). Now I want to devote myself to writing, so to speak, but I don’t forget about psychology either. Sometimes people turn to me for advice, and I myself try to keep abreast of the latest trends in science.

For you, I have compiled the TOP 10 best books on psychology + 1 book as a bonus (I could not pass by). This is a selection for those who want to know themselves, learn more about human psychology and just be happy.

I must say, people are arranged in an amazing way. Emotions, intellect, actions and relationships, career, communication and parenting, personality, dreams and creativity - these are just a small part of what the mysterious science of the soul studies. Let's figure out what's what 😉

Why are we wrong

At the intersection, right-handers often turn right, and left-handers turn left. Humans are to blame for 90% of car accidents. NASA experts are wrong in their calculations. Why? This book will tell you how we fall into the traps of thinking, and teach you not to step on the same rake.

Psychology

The easiest psychology course in the world. No boring theories! Only fascinating ideas, amazing experiments and unknown facts from the life of great psychologists.

Path to Prosperity

The outstanding modern psychologist Martin Seligman is the founder of positive psychology: he changed thousands of lives for the better. The words of a professor of positive psychology have a magical property - they give strength, heal and inspire. For those who want to be happy.

The whole truth about lies

Do you want to know why and how we cheat? In all cultures, people do the same thing - they lie to themselves and about themselves: it can be a small white lie or a big scam. The book is useful for anyone who wants to look at themselves from the outside and reflect on the topic of truth and lies.

Self confidence

Alice Muir is an experienced psychologist, coach and personal growth coach. She is sure: self-confidence is developing perfectly. Tests and exercises from the book will help you improve your self-esteem, make a good impression and better cope with stress.

gift of the sea

When you turn the last page, you feel a little sorry - it seems that you are returning from a vacation by the sea, where peace and grace reign. This is a book about spiritual harmony, finding yourself and the most important things in life - relationships, love, commitment and family, sincerity, caring and creativity. Reprinted several times since 1955.

Psychology of motivation

Why does one person take risks while another hides his head in the sand? Why is it that someone is positively disposed, while someone perceives any trifle as a tragedy? A book on psychology for those who are interested in the nature of human behavior and ways to influence someone else's choices.

Vocation

Have you thought that you can achieve more? It's never too late to find your calling. Many stories and examples from life will demonstrate that every person is talented. You just need to understand who you really are. A lighthouse book for those who get lost on the way to their dreams.

Emotional intellect. Russian practice

How to make emotions your ally. Our feelings and emotions are a wonderful tool that can help us achieve success in relationships, personal life and career. It will teach you how to manage your own and even (a little) other people's emotions.

And, of course, the promised bonus. The eleventh book in the TOP 10 books on psychology. Sounds strange, I agree, but I just could not ignore this book.

Wisdom of Gandhi

In fact, Mahatma is not a name, but a title. It means "great soul". Of course, Gandhi is not a psychologist at all. But how far apart are psychology, philosophy, and spiritual leadership? I warmly recommend reading The Wisdom of Gandhi. This is the most practical psychology book that teaches us important life lessons.

And further. If x Be the first to know about MIF book novelties, receive letters with useful tips and good discounts, subscribe to our self-development mailing list. See you!

