The subject and methods of developmental psychology are based on the laws of the formation of the psyche, exploring the mechanisms and driving forces this process, analyzing various approaches to understanding the nature, functions and genesis of the psyche, various aspects of the formation of the psyche - its change in the process of activity, communication, cognition. She also considers the impact various kinds communication, learning, different cultures and social conditions on the dynamics of the formation of the psyche at different ages and different levels mental development.

As you know, psychology is associated with various areas of science and culture, which helps to highlight the subject and methods of developmental psychology, putting forward hypotheses and experimental studies of the dynamics of the formation of the psyche. The main areas of scientific knowledge on which the subject and methods of developmental psychology are based are philosophy and natural science. At the same time, in the works of many psychologists, a connection with ethnography, sociology, cultural theory, art history, mathematics, logic, and linguistics is clearly visible.

The methods of developmental psychology used in genetic research (observation, tests, experiment) are closely related to the methods of general psychology, but have specific features due to the study of the development process, changes in one or another mental process or quality. Naturally, self-observation, which has long been the leading psychological method, cannot be used in developmental psychology. Actually, developmental psychology appeared with the formation of new, objective methods study of the psyche, which could be used in the study of children, animals, primitive peoples. Observation from the outside, as well as diary observations, became, especially at first, the main methods of developmental psychology. Later, tests appeared, analysis of products of creative activity (drawings, stories, etc.), as well as an experiment.

In addition to laboratory and natural experiments, longitudinal and cross-sectional studies have become widespread in developmental psychology. A longitudinal experiment is used when it is possible to study a certain group over a long period of time, for example, to study the development of memory, or self-esteem, or some other parameter in children from the age of five to 10 or 15 years. The cross-sectional experiment is used for the same purpose, but it saves time, since it is possible to simultaneously study the dynamics of the formation of a certain function in children of different ages. However, since all children have individual characteristics, these data are less accurate than in a longitudinal study, although a large number of subjects allows obtaining objective values.

Among the methods in developmental psychology, a formative experiment is also used, which allows you to understand which parameter has the greatest impact on the formation of a particular mental process or psychological quality. In this case, the subjects are always divided into control and experimental groups, and work is carried out only with the experimental group. The level of development of the studied parameter is measured in both groups before the start of the experiment and at the end, and then the difference between them is analyzed. Based on this analysis, a conclusion is made about the effectiveness of the formative impact.

Modern psychology is a branched system of scientific disciplines, among which a special place is occupied by age-related psychology or, more correctly, the psychology of human development, associated with the study of the age dynamics of the development of the human psyche, ontogenesis mental processes and psychological qualities personality of a person who changes qualitatively in time. The concept of developmental psychology is, in principle, narrower than the concept of developmental psychology, since development is considered here only as a function of either chronological age or age period. Developmental psychology is connected not only with the study of the age stages of human ontogenesis, but also considers various processes of macro- and micropsychic development in general. Therefore, strictly speaking, developmental psychology can only be part of developmental psychology, although they are sometimes used interchangeably.

Like any science, developmental psychology has the functions of description, explanation, forecast, correction. In relation to a certain area of ​​research (in our case, to mental development), these functions act as specific scientific tasks, i.e. common goals that science seeks to achieve.

The description of development presupposes the presentation of the phenomenology of the processes of development in its entirety (from the point of view of external behavior and internal experiences). Unfortunately, a lot of developmental psychology is at the level of description.

To explain development means to identify the causes, factors and conditions that led to changes in behavior and experience. The explanation is based on a scheme of causality, which can be strictly unambiguous (which is extremely rare), probabilistic (statistical, with varying degrees of deviation) or absent altogether. It can be single (which is very rare) or multiple (which is usually the case in developmental studies).

If the explanation answers the question “why did this happen?” By revealing the reasons for the already existing effect and determining the factors that caused it, then the forecast answers the question “what will it lead to?”, Pointing to the consequences that follow from this cause. Thus, if in the explanation of development the thought moves from the effect to the cause, then in the forecast of development we go from the cause to the effect. This means that when explaining the changes that have occurred, the study begins with their description and continues with the transition to the description. possible causes and their relationship to the changes. When forecasting, the study also begins with a description of the changes that have occurred, but they are no longer considered as a consequence, but as the cause of possible changes, the description of which must be compiled. The forecast of development is always hypothetical in nature, as it is based on an explanation, on the establishment of links between the onset of the consequence and possible causes. If this connection is established, then the fact of its existence allows us to consider that the totality of the identified causes will necessarily entail a consequence. This, in fact, is the meaning of the forecast.

If the description of development is the creation of its image in the mind of the researcher, the explanation is the establishment of connections between the effect and possible causes, and the forecast of development is its prediction based on the already established cause-and-effect relationships, then the correction of development is its management through a change in possible causes. And since development is a branching process that has nodes of qualitative and lines of quantitative changes, the possibilities of correction are theoretically unlimited. Restrictions are imposed here to a greater extent by the possibilities of description, explanation and forecast, which provide information about the nature of the ongoing processes and the nature of the object as a whole. It is important to note the special place of the forecast and correction of development in solving applied problems of developmental psychology.

The result of the description, explanation, forecast and correction is a model or theory of development.

Developmental psychology is primarily a fundamental theoretical discipline, but the knowledge gained in it and the methods developed are used in applied areas.

The problem of individual human development is one of the fundamental problems of natural science and psychology. There are a number of important psychological aspects in this problem, which are especially closely related to the issues of personality formation. One of them is the study of age characteristics, which are very significant for each individual period of human life.

Age characteristics are interconnected in various ways with sexual, typological and individual characteristics, from which they can be separated only relatively relatively. All this makes it difficult to identify age features for a special study. The only exceptions are the earliest stages of human life, when age features appear in a purer form, and typological and individual modifications of development are still weakly expressed. In the first years of a person's life, age differences are measured in months and half a year. Attention is also drawn to the fact that in the early periods of a person's life, the timing of the onset of one or another age stage is more or less general, relatively independent of the characteristics of the constitution, type of nervous system, etc. But already in adolescence, and even more so in adolescence, the change of age periods largely depends not only on the conditions of education, but also on the prevailing individual and typological characteristics of the emerging personality. The processes of growth, maturation and development are increasingly mediated by the accumulated life experience and the formed typological and individual traits.

This situation is especially typical for all periods of maturity, age differences between which are, as it were, “overlapped” by the type of individual development, the nature of practical activity, and so on.

Undoubtedly, one of the main issues in the theory of individual development of a person is precisely the question of the relationship between age, typological and individual characteristics of a person, about the changing and contradictory relationships between them. Individual development becomes more and more peculiar and individualized with age.

Exploring age dynamics, the characteristics of individual periods and the relationship between them, one cannot abstract from the life path of a person, the history of his individual development in various public relations and mediations. The age periods of life common to all people (from infancy to old age) are characterized relatively permanent signs somatic and neuropsychic development.

Developmental psychology is the study of how people's behaviors and experiences change with age. Although most developmental theories focus on the period of childhood, their ultimate goal is to reveal patterns of development throughout a person's life. The study, description and explanation of these patterns determines the scope of the tasks that developmental psychology solves.

Two sources nourish developmental psychology. On the one hand, these are explanatory principles of biology and evolutionary theory, on the other hand, ways of social and cultural influence on the course of development. In order to explain human development, it is important not only to understand human nature (because development is a natural phenomenon), but also to take into account the various effects that specific social institutions have on the child. Development is equally a process of biological growth and a process of appropriation by the child cultural property. Therefore, all modern theories of human development try to establish a relationship between nature and culture, but they do this with varying degrees of success, focusing either on nature or on culture.

The definition of developmental psychology as the doctrine of the periods of psychological development and personality formation in ontogenesis, their change and transitions from one age to another, as well as the historical analysis of the successive stages of ontogenesis, indicate that the subject of developmental psychology has changed historically. At present, the subject of developmental psychology is the disclosure of the general patterns of mental development in ontogenesis, the establishment of age periods, the formation and development of activity, consciousness and personality, and the reasons for the transition from one period to another, which is impossible without taking into account the influence of cultural, historical, ethnic and socio-economic conditions.

The biological development of man has come a long way, but its systematic study has a rather short history. Although the phenomenon of reproduction and growth has always been available for observation, a clear awareness of the need for research human development most often arose only during periods of social or economic transformation.

Developmental psychology took shape as an independent field of knowledge by the end of the 19th century. Originating as child psychology, developmental psychology has long been limited to the study of the patterns of child mental development, however, the demands of modern society, new achievements in psychological science, which have made it possible to consider each age from the perspective of development, have made it obvious the need for a holistic analysis of the ontogenetic process and interdisciplinary research. Currently, the sections of developmental psychology are: child psychology (studying the regularities of the stages of mental development from infancy to adolescence inclusive), the psychology of youth, the psychology of adulthood and gerontopsychology (the psychology of old age).

The historical analysis of the concept of "childhood" is given in the works of P.P. Blonsky, L.S. Vygotsky, D.B. Elkonin, which reveals the reasons why, under similar natural conditions, the level of mental development that a child reaches at each historical stage of society is not the same. Childhood is an ongoing period
from newborn to full social and, consequently, psychological maturity; This is the period of the child becoming a full-fledged member of human society. At the same time, the duration of childhood in primitive society is not equal to the length of childhood in the Middle Ages or today. The stages of human childhood are a product of history, and they are just as subject to change as they were thousands of years ago. Therefore, it is impossible to study the childhood of a child and the laws of its formation outside the development of human society and the laws that determine its development. The duration of childhood is directly dependent on the level of material and spiritual culture of society. The course of the mental development of the child, according to L.S. Vygotsky, does not obey the eternal laws of nature, the laws of the maturation of the organism. The course of child development in a class society, he believed, "has a very definite class meaning." That is why he emphasized that there is no eternally childish, but only historically childish.

question about historical origin periods of childhood, about the connection between the history of childhood and the history of society, about the history of childhood as a whole, without the solution of which it is impossible to form a meaningful concept of childhood, was raised in child psychology in the late 1920s and continues to be developed to this day. According to the views of Russian psychologists, to study child development historically means to study the transition of a child from one age stage to another, to study the change in his personality within each age period that occurs in specific historical conditions.

In modern developmental psychology, the historical analysis of the concept of "childhood" is most fully given in the concept of D.I. Feldstein, who considers childhood as a socio-psychological phenomenon of society and a special state of development.

In the concept of D.I. Feldstein gave a meaningful psychological analysis of the system of interaction functional connections defining social condition Childhood in its generalized understanding in a particular society, as well as ways to resolve the issue of what connects different periods of Childhood, what ensures the general state of Childhood, which takes it to another state - to Adulthood.

Defining childhood as a phenomenon of the social world, D.I. Feldstein highlights the following characteristics.

Functionally - Childhood is expected as an objectively necessary state in the dynamic system of society, the state of the process of maturation of the younger generation and, therefore, preparation for the reproduction of the future society.

In its meaningful definition, it is a process of constant physical growth, the accumulation of mental neoplasms, the development of social space, reflection on all relations in this space, defining oneself in it, one's own self-organization, which occurs in the constantly expanding and more complex contacts of the child with adults and other children ( younger, peers, elders), the adult community as a whole.

Essentially - Childhood is a form of manifestation, a special state social development when the biological patterns associated with the age-related changes in the child, to a large extent, show their effect, "obeying", however, to an ever greater extent the regulating and determining action of the social.

And the meaning of all meaningful changes lies not only in the acquisition, appropriation by the child of social norms (which, as a rule, focuses on), but in the very development of social, social properties, qualities that are inherent in human nature. In practice, this is carried out in achieving a certain level of socialization, which is typical for a specific historical society, more broadly for a specific historical time, but at the same time it is also a state of development of that social level that characterizes a person of a certain era, in this case a modern person. At the same time, the social principle, as they grow older, more and more actively determines the features of the functioning of the child and the content of the development of his individuality.

Being a complex, independent organism, Childhood is an integral part of society, acting as a special generalized subject of multifaceted, diverse relations in which it objectively sets the tasks and goals of interaction with adults, determining the directions of their activities with it, develops its own socially significant world.

According to D.I. Feldstein, the main, internally laid down goal of Childhood in general and of each child, in particular, is growing up - the development, appropriation, realization of adulthood. But the same goal - the growing up of children, subjectively having a different direction - to ensure this growing up - is the main one for the Adult world.

The attitude of the Adult community to Childhood, regardless of the definition of its upper limit, is distinguished primarily by stability - it is an attitude as to a special state, as to a phenomenon that is outside the adult sphere of life. The author of the concept considers the problem of the relationship of the Adult community to Childhood in a broad socio-cultural context and socio-historical plan and highlights the position of the World of Adults to Childhood not as a collection of children different ages- outside the Adult World (who need to be raised, educated, trained), but as a subject of interaction, as a special state of its own, which society goes through in its constant reproduction. This is not a “social nursery”, but a social state deployed in time, ranked by density, structures, forms of activity, etc., in which children and adults interact.

In the West, interest in the study of childhood ( we are talking about the period from about 7 years to adolescence) arose only after the end of the industrial revolution in the 19th century. However, already long before this, early childhood was considered as a separate period of the life cycle. At the moment when the changes in the economic organization of society caused by the industrial revolution began to occur (such as the migration of the population from countryside to the cities), a favorable period has come for the study of childhood. The Industrial Revolution led to factory workers needing basic literacy and numeracy skills that could only be acquired within a general primary education. Thus, research into the mind of the child received a powerful impetus, since it was they who could make education more effective. Undoubtedly, other social factors (such as increased wealth, improved hygiene, increased control of childhood diseases) also contributed to the shift in focus towards childhood.

Adolescence as a separate stage between childhood and adulthood has also been identified and described in a system of biological, historical and cultural changes. The distinctive biological features of adolescence provided visible landmarks for distinguishing this phase of the life cycle. However, he became an object of study in developmental psychology only in the 20th century, when Western society reached a level of prosperity that made it possible to remove economic responsibility from a teenager. This made it possible to delay the entry of adolescents into working life and at the same time increase the time for obtaining education.

In modern developmental psychology, historical analysis will be extended not only to Childhood as a socio-psychological phenomenon of society, but also to Youth, Maturity, and Old Age. However, until recently these ages were outside the sphere of actual interests of developmental psychology (developmental psychology), since Maturity was considered as the age of "psychological petrification", and Old Age - as the age of total extinction. Thus, while developing physically, socially, an adult person was, as it were, excluded from the process of development in its socio-psychological meaning and from the history of the development of the most specific person as a really acting subject, the development of his consciousness, self-consciousness, and other personal qualities.

Development in adulthood - the life course - has only very recently become an object of study. Social and medical advances that made it possible to live to a very old age and live long enough after the end of active work have drawn attention to the problems and real opportunities of older people. Therefore, the question arose about the psychology of aging, also addressed to the psychology of development.

