You know that the ability to make things up makes the real world more interesting. But when they say to you: “Imagine it!”, you fail. Of course, imagination cannot be turned on with the help of a button, but it can and should be developed. Is it hard to imagine? And you try. With our help.

Responsibilities of the Left Hemisphere

It is responsible for logical thinking, education and analysis. Also for verbal information processing and language abilities. Controls speech functions, as well as reading and writing, plus remembers facts, names, dates and their spelling (and is able to connect them by analyzing).

The left hemisphere helps us understand the literal meaning of words. As for the processing of information, it performs this task sequentially, in stages. Numbers and symbols are also recognized by it, it is also responsible for mathematical abilities. In addition, the left hemisphere controls the movements of the right half of the body.

Responsibilities of the right hemisphere

Firstly, it is responsible for intuition and imaginative thinking. Secondly, for the processing of non-verbal information (expressed not in words, but in symbols and images). Moreover, unlike the left hemisphere (which analyzes information only in a clear sequence), the right one is able to simultaneously process different data. Thirdly, it helps a person to consider the problem as a whole. Thanks to him, we can understand not only the literal meaning of what we hear or read. And if someone says: “He hangs on my tail,” the right hemisphere will tell you what was meant.

Also, the right hemisphere recognizes faces, and we can perceive a set of features as a whole. With its help, we understand metaphors and the result of the work of someone else's imagination. It is also responsible for spatial orientation, gives us the opportunity to dream and fantasize. Making and making plans, asking “what if?” - that's what it asks.

Separately, we note creative abilities (musical and artistic). Here we will also write emotions, and religiosity, and faith in something.

The right hemisphere also controls the movements of the left half of the body.

If we compare all the pieces of information stored in our brain with the elements of a constructor, then a person with a developed imagination can put together more figures from the same elements than someone who lacks imagination.

FIRST STEPS

Well, let's get down to the exercises to develop the imagination? The author's method of psychologist Andrey Rodionov (www.rodionov.by) will help us with this. Don't worry, all tasks are easy to complete. By the way, you can connect a friend or loved one to the "training" - and have fun and spend time with benefit.

imprinting

Look closely at any item. Now close your eyes and try to keep it in your memory for as long as possible. Present the subject as a whole and in parts. Now open your eyes and look at the object again. Maybe you missed some details?

Repeat these steps several times until the subject comes to mind in full detail. Strive for the maximum identity of the physical and the imaginary. As you progress in the lessons, choose more and more complex subjects for analysis.

Cinema without sound

This is a fun exercise. Choose an unfamiliar movie on TV. Watch the beginning of it and then turn off the sound. Try to understand the meaning of what is happening on the screen without words. We warn you right away: it will be uncomfortable, you will want to turn on the sound. Be patient! After a while, you will be surprised to realize that much is clear.

unreal things

Try to imagine things that are not (and never were) in reality. What would they look like? What sounds did they make? Imagine a butterfly the size of an airplane, a book with 50,000 pages, an inhabitant of a distant planet, a talking ant...

Familiar melodies

Pick up (or rather, drink!) Several different melodies known to you:

• from classical music;
• film music;
• pop music;
• rock music;
• some folk song.

Fruits vegetables

Using all your senses, imagine an orange, a banana, a grape, a pear, a melon, a blackberry, a cabbage, a lemon, a carrot, a pepper, a tomato, a radish, a plum, a date, an apple. Try to imagine them clearly and realistically so that you can see (and sniff out!) All the nuances.

GAME MASTER

These exercises will require more time and effort from you than the previous ones. But the result is worth it. All of them contribute to the development of concentration, expansion of the scope of perception, improvement of memory and, of course, stimulate the imagination!

I think and see

Choose an object at eye level at a distance of 1-3 meters. The subject to begin with should be simple: a book, a pen, a folder. Close your eyes and imagine a white, empty glowing space. Mentally hold this image for 3-5 minutes. Open your eyes and contemplate the chosen object for 3-5 minutes. At the same time, do not think about it, look through it (as if you are looking into the distance). Now close your eyes and imagine the object, placing it in a white luminous space for 3-5 minutes.

Exercise should be done 5 times, perform it calmly, without effort.

rainbow world

Imagine a small red square, fix it in your mind. Now imagine that the square increases in size, diverges with faces to infinity. Now there is only red space in front of you, contemplate it.

The next day, do the same experiment with the orange space. Then with yellow, green, blue, blue and purple. Having learned this, move on to more complex things. Imagine first a red color, smoothly turning into orange, orange turning into yellow, and so on until purple. Then from purple you need to go back.

The third level of difficulty: imagine red-skinned people walking through a green forest. The skin of people gradually becomes orange, yellow - and so on to purple. Then scroll through the color scheme in reverse order (the skin should turn red again).