The subject and tasks of psychology. Stages of development of ideas about the subject of psychology. Since ancient times, the needs of social life have forced a person to distinguish and take into account the peculiarities of the mental make-up of people. In the philosophical teachings of antiquity, some psychological aspects were already touched upon, which were solved either in terms of idealism or in terms of materialism. Thus, the materialistic philosophers of antiquity Democritus, Lucretius, Epicurus understood the human soul as a kind of matter, as a bodily formation formed from spherical, small and most mobile atoms. But the idealist philosopher Plato understood the human soul as something divine, different from the body. The soul, before entering the human body, exists separately in the higher world, where it cognizes ideas - eternal and unchanging essences. Once in the body, the soul begins to remember what it saw before birth. Plato's idealistic theory, which treats the body and mind as two independent and antagonistic principles, laid the foundation for all subsequent idealistic theories. The great philosopher Aristotle in his treatise "On the Soul" singled out psychology as a kind of field of knowledge and for the first time put forward the idea of ​​the inseparability of the soul and the living body. The soul, the psyche is manifested in various abilities for activity: nourishing, feeling, moving, rational; higher abilities arise from lower ones and on their basis. The primary cognitive faculty of man is sensation; it takes the form of sensuously perceived objects without their matter, just as "wax takes the impression of a seal without iron and gold." Sensations leave a trace in the form of representations - images of those objects that previously acted on the senses. Aristotle showed that these images are connected in three directions: by similarity, by contiguity and contrast, thereby indicating the main types of connections - associations of mental phenomena. In this way , Stage I psychology as the science of the soul. This definition of psychology was given more than two thousand years ago. The presence of the soul tried to explain all the incomprehensible phenomena in human life. II stage- Psychology as the science of consciousness. It arises in the 17th century in connection with the development of the natural sciences. The ability to think, feel, desire is called consciousness. The main method of study was the observation of a person for himself and the description of the facts. Stage III- psychology as a science of behavior. Arises in the 20th century: The task of psychology is to experiment and observe what can be directly seen, namely: behavior, actions, reactions of a person (motives that cause actions were not taken into account). IV stage- psychology as a science that studies the objective patterns, manifestations and mechanisms of the psyche. The history of psychology as an experimental science begins in 1879 in the world's first experimental psychological laboratory founded by the German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig. Soon, in 1885, V. M. Bekhterev organized a similar laboratory in Russia. psychology - it is the science of the psyche and the patterns of its manifestation and development. Subject of study- this is a certain and limited by a given level of social and historical development a way of developing an object. The subject of psychology as a science is mental activity, the psyche, human consciousness. The subject of psychology indicates and reveals the specifics of mental phenomena not in contrast to the subjects of other sciences, but in relation to them, which requires its own research.

Stages of development of psychology

I stage- psychology as the science of the soul. This definition of psychology was given more than two thousand years ago. The presence of the soul tried to explain all the incomprehensible phenomena in human life. This long stage, called in the literature pre-scientific, is determined from the 5th - 4th centuries. BC. until the beginning of the 18th century.

II stage- psychology as the science ofconsciousness. It arises in the 17th century in connection with the development of the natural sciences. The ability to think, feel, desire is called consciousness. The main method of study was the observation of a person for himself and the description of the facts. According to the new approach, a person always sees, hears, touches, feels, remembers something. It is precisely such phenomena that psychology should study, since, unlike the soul, they can be experimentally investigated, measured, scientifically generalized, and cause-and-effect relationships and relationships can be established in them.

Stage III- psychology as behavioral science. Behaviorism took shape in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. in the USA. "Behavior" in English - "behavior". The task of psychology is to set up experiments and observe what can be directly seen, namely the behavior, actions, reactions of a person (the motives that cause actions were not taken into account).

However, many "traditional" psychologists have expressed serious objections to some of the original components of the behaviorist approach. Behavior and the psyche are, although related, but by no means identical realities. So, under the influence of the same stimulus, there may be not one reaction, but a certain set of them, and, conversely, the same response is sometimes obtained in the presence of different stimuli. It is recognized in psychology, for example, that a person often looks at one thing and sees another, thinks about one thing, experiences another, says a third, does a fourth.

IV stage- psychology as a science that studies objective patterns, manifestations and mental mechanisms.

Materialistic and idealistic understanding of the psyche.

Even in ancient times, man drew attention to the fact that there are material phenomena (surrounding nature, people, various objects) and non-material (images of various people and objects, memories of them, experiences), mysterious, difficult to explain.

Not being able to correctly understand these phenomena, to reveal their nature and causes of occurrence, people began to consider them as existing independently, regardless of the surrounding real world.

Thus arose the idea of ​​the world and the soul, of matter and the psyche as independent principles. These ideas took shape in philosophical, mutually exclusive directions: materialism and idealism.

The struggle between materialism and idealism, which began more than two thousand years ago, continues to this day. The appearance of idealism can be explained by the low level of people's knowledge, and its persistence to this day is supported by class contradictions.

The essence of idealistic understanding mental phenomena lies in the fact that the psyche is considered as something primary, existing independently, independently of matter.

The psyche, according to idealists, is a manifestation of an incorporeal, non-material basis - “absolute spirit”, “idea”.