The actualization of the interest of developmental psychology in the study of periods of Maturity and Old Age is associated with the humanization of society and the beginning of the revival and active development of acmeology (declared in the works of B.G. Ananiev) as a science about the period of maximum flowering of personal growth, the highest moment of manifestation of spiritual forces. These trends and scientific approaches have significantly changed the current situation of understanding the Adult, opening up a new space for a person, emphasizing the importance of studying the main points of his creative self-development. As D.I. Feldstein, these important and promising areas should in the future reveal the problem of the Adult in development and the problem of its development, which is possible only if all stages of ontogenesis are considered in unity, and old age, including deep age, is studied as a moment of individual way. In the knowledge of an adult, understanding his personal characteristics importance takes into account the historical situation. Modern man has not only acquired new possibilities of choice, new level self-consciousness (the available studies of individuals of antiquity - A.F. Losev, the Middle Ages - Y.A. Gurevich, etc., testify to the complex path of acquiring a personality by a person), but the tasks that have now arisen at the turn of the millennium require him to further develop in terms of deployment relationships, deepening self-determination, “general maturation”. And constantly growing opportunities (determined by the achievements of science, technology, medicine, informatization, etc.) determine a new situation in the development of an adult, expanding the boundaries of his life. And in this regard, the problem of old age, the problem of an elderly person, is of particular importance.

Among the individual sections of developmental psychology, gerontology is the "youngest" area of ​​research. Right now, old ideas about old age are breaking down. Its two aspects - physical and psychological - are becoming more and more differentiated. Old age is a natural stage in human development, and the possibilities of lengthening human life are becoming more and more obvious, including through the internal self-development of the individual himself, the development of his psychological stability against aging.

So, at every point in the life cycle, there are both biological and cultural aspects of development. Biological processes contribute to the development and provide a natural "marking" of individual stages. They acquire significance as prerequisites for social history and provide a stimulus for a deeper understanding of the life cycle. Society influences the development of a person throughout his life. It sets a frame of reference, relative to which individual stages or periods of life can be singled out and studied.

The tasks of developmental psychology are broad and ambiguous. At present, this branch of psychology has acquired the status of a scientific and practical discipline, and therefore, theoretical and practical tasks should be distinguished among its tasks. To the number theoretical tasks developmental psychology include the study of the main psychological criteria and characteristics of Childhood, Youth, Adulthood (Maturity), Old Age as social phenomena and successive states of society, the study of the age dynamics of mental processes and personal development depending on cultural, historical, ethnic and socio-economic conditions, various types of education and training, research differentially psychological differences(sexually mature and typological properties of a person), studies of the process of growing up in its entirety and diverse manifestations.

Among the scientific practical tasks problems facing developmental psychology include the creation of a methodological framework for monitoring the course, the usefulness of the content and conditions of mental development at different stages of ontogenesis, the organization of optimal forms of activity and communication in childhood and adolescence, as well as the organization psychological help during periods of age crises, in adulthood and old age.

L. Montada proposes to single out 6 main tasks related to the scope of application of developmental psychology in practice.

1. Orientation in life path. This task involves answering the question “what do we have?”, i.e. determination of the level of development. The sequence of age-related changes in the form of a description quantitative functions development or qualitative stages of development is a classic issue of developmental psychology. On this basis, statistical age norms of development are built, thanks to which it is possible to give a general assessment of the course of development both in individual cases and in relation to various educational and educational issues. So, for example, knowing what tasks children of 7 years old independently solve, it is possible to determine whether a particular child is below, above or on par with the norm. At the same time, it is possible to determine whether the educational and educational requirements correspond to this norm of independence.
2. Determining the conditions for development and change. This task presupposes the answer to the question “how did this arise?”, i.e. what are the causes and conditions that led to this level of development. Explanatory models of developmental psychology are focused primarily on the analysis of the ontogenesis of personality traits and its disorders, taking into account attitudes, the development environment, interaction with educators, special events, and also, as an ideal case, the interaction of all these variables. At the same time, psychologists are interested not so much in short-term as long-term influences of developmental factors. The cumulative nature of the influence of development factors and the discrete nature of causal relationships are also taken into account. Knowledge of the conditions makes it possible to delay developmental disturbances (prevention) and make appropriate decisions to optimize the course of development. Of particular importance for obtaining the desired effect is the determination of the conformity of the conditions of development and possible options for intervention to the current level of development of the individual, his personal properties.
3. Prediction of stability and variability of personality traits. This task involves answering the question “what will happen if ..?”, i.e. a forecast not only of the course of development, but also of the intervention measures taken. Many activities in the practice of educational and educational work - explicitly or implicitly - suggest a forecast for further development. Thus, for example, the right to care for a child after the divorce of the parents is retained by the mother only if it is considered that this will be best for the further development of the child. To make such predictions, knowledge is needed about the stability or instability of the properties and conditions for the development of both the personality itself and the personality in the group. Due to the numerous factors involved, such psychological forecasts are often erroneous.
4. Explanation of development and correction goals. This task involves answering the question “what should be?”, i.e. determines what is possible, real, and what should be excluded. As an empirical science, developmental psychology, in contrast to pedagogy, is neutral in relation to the social order, public and personal opinion. Therefore, it is able and obliged to resist them, if this contradicts the established facts and laws. At the same time, it performs the function of substantiating certain proposals and projects, if they are consistent with its knowledge. And finally, it acts as the initiator of the correction of decisions already made, if studies show their unreasonableness. A falsely established norm of development leads to significant distortions in the practice of educational and upbringing work.
5. Planning of corrective actions. This task involves answering the question “how can the goals be achieved?”, i.e. what needs to be done to get the desired effect from the intervention. So, corrective measures are needed only if the set development goals are not achieved, if the development tasks are not mastered, or if there is a fact that the development conditions lead to its undesirable course. Here one should distinguish between: 1) the goals of development of the individual himself; 2) development potentials of the individual himself; 3) social requirements for development; 4) development opportunities. Accordingly, corrective measures should be differentiated according to their purpose. Often there is a discrepancy between these goals, which should be the object of correction. The purpose of the planned correction may be the prevention of developmental disorders, the correction of development, or the optimization of developmental processes. In any case, informed decisions must be made about when the intervention promises to be successful, where it should be applied, and which method should be chosen.
6. Evaluation of developmental correction. This task involves answering the question “what did it lead to?”, i.e. that the corrective action has taken. Modern developmental psychology refrains from hasty assessment of the effectiveness of certain corrective actions. She believes that a real assessment can only be obtained as a result of long-term observation of the individual, during which both positive effects and side effects should be established. It is also believed that the evaluation of effectiveness is largely determined by the scientific paradigm that the psychologist adheres to.

Actual problems of the studied science

The modern nature of the requirements of social practice for developmental psychology determines its convergence not only with pedagogy, but also with medicine and engineering psychology, as well as with other related branches of science that study human beings.

The emergence of new problems at the intersection of developmental and engineering psychology and labor psychology is due to the need to take into account age factor in the construction of effective training modes for operators and in teaching professional skills in highly automated production, in assessing the reliability of work and the adaptive capabilities of a person under overload conditions. Very little research has been done in this direction.

The convergence of medical sciences and developmental psychology occurs on the basis of increasing demands clinical diagnostics for the purpose of more accurate prevention, treatment and labor expertise, using deep and comprehensive knowledge of the conditions and capabilities of a person in different periods of his life. Close connection with the clinic, medicine, including geriatrics, contributes to the in-depth development of the main problems of developmental psychology, such as the potentials of human development in different age periods, the definition of age-related norms of mental functions.

One of the urgent problems is the expansion of knowledge on the age characteristics of the psychophysiological functions of adults through their micro-age analysis during the period of growth and involution. Conducting research in the indicated plan on schoolchildren of different ages made it possible to show the effect of complex patterns of age-related variability of some psychophysiological functions at different levels of their organization and to give their theoretical description.

The formation of a person as a person, as a subject of cognition, social behavior and practical activity is somehow connected with age limits that mediate the process of social impact on a person, social regulation his status and behavior in society.

The specificity of the age factor lies not only in the fact that it manifests itself differently in certain periods of the life cycle. Its study is complicated by the fact that it acts in unity with individual characteristics, which are important to take into account when developing age standards.

The problem of age normalization includes not only consideration of average standards, but also the question of individual variability. psychological characteristics. Moreover, individual differences are independent problem in the structure of developmental psychology. Consideration of age and individual characteristics in their unity creates new opportunities for studying learning ability, for determining the genesis and degree of maturity of psychological functions.

The next cycle of problems in developmental psychology is associated with the phenomenon of accelerating the development process. Acceleration during the period of growth and maturation of the body and retardation of aging, pushing back the boundaries of gerontogenesis in modern society under the influence of a whole range of socio-economic, sanitary, hygienic and biotic factors influence the construction of a system of age regulation. At the same time, the issues of acceleration and retardation remain little studied precisely because the age-related criteria for mental development in their diversity turn out to be insufficiently developed.

For further research one of the main problems of developmental psychology - the classification of life periods - the structural-genetic approach to the ontogenetic development of a person is of paramount importance.

Based on the knowledge of the main characteristics of the human life cycle, its internal patterns and mechanisms, a synthetic problem can be developed about the hidden possibilities and reserves of mental development itself.

Among the main problems of developmental psychology is the study of developmental factors, since it is carried out in the interaction of a person with the outside world, in the process of communication, practical and theoretical activity. The determinants and conditions of human development include socio-economic, political and legal, ideological, pedagogical, as well as biotic and abiotic factors.

Thus, a certain hierarchy of topical problems of a more general and particular order is outlined, the solution of which is subordinated to the main goal - the further development of the theory of individual development and the expansion of the possibilities for applying scientific knowledge on developmental psychology to solving social and social problems. industrial practice, since now the scientific study of the patterns of mental development is becoming a necessary condition for the further improvement of all forms of upbringing and education, not only of the younger generation, but also of an adult.

Principles and methods of developmental and developmental psychology

Principle - (from lat. Principium - beginning, basis) - the main starting point of any theory, doctrine, science, worldview.

In psychology, there are several methodological principles that provide big influence on the tasks it solves, and on the ways of studying the spiritual life of people. The most important of them are the principles of determinism, consistency and development. The principle of development is the leading one for that area of ​​psychological science that describes the genesis of the psyche. However, before turning to an analysis of the role and methods of influence of the principle of development, it is necessary to dwell briefly on the description of two other methodological principles and their place in psychology.

The principle of determinism implies that all mental phenomena are connected according to the law of cause-and-effect relations, i.e. everything that happens in our soul has some cause that can be identified and studied and which explains why this and not another effect has arisen. In psychology, there were several approaches to explaining the emerging connections.

Even in antiquity, scientists first spoke about determinism, about the existence of a universal law, the Logos, which determines what should happen to man, to nature as a whole. Democritus, who developed the detailed concept of determinism, wrote that people invented the idea of ​​chance in order to cover up ignorance of the matter and inability to manage.

Later, in the 17th century, Descartes introduced the concept of mechanical determinism, proving that all processes in the psyche can be explained on the basis of the laws of mechanics. This is how the idea arose about the mechanical nature of human behavior, which obeys the law of reflex. Mechanical determinism lasted almost 200 years. Its influence can also be seen in the theoretical positions of the founder of associative psychology, D. Gartley, who believed that associations in both small (psyche) and large (behavior) circles are formed and developed according to the laws of Newtonian mechanics. Echoes of mechanical determinism can even be found in early 20th-century psychology, such as the theory of energyism, which was accepted by many well-known psychologists, and also in some postulates of behaviorism, such as the idea that positive reinforcement enhances the response, and negative reinforcement weakens it.

But an even greater influence on the development of psychology was exerted by biological determinism, which arose with the advent of the theory of evolution. In this theory, the development of the psyche is determined by the desire for adaptation, i.e. everything that happens in the psyche is aimed at creature as well as possible adapted to the conditions in which it lives. The same law extended to the human psyche, and almost all psychological schools took this kind of determinism as an axiom.

The last kind of determinism, which can be called psychological, proceeds from the fact that the development of the psyche is explained and directed by a specific goal. However, unlike the understanding of the goal in antiquity, when it was considered a given force external to a person, in this case the goal is inherent in the very content of the soul, the psyche of a particular living being and determines its desire for self-expression and self-realization - in communication, cognition, creative activity. Psychological determinism also proceeds from the fact that the environment is not just a condition, a zone of human habitation, but a culture that carries the most important knowledge, experiences, which largely change the process of becoming a person. Thus, culture is considered one of the most significant factors influencing the development of the psyche, helping to realize oneself as a bearer of unique spiritual values ​​and qualities, as well as a member of society. Psychological determinism, in addition, suggests that the processes taking place in the soul can be aimed not only at adapting to the environment, but also at resisting it - in the event that the environment interferes with the disclosure of the potential abilities of a given person.

The principle of consistency describes and explains the main types of communication between different aspects of the psyche, the spheres of the mental. He assumes that individual mental phenomena are internally interconnected, forming integrity and acquiring new properties due to this. However, as in the study of determinism, the study of these connections and their properties by psychologists has a long history.

The first researchers of those connections that exist between mental phenomena considered the psyche as a sensory mosaic, which consists of several elements - sensations, ideas and feelings. According to certain laws, primarily the laws of associations, these elements are interconnected. This type of connection was called elementarism.

The functional approach, in which the psyche was presented as a set individual functions, aimed at the implementation of various mental acts and processes (vision, learning, etc.), appeared, as well as biological determinism, in connection with the theory of evolution. Biological research showed that there is a relationship between morphology and function, including mental function. Thus, it was proved that mental processes (memory, perception, etc.) and acts of behavior can be represented as functional blocks. Depending on the type of determination, these blocks act according to the laws of mechanics (as separate parts of a complex machine) or according to the laws of biological adaptation, linking the organism and the environment into a single whole. However, this principle did not explain how, in the event of a defect in some function, its compensation occurs, i.e. how shortcomings in the work of some departments can be compensated by the normal work of others (for example, poor hearing - the development of tactile or vibrational sensations).

This is what explains the principle of consistency, which represents the psyche as a complex system, the individual blocks (functions) of which are interconnected. Thus, the systemic nature of the psyche presupposes its activity, since only in this case both self-regulation and compensation are possible, which are inherent in the psyche even at the lower levels of the development of the psyche. Consistency in the understanding of the psyche does not contradict the awareness of its integrity, the idea of ​​"holism", since each mental system (first of all, of course, the human psyche) is unique and integral.

Finally, let's move on to the principle of development, which states that the psyche is constantly changing, developing, therefore the most adequate way to study it is to study the patterns of this genesis, its types and stages. No wonder one of the most common psychological methods is genetic.