Eh, apple!

Sit in a chair or lie down on a bed. Close eyes. Imagine an apple. Start rotating it in space clockwise. Now let it “fly out” of your head. Place the apple against the bridge of your nose, look at it. Carefully mentally enter it, feel yourself inside the fruit (do not forget about its shape and size!).

Then imagine that part of you remains in the apple, lift the fruit one meter above you. Try to see yourself from above. Inspect at the same time the walls of the room, the furniture, the close ceiling.

P.S. YOUR BUTTON

Since ancient times, people have believed that creative inspiration comes from above. He was equated either with a gift or with a punishment. And even now, talent is often tried to be explained genetically or mystically. But thanks to scientific research, work on psychoanalysis and psychology, trainings on the development of creativity, it can already be said that a person’s creative potential does not always depend on a windy muse. But it is often associated with the capabilities of the right hemisphere of the brain. Isn't it time to stop ignoring the dormant powers of your imagination and find out what it is capable of?!

FROM WORDS TO DEED!

Surely soon one of your loved ones will have a holiday. Do not limit yourself this time to a standard greeting card, with a printed template poem inside, but come up with a rhyme yourself (even the simplest one!) And write a message with your own hand. Or draw (glue, decorate) a greeting card. The recipient, believe me, will appreciate your efforts!

READING YOURSELF

• Marilee Zdenek Right Brain Development
• Andrey Rodionov "Development of the intellect"
• Anna Wise "Inspiration by order"
• I.A. Beskova “How is creative thinking possible?”
• Cleg Brian "Intensive course on the development of creative thinking"
• I.Yu. Matyugin "Methods for the development of memory, imaginative thinking, imagination"
• Alexey Turchin "Active Imagination Tutorial"

Some of the books on this list are available for download online.

Anna Serikova
Photo: CORBIS/FOTOSA.RU

We thank Andrey Rodionov, an expert in intellectual and communication technologies, for his help in preparing the article.

Imagination- this is the property of the psyche to create images in the mind. All processes that take place in images are called imaginations. Imagination as a mental process constitutes visual-figurative thinking, thanks to which a person can navigate, look for a solution to problems without the direct intervention of practical actions. This process is very essential, especially in cases where it is impossible or difficult to carry out the necessary practical action, or it is simply inexpedient.

This process reflects the surrounding world of a person at the highest mental levels. The most popular definition of imagination is a mental process, the essence of which is the creation of new unique images, through the processing of the perceived material of representations that came with previous experience. It is also considered as a phenomenon, as an ability and as a specific activity of the subject. This process has a complex functional structure, so Vygotsky defined it as a psychological system.

The function of imagination is peculiar only to a person and has a certain meaning in a specific professional activity of a person. Before starting to perform a certain activity, he imagines what kind of this object will be and mentally creates an algorithm of actions. Thus, a person constructs in advance the image of a future object or the final result of an activity. Developed creative imagination plays a great role in creative professions. Thanks to their developed creative abilities, people earn big money.

There are several types of imagination: active (voluntary), passive (involuntary), recreative, creative.

Imagination in psychology

Imagination is a process of cognition of the surrounding world. The outside world seems to be imprinted in the subconscious of a person. Thanks to this, a person is able to remember old and recent events, to program, to imagine the future. Often this process is called the ability to imagine missing objects in one's thoughts, to keep their image, to manipulate it in consciousness. Sometimes it is confused with, but really these are two different mental processes.

The imagination tends to create images based on memory rather than information from the outside world. It is less real because it has a component of fantasy and dreams. Even the most pragmatic, skeptical, boring people have imagination. It is impossible to attach a person who has completely lost such a function. The behavior of these people is governed by their principles, logic, facts, they always do everything according to the rules. But to say that they completely lack creative thinking or that they never dream is very wrong. It's just that this is the type of people in whom these processes are not sufficiently developed or they do not use them, or do not know how to use them. Often such people have a monotonous typical life that repeats the same every day and they act according to a certain algorithm, believing that they have no time for more. In fact, it is a pity for such people, because their life is boring, they do not use the abilities that are given to them by nature. Creative imagination makes people individual, non-repeating personalities.

Imagination as a mental process has certain functions that help a person become special.

cognitive function is contained in expanding the horizons of a person, gaining knowledge, constructing a person’s behavior in an uncertain situation, guided by conjectures and considerations.

Prediction function suggests that the properties of the imagination help a person to imagine the end result of an unfinished action. It is this function that contributes to the formation of dreams and dreams in people.

Understanding function is displayed in a person’s ability to assume what a person is now experiencing, what emotions he is overwhelmed with, what feelings he is experiencing. Similar to this function is the state of empathy, when a person is able to penetrate the world of another and understand what worries him.