Depending on historical conditions, idealism has changed its forms, but its essence remains the same.

Materialistic understanding of the psyche: the psyche is a secondary phenomenon, derived from matter, while matter is primary, the basis, the carrier of the psyche.

The primacy of matter and the secondary nature of the psyche is proved by the fact that the psyche arises at a certain stage in the development of matter.

Before the appearance on earth of living beings with a psyche, there was inanimate nature, its age is estimated in billions of years. The first living beings appeared several million years ago.

The psyche, according to materialistic teaching, is understood as a property of organized matter - the brain.

The fact that the psyche is indeed a product of the activity of the brain is proved by experiments on animals and observations of people.

With certain brain damage, changes in the psyche always inevitably occur:

with the defeat of the occipital-parietal parts of the cortex of the left hemisphere of the brain, the orientation of a person in space is disturbed;

the defeat of the temporal departments violates the perception (understanding) of speech, music.

In his work “Reflexes of the brain” (1863) I.M. Sechenov wrote that mental activity is a reflex, or reflecting reality. Brain reflexes include three links:

First, the initial link is excitation in the senses, caused by external influences.

Second- the central link - the processes of excitation and inhibition occurring in the brain. Based on them, there mental phenomena (sensations, ideas, feelings).

Third, the final link is the external movements and actions of a person.

All three links are interconnected with each other.

The meaning of the provisions put forward by Sechenov:

the causality of mental phenomena by external influences is revealed;

the psyche is considered as the result of the physiological processes of excitation and inhibition in the cerebral cortex;

the psyche is regarded as a regulator of external movements and behavior in general.

Further theoretical and experimental substantiation of the reflex theory of brain activity is given in the works of I.P. Pavlova. The teachings of I.P. Pavlova about conditioned reflexes, about temporary nerve connections that arise in the cerebral cortex, revealed the physiological mechanism of mental activity.

Psyche is the activity of the brain, reflecting the surrounding reality, characterized by the physiological mechanisms underlying it

Development of ideas about the subject of psychology within the framework of religious systems and rituals.

In the history of psychology, the period of the formation of psychological knowledge within other scientific disciplines and the period of the formation of psychology as an independent scientific discipline are singled out.

The most characteristic features of the period of formation of psychological knowledge in other scientific disciplines are:

1) the lack of independence of psychological knowledge, its representation as an integral part of philosophical and medical teachings, first in the form of a teaching about the soul, then - a philosophical theory of knowledge, teachings about experience and consciousness;

2) the absence of a community that would share common views on the subject and method of study;

3) the speculative nature of research, the lack of formation of an experienced (experimental) approach to research.

This period was preceded by the emergence and development of ideas about the soul within the framework of religious systems and rituals that ensured the unity and existence of primitive societies. Ideas about the soul provided an explanation for such phenomena as sleep, dreams, trance states, the action of prohibitions (taboos), mastery of magical skills (for example, good luck in hunting), death, etc. A common feature of the primary views on mental phenomena was the invariable giving them mystery, sacredness.

Another important characteristic of these views is animism - the belief that every object, not only of living, but also of inanimate nature, certainly has a soul and, in addition, souls can exist independently of objects and are special beings.

The doctrine of the soul (5th century BC - the beginning of the 17th century AD). The doctrine of the soul was originally developed within the framework of ancient Greek philosophy and medicine. The origin of science in ancient Greece is associated with two

circumstances:

1) science, as a special area of ​​human activity, was formed as external to religion and separated from it;

2) the orderliness of the cosmos (all that exists) was recognized as based not on the power of a superbeing, but on the law; among the Greeks, even the supreme gods were subject to law.

New ideas about the soul were not religious, sacred, based on traditions, but secular, open to all, accessible to systematic rational criticism. The purpose of constructing the doctrine of the soul was to identify the properties and patterns of its existence, i.e., the doctrine of the soul had a distinct nomothetic character. Another event that influenced the development of the doctrine of the soul was the transition from spontaneous and irrational animism, according to which all events occur under the influence of the souls of natural objects, to hylozoism, a philosophical doctrine based on the idea of ​​the inseparability of life from matter, about life as a general property of matter. This doctrine introduced the initial position about the integrity of the observed world. Although this point of view, shared, in particular, by Democritus, leads to panpsychism (the idea of ​​the animation of objects, both animate and inanimate nature), hylozoism includes the soul in the scope of natural laws and makes its study accessible.