It has already been said above that the idea of ​​development came to psychology with the theory of evolution, which proves that the psyche changes along with the environment and serves to adapt the organism to it. The English psychologist G. Spencer for the first time identified the stages of development of the psyche. He studied the genesis of the psyche, proceeding from the fact that the human psyche is the highest stage of development, which did not appear immediately, but gradually, in the process of complicating the living conditions and activities of living beings. The initial form of mental life - sensation, developed from irritability, and then from the simplest sensations various forms of the psyche appeared, which are interconnected levels of the formation of consciousness and behavior. All of them are original tools for the survival of the organism, particular forms of adaptation to the environment.

These include:

• consciousness - behavior,

• feeling, reflex

• feelings - instinct,

• memory is a skill

• mind - volitional behavior.

Speaking about the role of each stage, Spencer emphasized the main importance of the mind: it is devoid of the limitations that are inherent in the lower forms of the psyche, and therefore provides the most adequate adaptation of the individual to the environment. This idea about the connection of the psyche, mainly the intellect, with adaptation became the leading one for developmental psychology in the first half of the 20th century.

The principle of development says that there are two ways of the development of the psyche - phylogenetic and ontogenetic, i.e. the development of the psyche in the process of the formation of the human race and in the process of a child's life. Studies have shown that these two types of development have a certain correspondence with each other.

As the American psychologist S. Hall suggested, this similarity is due to the fact that the stages of development of the psyche are fixed in nerve cells and are transmitted to the child by inheritance, and therefore no changes are possible either in the pace of development or in the sequence of stages. The theory that established this rigid connection between phylo and ontogeny was called the theory of recapitulation, i.e. brief repetition in ontogeny of the main stages of phylogenetic development.

Subsequent work proved that such a rigid connection does not exist and development can accelerate or slow down depending on the social situation, and some stages may disappear altogether. Thus, the process of mental development is non-linear and depends on the social environment, on the environment and upbringing of the child. At the same time, it is impossible to ignore the similarities found in a comparative analysis of the processes of cognitive development, the formation of self-esteem, self-awareness, etc. in small children and primitive peoples.

Therefore, many psychologists (E. Claparede, P.P. Blonsky, etc.), who studied the genesis of the psyche of children, came to the conclusion about the logical correspondence, which can be explained by the fact that the logic of the formation of the psyche, its self-deployment, is the same during the development of the human race and the development of an individual person.

The most important principle of developmental psychology is the principle of historicism, which makes it necessary to study the connection between the history of childhood and other stages of development and the history of society in revealing the psychological content of the stages of ontogeny. The historical principle of developmental psychology also manifests itself in the fact that the chronological framework and features of each age are not static - they are determined by the action of socio-historical factors, the social order of society.

The principle of objectivity. No matter how fair and impartial we try to be, our personal and cultural attitudes can create serious obstacles to a correct understanding of human behavior. Whenever we evaluate what people are capable of - or not capable of, when we try to predict proper behavior - in short, when we judge the behavior of other people, we bring into our conclusions the values ​​and norms that we have formed on the basis of personal experience and socialization in a particular culture. It is difficult for us to give up our subjective judgments and look at others based on their norms, values ​​and living conditions.

If we seek to explain human behavior and development without having the slightest idea of ​​such cultural variations, we will be seriously misled and our conclusions will be erroneous.

Unfortunately, complete objectivity can never be achieved. Researchers living in different times, belonging to different cultures or holding different philosophical views, describe human behavior in different ways. Therefore, it is important for them to identify their own omissions and predilections and plan the study in such a way that errors in their constructions can be detected.

The principle of the unity of consciousness and activity states that consciousness and activity are in continuous unity. Consciousness forms the inner plan of human activity. If we put the principle of the unity of consciousness and activity as a basis, then we can trace the development of a number of branches of psychology that study specific types of human activity.

The genetic principle in developmental psychology was introduced by L.S. Vygotsky. Pedagogy constantly turned to developmental psychology with questions about what the process of development is and what are its basic laws. Attempts to explain this process, made by developmental psychology, have always been conditioned by the general level of psychological knowledge. At first, developmental psychology was a descriptive science, not yet able to reveal internal laws development. Gradually, psychology, as well as medicine, moved from symptoms to syndromes, and then to a real causal explanation of the process. Changes in ideas about the mental development of the child have always been associated with the development of new research methods. “The problem of the method is the beginning and basis, the alpha and omega of the entire history of the cultural development of the child,” wrote L.S. Vygotsky. And further: “... To truly rely on the method, to understand its relation to other methods, to establish its strengths and weaknesses, to understand its fundamental justification and develop the right attitude towards it, means, to a certain extent, to develop a correct and scientific approach to the entire further presentation of the most important problems of developmental psychology in the aspect of cultural development”, It is important to emphasize that we are talking about the method, because the specific methodology, according to L.S. Vygotsky, can take various forms depending on the content of a particular problem, on the nature of the study, and on the personality of the subject.

In recent decades, developmental psychology has changed both in its content and in interdisciplinary relationships. On the one hand, it influences other scientific disciplines, and on the other hand, it itself is influenced by them, assimilating everything that expands its subject content.

Biology, genetics, developmental physiology. These disciplines are important, first of all, for understanding prenatal development, as well as for the subsequent stages of ontogeny from the point of view of its early foundations. They play a significant role in the analysis of the adaptive capabilities of newborns, as well as general physical and motor (motor) development, especially in relation to subsequent changes in behavior and experience. Of particular interest here is the development of the central nervous system, sensory organs and endocrine glands. In addition, the discoveries of biology are of particular importance for understanding the issues of "subject - environment", i.e. explanations of similarities and differences in the development of different individuals.

Ethology. The importance of ethology, or the comparative study of behavior, has grown considerably in recent years. It shows the biological roots of behavior by providing information about the interaction between the environment and the individual (for example, the study of imprinting). No less valuable is the methodological possibility of conducting observations and experiments on animals, and especially in cases where their conduct on humans is prohibited for ethical reasons. The ability to transfer findings from animals to humans is essential to understanding human development.

Cultural anthropology and ethnology. The subject of study of cultural anthropology and ethnology are transcultural universals and intercultural differences in behavior and experience. These disciplines make it possible, on the one hand, to test the patterns identified in the American-European cultural environment in other cultures (for example, East Asian) and, on the other hand, due to the expansion cultural environment identify intercultural differences that cause different development processes. Of particular importance in recent years is the study of children's folklore (subculture).

Sociology and social disciplines. These sciences acquire their significance for developmental psychology both due to certain theoretical premises (role theory, the theory of socialization, theories of the formation of attitudes and norms, etc.), and due to the analysis of processes social interaction in the family, school, group of the same age, as well as through the study of the socio-economic conditions of development.

Psychological disciplines. The sciences of the psychological cycle are most closely related to developmental psychology. The sciences united under the name "General Psychology" allow a better understanding of the mental processes of motivation, emotions, cognition, learning, etc. Pedagogical psychology closes developmental psychology to pedagogical practice, the processes of education and upbringing. Clinical (medical) psychology helps to understand the development of children with disorders of various aspects of the psyche and merges with developmental psychology along the lines of child psychotherapy, psychoprophylaxis, and psychohygiene. Psychodiagnostics goes hand in hand with developmental psychology in the field of adaptation and application of diagnostic methods in a comparative analysis of intellectual, personal, etc. development and to determine the age norms of development. It is possible to discover connections between the psychology of development and the psychology of creativity and heuristic processes (along the line of gifted and outstripping children); the psychology of individual differences, etc. In recent years, the volume of interaction between developmental psychology and pathopsychology (oligophrenopsychology, childhood neuroses) and defectology (work with hearing and visually impaired children, children with mental retardation, etc.) has been growing.

One can detect the merging of developmental psychology with psychogenetics, psycholinguistics, psychosemiotics, ethnopsychology, demography, philosophy, etc. Almost all progressive and interesting work in developmental psychology, as a rule, are performed at the intersection of disciplines.

Over the long period of its existence, developmental psychology has assimilated general psychological methods of observation and experiment, applying them to the study of human development at different age levels.

Observation, as we already know, is a deliberate, systematic and purposeful perception of a person's external behavior for the purpose of its subsequent analysis and explanation. In developmental psychology, this is one of the first and most accessible methods, especially necessary in the study of children in the early stages of development, when it is impossible to take a verbal report from the subjects and it is difficult to carry out any experimental procedure. And although observation seems to be a simple method, when properly organized, it makes it possible to collect facts about the natural behavior of a person. When observing, a person does not know that someone is following him, and behaves naturally, which is why observation gives life true facts. Fixing the behavior of a preschooler in the game, in communication, a schoolchild - in the classroom, a teenager - among peers, an adult - in professional field etc., the psychologist receives data about a person as a holistic personality and, consequently, intelligence, memory, emotions, personality traits perceived not in isolation, but in connection with actions, statements, deeds. Observations make it possible to systematically analyze the psyche of a developing person.

The limitation of using the observation method is due to several reasons. Firstly, the naturalness and fusion of social, physical, physiological and mental processes in human behavior makes it difficult to understand each of them separately and prevents the isolation of the main, essential. Secondly, observation limits the researcher's intervention and does not allow him to establish the child's ability to do something better, faster, more successfully than he did. In observation, the psychologist himself does not have to cause the phenomenon he wants to study. Thirdly, when observing, it is impossible to ensure the repetition of the same fact without changes. Fourthly, observation allows only fixing, but not forming mental manifestations. In child psychology, the matter is further complicated by the fact that the psychologist has to record the observational data in writing, since cameras, tape recorders, any equipment affect the naturalness of the child’s behavior, so the analysis and generalization of data is difficult (which is why the need to develop and use hidden equipment like the famous Gesell mirror). Here, most clearly, a serious shortcoming of the method of observation is revealed - it is difficult to overcome subjectivity. Since observation itself is studied in psychology, it was found that it depends to a large extent on the personality of the observer, his individual psychological characteristics, attitudes and attitudes towards the observed, as well as on his powers of observation and attentiveness. To make the results of observation more reliable and stable, it is necessary to use not one, but several researchers to observe the same fact, which reduces the efficiency of the method. Finally, fifthly, observation can never be a single fact, it must be carried out systematically, with repetition and a large sample of subjects.

Therefore, there are longitudinal (longitudinal) observations that allow one (or several) subjects to be observed for a long time (in this sense, A. Gesell's observations of 165 children over 12 years are unprecedented). Parents' diaries, which record the development of one child day after day, are of similar value, while historical diaries, memoirs and fiction allow a deeper understanding of the attitude towards children of different ages at different historical stages.

A variation of observation is self-observation in the form of a verbal report about what a person sees, feels, experiences, does - it is better to apply it only to subjects who are already able to analyze their inner world, understand their experiences, evaluate their actions. Another observation option is the psychological analysis of the products of activity, which is successfully used at all age levels. In this case, it is not the process of activity that is studied, but its result (children's drawings and crafts, diaries and poems of adolescents, manuscripts, designs, works of art by adults, etc.). Psychologists often use the method of generalizing independent characteristics obtained by observing a person in various activities.

Most often, observation is an integral part of experimental psychological research. In particular, this can be done in the form biographical method. As an independent method, observation is not of particular value, with the exception of rare cases its use with infants and non-speaking young children.

For more than 100 years, experimental methods have been operating in psychology, involving the active intervention of the researcher in the activities of the subject in order to create conditions in which the desired psychological fact is revealed. Let me remind you that the first experimental methods were developed specifically for children.

The experiment differs from observation in 4 features:

1. in the experiment, the researcher himself causes the phenomenon he is studying, and the observer cannot actively intervene in the observed situations;
2. the experimenter can vary, change the conditions for the flow and manifestation of the process under study;
3. in the experiment, it is possible to alternately exclude individual conditions (variables) in order to establish regular relationships that determine the process under study;
4. experiment also allows you to vary quantitative ratio conditions, allows mathematical processing of the data obtained in the study.

In developmental psychology, both traditional types of experiment - natural and laboratory - are successfully used, and most developmental studies include a stating and formative form of experiment. In the ascertaining experiment, certain psychological characteristics and levels of development of the corresponding mental quality or property are revealed. Still, a formative experiment (which can be educational or educative) is becoming more important in developmental psychology. A formative experiment involves purposeful influence on the subject in order to create, develop certain qualities and skills. In fact, this is a developing method in the conditions of a specially created experimental pedagogical process. In a certain sense, similar tasks are solved in trainings that are adapted or specially developed for children of different ages (for example, personal growth training for adolescents, communication training for schoolchildren, psycho-gymnastics for preschoolers, etc.), and correctional systems.

As varieties of objective experimental methods of psychology are the twin method, sociometry, analysis of performance, modeling, questioning and testing (for the purpose of diagnosis or prognosis).

Most of the listed methods are research. They allow you to get something new as a result (facts, patterns, mechanisms of mental processes). But sometimes in psychology it is required to compare some parameters of a person, human activity with some existing standards, norms, i.e. the purpose of the test is pursued. Then we are talking about diagnostics, in which testing is widely used - a short, standardized, usually time-limited test designed to establish individual differences in compared values.

The advantages of the experimental method are undeniable. It allows the psychologist to:

1. do not wait until the studied feature manifests itself in the activity of the subject, but create the conditions for its maximum manifestation;
2. repeat the experiment the required number of times (for this there are different forms of the same test, for example, several forms of 16-PF Cattell, forms A-B-C of Eysenck, etc.);
3. the identified feature can be measured in different children under the same conditions and in one child in different conditions, which increases the reliability of the data obtained;
4. the experiment is more convenient in terms of standardization of the obtained materials, their quantitative calculation.

However, the experiment also has a number of disadvantages:

1. any experiment is always limited to a certain set of actions, tasks, answers and therefore never gives rise to broad generalizations in terms of a holistic view of a developing person;
2. An experiment is always only a cut from the activity, the personality of the child at this particular moment, so it requires mandatory repetition.

In addition to the principles, the formation of developmental psychology was influenced by the formation of its categorical structure, i.e. those constant problems (invariant) that make up its subject and content.

Currently, there are several main categories of psychological science: motive, image, activity, personality, communication, experience. It must be emphasized that these categories are common to all areas of psychology, including developmental psychology. Naturally, these categories had different meanings in different spheres and different schools, but they were always, one way or another, present in psychological concepts.

Developmental psychology studies, first of all, the genesis, the dynamics of the formation of an image, motive, activity in children and among different peoples. Thus, various aspects of mental development are distinguished - the development of personality, intellect, social development, which have their own stages and patterns that have become the subject of research by many famous psychologists - V. Stern, J. Piaget, L.S. Vygotsky, P.P. Blonsky and others.

One of the first in psychology was the category of the image, which became the leading one in the study of cognition. Even in antiquity, scientists studied how the image of the world is formed in a person; Subsequently, the focus of attention of psychologists was the image of oneself, its content and structure. If in the first psychological theories the image of oneself was considered mainly as one of the areas of consciousness, then in modern science "Image-I" has become one of the leading concepts of personality psychology.