The protection function assumes that by predicting future events, by thinking about the course of actions and the consequences of these actions, a person can prevent troubles, protect himself from possible problems.

Self-development function is displayed in a person's ability to fantasize, invent and create.

Memory function It is expressed in the ability of a person to remember past events, to recreate frames of the past in his head. It is stored in the form of images and representations.

The above functions are not always fully expressed in all people. Each personality is dominated by a certain function, which often determines the character and behavior of a person. To understand how images and representations are created, it is necessary to follow the main ways of their creation. Each path is a complex multi-level mental process.

Agglutination is the creation of unreal, completely new, fabulous objects or phenomena that appear under the influence of the properties and appearance of some existing object, evaluating and analyzing the properties of which a person creates an object similar to him. That is, there is an original object on the basis of which a prototype is formed. This technique is very popular in creating fairy tales or myths.

Emphasizing is the process of fixing on one dominant characteristic highlighted in some object (person, object, activity, phenomenon) and its hyperbolization. Emphasis is often used in their work by artists in the creation of cartoons and caricatures.

Typification is the process of highlighting the main characteristics in several objects, and creating an image from them, completely new, but containing a piece of each of them. With the help of this technique, literary heroes and characters are created.

All of the above methods of imagination are actively used in psychology, creativity, and even scientific activity. For example, in medicine, new drugs are created based on existing ones. Also, modern technology, electronics, gadgets, inventions were developed on the basis of previously existing knowledge, schemes, theories and skills. Having collected from them the most important information, having processed it, scientists receive a completely new product. If people had no imagination, humanity would not be able to progress in all spheres and activities.

Imagination as a mental process involves the creation of new images based on existing experience. The ideas that appear in the images in the human head have not yet begun to be realized do not exist, but there is a possibility that in the future they can be brought to life. This process is based on the reformulation of information and impressions of the subject. The more the situation seems incomprehensible and complex, the more the imagination process is involved. This process is of great importance in the professional activity of a person. It also greatly influences feelings and emotions, and plays a large role in the development of personality.

In the creative and working process, imagination enables the individual to regulate and manage her activities, as well as control her speech, emotions, attention and memory. Helps to create and use images of reality. It improves the psychological state of a person, prevents stress and depression. With the help of imagination, he is able to plan his future activities in his mind, manipulating images. Imagination and individuality are the criteria in assessing the talent and abilities of a person, which is important in labor activity.

A person reflects the surrounding reality mainly in a figurative way. The image is a non-static phenomenon, it tends to change constantly. This process has a dynamic connection with the objects of the surrounding reality. Consequently, imagination is not some kind of abstraction, but a specific process associated with the real mental activity of the subject. This activity is also dynamic in nature.

Imagination is a process of self-knowledge of a person, disclosure of his abilities, other people and the world around him, the events taking place. This is a special form of the human psyche, occupying a place between perception, memory and thought processes. Visual-figurative thinking and imagination complement each other, imagination is its basis and makes it possible to show resourcefulness in an unfamiliar situation, to find a solution to a problem without applying any actions.

Types of imagination

This process, as a complex mental process, can also be of several types. Regarding the features of the process, they distinguish: involuntary, arbitrary, recreating, creative, and dreams.

involuntary imagination also called passive. This is the simplest type and it consists in creating and combining representations, their components into a new image, when a person does not have a direct intention to do this, when consciousness is weak, and there is little control over the flow of representations.

passive imagination occurs in young children. It manifests itself most often when a person is in a drowsy, half-asleep state, then the images arise on their own (therefore arbitrary), one changes to another, they combine, take on the most unrealistic forms and types.

Not only in the drowsy state does such imagination operate, it also manifests itself in the waking state. New ideas do not always appear when a person purposefully directs his consciousness to creation. A feature of the created images is their variability as a result of the instability of trace excitations of the brain and the ease of their relationship with the processes of excitations in adjacent brain centers. Since the trajectory of arousal is not fixed, this makes imagination so easy. It is especially easy in children, in which, moreover, there is no critical thinking, which acts as a filtering mechanism in adults, so the child sometimes gives out the most unrealistic fantasized images. Only by acquiring life experience and forming a critical attitude, such unintentional imagination is gradually put in order and guides consciousness, therefore a deliberate active representation is formed.

Arbitrary imagination, also called active, is the deliberate construction of representations of the corresponding task in a certain activity. Active imagination develops when children begin to play roles (doctor, salesman, teacher). When they try to portray their role, they have to strain their brains as accurately as possible, thus using their imagination. Further development of this process takes place when a person begins to act independently, shows initiative and creative efforts in the process of labor, requiring clear and accurate representations of the subject, which will be created from operations and which must be performed.

active imagination most of all manifested in the creative activity of man. In this process, a person sets himself a task, which is the starting point for the development of the imagination process. Since the products of this activity are objects of art, the imagination is governed by the demands that follow from the specific features of art.