 Hylozoism is a philosophical doctrine based on the idea of ​​life as a universal property of matter.

Panpsychism is the idea of ​​the animation of objects, both animate and inanimate nature.

These were the initial conditions for the formation of the doctrine of the soul and its initial provisions. The development of precisely these provisions determined the history of the formation of psychological knowledge for a long time.

The most important directions in the development of ideas about the soul are associated with the teachings of Plato (427-347 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC). Plato drew a line between the material, material, mortal body and the immaterial, immaterial, immortal soul. Individual souls are imperfect

images of a single universal world soul - have different abilities, powers of the soul. Three types of soul - plant, animal and rational

(human) represent the three stages of life, which have continuity. In plants, the soul performs only vegetative (plant), actually metabolic functions; sensory-motor functions of the soul are inherent in both man and animals, but not plants; functions of the rational soul,

which only man possesses, make it possible to build inferences that underlie higher memory, arbitrary, free choice, etc.

Thus, Aristotle gave one of the earliest formulations of the explanatory principles of psychology - development, determinism, integrity, activity. A student of Plato, a follower of Aristotle Theophrastus (372-287 BC) in the treatise "Characters" gave a description of 30 different characters, developing the Aristotelian idea of ​​​​this property of a person.

His work marked the beginning of a separate line in popular psychology, which was continued in the Renaissance by M. Montaigne, in the Enlightenment by J. La Bruyère, F. La Rochefoucauld, then A. von Knigge (“The Art of Treating People”, 1788), and in our time - Dale Carnegie. The doctrine of the soul was widely used and developed in ancient medicine. Hippocrates (c. 460 - c. 377 BC) formulated the position that the brain is the organ of thinking and sensations. He developed the doctrine of temperaments, suggesting the different roles of the four body fluids (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile), and was the first to propose a typology of temperaments based on body features. Considering the connection between the characteristics of the soul, temperament and typologies of people with the physical and climatic conditions of the area (the essay “On Airs, Waters, Places”), Hippocrates initiated the study of the psychological characteristics of ethnic groups. The Roman physician Claudius Galen (c. 130 - c. 200) continued this line of observation and identified the sensory and motor functions of the spinal cord. The successes achieved by ancient philosophers and physicians in the development of the doctrine of the soul served as the foundation for all further developments in psychological knowledge, which at this stage were mainly reduced to expanding the range of phenomena under consideration. In III-V centuries. n. e. in the works of Plotinus (205-270),

Aurelius Augustine (354-430) and early Christian philosophers and theologians, the inner world of a person, the possibilities of self-knowledge are singled out as the subject of research, descriptions of the phenomena of consciousness appear for the first time, for example, its intentionality (focus on an object), highlighted by Thomas Aquinas (1226-1274). From the 5th to the 14th century in the works of Boethius (480-524), Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus (1265-1308) an idea of ​​personality is formed. It is important to note that the powerful influence of Christian theology, the foundations of which included the philosophy of Neoplatonism, gave these works an ethical-theological character, bringing

him to the line laid down by the teachings of Plato.

Francis Bacon's system of views (1561-1626) became the pinnacle and completion of the stage of development of psychological knowledge within the framework of the doctrine of the soul. The study of the soul was part of the unified science of man, the construction of which was planned by Bacon. The novelty of Bacon's approach consisted in the rejection of the speculative solution of questions about the nature of the soul and the transition to an empirical study of its abilities.

However, this intention could not be realized, because at that time ideas about either the general scientific method or the subject of research had not yet been formed. Bacon, in accordance with tradition, separated the science of the body from the science of the soul, and in the doctrine of the soul he singled out the science of the rational divine

soul and soul irrational, feeling, bodily, common to man and animals.

Bacon's teaching revived the idea of ​​hylozoism: both living and dead bodies (for example, a magnet) have the ability to choose. Important new components of the doctrine of the soul, introduced by F. Bacon, are the idea of ​​the role of society and tools in the processes of cognition.

Modern idea of ​​the subject of psychology and its tasks.