The image of an object was considered by many scientists as a signal on the basis of which a reflex, human behavior, is born and begins to function. Studying the process of forming an idea of ​​the surrounding reality, I.M. Sechenov came to the conclusion that the image is closely connected with movement and regulates human activity. He argued that mental development occurs through internalization - the transition of external images and actions into internal ones, which, gradually folding and automating, form the mental qualities of a person. Thus, thought is an internalization of relations between objects, and self-esteem is an internalization of norms of behavior.

The image as a sensory basis of thought was an unshakable postulate for scientists who considered the psyche as a sensory mosaic consisting of sensations and ideas. The ugly nature of thinking became at the beginning of the 20th century. one of major discoveries Würzburg School. The image as the basis of perception, which has a holistic and systemic character, has become the leading category in Gestalt psychology.

Considering the genesis of gestalts, scientists came to the conclusion that the elements of the field are combined into a structure depending on such relationships as proximity, similarity, isolation, symmetry. There are a number of other factors on which the perfection and stability of a figure or structural unification depend - rhythm in the construction of rows, the commonality of light and color, etc. The action of all these factors obeys the basic law, called by Wertheimer the law of pregnancy (the law of "good" form), which is interpreted as a desire (even at the level of electrochemical processes of the cerebral cortex) to simple and clear forms, uncomplicated and stable states.

Studying the process of development of images, scientists noticed that the main properties of perception: constancy, correctness, meaningfulness appear gradually, with the maturation of gestalts. These data led Gestalt psychologists to the conclusion that the leading mental process, which actually determines the level of development of the child's psyche, is perception. It is on how the child perceives the world, scientists have argued, that his behavior and understanding of the situation depend.

Studies of the development of perception in children, which were carried out in Koffka's laboratory, showed that the child is born with a set of vague and not very adequate images of the external world. Gradually, these images are differentiated and become more and more accurate. So, at birth, children have a vague image of a person, the gestalt of which includes his voice, face, hair, and characteristic movements. Therefore, a small child (one or two months old) may not recognize even a close adult if he drastically changes his hairstyle or replaces his usual clothes with a completely unfamiliar one. However, by the end of the first half of the year, this vague image is broken up, turning into a series of clear images: the image of a face in which eyes, mouth, hair stand out as separate gestalts; images of voice, body, etc.

Koffka's research has shown that color perception also develops. At first, children perceive the environment only as colored or uncolored, without distinguishing colors. In this case, the uncolored is perceived as a background, and the colored is perceived as a figure. Gradually, the colored is divided into warm and cold, and in the environment, children already distinguish several sets of "figure - background". This is uncolored-colored warm, uncolored-colored cold, which are perceived as several different images. For example: colored cold (background) - colored warm (figure) or colored warm (background) - colored cold (figure). Thus, the previously single gestalt turns into four, which more accurately reflect the color. Over time, these images are also crushed, as several colors stand out in warm and cold. This process goes on for a long time until, finally, the child begins to perceive all colors correctly. Based on these experimental data, Koffka came to the conclusion that in the development of perception big role plays a combination of a figure and a background on which this object is demonstrated.

He argued that development color vision based on the contrast in the perception of the combination "figure - background" and formulated one of the laws of perception, which was called transduction. This law stated that children do not perceive the colors themselves, but their relationships. So, in Koffka's experiment, children were asked to find a candy that was in one of two cups covered with colored cardboard. The candy was always in the cup, which was closed with a dark gray cardboard, while there was never any candy under the black one. In the control experiment, the children had to choose not between a black and dark gray lid, as they are accustomed to, but between dark gray and light gray. If they perceived a pure color, they would choose the usual dark gray cover, but the children chose light gray, as they were guided not by the pure color, but by the ratio of colors, choosing a lighter shade. A similar experiment was carried out with animals (chickens), which also perceived only combinations of colors, and not the color itself.

Another representative of this school, G. Volkelt, studied the development of images in children. He paid special attention to the study of children's drawings. Of great interest are his experiments on the study of the drawing of geometric figures by children of different ages. So, four-five-year-old children depicted a cone as a circle and a triangle located next to each other. Volkelt explained this by the fact that they still do not have an adequate image for this figure, and therefore in the drawing they use two similar gestalts. Over time, integration and refinement of gestalts takes place, thanks to which children begin to draw not only planar, but also three-dimensional figures. Volkelt also carried out a comparative analysis of the drawings of those objects that the children saw and those that they did not see, but only felt. It turned out that in the case when children felt, for example, a cactus covered with a scarf, they drew only thorns, conveying their general feeling from the object, not its shape. What happened, as the Gestalt psychologists proved, was the grasping of an integral image of the object, its “good” form, and then “enlightenment” and differentiation. These studies by Gestalt psychologists were of great importance for domestic research work. visual perception and led the psychologists of this school (A.V. Zaporozhets, L.A. Venger) to the idea that there are certain images - sensory standards that underlie the perception and recognition of objects.

The same transition from grasping general situation to its differentiation occurs in intellectual development, argued V. Koehler. Explaining the phenomenon of insight (enlightenment), he showed that at the moment when phenomena are viewed from a different angle, they acquire a new function. The connection of objects in new combinations associated with their new functions leads to the formation of a new gestalt, the awareness of which is the essence of thinking. Koehler called this process "Gestalt restructuring" and believed that such a restructuring occurs instantly and does not depend on the subject's past experience, but only on the way objects are arranged in the field. It is this “restructuring” that occurs at the moment of insight.

Proving the universality of the problem-solving mechanism discovered by him, Koehler conducted a series of experiments to study the process of thinking in children. He created problem situations for children; for example, they were asked to get a typewriter that stood high on a cabinet. To do this, it was necessary to use different objects - a ladder, a box or a chair. It turned out that if there was a ladder in the room, the children quickly solved the proposed problem. It was more difficult to guess to use the box, but the most difficult was the option when there were no other items in the room, except for the chair, which had to be moved away from the table and used as a stand. Köhler explained these results by the fact that from the very beginning the ladder is functionally recognized as an object that helps to get something high up. Therefore, its inclusion in the gestalt with the wardrobe does not present any difficulty for the child. The inclusion of the box already needs some rearrangement, since it can be recognized in several functions. As for the chair, the child is aware of it not by itself, but already included in another gestalt - with a table, with which it appears to the child as a single whole. Therefore, to solve this problem, children must first break the previously holistic image (table - chair) into two, and then combine the chair with the wardrobe into a new image, realizing its new functional role. That is why this option is the most difficult to solve.

These experiments, proving the universality of insight, revealed, from Koehler's point of view, the general direction of mental development and the role of learning in this process. Proving the main position of this school that mental development is associated with an increase in the number of gestalts and their differentiation, i.e. with the transition from grasping the general situation to its differentiation and the formation of a new, more adequate situation Gestalt, he revealed the conditions that facilitate this transition. Such development, Köhler believed, occurs both suddenly and in the process of learning, which also leads to education. new structure and, consequently, to a different perception and awareness of the situation. Under certain conditions, training can contribute to the development of thinking, and this is not associated with the organization of the search activity of the child according to the type of trial and error, but with the creation of conditions conducive to insight. Thus, Koehler's experiments proved the instantaneous, and not the extended in time, nature of thinking, which is based on insight. Somewhat later, K. Buhler, who came to a similar conclusion, called this phenomenon "aha-experience", emphasizing its suddenness and simultaneity. Wertheimer, who studied the process of creative thinking in children and adults, came to similar conclusions about the role of insight in the restructuring of previous images in solving problems.

Works on the genesis of perception and thinking in Gestalt psychology have demonstrated the relationship between sensory and mental images. The study of this connection, as well as the combination of a mental image and a word, has been and remains one of the most important tasks of psychology. Suffice it to say that such great scientists as A.A. Potebnya, L.S. Vygotsky, J. Piaget, D. Bruner and others devoted the most significant works to the study of this problem.

Both sensual and mental images are included in the content of consciousness, so their totality can be considered as a kind of analogue of the philosophical category "consciousness". However, for psychology, the question of the degree of awareness of images is also significant, since the unconscious and supraconscious play no less important role than consciousness.

J. Piaget, speaking about the genesis of images of the surrounding world, came to the conclusion that mental development is associated with internalization, since the first mental operations - external, sensorimotor - subsequently pass into the internal plan, turning into logical, proper mental operations. He also described the main property of these operations - their reversibility. Describing the concept of reversibility, Piaget cited as an example arithmetic operations - addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, which can be read both from left to right and from right to left.

The study of the process of development of images led D. Bruner to the conclusion that perception is selective and can be distorted under the influence of internal motives, goals, attitudes or defense mechanisms. Thus, the more value children attribute to certain objects, the greater their physical size seems to be. He also showed that in a situation of frustration, even neutral words are often perceived by children as disturbing and threatening, hence their inappropriately aggressive behavior in such cases. Based on these studies, Bruner introduced the term social perception, emphasizing the dependence of perception on the social experience of children.

Analyzing the structure of perception, Bruner singled out three components in it: ideas about the surrounding world in the form of actions, in the form of images and in the form of words (linguistic form). From the standpoint of his theory of perceptual hypotheses, all cognitive processes are processes of categorization, i.e. objects of the surrounding world are combined with each other on the basis of the rules of association (categories) learned by children. When combined, hypotheses consistently arise about what qualities serve as the basis for combining these objects and whether all these objects have these qualities. Thus, the mastery of conceptual thinking occurs as one learns which properties of the environment are most significant for grouping objects into certain classes.

Another very important problem for developmental psychology was the study of the genesis of activity. Speaking about the category of activity, it is necessary to remember that in psychology both external activity (behavior) and internal, primarily mental, activity are considered. At the first stages of the development of psychology, scientists did not question the position that behavior is the same psychological concept as thinking. However, over time, psychologists, as mentioned above, began to identify the psyche only with consciousness, and all external manifestations activity was taken out of the scope of the mental. Only the study of internal, mental activity was left to the share of psychological research, which hindered the development of objective methods for studying the psyche and experimental psychology.

In the middle of the last century, the English psychologist G. Spencer for the first time stated that the subject of psychology is the association between the internal and external, i.e. between consciousness and behavior. Thus, the unique position of psychology was not only fixed, but the status of external activity as a psychological category was also legitimized. In modern psychology, there are several schools that consider the category of activity to be the leading one - this is both behaviorism and domestic psychology, in which the theory of activity occupies one of the central places. The study of internal and external activities, their interconnection and mutual transitions is one of the central problems of developmental psychology.

An experimental study of the conditions that promote or hinder the formation of new types of activity, i.e. the formation of connections between stimuli and reactions was the focus of attention of E. Thorndike, who stood at the origins of the behavioral direction. He invented special "problem boxes", which were experimental devices of varying degrees of complexity. An animal placed in such a box had to overcome various obstacles and find a way out on its own. Experiments were carried out mainly on cats, less often on dogs and lower monkeys. Later, special devices for children were designed. An animal placed in a box could get out of it and receive top dressing only by activating a special device - pressing a spring, pulling a loop.

The behavior of the animals was the same. They made many erratic movements - rushed in different directions, scratched the box, bit it, etc., until one of the movements accidentally turned out to be successful. On subsequent trials, the number of useless movements decreased, the animal needed less and less time to find a way out, until it began to act without error. The course of the experiments and the results were depicted graphically in the form of curves, where repeated samples were marked on the abscissa axis, and the elapsed time (in minutes) was marked on the ordinate axis. The resulting curve (Thorndike called it the learning curve) gave grounds to assert that the animal operates by trial and error. This was regarded as a general pattern of behavior, which, according to Thorndike, was also confirmed by his experiments on children.

In his later work, Thorndike focused on studying the dependence of learning on factors such as rewards and punishments. Based on the materials received, he deduced the basic laws of learning:

1. The law of repetition (exercise). Its essence is that the more often the connection between the stimulus and the reaction is repeated, the faster it is fixed and the stronger it is. According to this law, the reaction to a situation is associated with this situation in proportion to the frequency, strength and duration of the repetition of connections.
2. The law of effect, which states that of several reactions to the same situation, ceteris paribus, those that cause a feeling of satisfaction are more firmly associated with the situation. Later, this law was modified, as it turned out that the result of any of his activities is important for the child, i.e. at the end of the learned reaction, there must be a reinforcement, no matter positive or negative.
3. The law of readiness, the essence of which is that the formation of new connections depends on the state of the subject.
4. The law of associative shift, which states that if, with the simultaneous appearance of two stimuli, one of them causes a positive reaction, then the other acquires the ability to cause the same reaction. In other words, a neutral stimulus, associated by association with a significant one, also begins to cause the desired behavior.

Thorndike also pointed out additional terms learning success - the ease of distinguishing between stimulus and reaction and the child's awareness of the connection between them.

The data obtained by Thorndike led him to the conclusion that learning by trial and error occurs in the formation of not only motor acts, but also intellectual ones, i.e. he, like Sechenov, argued that mental processes are internalized external reactions.

The study of the development of complex forms of behavior was also at the center of the scientific interests of another representative of the school of behaviorism, B. Skinner. He sought to understand the causes of behavior and learn how to manage it. Based on the idea that not only skills, but also knowledge are variations in behavior, Skinner introduced its special kind - operant behavior. He believed that the human psyche is based on reflexes different kind and varying degrees of difficulty. Comparing his approach to the formation of reflexes with that of Pavlov, he emphasized the essential differences between them. He called the conditioned reflex formed in Pavlov's experiments stimulus behavior, since its formation is associated with an association between different stimuli and does not depend on the subject's own activity. So, a dog is always given meat on a call, regardless of what it is doing at that moment. Thus, an association arises between meat and a bell, in response to which salivation is observed. However, Skinner emphasized that such a reaction is quickly formed, but also quickly disappears without reinforcement, it cannot be the basis of the subject's permanent behavior.

In contrast to this approach, in operant learning, only behavior is reinforced, operations that the subject performs in this moment. Of great importance is the fact that in this case a complex reaction is divided into a number of simple ones, following one after another and leading to the desired goal. So, when teaching a pigeon a complex reaction (to leave the cage by pressing the lever with its beak), Skinner reinforced every movement of the pigeon in the right direction, ensuring that in the end the dove accurately performed this complex operation. This approach to the formation of the desired reaction had great advantages compared to the traditional one. First of all, this behavior was much more stable, the capacity for it faded very slowly even in the absence of reinforcement. Skinner drew attention to the fact that even a single reinforcement can have a significant effect, since at least a random connection is established between the reaction and the appearance of the stimulus. If the stimulus was meaningful to the individual, he will try to repeat the response that brought him success. Such behavior Skinner called superstitious, pointing to its significant prevalence.