The recreating aspect of this process is contained in the fact that a person must create an image of an object that he has never seen, based on certain descriptions.

Recreating imagination according to the psychological structure, it is the translation of the second-signal stimulus into the second-signal image.

The re-creative imagination embraces what is created, what already exists, and how it exists. It is not separate from reality, and if we move away from it a little, then the imagination will not correspond to the goals of cognition - to expand the field of human knowledge, reducing descriptions to visual images.

The recreating imagination helps a person to be transported to other countries, to outer space, to see historical events and objects that he has never seen before in his life, but after recreating he can imagine. This process allows people who read fiction to recreate scenes, events, and characters in their minds.

creative imagination also referred to as active imagination, it is involved in the formation of new images in creative activity, art, science, technical activity. Composers, writers, artists resort to such a process in order to display life in images in their art. They create artistic images through which they reflect life as truthfully as possible, and not photographically copy the events of life. These images also reflect the individuality of the creative person, his approach to life, artistic style.

Creative imagination is also used in scientific activities, which cannot be interpreted as ordinary mechanical knowledge of phenomena. The construction of hypotheses is a creative process, which is then confirmed by practice.

There is another peculiar kind of this process - it is a dream, as a representation of what is desired in the future. It is created meaningfully, as opposed to unintentional dreams. A person consciously directs his thoughts to the formation of desired goals, planning strategies to achieve these goals and translating them into real life.

Dreaming can be helpful, but it can also be harmful. When a dream is transcendent, unreal, not connected with life, it weakens the will of a person, reduces his activity and slows down psychological development. Such dreams are empty, meaningless, they are called dreams. When a dream is connected with reality, and potentially real, it helps a person to mobilize, to combine efforts and resources to achieve the goal. Such a dream is an incentive for active action and the rapid development of the best qualities of the individual.

Imagination and creativity

Creativity is the process of creating fundamentally new or improved methods for solving tasks and problems. It becomes obvious that imagination and the creative process are very interconnected.

Imagination is defined here as the transformation of ideas about reality and the creation of new images on this basis. It works every time a person thinks about some object or phenomenon, without even coming into direct contact with it. Thanks to the creative imagination, this representation is transformed.

Creative thinking and imagination have their own specific features. Through this process, it is possible to create completely new unique representations based on the subject's own ideas and thoughts, in which the individuality of the creator is expressed. It can be arbitrary and involuntary. To a large extent, creative imagination or a tendency towards it is conditioned from birth, but it can also be developed.

The development of creative imagination occurs in three stages. The first is a creative idea. At first, a fuzzy image appears in the mind of the creator, the initial idea, which can be created arbitrarily, without purposeful comprehension of the idea. The second stage involves nurturing the idea. A person thinks about strategies for translating an idea into reality, mentally improves it. The third stage completes the nurturing of the idea and brings it to life.

The development of creative imagination is carried out in the process of transition from involuntary to arbitrary, from recreative to creative. During childhood and adolescence, creative imagination has characteristic features, it is special for its magic, fantastic judgments about the world and the absence of a critical component of thinking and rationality. During adolescence, complex changes occur in the body, respectively, in the mind as well. Objectivity is developed, perception becomes more critical. Rationality of perception appears a little later, when a person becomes an adult. Adult reason begins to control the imagination, often too much criticality and practicality weakens the processes of fantasizing, overflowing them with meaning, loading them with some kind of unnecessary, in fact, information.

There are certain methods for developing creative thinking. The most practical method is reading literature and watching scientific films, expanding the circle of one's knowledge, drawing knowledge from different areas of life, memorizing and analyzing information. In this case, a large number of materials for creative processes appear.

Imagine imaginary objects, punch through various manipulations with them. For example, imagine the sea, hear the sound of breaking waves, feel the breath of sea freshness, imagine entering the water, feel its temperature, and so on. Or another example, imagine a pear. Imagine its shape, size, color. Engage tactile perception, imagine it when it is in your hand, feel its surface, aroma. You can mentally bite off a piece of it, imagine the taste.

For the imagination to be arbitrary, it is necessary to work on it, regularly conducting training. To make the effect even greater, you need to look for sources of inspiration, ask friends for help, ask about their ideas. Try group work on creating ideas, sometimes the results are very unique, and a person becomes more active if the imagination process takes place in a circle of other creative individuals.

Development of the imagination

The development of thinking is a purposeful process, the main task of which is the development of brilliance and showiness, originality and depth, as well as the productivity of imaginary images. In its development, imagination as a mental process is subject to the same laws as other ontogenetic transformations of mental processes.