Modern psychology is a widely developed field of knowledge, including a number of individual disciplines and scientific areas. So, the features of the psyche of animals are studied by zoopsychology. The human psyche is studied by other branches of psychology: child psychology studies the development of consciousness, mental processes, activities, the entire personality of a growing person, the conditions for accelerating development. Social psychology studies the socio-psychological manifestations of a person's personality, his relationships with people, with a group, the psychological compatibility of people, socio-psychological manifestations in large groups (the effect of radio, the press, fashion, rumors on various communities of people). Pedagogical psychology studies the patterns of personality development in the process of education and upbringing. A number of branches of psychology can be distinguished that study the psychological problems of specific types of human activity: labor psychology considers the psychological characteristics of a person's labor activity, the patterns of development of labor skills. Engineering psychology studies the regularities of the processes of interaction between a person and modern technology in order to use them in the practice of designing, creating and operating automated control systems, new types of technology. Aviation, space psychology analyzes the psychological characteristics of the activity of a pilot, astronaut. Medical psychology studies the psychological characteristics of the doctor's activity and the behavior of the patient, develops psychological methods of treatment and psychotherapy. Pathopsychology studies deviations in the development of the psyche, the disintegration of the psyche in various forms of brain pathology. Legal psychology studies the psychological characteristics of the behavior of participants in a criminal process (psychology of testimonies, psychological requirements for interrogation, etc.), psychological problems of behavior and the formation of a criminal's personality. Military psychology studies human behavior in combat conditions. Thus, modern psychology is characterized by a process of differentiation, which gives rise to a significant branching into separate branches, which often diverge very far and differ significantly from each other, although they retain general subject of research- facts, patterns, mechanisms of the psyche. The differentiation of psychology is complemented by a counter process of integration, which results in the docking of psychology with all sciences (through engineering psychology - with the technical sciences, through pedagogical psychology - with pedagogy, through social psychology - with social sciences).

The main tasks of psychology are: 1) revealing the laws of the psyche; 2) disclosure of those connections and relationships that could be classified as natural; 3) establishing the mechanisms of mental activity; 4) study of the nature and action of these mechanisms in conjunction with other sciences. physical and social sciences, etc.).

Principles of construction of psychological research.

The principle of systemic determinism of the mental . This principle implies the need to take into account the influence of various causes, factors on the emergence and development of psychological phenomena. In accordance with materialistic determinism, human consciousness is determined primarily by its social being. That is, the needs, interests, attitudes, ideas of people are determined by the social micro- and macroenvironment in which they are located. In particular, human behavior is determined not only by external material causes or the social situation, but also by motivational-target subjective factors, as well as by one's own ideas about past, present and future events.

The principle of unity of external influences and internal conditions says, any external influences (stimuli, factors, influences) are refracted through a set of internal individual psychophysiological conditions (abilities, character, motivation, mental processes and states).

The principle of activity of personality consciousness assumes that the personality is an active subject of the transformation of the world, including the ideal one (the world and transformation).

The principle of the unity of the psyche (consciousness) and activity: the psyche arises and develops within the framework of human activity. Therefore, the best way to study mental phenomena is to study under conditions of real activity or to model the components of leading activity in psychological tests (for example, in a laboratory experiment). Human consciousness is an internal plan of the activity carried out by him, and activity is an external form of expression of consciousness, the process of its objectification. The psyche is cognizable only in the activity that it regulates.

The principle of consistency (the systemic structure of a mental phenomenon) - the principle that requires analyzing each element of the psyche in close connection with its functioning as a whole. He assumes that mental phenomena arise only as a result of unified, interconnected processes of a holistically working organism that has a nervous system and performs external behavior. The psyche cannot be "blinded" from sensations, perception, memory and other processes. Mental is a system of interacting components of its structure.

Development principle involves considering mental phenomena in constant change, movement and development, resolving contradictions under the influence of a system of external and internal determinants. This principle directs psychologists to study the conditions for the emergence of mental phenomena, the tendencies of their change, the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of these changes.