Equally important is the fact that learning under operant conditioning is faster and easier. This is due to the fact that the experimenter has the opportunity to observe not only the final result (product), but also the process of performing the action (after all, it is decomposed into components that are implemented in a given sequence). In fact, there is an exteriorization not only of performance, but also of orientation and control over the action, and what is especially important, such an approach is possible when teaching not only certain skills, but also knowledge. The method of program training developed by Skinner made it possible to optimize the educational process, to develop corrective programs for underachieving and mentally retarded children. These programs had huge advantages over traditional training programs, as they gave the teacher the opportunity to instantly notice the student's mistake, control and, if necessary, correct the process of solving the problem. In addition, the efficiency and accuracy of execution increased the motivation for learning, the activity of students, and also made it possible to individualize the learning process depending on the pace of learning. However, these programs also had a significant drawback. Exteriorization, which plays a positive role at the beginning of learning, hinders the development of convoluted, mental actions, hinders the internalization and curtailment of the problem solution scheme developed by the teacher.

The study of the dynamics of the development of cognitive processes and behavior of children showed the enormous role of communication in the formation of their psyche. The words that a person is a social being, that is, cannot exist outside of communication with others, belong to Aristotle. Over time, psychology received more and more data about the crucial role of other people in the development of the psyche, in shaping ideas about oneself and about the world. With the development of social psychology, a serious study of the mutual communication of adults began, especially those belonging to different nations and cultures; studied features mass communications. Different aspects of communication (communicative, perceptual, interactive) were identified, its structure and dynamics were studied. An analysis of the direction of development of psychology shows that the importance of this category and the proportion of studies devoted to various problems of communication will continue to grow.

In developmental psychology huge role adult and the relationship "adult - child" has become one of the axioms, indicating that in isolation the full-fledged mental development of the child is impossible. We also study the role of communication in the process of inculturation of children, their mastery of the norms and rules of behavior adopted in a given social group, the attitudes and value orientations that are significant for it.

One of the first to speak about the role of communication in the process of socialization of children was D.M. Baldwin, who emphasized that interpersonal communication is the most important factor development of the human psyche. Many psychoanalysts, primarily E. Erickson, also wrote about the importance of communication and the role of an adult as a translator of cultural norms. He called the process of personal formation the process of identity formation, emphasizing the importance of preserving and maintaining the integrity of the personality, the integrity of the Ego, which is the main factor in resistance to neurosis. He identified three parts in the identity structure:

1. somatic identity, manifested in the fact that the body seeks to maintain its integrity when interacting with the outside world,
2. personal identity, which integrates the external and internal experience of a person,
3. social identity, which consists in the joint creation and maintenance by people of a certain order, stability.

Communication has a significant impact on the development of all kinds of identity, especially social. Considering the role of the environment, culture and social environment child, Erickson emphasized the relationship between the child and the family, and more specifically, the relationship "child - mother". At the same time, he emphasized that the formation of social identity is influenced not only by parents and people close to the child, but also by friends, work, and society as a whole. Erickson attached great importance to the external stability of the system in which a person lives, since the violation of this stability, the change in landmarks, social norms and values ​​also violates the identity and devalues ​​a person's life. He considered the "innate drives" of a person to be fragments of aspirations that are collected, acquire significance and organize themselves into childhood. The lengthening of the period of childhood is precisely connected with the need for the socialization of children. Therefore, Erickson argued that the "instinctive weapons" (sexual and aggressive) in humans are much more mobile and plastic than in animals. The organization and direction of development of these innate inclinations are connected with the methods of upbringing and education, which change from culture to culture and are predetermined by traditions. In other words, each society develops its own institutions of socialization in order to help children with different individual qualities become full-fledged members of this social group.

The development of communication between adults and children was the focus of M.I. Lisina and her staff. Several stages were identified in this process during the first seven years of children's lives, as well as the criteria for their formation and those neoplasms in the structure of personality and intellect that are directly related to one or another stage of communication. In this concept, communication is considered as a condition and one of the main factors in the mental and personal development of the child, it ensures the assimilation of the socio-historical experience of mankind. The development of communication with an adult occurs as a change of four qualitative steps:

1. situational-personal communication - genetically the first form of communication between a child and an adult (it is typical for children in the first six months of life);
2. situational business communication - the second most common form of communication among children, which is typical for young children;
3. extra-situational-cognitive communication that occurs at preschool age;
4. extra-situational-personal communication with an adult, which occurs in the second half of the preschool period.

In the process of development of communication, its motivation also changes. In accordance with the steps mentioned above, the following motives for children's communication were identified:

1. need for benevolent attention (2-6 months);
2. need for cooperation (6 months - 3 years);
3. need in respectful attitude adult (3-5 years old);
4. the need for mutual understanding and empathy (5-7 years).

As studies by M.I. Lisina and A. Ruzskaya showed, a slightly different motivation is present when communicating with peers:

1. the need for participation in peer games, their attention and goodwill (2-4 years);
2. the need for cooperation and recognition by peers (4-6 years);
3. the need for empathy and mutual understanding (senior preschool age).

In the works of A.S. Zaluzhny and S.S. Molozhavyi, who studied the dynamics and stages of development of children's groups, intra-group differentiation, types of leadership in children's groups, it was shown that endogenous and exogenous factors influence the growth of organization and the increase in the lifetime of the team. Exogenous factors were understood as any influence of the environment, and endogenous - the behavior of individual members of the team. One of the most significant internal factors, as shown by the studies of A.S. Zaluzhny and A.B. Salkind, is a phenomenon of leadership. Much has been devoted to leadership in children's groups and group differentiation. experimental work, and it was shown that leaders not only organize the team, but also help direct the excess energy of the group in the right direction.

As the team develops, a leader, or leader, is allocated, the center is grouped around this leader, and children drop out of the group. According to scientists, unpopular children are either disorganizers who interfere with the work of others, or passive children engaged in some kind of extraneous activity. Zalkind and Zaluzny developed methods for correcting children's communication, believing that active disruptive children should be placed in groups of older and stronger children, and isolated, anxious children should be placed in groups of younger children, where they can show their abilities and even become leaders. Salkind stressed that all children should go through the school of leadership, especially in adolescence, as it helps to neutralize the negative effects of puberty.

Thus, in the works of scientists from different areas, the importance of communication for the development of the personality of children, their assimilation of the norms and rules of the society in which they live, their culture was shown. However, communication is also necessary for the full intellectual development of children, the formation of their thinking and speech, which has also been proven by many psychologists.

Speaking about the fact that there are natural and higher, i.e. culturally conditioned, mental functions, L.S. Vygotsky came to the conclusion that the main difference between them is the level of arbitrariness. Unlike natural mental processes that cannot be regulated by a person, people can consciously control higher mental functions. This regulation is associated with the mediated nature of higher mental functions, and they are mediated by a sign, or stimulus-means, X, which creates an additional connection between the influencing stimulus S and the person's reaction R (both behavioral and mental).

Unlike a stimulus-means that can be invented by the child himself (for example, a stick instead of a thermometer), signs are not invented by children, but acquired by them in communication with adults. Thus, the sign first appears on the outer plane, on the plane of communication, and then passes into the inner plane, the plane of consciousness. Vygotsky wrote that each higher mental function appears on the scene twice: once as external, interpsychic, and the other as internal, intrapsychic.

Signs, being a product of social development, bear the imprint of the culture of the society in which the child grows up. Children learn signs in the process of communication and begin to use them to control their inner mental life. Thanks to the internalization of signs, the sign function of consciousness is formed in children, the formation of such actually human mental processes as logical thinking, will, and speech is carried out.

D. Bruner also wrote about the importance of communication and culture for the intellectual development of children. On the basis of his cross-cultural studies, Bruner defined intelligence as the result of the child's assimilation of "amplifiers" developed in a given culture, i.e. ways, signs, operations that help the child cope with the solution of the tasks facing him. Success is increased by artificially strengthening the motor, sensory and mental capabilities of a person. "Enhancers" can be both real, technical, and symbolic, with different cultures producing different "amps".

The category of motive is no less important in psychology. Already in the first psychological theories, scientists considered the source of activity, sought to find the cause that prompts a person to move, i.e. tried to understand the motives that underlie our behavior. There have been attempts to find a material explanation for these urges, with motives associated with moving atoms and "animal spirits"; there were also theories based on the intangibility of motives. So, Plato spoke of a passionate, or lustful, soul, which is the bearer of motives, and Leibniz believed that activity, an impulse to action, is a property of the soul-monad. However, regardless of the interpretation of the nature of the motive, it was usually associated with emotions and was one of the main problems for all psychologists. Therefore, it is natural that in modern psychology the concept of motive (needs, drives, aspirations) has become the leading category for almost all psychological schools.

Domestic psychology scientists emphasized the connection between the development of motives and the process of personality formation, its socialization. Revealing the dynamics of the formation of motives, the transformation of "known" motives into "actual" ones, as well as the relationship between motives and goals, A.N. Leontiev proved the leading role of culture, interpersonal communication in the complex process of ascent from an individual to a personality. S.L. wrote about the development of motives that form the orientation of the personality. Rubinshtein, the connection between motivation and relationships that people enter into in the process of their personal development was studied by V.N. Myasishchevsh.

The study of the relationship between the genesis of motives and the process of personality formation was one of the central problems for humanistic psychology. Speaking about the structure of personality, A. Maslow associated it with the “pyramid of needs” of a person, which looks like this:

• physiological needs - food, water, sleep, etc.;

• the need for security - stability, order;

• the need for love and belonging - family, friendship;

• need for respect - self-respect, recognition;

• the need for self-actualization - the development of abilities.

Subsequently, studying the development of needs, Maslow abandoned such a rigid hierarchy, combining all needs into two classes - the needs of need (deficit) and the need for development (self-actualization). Thus, he singled out two levels of human existence - existential, focused on personal growth and self-actualization, and deficient, focused on satisfying frustrated needs. Later, he singled out groups of existential and deficient needs, and also introduced the term metamotivation to denote the actual existential motivation leading to personal growth.

The scientist believed that every person is born with a certain set of qualities, abilities that make up the essence of his "I", his "Self" and which a person needs to realize and manifest in his life and activities. It is conscious aspirations and motives, and not unconscious instincts, that make up the essence of the human personality, distinguish man from animals. However, the desire for self-actualization encounters various obstacles, misunderstanding of others and their own weaknesses, self-doubt. Therefore, the main thing in personal growth is the awareness of one's needs, especially the need for self-actualization.

One of the most significant concepts of motivation in developmental psychology in recent years has been the theory of attachment, developed by English psychologist and psychiatrist D. Bowlby. Working with juvenile delinquents led him to the idea that the main problems experienced by them in the process of socialization are due to a violation of communication with parents, a lack of warmth and care at an early age. His idea was that in the first months of life, a close emotional bond is established between mother and child, which is not reducible to either sexuality or instinctive behavior. A sharp break in this connection leads to serious disturbances in the mental development of the child, primarily in the structure of his personality. These disorders may not appear immediately (this is the difference between the phenomena described by Bowlby and hospitalism and similar forms of deviations), but much later, often only in adolescence.

Bowlby argued that a mother is a reliable protection for a small child, a kind of base that he leaves from time to time, trying to explore the world around him. However, this exploratory activity is stable and adequate in cases where the child is sure that he can return to the protection of his mother at any moment. Thus, the main goal of the formation emotional connection between the child and the mother - to give the child a sense of security and safety. It is the warmth and affection emanating from the mother in the first years of life that are important for the child, Bowlby emphasized, and not the proper care and education carried out by her. His research has shown that children who have close emotional contact with their mother have a higher level of cognitive activity than children who grew up in cold families or children who lost their mother at preschool age. He also revealed the fact that adolescents who did not have a stable emotional connection with their mother are more likely to experience depression, and changes in the personality structure are formed.

Bowlby's work, as well as that of other psychologists, showed a close connection between motivation and people's experiences. Those. the category of motive is closely connected with the category of experience, the emotional response of a person to the phenomena of the external world, his actions and thoughts. Even Epicurus argued that it is experiences that direct and regulate behavior, and modern psychologists consider them as such. Although the problem of nature and dynamics emotional processes has not yet received an unambiguous solution in psychology, the very fact of the importance of emotions and experiences not only in the regulation of activity, but also in the appropriation of knowledge, identification with the outside world, including with significant people, is beyond doubt.

Evidence of the vitality of the formation of basic experiences was given by D. Watson in his experiments on the formation of emotions. He experimentally proved that it is possible to form a fear response in response to a neutral stimulus. In his experiments, children were shown a rabbit, which they took in their hands and wanted to stroke, but at that moment they received an electric shock. Naturally, the child frightenedly threw the rabbit and began to cry. However, the next time he again approached the animal and received an electric shock, therefore, on the third or fourth time, the appearance of a rabbit even at a distance from them caused an emotion of fear in most children. After this negative emotion was fixed, Watson tried once again to change the emotional attitude of the children, forming an interest and love for the rabbit. In this case, the child began to show it when he ate something tasty. The presence of this important primary stimulus was an indispensable condition for the formation of a new reaction. At first, the children stopped eating and began to cry, but since the rabbit did not approach them, remaining far away, at the end of the room, and delicious food was nearby, the child quickly calmed down and continued to eat. After the children stopped crying when the rabbit appeared at the end of the room, the experimenter gradually moved it closer and closer to the child, while adding tasty things to his plate. Gradually, the children stopped paying attention to the rabbit and in the end they reacted calmly, even when it was located near their plate, took it in their arms and tried to feed it with something tasty. Thus, Watson argued, our emotions are the result of our habits and can change dramatically depending on the circumstances.

Watson's observations showed that in the event that the fear reaction formed on the rabbit was not altered to a positive one, in the future a similar feeling of fear arose in children at the sight of other fur-covered objects. Proceeding from this, he sought to prove that in people, on the basis of conditioned reflexes, persistent affective complexes can be formed according to a given program. Moreover, he believed that the facts discovered by him prove the possibility of the formation of a certain, strictly defined model of behavior in all people. He wrote: “Give me a hundred children of the same age, and through certain time I will form from them exactly the same people, with the same tastes and behavior.

Emotions also play a decisive role in the process of socialization of children. The dynamics of entering social reality involves understanding the features of this reality, accepting its norms and values ​​as one's own ideals and attitudes. However, unlike social adaptation, socialization involves not only the passive acceptance of certain norms and rules of behavior, but also their active use, i.e. the development of certain knowledge and skills that are adequately applied by a person in a given social reality. One of the important constituents is national culture, a positive emotional attitude to which helps people to form national identity. This aspect of socialization, associated with the development of an active position, with the desire to fulfill oneself within the framework of a specific social situation, causes the greatest difficulties.