The imagination of a preschooler develops very quickly, it is presented in two forms: the generation of an idea and the strategy for its implementation. Also, the preschooler's imagination performs, in addition to the cognitive-intellectual function, also an affective-protective one, which is expressed in protecting the child's weak personality from too difficult emotional experiences. The cognitive function helps to better recognize the world, interact with it, and solve tasks.

Development of imagination in children has a dependence on the process of objectification of the image by the action. During this process, the child tries to manage the images he created, change them, improve them, that is, take control. But he is not yet able to plan his imagination, a similar ability is developed by the age of four or five.

The affective development of the imagination in children occurs at the age of 2.5 - 4 or 5 years. The negative experiences of children are symbolically displayed in the characters, as a result of which the child begins to imagine situations in which the threat is removed. After that, the ability to relieve emotional stress appears, using the projection mechanism, when the negative qualities that really exist in the child begin to be attributed to other objects.

The development of imagination in children of six or seven years old reaches a level at which many children have already learned to imagine themselves and imagine life in their own world.

The development of the imagination takes place in the process of human ontogenesis, under the influence of life experience, in which the accumulated stock of ideas is stored as material for creating new images. The development of this process is closely related to the individuality of the individual, his upbringing and other mental processes, and the degree of their development (thinking, memory, will). It is very difficult to determine the age limits that characterize the dynamics of the development of the imagination. History knows cases of early development of the imagination. Mozart composed his first music when he was four years old. But there is a downside to this development. Even if the development of the imagination is belated, this does not mean that in mature years it will not be sufficiently developed. A well-known example of such a development is that of Einstein, who, as a child, did not have a highly developed imagination, but over time he developed it and became a genius recognized throughout the world.

In the formation of the imagination, certain patterns are distinguished, although it is difficult to determine the stages of its development themselves. Because it can happen to each person individually. The first manifestations of the imagination process are very connected with the processes of perception. It is good to give examples on children, because in them the development process takes place more actively and brighter. Children who are one and a half years old do not know how to concentrate their attention on a fairy tale or simple stories, when adults read to them, they are constantly distracted, fall asleep, switch to other activities, but love to hear long stories about themselves. The child loves to listen to stories about himself, his experiences, because he can clearly imagine what the story is about. The relationship of perception and imagination is also observed at the next levels of development. This is noticeable when the child processes his impressions in the game, changing in his imagination objects that were previously perceived. For example, a box in a game becomes a house, a table becomes a cave. The first images of a child always have a connection with his activity. The child embodies the created and processed image into activity, even if this activity is a game.

The development of this process also has a connection with the age of the child, in which he masters speech. With the help of a new education, the child is able to include in the imagination, both concrete images and more abstract ideas. Speech enables the child to switch from presenting images to activities and expressing these images through speech.

When a child masters speech, his practical experience expands, attention develops more, this, in turn, gives the child the opportunity to single out with less zeal the individual elements of objects that the child perceives as independent and it is with them that he operates most often in his imagination. Synthesis occurs with significant distortions of reality. Without the necessary experience and a sufficiently developed level of critical thinking, the child is still not able to create such an image that would be close enough to reality. The involuntary emergence of images and ideas appears in the child. Such images are more often formed according to the situation in which he is.

At the next stage, the imagination is supplemented by active forms and becomes arbitrary. Such active forms of this process arose in connection with the active initiative of all adults involved in the development of the child. For example, if adults (parents, educators, teachers) ask a child to do some action, to draw, add, depict something, they encourage him to take a specific action, thereby activating his imagination. To do what the adult asked, the child first needs to create in his imagination an image of what should come out in the end. This process is already arbitrary, because the child is able to control it. A little later, he begins to use arbitrary imagination without the participation of adults. Such a breakthrough in the development of the imagination lies in the very nature of the child's play, which becomes more purposeful and plot-driven. The objects that surround the child become for him not only stimuli for objective activity, but become material in the embodiment of images of the imagination.

When a child is closer to five years old, he begins to build, draw, combine things in accordance with his plan. Another striking shift in the process of forming the imagination is manifested at school age. This is facilitated by perceived information, the need to assimilate educational material. In order to keep up with classmates, the child has to activate his imagination, which, in turn, contributes to the progress of the development of abilities in processing the perceived images into images of the imagination.

To fantasize and invent something incredible is characteristic of the vast majority of children. Toddlers refuse to sleep in a dark room for fear of monsters, and schoolchildren talk about dogs eating homework notebooks. Such fruits of wild imagination of some parents only amuse, while others are enraged. This is not surprising, because many adults have long forgotten how to imagine and fantasize. We will try to find out how useful fantasy is and how to develop imagination.

What it is?

