one’s own emotions, identify and competently use one’s own resources for effective interaction.

1. The main
   difference between everyday psychology is that it is based on intuition, while scientific psychology is based on awareness and rationalism.

Intuition is the ability to process information unconsciously, without resorting to logical thinking and evidence. If in everyday psychology conclusions are based on intuition, then in scientific psychology this phenomenon can also be used. At the same time, psychologists always test intuitive guesses using the experimental method and conduct analysis

obtained results, look for logical connections.

1. Knowledge in scientific psychology is transmitted by forming a base of terms and using them in specialized literature. In everyday psychology, the possibility of transferring knowledge is limited.

Briefly

This difference can be explained if we remember how “life experience” is transmitted.
The ratio
of knowledge that representatives of older generations can share with younger ones is much less than the amount that younger ones master during their studies. Scientific knowledge is accumulated in the form of clear terms, definitions, laws. They are transmitted through scientific literature.

1. The basis for scientific knowledge is a large amount of factual material. No man has such a large volume of material as science.

All the nuances that distinguish everyday psychology from scientific

th, do not put these two directions in opposition to each other. Everyday psychology has great potential, but the problem is that information from other people (in the form of advice, recommendations) is effective only for them and often does not apply to the situations in which other people find themselves. The importance of everyday psychology is that, like scientific psychology, it can make you think and rethink mental phenomena and events.

Everyday psychological knowledge is concrete, scientific psychology derives patterns

Numerous television programs (“Let's get married”, “Let them talk”, “Male and female”, “About love”) are based on the same scenario. The details of the problem are discussed, experts and viewers empathize with the hero, express opinions and advice.

But are psychological problems solved in this way? No. Most often, the discussion results in a feeling of coincidence with the life experiences of the invited experts. The viewer experiences an emotion, but does not solve his problem. The same thing happens if a friend or neighbor acts as a “psychologist”.

Situation

A young mother complains to her housemate, the same age, about her four-year-old son: he has completely stopped obeying, throws around and breaks toys.

Everyday psychology

“Don’t leave it like that,” the neighbor gives universal advice. - Tell your husband to be stricter with him! Ours has now become like silk - he’s so afraid of his father.”

Scientific psychology

A professional psychologist will not give advice. First of all, he will try to find out what caused the child’s behavior. Maybe the scenes of aggression that he saw on TV? (The scientific basis for this assumption is Albert Bandura's social learning theory.) Or lack of proper attention on the part of parents? (Psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud.) Or maybe mother or father’s irritability on weekends? (“Sunday neurosis” or a manifestation of an existential crisis due to the lack of meaning in life according to Viktor Frankl.)

Having found out the reason, the psychologist will work with it, adequately selecting a correction method.

The similarity between the scientific and everyday directions of psychology

Everyday and scientific psychology

are similar in that they help a person better understand himself and those around him. In practical psychology, the principles of both are used.

Main characteristics,

distinguishing the direction in which the everyday and scientific approaches are applied:

• everyday observation and study by scientific methods are used;
• a theoretical hypothesis is put forward, then it is tested in natural everyday situations;
• the psychologist records the breadth of use of the feature being studied.

The synthesis of two directions is widely used in studying the influence of a group on an individual and the relationships between group members.

The use of methods of scientific and everyday psychology helps to identify intergroup and interpersonal methods of interaction, determine behavioral characteristics,

unique personality characteristics.

Both directions - everyday and scientific psychology - complement each other. If everyday life accumulates the experience of one person, then scientific knowledge about the patterns of functioning of the psyche of many people is generalized.

Irina Sherbul

Everyday psychology is based on the experience of everyday life, scientific psychology is based on experimental methods

In everyday life, we are forced to limit ourselves to observations and thoughts: “Why did this happen to me?” The scientific path consists of the “experiment - theory - practice” scheme and is based on scientific methods: analysis and synthesis, experiment, projective techniques.

Situation

A young ambitious manager suddenly found himself unable to withstand the gaze of a subordinate who was twice his age and enjoyed special authority among his colleagues. He will probably formulate his problem like this: “What should I do so as not to blush at a meeting and not lower my eyes like a schoolboy?”

Everyday psychology

A common answer might be: “Look not directly into the eyes, but a little higher, at the forehead area.” Even if a young man tries this method and temporarily solves the problem, such a “victory” will be imaginary.