Since socialization actually comes down to an adequate internalization of external requirements, their transformation into the “subjective reality of the individual”, it becomes the most important question about the psychological means of translating these demands into internal structure personality. One of the most important ways is emotional mediation, the formation of emotions (both positive and negative) in relation to the norms, values ​​and rules accepted in society. These emotions, in contrast to those that arise in relation to concepts that are vital for a person (food, danger, etc.), can be called social.

Great importance was attached to social emotions by the famous Russian scientist G.A. Shpet, in whose works this problem acquired a modern sound. He believed that not objective connections and knowledge, but subjective experiences determine the process of referring oneself to a given ethnic group or a specific social group. Therefore, when rejected by the former group, the subject can “change his people”, “enter the composition and spirit of another people”, but this process requires long and hard work and time. In the event that only external assimilation of a new language, culture or norms of behavior occurs, a person remains marginal, since in order to fully identify himself with the new society, it is necessary emotional acceptance those objective elements that constitute the content of social consciousness. Shpet's research led him to the conclusion that one of the main components of mentality is commonality. emotional experiences, relations given people to certain historical and social objects.

Social experiences reveal for people the meaning attached to the environment by the social or national group to which they belong. Such familiarization of the child with social experiences arises under the influence of others, who pass on emotional standards to him. Emotional standards contain certain cultural knowledge, moral and evaluative categories, stereotypes, an adequate emotional attitude to which optimizes the process of socialization. At first, this knowledge is neutral for the child (as well as for an adult entering a new society), but then gradually acquire emotional richness.

The study of motivational and emotional development children, as already mentioned, is directly related to the study of the formation of their personality. However, the category of personality itself, unlike others, appeared in psychology relatively recently, although questions about the essence of a person, the development of his idea of ​​himself and self-assessment were raised in antiquity. However, at that time the concepts of personality and man were considered as identical, and there were no modern concepts of personality, individual and individuality. For a long time, as already noted, the main questions in psychology were the questions of cognition and the categories of the image and internal, mental activity remained leading. It was not for nothing that the well-known scientist W. Wundt spoke of the dictates of "intellectualism" in psychology, opposing his voluntaristic psychology to the former one, which mainly studies "a man who knows," and not who feels. Only with the advent of depth psychology, it was the personality that became one of the leading categories and remains so in modern psychology, in which the problem of personality, its structure and genesis is studied by various schools (humanistic, behaviorism, domestic psychology).

At the beginning of the XX century. one of the few psychologists who interpreted personality as an integrative whole, considering it an extremely important category, was V.M. Bekhterev. He introduced the concepts of individual, individuality and personality into psychology, believing that the individual is the biological basis on which the social sphere of the individual is built. Studying individual characteristics, which, according to Bekhterev, are innate, he argued that individual typology largely determines the characteristics of personal development. He attributed the speed of differentiation and generalization of combination (conditioned) reflexes, abilities, interests and inclinations of children, resistance to group pressure to individual qualities.

Of great importance were Bekhterev's studies of the personality structure (in which he singled out passive and active, conscious and unconscious parts), their roles in various activities and their interrelationships. It is interesting that, like Freud, he noted the dominant role of unconscious motives in sleep or hypnosis and considered it necessary to investigate the influence of experience acquired at this time on conscious behavior. Investigating the correction of deviant behavior, he proceeded from the limitations of those methods of correction that put positive reinforcement of desirable behavior and negative reinforcement of undesirable behavior at the forefront. He believed that any reinforcement could fix the reaction. You can get rid of unwanted behavior only by creating a stronger motive that absorbs all the energy spent on unwanted behavior. Thus, for the first time in psychology, ideas about the role of sublimation and canalization of energy in a socially acceptable way appear, which were subsequently actively developed by psychoanalysis.

In modern psychology, several concepts are distinguished that characterize the spiritual world of a person, his self-consciousness and values, features of aspirations and attitudes towards the outside world. Each of them has a specific meaning, emphasizing a certain aspect in the complex picture of the inner world of people.

The concept of an individual implies the assignment of a person to the biological class Homo sapiens. Individual properties characterize what is common to all people, are innate, and some of them are inherited. By themselves, the qualities of an individual do not contain psychological properties, however, they are necessary for the normal development of the psyche, the formation of individual characteristics and personality traits (for example, the cortex hemispheres necessary for the development of cognitive processes).

Individuality is determined by those special features which are inherent in each particular person and distinguish people from each other. Individual characteristics are not inherited, i.e. are not transmitted to children from parents, but are associated with the specifics of the nervous system and therefore appear from birth. The close connection of individuality with the activity of the brain also determines the fact that the influence of the social situation on the formation of individual characteristics is limited. Individual qualities, of course, develop throughout life, becoming more and more pronounced and vivid. Therefore, small children are more similar to each other than teenagers or adults. At the same time, some features that are not in demand by the situation, on the contrary, fade, some partially change. However, it is impossible to completely change the individuality of a person.

Modern psychology distinguishes two levels of the formation of individuality. One of them - associated with the features of the structure and dynamics of the nervous system - is represented by individual features or qualities, for example, the speed of switching or orientation. Since these traits are related, as has been said, to dynamics, they have been called psychodynamic qualities. The lateral organization of the brain (dominance of the right or left hemisphere) also influences the development of personality.

However, it is not so much these traits in themselves that are important, but their connection with each other, the disposition of individual characteristics that develops into a certain type of personality. It is the combination of individual features that provides the originality of behavior, communication and knowledge of a person, which is manifested in the individual lifestyle inherent in him.

The concept of the subject is connected, first of all, with the understanding of the fact that activity comes from it, and not from outside. The subject, as a carrier of activity, chooses the direction and objects of his activity himself, since the source of energy is in himself, and not in the external world. The environment, the psychological "field of objects" can only actualize this or that need, expand the ways of satisfying it.

The concept of personality implies mainly those qualities that have been formed in a person under the influence of communication with others, the impact of a social situation. Since all people who have not been subjected to artificial isolation in the first months of life (not children - Mowgli) are influenced by the environment, then each person is a person in this sense, since his individual prerequisites for the development of the psyche change under the influence of culture, society.

Another level of personality development implies the ability of people to act on the basis of their own motivation even in extraordinary circumstances, to make reasonable and conscious choice and overcome the pressure of the "field", the situation. As a rule, this happens in those cases when the requirements of the environment conflict with the leading motivation of a person, with his need to remain true to himself, to his calling, to fulfill himself.

Interest in the individual characteristics that distinguish people from each other arose in antiquity. The first theories explaining the nature of temperament (as this characteristic of a person was called) belong to the same period. Famous scientists Hippocrates and Galen developed a humoral concept that connects temperament with various body juices - mucus, yellow and black bile and blood. Violation of the harmonious ratio of these juices (akrasia) leads to the dominance of one of the types of temperament - phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic or sanguine. Subsequently, the number of personality types was increased, but the idea that an objective and organic criterion should underlie temperament remained unchanged. In the XIX and XX centuries. new concepts have appeared that connect temperament with the constitution - the structure of the skull, facial features (E. Kretschmer) or body proportions (W. Sheldon), i.e. the size of the forehead or lips, the height and fullness of a person were associated with certain qualities - kindness or anger, mobility or apathy. Although these theories now have a purely historical significance, some of the stereotypes in the perception of people associated with them remained in worldly psychology until now.

Experiments I.P. Pavlova revealed the physiological foundations of temperament associated with the functioning of the nervous system. Subsequently, the works of other physiologists and psychophysiologists made it possible to clarify those dynamic characteristics of the nervous system that determine the features of the appearance of psychological traits. At the same time, the studies of V.N. Myasishchev, B.M. Teplova, V.L. Nebylitsyna, G. Eysenck, G. Allport, R. Kettel and other psychologists reliably showed the impossibility of identifying the physiological foundations of temperament with the psychological individuality, degree of activity, emotionality or speed of reaction of people. The materials of these numerous works made it possible to identify the so-called psychodynamic qualities, which make it possible to combine certain psychophysiological characteristics with psychological traits.

Ability has been considered one of the most important characteristics of individuality since antiquity. Initially, they were associated with the intellect and oratory, as well as with the speed of assimilation of the material. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the study of abilities led scientists to the idea that another approach to their definition is possible. From the point of view of the French enlighteners Diderot and Helvetius, it is the environment, education and upbringing that a child receives that determine his fate, mental and personal development, social status and success. However, the impact of the environment is not direct, it is mediated by cognitive processes, i.e. It manifests itself mainly in the fact that people receive different information, different education, they form different abilities and, as a result, different lifestyles. At the same time, abilities were understood as the ability to carry out certain activities. Thus, the abilities were studied only during the performance of a specific task and had a qualitative characteristic - the level of performance. At the same time, the speed and ease of learning, the speed of information processing and other parameters that characterize abilities in modern psychology were not taken into account at all. Naturally, with this understanding, Helvetius came to the conclusion that abilities are not innate, but are acquired in the learning process.

This approach reinforced the concept of Helvetius about the universal equality of people, whose individual differences are explained only by different social position and upbringing. But it also led, oddly enough, to fatalism, since a person was perceived as a toy of fate, which, on a whim, by chance, can place him in one environment or another, determining his social status and life scenario. Thus, the denial of innate features in the concept of Helvetius led to a significant extent to the denial of a person's responsibility for his own destiny.

Diderot's work showed the one-sidedness of such an understanding of the purely social nature of abilities. The role of innate inclinations in the formation of abilities was also demonstrated by the works of psychologists and psychophysiologists of the 19th-20th centuries. In modern psychology, when determining abilities, two parameters are taken into account - the level of performance of an activity, which is closely related to the social situation, learning, and the pace of learning, the speed of information processing, which is a psychodynamic quality due to innate inclinations. Since both the speed of assimilation and the level of knowledge are manifested in the activities of children, and even more so of an adult, the quality of learning and abilities, as a rule, are diagnosed in the process of mastering an activity, by how quickly and thoroughly a person masters the methods of organizing and implementing it.

Psychodynamic, naturally conditioned abilities are called fluid. This term, originally used by D. Guildford and R. Kettel, has become widespread in psychology. Fluid abilities are associated, first of all, with the general level of intelligence, with the ability to find connections, identify relationships and dependencies. Their development is influenced by the genetic factor, since the rate of their formation is higher in early years, and age-related decline can begin relatively early (in the third decade of life). A higher rate of development of fluid abilities than that of peers can also ensure greater productivity of children, diagnosed as giftedness. Nevertheless, such heterochronism of mental development is not giftedness in the full sense of the word, since the quantitative advance of age norms for individual mental processes is not accompanied by qualitative changes in the structure of the intellect. The leveling of the rate of intellectual development with age leads to a decrease and gradual disappearance of signs of giftedness, which often explains the phenomenon of "child prodigies" who did not justify the hopes that they gave in childhood in adulthood.

On the basis of fluid abilities, crystallized ones are formed, their development is determined by the culture to which a person belongs, his activity and interests, as well as the level of his education. Genetic factors do not have a direct effect on crystallized abilities, and age-related decline may not appear until old age.

The allocation of different types of abilities is also associated with the activities that they organize. Proceeding from this, there are general abilities that meet the requirements of not one, but many types of activity and are identified, as a rule, with intelligence, and special abilities that meet a narrower range of requirements for a particular activity. Among special abilities the best studied are musical and mathematical ones, which manifest themselves very early, often as early as preschool age. Talents in fiction, painting, natural sciences appear later, sometimes as early as adolescence. The level and degree of development of both general and special abilities are reflected in the concepts of talent and genius.

Along with the ability, giftedness is also distinguished - a qualitatively unique combination of abilities that allows achieving outstanding results in various fields of human activity. Thus, the basis of the same achievements in the performance of any activity may be based on different abilities, at the same time, the same ability can be a condition for the success of various activities. This makes it possible to compensate for the low level of development of one of the abilities at the expense of others that form giftedness, and to individualize the style of the action performed. For example, in a good picture, drawing, coloring, and the psychological accuracy of the image, and the subtlety of the written details are important. Depending on the set of abilities that provide high level drawing, painting, and their hierarchy, the shortcomings of the color scheme can be compensated by the boldness and accuracy of the drawing or the expressiveness of the faces of the people depicted in the picture, or the depth and novelty of the idea. Since the hierarchy of individual abilities is unique and never the same for different people, the results of their activities (paintings, poems, sewn clothes or built houses) are always unique.

An important problem is the correlation of giftedness with general level intelligence and creativity. Giftedness is often directly identified with creative abilities, with the speed and ease of finding non-obvious solutions to various problems and the ability to obtain a fundamentally new result. The novelty of the product and the solutions do not always coincide with each other, which emphasizes the difficulty of correlating purely intellectual abilities with creativity and proves the need to single out the concepts of general (intellectual) giftedness and special giftedness, which may not be directly correlated with creativity. high rates in intelligence tests. For example, exceeding the level of 135 points on the Binet-Simon or Stanford-Binet scale, assessed as a high level of intellectual abilities (and general giftedness), is not necessarily accompanied by high productivity in the creative sphere. Therefore, in recent times considerable attention is paid to the study of "non-intellectual" factors of special giftedness, necessary for creative activity in certain areas.

The psychodynamic aspect of ability and giftedness often manifests itself in characteristics unrelated to directly with concrete activity, for example, in good mechanical memory, curiosity, sense of humor, high plasticity, good distribution and high concentration of attention, sometimes combined with activity and even impulsivity.

Giftedness can be considered as the next level of individuality, associated with a combination of different qualities among themselves. This combination is typical for people who have a pronounced laterality in the organization of the brain, i.e. obvious "left-handers" and "right-handers". If the former are characterized by a higher level of emotiveness, figurativeness and a tendency to creativity in artistic activity, then right-handed people have a more pronounced logical, rational beginning, which weakens emotionality and directs activity to a greater extent on the search for right decision rather than a variety of ways to achieve it.

The system of individual traits develops into a personality type, i.e. into a structure that has a clear hierarchy of features that determines the predisposition to a specific, “typical” nature of interaction with the environment. The most common parameter for typology is the division by sex, which is also observed in animals. Modern studies have shown that the masculine type is characterized by a greater variation in the severity of signs than the feminine, and a more pronounced propensity for risk, enterprise, and variability of behavior.

One of the most common typologies is Jung's concept, which is based on two grounds - the dominance of extra or introversion and the development of four basic mental processes (thinking, feeling, intuition and sensation). Based on your understanding of the structure of the soul. Jung argued that introverts in the process of individuation turn more attention on the inner part of their soul, build their behavior based on own ideas own norms and beliefs. Extroverts, on the contrary, are more focused on the person, on the outer part of their soul. They are perfectly oriented in the outside world and in their activities proceed mainly from its norms and rules of conduct. If for an introvert the extreme manifestation is a complete break in contacts with the outside world, which leads to fanaticism, then for extroverts it is the loss of oneself, which is fraught with dogmatism.