Child psychologists say that a child needs to imagine and fantasize for normal mental development. In the first years of life, the child calls on fantasy to help in all situations that he cannot explain on his own. As life experience accumulates, dreams and fantasies become more connected to reality. Adults devote very little time and attention to dreams. And really, why the world of illusions, if in reality there are enough worries? In fact, a good fantasy not only does not hurt anyone, but can also help in many areas of life. Imagination is an abstract concept that expresses the ability to fantasize and imagine something that does not exist in reality. The word “imagination” can be considered a synonym for such popular definitions today as “creativity” and “creative thinking”.

The benefits of fantasy

Before we talk about how to develop imagination, let's try to understand why it is needed. It would seem that thinking creatively and constantly coming up with something new is useful only for musicians, artists and writers. This is a big misconception, in fact, imagination is useful to every person. People with a good imagination are never bored. They come up with interesting pastimes for the whole company and instantly find something to do alone. People with developed creative thinking are not afraid to master new activities. They prepare food without looking at recipes, come up with their own design projects with ease when renovating, and very quickly choose clothes for any occasion. Usually, such employees are also appreciated at work, because they are the first to put forward interesting ideas and are happy to work on non-standard projects. And if you give your imagination free rein, you can even try to open your own business.

We determine the creative potential and the level of development of the imagination

It is a mistake to consider fantasy an innate skill. Rather, it is one of the psychological techniques that everyone can master with the desire and regular training. And yet, one can really notice that someone's imagination is developed to a greater extent, and someone's to a lesser extent. Try to sensibly assess how easily and quickly you come up with a plan of action in a non-standard situation? Those who think for a long time about gifts for their loved ones should think about developing their own imagination. If you don't like to read and only a few books impress, the problem may also be an underdeveloped fantasy. It is believed that imagination is most useful for children. And this is true, because the sooner a person begins to engage in some kind of creativity and think creatively, the more success he will achieve.

Simple tricks to train your imagination

Imagination and fantasy can be developed at any age. The easiest way is to offer children to dream up. Perfectly stimulates the imagination of any kind of creativity. During classes with your child, invite him to do something unusual, to invent as much as possible on his own. Any role-playing game is a quality figment of the imagination. When a child transforms into a fairy-tale hero, he truly believes in his new role.

This game will also be useful for adults. Play with your child by pretending to be an animal or a fictional character. You can try this exercise alone. Imagine yourself in a different place or a person of the opposite sex. The main thing is to discard constraint and prejudice. Play your chosen role as if you were a professional actor.

How to develop imagination in adults and children? It is quite simple - to fantasize whenever possible. You can think over your tomorrow morning in the evening, imagining it in all colors. Use meditation techniques - close your eyes and imagine whole new worlds. How to develop the imagination of a child of 8-9 years old with simple exercises? Introduce your son or daughter to new art forms. When discussing a particular work, ask what could be changed in it. From time to time ask your child to try to write a story, do not be lazy to look for constellations together and discuss what the clouds look like. Stimulate imagination and the right toys: all and some puzzles.

Learn to think and act outside the box

Very often in the adult world daydreaming is considered a negative character trait. About people who love to plunge into the world of dreams, they say: "He seems to be hovering in the clouds." But if you turn to fantasies from time to time, you will only get useful skills. How to develop imagination without losing touch with reality? Use your imagination to solve everyday problems. Visualize how you are doing something. It is especially useful to think about several options at once in cases where the situation is completely beyond your control. Try to break the usual course of events every day. Learn to act impulsively. Of course, this is not a call to quit work or household chores. Try walking along an unusual route, go to a new store for yourself, or take an extra half hour for a walk.

How to develop imagination for drawing an adult or a child?

It's hard to believe, but sometimes they suffer from a lack of imagination. A simple example: a person knows how to draw or sculpt well, but does not know what to depict. It is important to understand that any kind of visual art is born in the thoughts of the creator. And this means that there is no separate technique for developing imagination for drawing, you just need to fantasize more. In order to create a drawing, you can take as a basis a character or landscape that you have already seen or thought of before. Then you just have to think through the details, and remember: there are no prohibitions. And you can draw directly in the world of dreams. with this approach? Close your eyes and imagine a white sheet of paper, then mentally draw some kind of drawing on it. Try to really see the whole process and see all the details and proportions. Performing this exercise regularly, you will learn how to draw real masterpieces. After that, you will only have to transfer them to paper with the same quality as your imagination creates them.

Practice fantasy every day

Still not sure how to develop imagination in adults? Exercises that you can do in between times will help you with this. Remember any story - let it be the plot of a movie or a book. Imagine an alternative ending, or better yet, several. If you like reality shows or watch with interest the hectic personal lives of your neighbors, you can also fantasize about what will happen to the characters in the future. Turn on the TV without sound, looking at the picture, invent dialogues and monologues of the characters. While talking on the phone, put a few dots on paper. Try to connect them with a continuous line to get some kind of complete drawing.