Scientific psychology

A psychologist will solve a deeper problem, rather than eliminate its “symptoms.” There are a number of experiments in social psychology that describe the behavior of informal leaders in an organization: this is probably what a subordinate became.

Thus, Elton Mayo's experiments revealed that informal leadership is important for group activity. And the task of a leader is not to be able to suppress when communicating, but to know the resources of his team and direct them as efficiently as possible to achieve organizational goals. This is exactly what we should strive for.

Peculiarities

The doctrine of the inner component of man as a certain form of everyday knowledge arose a long time ago, almost simultaneously with the birth of human society. The accumulation of life-long knowledge and everyday experience subsequently became the foundation for the emergence of the science of psychology, based on scientific facts.

Thus, everyday psychology is knowledge accumulated in the processes of life and used in life. It includes idle reasoning, human observations, personal conclusions regarding a certain situation. For example, kids are great at manipulating close adults, but such actions do not work with strangers.

Below are the features of everyday psychology:

– irrationality of conclusions (almost always conclusions are made by people intuitively);

– limited and erroneous generalization (often people mistakenly reduce all such circumstances to one typical situation, for example, if a person dresses informally, then his grandmothers, relaxing under the porches, automatically classify him as criminal elements);

– beliefs are based on subjective experiences, fears;

– judgments are determined by rumors, moods, fashion;

– knowledge is based on chance circumstances, reflections;

– insufficient cultural level of the considered variant of psychology, down-to-earth judgments often mixed with superstitions.

Another characteristic of everyday psychology is that people present their “discoveries” as truth. People are usually convinced that they are right, considering themselves the best psychologists, competent teachers, and knowledgeable mentors. The clearest example of this is bloggers or well-known hosts of popular “soap” TV shows. They present information not as personal fabrications, but as a single and immutable fact. They are convinced that they are right, although their knowledge is superficial, and their conclusions are based solely on their own experience, which is always subjective, therefore the information they bring to the masses cannot serve as a guide or behavioral pattern for all people.

We can distinguish at least five main types of psychological knowledge:

1) everyday psychology,

2) art,

3) scientific psychology,

4) practical psychology,

5) parapsychology.

1.1.everyday psychology

In our everyday life, we often use the words “psychology”, “psychologist”, “psychological”, without always thinking about their content. “This person is a good psychologist,” we say about someone who knows how to connect with people. “That’s just his psychology,” we sometimes say, trying to explain a person’s interests, inclinations and actions, characterizing the characteristics of his personality. Sometimes you can hear a phrase like “Well, he's just crazy,” meaning an emotional characterization of another person as inferior or sick.

Psychological knowledge of this kind was accumulated and used by man in everyday life in the course of historical development. Knowledge about people is usually specific and is formed individually for each person. Their reliability is verified by personal experience, and they are used when interacting with

other people.
This knowledge is usually called everyday psychology.
They begin with an attempt to explain one or another human action by the characteristics of his inner world. To do this, his different actions are compared and conclusions are drawn about the typical properties of his soul. This knowledge makes it possible to characterize it. Thus, everyday psychology moves from observation and attempts to explain a specific act to a generalized understanding of a person. The desire to better understand the inner world of people encourages us to compare their actions and come to common conclusions. Generalized knowledge of everyday psychology is formed. They are expressed in proverbs and sayings, in traditions, in knowledge that is passed on from mouth to mouth. Writers reflect this worldly wisdom.

The main criterion for the truth of knowledge of everyday psychology is the recognition of other people. If people see confirmation of certain everyday psychological principles in everyday life and feel their practical benefits, then these principles are considered true and are passed on from person to person, from generation to generation. In essence, everyday psychology is a generalization of everyday psychological knowledge. The features of this knowledge are specificity, practicality, accessibility of presentation, fragmentation and imprecision of the concepts used, reliance on life experience and common sense.

1.2.psychological knowledge in art

The most important source of psychological knowledge is works of art. This knowledge is figurative in nature. Good psychologists, according to the German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911), are writers, historians, and actors. He wanted the emergence of a psychology capable of capturing in the network of its descriptions what lies more in the works of poets and writers than in the then existing teachings about the soul. Writers and poets try to reflect the typical features of the inner world (psychology) of people in their plots, images, and actions of the characters. “What an artist, and what a psychologist!” George Sand said about Leo Tolstoy, referring to his ability to convey the subtlest movements of the human soul in works of art. At the same time, creative individuals use their observations, reflections, as well as the wisdom of everyday psychology.