However, the desire to preserve the integrity of the personality does not allow one of its parties to completely subjugate the other. Therefore, these two parts of the soul, its two types, "divide the spheres of their influence." As a rule, extroverts build relationships well with a large circle of people, take into account their opinions and interests, at the same time, in a narrow circle of people close to them, they open up the other side of their personality, the introverted one. Here they can be despotic, impatient, do not take into account the opinions and positions of other people, trying to insist on their own. Communication with a wide range of unfamiliar and poorly known people is extremely difficult for an introvert who proceeds only from his positions and cannot build an adequate line of behavior, understand the point of view of the interlocutor. He either insists on his own, or simply leaves the contact. At the same time, in communication with loved ones, he, on the contrary, reveals himself, his extroverted, usually repressed side of his personality takes over, he is a caring and warm family man. Like Freud, Jung often illustrated his conclusions with references to this or that historical figure. In particular, when describing extra- and introverts, he mentioned famous Russian writers L.N. Tolstoy and F.M. Dostoevsky, referring Tolstoy to typical extroverts, and Dostoevsky to introverts.

Jung also believed that each person is dominated by one or another feature, which, in combination with intro or extraversion, individualizes his development path. Thinking and feeling are alternative ways of making a decision. Since thinking is oriented towards logical premises, people related to thinking type, above all, they value abstract principles, ideals, order and consistency in behavior. Feeling people, on the contrary, make decisions spontaneously, focusing on emotions, preferring any feelings, even negative ones, to boredom and order.

If thinking and feelings characterize active people who are capable of making decisions for one reason or another, then sensation and intuition characterize rather ways of obtaining information, and people of this type are more contemplative. At the same time, sensation is guided by direct, immediate experience, and sensing types, as a rule, respond better to the immediate situation, while intuitive types respond to the past or future. For them, what is possible is more important than what is happening in the present. Although all these functions are present in every person, one of them dominates, which is partially supplemented by the second function. Moreover, the more conscious and dominant one of these functions is, the more unconscious the rest. Therefore, the data obtained with their help can be perceived by a person not only as alien to him, but also as directly hostile.

Despite the fact that echoes of Jung's typology can be traced in modern concepts of individuality and personality, the structure of individuality proposed by G. Allport seems to be more perfect and widespread today. Allport's most important merit is that he was one of the first to speak about the specificity of each person, about the inseparable connection between individual typology and the uniqueness of the individual. He argued that each person is unique and individual, as he is the bearer of a peculiar combination of qualities that Allport called trite - a trait. He divided personality traits into basic and instrumental. The main features stimulate behavior and are congenital, genotypic, and instrumental - shape behavior and are formed during a person's life, i.e. belong to the phenotypic formations. The set of these traits makes up the core of the personality, gives it uniqueness and uniqueness.

Although the main features are innate, they can change, develop in the process of a person's communication with other people. Society stimulates the development of some personality traits and qualities and inhibits the development of others. Thus, that unique set of features that underlies the “I” of a person is gradually formed. Important for Allport was the provision on the autonomy of these traits, which also develops over time. The child does not have this autonomy, since his features are not yet stable and fully formed. Only in an adult who is aware of himself, his qualities and his individuality, the features become truly autonomous and do not depend either on biological needs or on the pressure of society. This autonomy of human needs, being the most important characteristic of the formation of his personality, allows him, while remaining open to society, to maintain his individuality.

Allport developed not only his theoretical concept personality, but also their own methods of systematic research of the human psyche. He proceeded from the fact that certain traits exist in the personality of each person, the difference is only in the level of their development, degree of autonomy and place in the structure. Focusing on this position, he created multifactorial questionnaires, with the help of which the features of the development of personality traits of a particular person are studied. The questionnaire of the University of Minnesota (MMPI), which is currently used (with a number of modifications) not only to study the structure of personality, but also to analyze compatibility, professional suitability, etc., has become most famous. Allport himself constantly refined his questionnaires, created new ones, believing that they should be supplemented by observational data, most often joint ones.

The hierarchy of traits that determines the type of personality may not be very pronounced, the level of various parameters may approach the average, optimal. But the intensive development of one or another trait (group of traits) is also possible, which determines the specifics of this type - the accentuation of character. This concept, introduced by K. Leonhard, implies an excessive expression of individual character traits. Extreme cases of accentuation border on psychopathy, although they do not go beyond the norm. Accentuation clearly demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of each type, their advantages in certain areas of activity and communication, and vulnerability to certain stimuli. In the case of constant and active exposure to these stimuli, it is possible to go beyond the limits of the norm and the appearance of reactive states and psychopathies.

Although the development of accentuation and the degree of its severity are determined by psychodynamics, this process is greatly influenced by the social situation, communication style in the family, profession, and culture. As a rule, accentuation develops by adolescence, but now there are more and more cases of early onset of accentuation, which can sometimes be diagnosed already by the older preschool age.

The combination of individual qualities, which is unique for each person, largely determines his behavior, communication with other people and attitude towards himself. It represents the second level in the structure of individuality, that integral individuality (V. Merlin's term), which underlies the individual lifestyle, mediating the connection between psychodynamic individual traits and personality structure. The tasks of psychotherapy are largely connected precisely with helping a person in creating an individual psychodynamic style of activity and communication based on his integral disposition, which uses the positive aspects of his personality, compensating for the negative ones if possible.

One of the first to study the dynamics of the formation of an individual lifestyle in the process of the genesis of the personality of children was A. Adler, who proceeded from the fact that a child is not born with a ready-made personality structure, but only with its prototype. He considered the style of life to be the most important in the structure.

Developing the idea of ​​a lifestyle, Adler argued that this is the determinant that defines and systematizes a person's experience. Lifestyle is closely related to the sense of community, one of the three innate unconscious feelings that make up the structure of the "I". A sense of community, or public interest, is a kind of core that holds the entire structure of a lifestyle, determines its content and direction. The sense of community, although innate, may remain undeveloped. The underdevelopment of a sense of community can cause an antisocial lifestyle, neuroses and human conflicts. The development of a sense of community is associated with close adults who surround the child from childhood, primarily with the mother. Rejected children who grow up with cold, withdrawn mothers do not develop a sense of community. It does not develop even in spoiled children, since the feeling of community with the mother is not transferred to other people who remain strangers to the child. The level of development of a sense of community determines the system of ideas about oneself and the world, which is created by each person. The inadequacy of this system of reality hinders personal growth and provokes the development of neuroses.

Forming a life style, a person is actually the creator of his personality, which he creates from the raw material of heredity and experience. The creative "I", about which Adler wrote, is a kind of enzyme that affects the surrounding reality and transforms it into a person's personality, "a subjective, dynamic, unified, individual and having a unique style personality." The creative "I", from the point of view of Adler, gives meaning to a person's life, it outlines both the very goal of life and the means to achieve it. Thus, for Adler, the processes of forming a life goal and lifestyle are, in fact, acts of creativity that give the human personality uniqueness, consciousness, and allow a person to control his own destiny. In contrast to Freud, he emphasized that people are not pawns in the hands of external forces, but conscious entities that independently and creatively create their lives.

If a sense of community determines the direction, style of life, then two other innate and unconscious feelings - inferiority and striving for superiority - serve as sources of energy necessary for the development of the individual. Both of these feelings are positive, they are incentives for personal growth, self-improvement. If the feeling of inferiority causes in a person a desire to overcome his shortcoming, then the desire for superiority gives rise to a desire to be better than others, not only to overcome the shortcoming, but also to become the most skillful and knowledgeable. These feelings, from Adler's point of view, stimulate not only individual development, but also the development of society as a whole, thanks to the self-improvement of the individual and the discoveries made by individuals.

Studying the genesis of personality structure, Rogers came to the conclusion that the inner essence of a person, his Self, is expressed in self-esteem, which reflects true essence this person, his "I". In young children, self-esteem is unconscious, it is more a sense of self, and not self-esteem. Nevertheless, already at an early age, it guides a person’s behavior, helping to understand the environment and select from it what is inherent in this particular individual, determines his interests, future profession, style of communication with certain people, etc. At an older age, children begin to realize themselves, their aspirations and abilities, and build their lives in accordance with a conscious self-assessment. In the event that behavior is built from self-esteem, it expresses the true essence of the personality, its abilities and skills, and therefore brings a person greatest success. The results of activity satisfy a person, increase his status in the eyes of others; such a person does not need to repress his experience into the unconscious, since his opinion about himself, the opinion of others about him and his real Self correspond to each other, are congruent.

However, already in early childhood, a child may be imposed an assessment that is different from his true self-esteem, his Self. Most often this happens under the pressure of adults who have their own idea of ​​the child, his abilities and purpose. They impose their assessment on the child, striving for him to accept it and make it his self-assessment. Some children begin to protest against the actions, interests and ideas imposed on them, coming into conflict with others, negativism and aggression. The desire to defend oneself at all costs, to overcome the pressure of adults can also violate true self-esteem, since in his negativism the child begins to protest against everything that comes from an adult, even if it suits his interests.

However, most often, Rogers notes, children do not even try to confront their parents, agreeing with their opinion of themselves. This is because the child needs affection and acceptance from an adult. This desire to earn the love and affection of others, he called the "value condition", which in its extreme manifestation sounds like a desire to be loved and respected by everyone with whom a person comes into contact. The "condition of value" becomes a serious obstacle to personal growth, as it interferes with the realization of the true "I" of a person, the true vocation, replacing it with an image that is pleasant to others. However, the problem is not only that, trying to earn the love of others, a person renounces himself, his self-actualization, but also that when carrying out activities imposed by others and not corresponding to the true, although not realized at the moment, desires and abilities, a person cannot be completely successful, no matter how hard he tries and convinces himself that this activity is his true calling. The need to ignore the signals of one's own insolvency or lack of success that come to the subject from the outside world is associated with the fear of changing the self-esteem to which the person is accustomed and which he considers really his own. This leads to the fact that he displaces his aspirations, and his fears, and the opinions of others into the unconscious, alienating his experience from consciousness. At the same time, a very limited and rigid scheme of the surrounding world and oneself is built, which does not correspond much to reality. This inadequacy, although not realized, but causes tension in a person, leading to neurosis.

Research conducted by Rogers proved that the development of the child's personality, his successful socialization, satisfaction with his activities and himself have a direct correlation with the level of his self-awareness. This relationship is more significant for the normal development of the individual than the attitude of parents to the child, their attachment or alienation from him, the social status of the family and its environment. At the same time, Rogers insisted that self-assessment should be not only adequate, but also flexible, i.e. it should change depending on the environment.

Developmental psychology is a branch of psychology that studies the development of the psyche in ontogenesis, the patterns of transition from one period of mental development to another based on a change in the types of leading activity. The content of developmental psychology is due to the fact that it deals with a special unit of analysis - age, or period of development. Age is characterized by those specific tasks of mastering the forms of culture that are solved by a person, as well as qualitatively new types of activity and the corresponding psychological neoplasms that arise at a given stage of development and determine the consciousness of a person, his attitude towards himself and to the world around him as a whole. Thus, developmental psychology seeks to reveal the psychological content of ages throughout the entire ontogenesis of a person from birth to old age.

Developmental psychology took shape as an independent field of knowledge by the end of the 19th century. Originating as child psychology, developmental psychology has long been limited to the study of the patterns of child mental development, however, the demands of modern society, new achievements in psychological science, which have made it possible to consider each age from the standpoint of development, have made obvious the need for a holistic analysis of the ontogenetic process and interdisciplinary research. Currently, the sections of developmental psychology are: child psychology (studying the patterns of the stages of mental development from infancy to adolescence inclusive), the psychology of youth, the psychology of adulthood and gerontopsychology (the psychology of old age).

The most important principle of developmental psychology is the principle of historicism, which makes it necessary to study the connection between the history of childhood and other stages of development and the history of society in revealing the psychological content of the stages of ontogeny. The historical principle of developmental psychology also manifests itself in the fact that the chronological framework and features of each age are not static - they are determined by the action of socio-historical factors, the social order of society.

The historical analysis of the concept of "childhood" is given in the works of P. P. Blonsky, L. S. Vygotsky, D. B. Elkonin, where the reasons are revealed why, under similar natural conditions, the level of mental development that a child reaches at each historical stage of society, not the same. Childhood is a period lasting from newborn to full social and, consequently, psychological maturity; This is the period of the child becoming a full-fledged member of human society. At the same time, the duration of childhood in a primitive society is not equal to the duration of childhood in the Middle Ages or today. The stages of human childhood are a product of history, and they are just as subject to change as they were thousands of years ago. Therefore, it is impossible to study the childhood of a child and the laws of its formation outside the development of human society and the laws that determine its development. The duration of childhood is directly dependent on the level of material and spiritual culture of society. The course of the mental development of the child, according to L. S. Vygotsky, does not obey the eternal laws of nature, the laws of the maturation of the organism. The course of child development in a class society, he believed, "has a very definite class meaning." That is why he emphasized that there is no eternally childish, but only historically childish.

The question of the historical origin of the periods of childhood, the connection between the history of childhood and the history of society, the history of childhood as a whole, without which it is impossible to form a meaningful concept of childhood, was raised in child psychology in the late 20s of the 20th century and continues to be developed to this day. . According to the views of Soviet psychologists, to study child development historically means to study the child's transition from one age stage to another, to study the change in his personality within each age period that occurs under specific historical conditions.

In modern developmental psychology, the historical analysis of the concept of "childhood" is most fully given in the concept of D. I. Feldstein, who considers childhood as a socio-psychological phenomenon of society and a special state of development.

In the concept of D. I. Feldstein, a meaningful psychological analysis of the interaction system of functional connections that determine the social state of Childhood in its generalized understanding in a particular society is given, and ways are found to resolve the issue of what connects different periods of Childhood, which ensures the general state of Childhood , which brings him to another state - to Adulthood.

Defining childhood as a phenomenon of the social world, D. I. Feldstein singles out the following characteristics.

Functionally - Childhood appears as an objectively necessary state in the dynamic system of society, the state of the process of maturation of the younger generation and, therefore, preparation for the reproduction of the future society.

In its meaningful definition, it is a process of constant physical growth, the accumulation of mental neoplasms, the development of social space, reflection on all relations in this space, defining oneself in it, one's own self-organization, which occurs in the constantly expanding and more complex contacts of the child with adults and other children ( younger, peers, elders), the adult community as a whole.

Essentially - Childhood is a form of manifestation, a special state of social development, when the biological patterns associated with age-related changes in the child, to a large extent, show their effect, "obeying", however, to an ever greater extent the regulating and determining action of the social.

And the meaning of all meaningful changes lies not only in the acquisition, appropriation by the child of social norms (which, as a rule, focuses on), but in the very development of social, social properties, qualities that are inherent in human nature. In practice, this is carried out in achieving a certain level of socialization, which is typical for a specific historical society, more broadly for a specific historical time, but at the same time it is also a state of development of that social level that characterizes a person of a certain era, in this case a modern person * At the same time the social principle, as they grow older, more and more actively determines the features of the functioning of the child and the content of the development of his individuality.