Traditionally, thinking is considered the most important mental cognitive process, and imagination is inextricably linked with it, but rather an auxiliary ability necessary for creativity and design. It was only about ten years ago that ideas appeared in the public mind that it was the magical world of the imagination, and not any other mental process, that could significantly change the life of any person for the better.

Recently it has become widely used (including by practicing psychologists) visualization method, based on the creation of visual images in the imagination and their management. By correctly imagining the desired event, you can “attract” it into your life, that is, increase the likelihood that it will become a reality.

The question of whether thought is material is a long-standing, philosophical and rhetorical one. But more and more often, scientists find evidence that thoughts (or rather, mental images) can be realized in the outside world. It is scientifically substantiated that dreams, fantasies and daydreams are not empty and not just pleasant, but useful and productive pastime.

You can argue for a long time how productive imagination is, or you can test the theory in practice and experiment with your own imagination.

To date, there is no common understanding and definition of the concept of "imagination", this is due to the fact that it is difficult to evaluate or measure it in any way, it is too abstract, ephemeral, subjective, multifaceted and has many characteristics.

Imagination- This:

• mental cognitive process, transforming, anticipating, building options for actions and behavior;
• universal ability to the construction of new images of reality;
• form representation and display of the existing reality;
• way mastering the person of the desired future, helping to set goals and make plans;
• psychological basis of creativity;
• universal property of consciousness.

In childhood a person has not yet learned to think logically and stereotypically, so he imagines a lot. Through physical activity and the involvement of thinking in finding ways to solve practical problems, children think creatively. The best and fastest way to develop the imagination is in the game. And children's lies are often just a form of imagination. Children come up with a lot because it's more interesting to live.

Imagination under construction on the picture of the world in the mind and on personal emotional, intellectual, sensual, practical experience. The process of imagination is impossible without the participation of perception, attention, memory, creative or divergent thinking.

Both thinking and imagination are turned on at the moment of uncertainty, problematic situation or mental task. But imagination, unlike thinking, does not need all the fullness of knowledge in order to know something.

The imagination does not analyze, but transforms the information coming from outside. In addition, imagination is always accompanied by emotions: either the imaginary image provokes them, or the emotion “turns on” the imagination.

Imagination allows you to get the experience of experiencing an event that was not, is not, and perhaps will not be.

Varieties of Imagination

Imagination is involved in all types of human activity, but most often in creativity. Developed imagination, creativity and imaginative thinking are simply necessary for people of creative professions. But even people, whose specific activity is far from free fantasy, daily have to deal with a considerable number of its types and forms, without noticing it.

Kinds imagination:

1. As a result of the process:

• productive or creative, when the product of the imagination is a relative or absolute innovation;
• reproductive, when an object already existing in the world is recreated.

1. According to the degree of activity:

• active, involving some effort of will;
• passive or involuntary, when a creative product is obtained unintentionally and unpredictably.

1. Depending on the mechanism of imagination:

• schematization - identifying similarities and smoothing differences;
• agglutination - a combination in the mind of objects that are incompatible at first glance;
• hyperbolization - a decrease or increase in an object or its parts;
• typification is the identification of the main and repetitive element in homogeneous phenomena.

Forms imagination:

1. A dream is a vision of the future, the time of which is not precisely defined.
2. Fantasy is a largely modified reflection of reality.
3. Dreams are a representation of the unattainable and unrealizable.
4. Hallucinations are images that appear in the mind without an external stimulus.
5. Dreams are a form of unconscious visualization.

Interesting fact! Scientists were able to experimentally prove that in the process of imagining an event, all the same zones are activated in the human brain that are involved when the action is actually performed, and not imagined. It turns out that for the brain there is no difference between the imaginary and the real.

How to develop imagination

Developing the imagination is necessary in order to become a more successful and happy person, and it is not at all necessary to wait for inspiration for this. The development of the imagination is a much less laborious task than the development of another mental process, ability, personality trait.

Everything starts with a dream! To develop the imagination, you need to learn dream. Some adult and serious person will surely say: “Why should I waste time on dreams and fantasies, when I need to deal with urgent matters ?!”. And a person who decides to work on his character and personality is more likely to start developing thinking, memory, speech, but he hardly considers it necessary to develop the ability to dream.

However, dreaming is not an empty occupation, it develops logical thinking, memory, concentration and forms enthusiasm, that is, it increases the motivation for achievements. During the free flight of fantasy, brilliant ideas, answers to long-standing questions, and options for solving problems can unexpectedly come to mind.

Such flashes of insight are called "insight" in psychology. insight- this is a sudden and not logically derived from past experience awareness of the essence and the correct solution of a mental problem; it is direct, intuitive comprehension of the truth.

Another way to develop imagination that promotes self-realization is visualization- the presentation of a certain, desired, concrete, extremely accurate to the smallest detail image of a glorified goal.