Artists also reflect the inner world of a person in their paintings and graphic works. Moreover, what is important here is not only “what” they depict, but also “how” they do it. In music, a person’s inner world is reflected in sounds. Images of various kinds and types created in works of art allow a person to better understand his inner world and the souls of other people. The main criterion for the truth of psychological knowledge in art is the recognition of images, the recognition of the reader, viewer, listener. If they find in a work of art, in one image or another, a reflection of the typical features of a person’s inner world, then this psychological knowledge is considered correct. Features of such knowledge are concreteness, imagery, emotionality, and fragmentation. But through them a person sees typicality. The use of concepts is uncharacteristic. However, the psychological knowledge reflected in the literature is of great value. Therefore, professional psychologists have always turned to this source (Sirotkina,

1998).

When it comes to everyday psychology or the reflection of people’s psychology in art, the word “psychologist” is used metaphorically (for example, in relation to L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, etc.).

In the strict sense of the word, a psychologist is a person who professionally deals with this science in theoretical and practical terms, and provides practical assistance to people in various life situations.

1.3. scientific psychology

The third source of psychological knowledge is science. Over the course of many centuries, scientific and psychological knowledge has developed within the framework of philosophy, medicine, pedagogy and other sciences. In the second half of the 19th century, psychology became an independent science and during the 20th century accumulated a huge amount of knowledge. Scientific psychology is aimed at searching for patterns of mental phenomena, uses scientific methods that are characterized by objectivity and provide greater reliability of the knowledge obtained. To describe the human mental world, scientists use abstract scientific categories, such as, for example, activity, individual, personality, communication, abilities... Scientific and psychological knowledge is characterized by rationalism and intellectualism; the lack of specificity and lack of integrity in the description of mental phenomena are the two main difficulties in their practical application. Features of scientific and psychological knowledge are their generality, systematicity, evidence, and reliance on scientific facts and concepts. At the same time, this knowledge is presented in the specific language of scientific psychology, understandable only to professional psychologists, but is not always practical and accessible in presentation for an untrained user. Therefore, science often cannot satisfy people's need for psychological knowledge for everyday practical needs. Scientific psychology is also often called academic psychology. There is also a special direction of scientific psychology - applied psychology, which studies ways of applying (application) scientific and psychological knowledge to solve practical problems.

1.4. practical psychology

The fourth source of psychological knowledge is practical psychology. Its tasks include finding ways and developing methods of psychological assistance to people. Practical psychology studies not the general patterns of mental phenomena, but individuality, the specific circumstances of a person’s life and ways of interacting with him. The criterion for the reliability of knowledge is the practical experience and efficiency of a specialist. Psychological knowledge obtained as a result of practical work experience is generalized and systematized, and a concept is formed on its basis. This generalized concept describes the characteristics and problems of people of a certain type and ways of psychological assistance to them. A practical psychologist in his work always relies on some concept and applies it taking into account a specific situation. The features of knowledge in practical psychology can be considered integrity, a combination of generality and specificity, practicality, and reliance on the experience of specialists. At the same time, practical experience does not always provide sufficient evidence of certain ideas. Unlike theoretical scientists, practical psychologists show a greater desire to popularize psychological knowledge and are able to clearly and accessiblely describe it. Therefore, most popular books on psychology are written by psychotherapists. The abundance of recommendations makes them especially attractive.

1.5. parapsychology

Let us call the fifth source of psychological knowledge parapsychology, which belongs to the type of esoteric knowledge. “Esoteric knowledge” literally means knowledge available only to initiates, to a special circle of the elect. The esoteric includes extrasensory cognition, clairvoyance, telepathy, palmistry, methods of yoga, and astrology. The body of esoteric knowledge relating to the world of psychic phenomena is often called parapsychology. The mystery of the methods for obtaining them, the lack of possibility of explanation on the basis of traditional scientific principles are characteristic of such knowledge. Methods of proving the truth of such knowledge are specific and not systematic enough. Plausibility is the main criterion of truth. The features of this knowledge are: integrity of worldview, combination of specificity and uncertainty, practicality of conclusions, reliance on secret knowledge. Scientific verification of the reliability of esoteric psychological knowledge can significantly supplement information about the human psychic world. In particular, as shown by Professor V.N. Druzhinin, horoscopes may contain important psychological information (Druzhinin,

1995).