Being a complex, independent organism, Childhood is an integral part of society, acting as a special generalized subject of multifaceted, diverse relations in which it objectively sets the tasks and goals of interaction with adults, determining the directions of their activities with it, develops its own socially significant world.

According to D. I. Feldstein, the main, internally laid down goal of Childhood in general and of each child, in particular, is growing up - the development, appropriation, realization of adulthood. But the same goal - the growing up of children, subjectively having a different direction - to ensure this growing up - is the main one for the Adult world.

The attitude of the Adult community to Childhood, regardless of the definition of its upper limit, is distinguished primarily by stability - it is an attitude as to a special state, as to a phenomenon that is outside the adult sphere of life. The author of the concept considers the problem of the relationship of the Adult community to Childhood in a broad socio-cultural context and socio-historical plan and highlights the position of the World of Adults towards Childhood not as a collection of children of different ages - outside the Adult World (who need to be raised, educated, trained), but as a the subject of interaction as a special state of its own, which society goes through in its constant reproduction. This is not a “social nursery”, but a social state deployed in time, ranked by density, structures, forms of activity, etc., in which children and adults interact.

D. I. Feldshtein emphasizes the importance of the position that adults take in relation to children in general. This is a position of responsibility, which includes a wide range of components - from caring for offspring to striving to ensure a normal future for mankind. But in all cases, this is the position of an intermediary in the development of the social world by a child, an intermediary, without which the transition of children to the World of Adults is unthinkable.

However, the author of the concept notes that in fulfilling his mediating role, an adult always takes a very definite position in relation to children - leading, organizing, teaching and practically treats the child as an object of influence, and not as a subject of relations. D. I. Feldshtein emphasizes the importance and psychological prospects of studying the problem of interaction between Adults and children and revealing the functional load of Adults in relation to Childhood at the socio-psychological level.

A progressively directed change in the capabilities, needs of children in a stable sequence (objectively set by biological capabilities and the level of social development) of periods, stages, phases of development, fulfilling the single goal of growing up until the transition to a new environment of relationships and connections, appears as a special, developing system of Childhood, which is a subsystem Society, an active, moving part of a single society. And main point, the idea of ​​this development is the fulfillment of the goal of growing up, in which both Childhood and Adulthood converge, and awareness, and development, and realization by a growing individual of the Social World in its concrete historical representation through a system of interaction with the World of Adults.

In modern developmental psychology, historical analysis will be extended not only to Childhood as a socio-psychological phenomenon of society, but also to Youth, Maturity, and Old Age. However, until recently these ages were outside the sphere of actual interests of developmental psychology (developmental psychology), since Maturity was considered as the age of "psychological petrification", and Old Age - as the age of total extinction. Thus, while developing physically, socially, an adult person was, as it were, excluded from the process of development in its socio-psychological meaning and from the history of the development of the most specific person as a really acting subject, the development of his consciousness, self-consciousness, and other personal qualities.

The actualization of the interest of developmental psychology in the study of periods of Maturity and Old Age is associated with the humanization of society and the beginning of the revival and active development of acmeology (declared in the works of B. G. Ananiev) as a science about the period of maximum flowering of personal growth, the highest moment of manifestation of spiritual forces. These trends and scientific approaches have significantly changed the current situation of understanding the Adult, opening up a new space for a person, emphasizing the importance of studying the main points of his creative self-development. As D. I. Feldstein points out, these important and promising areas should in the future reveal the problem of the Adult in development and the problem of its development, which is possible only if all stages of ontogenesis are considered in unity, and old age, including deep , will be studied as a moment of an individual path. In the knowledge of an adult, understanding his personal characteristics, it is important to take into account the historical situation. Modern man has not only acquired new possibilities of choice, a new level of self-consciousness (the available studies of individuals of antiquity - A. F. Losev, the Middle Ages - Ya. millennia, require it to further develop in terms of expanding relations, deepening self-determination,

"general maturation". And constantly growing opportunities (determined by the achievements of science, technology, medicine, informatization, etc.) determine a new situation in the development of an adult, expanding the boundaries of his life. And in this regard, the problem of old age, the problem of an elderly person, is of particular importance.

Among the individual sections of developmental psychology, gerontology is the "youngest" area of ​​research. Right now, old ideas about old age are breaking down. Its two aspects - physical and psychological - are becoming more and more differentiated. Old age is a natural stage in human development, and the possibilities of lengthening human life are becoming more and more obvious, including through the internal self-development of the individual himself, the development of his psychological resistance against aging.

The definition of developmental psychology as the doctrine of the periods of psychological development and personality formation in ontogenesis, their change and transitions from one age to another, as well as the historical analysis of the successive stages of ontogenesis, indicate that the subject of developmental psychology has changed historically. At present, the subject of developmental psychology is the disclosure of the general patterns of mental development in ontogenesis, the establishment of age periods, the formation and development of activity, consciousness and personality, and the reasons for the transition from one period to another, which is impossible without taking into account the influence of cultural, historical, ethnic and socio-economic conditions.

The tasks of developmental psychology are broad and ambiguous. At present, this branch of psychology has acquired the status of a scientific and practical discipline, and therefore, theoretical and practical tasks should be distinguished among its tasks. The theoretical tasks of developmental psychology include the study of the main psychological criteria and characteristics of Childhood, Youth, Adulthood (Maturity), Old Age as social phenomena and successive states of society, the study of the age dynamics of mental processes and personal development depending on cultural, historical, ethnic and social - economic* conditions, various types of upbringing and education, research on differential psychological differences (sexually mature and typological properties of a person), research on the process of growing up in its entirety and diverse manifestations.

Among the scientific and practical tasks facing developmental psychology are the creation of a methodological basis for monitoring the progress, the usefulness of the content and conditions of mental development at different stages of ontogenesis, the organization of optimal forms of activity and communication in childhood and adolescence, as well as the organization of psychological assistance during periods age crises, in adulthood and old age.

Psychology of human development [Development of subjective reality in ontogenesis] Slobodchikov Viktor Ivanovich

1.2. Object and subject of study in developmental psychology

Distinguishing between the object and the subject of knowledge

Formation of a certain body of knowledge about the world around as an independent scientific discipline in its starting point relies on the idea of ​​a specific subject of research. The content of the concept of "subject" is clearly revealed when comparing it with the concept of "object". In the philosophical and methodological tradition an object considered primarily in cognitive terms and is opposed to subject knowledge. To explain the relationship between the object and the subject of knowledge, we will use Fig. one.

Rice. 1. Correlation between the object and the subject of knowledge

The subject of cognition does not find the object of study ready-made, since it does not exist as a natural and quite concrete thing. The subject singles it out from being, from the real world and puts it in front of him as the actual object of study, existing on its own - regardless of the will and consciousness of the cognizing subject. This is the first and main procedure in cognitive activity, and only from this moment it is possible to obtain rational knowledge about the essential properties of some objective reality.

In order for the subject to relate to the object cognitively, the latter must be given to him as not coinciding with him; there must be a transcendence of the immediate, natural course of life. Man must also distinguish the knowing self from the reality of knowing. For example, each person is the bearer of his own inner world, it is given to him in his immediacy. But in order to make it an object of study, a person must become aware of this world, look at it from the outside, think about its structure, processes, functions, correlate them with each other, i.e., explore it.

Research needs to distinguish empirical and theoretical objects knowledge. The empirical object outlines, although quite extensive, but always a specific fragment of reality - the field of study. From a research point of view, an empirical object is also the area of ​​existence of many practical problems that need to be solved. However, to make this possible, it is necessary to reveal the essence of this reality itself. And for this purpose, developed sciences build, as a rule, special - theoretical objects, ideal constructions or models of the reality under study. Exactly theoretical model(its experimental study) makes it possible to reveal the essential characteristics of this reality, the patterns of its functioning and development.

As a rule, the objects of knowledge are complex, polystructural formations. Therefore, in its cognitive activity, the subject singles out and describes the object only from a certain point of view, fixes in it individual properties or a group of properties and characteristics. The selection, fixation and description by the subject of a separate side of the object constitute the subject of study or knowledge.

The subject of knowledge is adequate to the object, but not identical with it. The object itself does not contain any knowledge. The subject of knowledge is a product of the cognitive activity of the subject. As a special theoretical construct, the object is subject to its own laws that do not coincide with the laws of life of an empirical object. The laws and norms of the existence of knowledge and objects of knowledge are studied in the logic and methodology of scientific knowledge.

One and the same object can correspond to several different objects. This is explained, on the one hand, by the fact that the nature of the subject of knowledge depends on which side of the object it reflects. For example, a person as an object of knowledge is studied from the point of view of its natural and social properties, which constitute the subjects of study of biological and social sciences. On the other hand, the multi-subject nature of an object is associated with a variety of practical tasks, the solution of each of which requires the allocation of its own specific subject. At the same time, such a complex entity as a person can act as a specific subject for a certain system of knowledge. For example, in pedagogy, the fundamental work of K. D. Ushinsky is called “Man as a subject of education. Experience of Pedagogical Anthropology, or in psychology - B. G. Ananiev. "Man as an object of knowledge".

The distinction between the object and the subject of knowledge is clearly seen within the framework of separate science. With regard to the course "Fundamentals of Psychological Anthropology", such a distinction can be represented as follows.

Table 1

Object and subject of human development psychology

In "Human Psychology" the object is human reality in its entirety, and the subject is subjectivity as a fundamental ability of a person to get into a practical relationship with his life; here this ability itself is studied - its nature, basic laws, structure and functions. For the Psychology of Human Development, subjective reality itself is now the object of study, and the subject of its study is that side of this object that fixes development of subjectivity in ontogenesis, its transformation and formation as a person's ability to be the subject (owner, manager, author) of his own life activity.

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The theory of the development of abilities in domestic psychology In order for a child's initiative to be adequate, it must fit into the context of the culture that is supported by adults and in which the child lives. As a cultural analysis tool

From the book How to study and not get tired author Makeev A. V.

Basic concepts of developmental psychology and factors of mental development Neuropsychic development is one of the main indicators of a child's health. Parents, teachers, a pediatrician should be able to correctly assess neuropsychic development and psychological

From the book Psychology of Human Development [Development of Subjective Reality in Ontogeny] author Slobodchikov Victor Ivanovich

Antinomies and paradoxes of the idea of ​​development in psychology

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3.1. The pre-revolutionary period of the development of developmental psychology in Russia The formation of Russian developmental psychology (mid-50s - early 70s of the 19th century) The formation of the subject, tasks and methods for studying the development of the human psyche begins in the middle of the 19th century. At that time in Russia there was

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3.2. The Marxist period of development of the national age

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The Marxist Perestroika of Developmental Psychology (1918–1936) After 1917, Russia entered a new, Soviet stage in its historical development. This period of development of social and humanitarian thought is characterized by a strong dependence of scientific research on political

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3.3. General theory of mental development in Soviet psychology Cultural-historical doctrine of the nature of the mental Commonly recognized theory of mental development in Russian developmental psychology and in teaching practice cultural and historical

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3.4. Ways of building modern developmental psychology

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The search for the object and subject of developmental psychology Until the end of the 80s. such a phrase as "developmental psychology" in domestic and world psychology for a long time was used only as a general name for the totality of research in the field of mental development

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Part II Conceptual Foundations of Human Development Psychology Methodological Guidelines for Part II Analytical essay on the history and current state of foreign and domestic

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Chapter 1. The philosophical meaning of the principle of development in

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Subjective Approach in Developmental Psychology The system-structural and procedural-dynamic approaches place the main emphasis on the special construction of the object of cognition. As a rule, such an object is singled out in terms of its formal characteristics - as a holistic,

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From the author's book

The categorical structure of the psychology of human development The scientific approaches discussed above to understanding and explaining the psychological reality of a person and its development in ontogenesis differ significantly from each other. Each of them developed its own class of representations and

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Coexistential community as an object and source of development of subjectivity Object of development. Having defined subjective reality as the subject of psychological anthropology, having studied its nature, it is necessary to answer the following questions: what are the sources of subjectivity as a special

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Category of Age in Developmental Psychology The concept of age is the central category for the sciences that study human development. L. S. Vygotsky considered the problem of age and age periodization to be the key to all issues of social practice. periodization

The field of psychological research, where knowledge is presented and the processes and patterns of the psychological and behavioral development of people in ontogeny are studied. Dictionary of practical psychologist. Moscow: AST, Harvest. S. Yu. Golovin. 1998. Psychology ... ... Great Psychological Encyclopedia

One of the branches of psychology that deals with mental states, and the development of the psyche, the genesis of the forms in which the spiritual life proceeds in children (see Child psychology), youth (see Youth psychology), peoples (see Folk ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY- Strictly speaking, the field of psychology that studies the processes of change throughout life. Change here refers to any qualitative and/or quantitative transformation in the structure of function: the transition from crawling to walking, from babbling to talking ... Explanatory Dictionary of Psychology

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY- one of the sections of psychology that explores the development of the psyche, the genesis of the forms in which spiritual life flows in children (see Child psychology), youth (see Youth psychology), peoples (see Folk psychology), etc ... Professional education. Dictionary

Developmental psychology- studies age-related changes in people's behavior and patterns in the acquisition of experience and knowledge throughout their lives. In other words, it focuses on the study of the mechanisms of mental development and answers the question why this is so ... ... Human psychology: glossary of terms

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY- part of psychological science relating to the laws of psychological, in particular age, development of a person ... Glossary of terms for psychological counseling

Developmental psychology- a field of psychology that studies the age-related transformations of psychological functions and personality of a person “from the cradle to the grave” (in the words of Hall, who in the 20th century first declared the right to the existence of such a discipline) ... encyclopedic Dictionary in psychology and pedagogy

A field of psychology focused on the study of parenthood as a psychological phenomenon. From a psychological point of view, parenthood is seen as part of the personality of the father and mother. The features of its development during life are studied (as values ​​... Wikipedia

- (English peace psychology) a field of research in psychology related to the study of mental processes and behavior that generate violence, prevent violence and promote the use of non-violent methods, as well as the creation ... Wikipedia

Labor psychology is a branch of psychology that considers the psychological characteristics of a person's labor activity, the patterns of development of labor skills. There is an opinion that the description of this science should be divided into broad and narrow ... ... Wikipedia

Books

• Developmental Psychology, Bokum Don, Craig Grace. One of the most comprehensive modern textbooks on developmental psychology. An undoubted advantage is a careful consideration of all stages of human life: the period of preparation for ...
• Developmental psychology, Chekina L.F.. In this study guide the following aspects are considered: methodological foundations psychology of development, reveals the content of the main psychological theories, analyzes the driving forces, ...