The goal (desired event or object) is visualized, and not just pleasant situations. Task: repeatedly (up to several times a day) imagine that the desired goal has already been achieved, moreover, successfully and in exactly the same way and within the time frame that were determined during goal setting.

Visualized events should feel like they are happening in the present time. For example, if you dream of your own house, you need to visualize your presence in this house at the present time: take a shower, cook in the kitchen, water the flowers on the windowsill in this house and feel the joy of achieving the goal.

Reading also great for developing the imagination. Imagining the characters and the events taking place with them, the reader "plunges" into the book and turns on the fantasy, creates a whole virtual world in his mind.

Of course, any creativity helps to develop the imagination. You don't have to be an outstanding artist to paint"kalyaki-malyaki" in your free time. It is especially good to draw not realistic pictures, but abstract, fantastic, surreal ones. To draw "from the heart" - just pick up a pencil, relax, let go of all thoughts and anxieties and draw as you like and anything.

Also develop the imagination such classes So:

• interesting communication,
• acquiring new experiences
• observation of nature and people,
• photography,
• role-playing games,
• imaginative games.

In order to develop the imagination, it is enough to begin to “include” it in conscious activity and observe how the perception of the world changes from this. And the imagined desired life will certainly begin to manifest itself in reality through the power of imagination.

Do you often daydream and/or visualize your goals?

7 exercises for " Development of the imagination"from the book of Boreev G. "Conscious exits from the body. Nine practical methods. (Techniques for achieving physical immortality)".

Imagination development - First exercise

Choose an object at eye level at a distance of 1 - 3 meters. The subject to begin with should be very simple: a book, a pen, a matchbox. Close your eyes, imagine a white, empty luminous space. Keep a clear image of it in your mind's eye for 3 to 5 minutes. Then open your eyes and contemplate the object for 3-5 minutes. At the same time, do not think about it, but simply look through it, as if you are looking into the distance, trying to capture the subject as a whole. Close your eyes and imagine this object in your imagination, placing it in a white luminous space for 3 to 5 minutes. The exercise should be done 5-8 times, trying to perform it calmly, without straining, without effort of will.

Development of imagination - Second exercise

Lying in bed, before going to sleep, close your eyes and imagine a black letter "A" on a white background. Keep the image of the letter in your mind for a few minutes. The letter can change in shape, float away, decrease - calmly return it to its original place in its original form. The next day, imagine the letter "B" in the same way. Hold the letter in your mind until the image is clearly fixed. At the next stage of this exercise, hold the combinations of the letters "AB", then "VG" and so on. Then hold in your imagination already three letters. Some people immediately manage to keep 5 or more letters on the mental screen. Work further, bring the number of letters held in the imagination to ten. Exercise helps to develop concentration, expand the scope of perception, improve memory.

Development of imagination - Third exercise

Imagine a small red square, fix it in your mind. Now imagine that the square increases in size, diverges with faces to infinity. Now you have a red space in front of you, contemplate it. The next day, do the same experiment with the orange space. Then with yellow, green, blue, blue and purple. Having learned this, move on to more complex things. Imagine first a red color, smoothly turning into orange, orange turning into yellow, and so on until purple. Then from purple you need to go back. Then imagine red-skinned people walking through a green forest. The skin of people gradually becomes orange, yellow - and so on to purple. Then it gradually turns red again.

Development of imagination - Fourth exercise

Imagine an apple. Start rotating it in space clockwise. Imagine how it flies out of your head and flies around the room. Place the apple in front of your nose, look at it. Carefully try to mentally enter it, feel yourself in its size, shape. Then fly in an apple from the body one meter up and look at the world from this point. You should see your body below, the walls of the room, the furniture, the close ceiling. This exercise should be done while sitting in an armchair or lying on a bed, since an involuntary exit to the astral world is possible. It is extremely important during the exercise not to lose control over yourself. If you feel something is wrong, immediately open your eyes.

Development of imagination - Fifth exercise

Look closely at any item. Close your eyes, try to see the same object in the same place. Open your eyes, compare the imaginary object with the real one. Close your eyes again. Open. Strive for the maximum identity of the physical and the imaginary. As you move forward in your studies, the subjects under consideration should become more and more difficult. Then start looking at animals and people like that. After fully mastering this exercise, you will be able to look at a person with your eyes closed and see the aura and internal organs of his body.

Development of imagination - Sixth exercise

Learn to create some mental image in space with open eyes. For example, imagine that you have a vase with different flowers on your table. Try to see her there.

Imagination development - Seventh exercise

Take mental journeys. Imagine how you walked around the room, hall, kitchen, went out into the corridor, returned. Imagine how you left the house, walk down the street, get on the bus, go to the forest, to the river, swim, and so on.