Objectivity of the study of mental phenomena. This principle means that in the study of mental phenomena one should always strive to establish the material causes of their occurrence. Because of this, this principle requires that any mental phenomena be considered in unity with those external causes and internal conditions in which they arise and manifest themselves. The construction of psychological research in accordance with the principle of objectivity means the practical implementation of one of the basic principles of psychology - the principle of determinism - the causation of mental phenomena.

The principle of objectivity also requires the study of a person in the process of his activity, since the mental characteristics of a person can only be judged by his real actions. Based on this principle, it is necessary to study mental phenomena both in the most typical and atypical conditions for a given person. Only in this case it is possible to fully characterize a person and not miss anything significant. All received facts, including those that contradict each other, should be subjected to a comprehensive analysis. Contradictory facts should attract especially close attention, in no case should they be simply discarded, but one should either find an explanation for them or conduct additional study.

Analytical-synthetic study of personality. In the mental appearance of each person there is something common, characteristic of all people of this era. At the same time, people living in states with different social systems have specific features that reflect the social relations that exist in a given society. Thus, we are specifically talking about the special image of the Soviet person, which has taken shape under the conditions of developed socialism. At the same time, each person is a unique individuality.

The existence in the personality of each person of the common, special and individual makes it necessary to be guided by the analytical-synthetic principle when constructing research.

The study of mental phenomena in their development is an important principle in the construction of psychological research.

The objective world is in constant motion and change, and therefore its reflection cannot be frozen, motionless. The constant change of the psyche as a reflection of the changing reality requires the study of mental phenomena in their development.

If mental phenomena are continuously changing and developing, then this must necessarily be provided for in the construction of any research aimed at their comprehensive study.

General characteristics of psychology as a science.

The famous German psychologist of the XIX century. Herman Ebbinghaus quote: "Psychology has a long past and a short history." These words perfectly reflect the essence of the historical development of the branch of psychological knowledge. After all, as an independent science, psychology was formed only by the end of the 19th century. However, as a special branch of knowledge, it has existed since ancient history. Aristotle, who wrote the first systematic treatise on the soul, is usually considered the founder of psychology. But “knowledge about the soul” (namely, this is the literal translation of the term “psychology” from the Greek language - “psyche” and “logos”, that is, “soul” and “word, knowledge”) has long been attributed to the field of philosophy, religion or medicine.

For many centuries, the soul was considered the subject of psychology. Ideas about it in all ages have been uncertain. Each researcher offered his own concept. So, for example, in ancient Greece, the philosopher Heraclitus considered the soul and mind to consist of the world fire - the origin of all things; Anaximenes - from the air; Empedocles - from the fusion of the roots of all things, the four eternal elements: earth, water, air and fire. Alcmaeon first suggested that the "organ of the soul" is the brain. Before him, it was believed that the soul "located" in the heart, in the blood, or even exists separately from the body. All these concepts are very far from modern ideas about psychology, however, one way or another, they contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about a person.

Aristotle was the one who first spoke about the inseparability of the soul from the body. He also talked about the existence of three types of soul: plant, animal and rational. In his opinion, in humans, all these three species coexisted together. It was a big breakthrough in the knowledge of the psyche. After all, if we translate these ideas into the language of modern psychology, then we can say that Aristotle discovered the existence of three levels - an elementary way of reflecting at the level of the simplest reactions to external stimuli, psychophysiology, for which the autonomic nervous system is responsible, and consciousness - a product of active brain activity. Thus, according to Aristotle, the soul is the active expedient principle of the living body, inseparable from it.

In addition to philosophers, theologians also had their own idea of ​​the soul. According to theistic views, the human soul is a unique immortal spiritual principle created by God. Pantheism defined the soul as an individual manifestation of a single spiritual substance (the microcosm as a reflection of the macrocosm).

In modern times, Rene Descartes proposed a dualistic view that separates the soul and body as two independent substances. In modern European philosophy, the term "soul" began to be used primarily to refer to the inner world of a person.

So, knowledge about the soul, of course, accumulated, but at the same time, there was, as they say, a dispute about terms. The struggle between idealistic and materialistic ideas about the soul dragged this branch of knowledge into the sphere of either theology or natural science. But neither one nor the other sphere could give a complete picture of a person. Only in the century before last, clear ideas about the subject of psychology, its own methodology and categorical apparatus (a set of basic concepts) were formed.

Thus, at present subject of psychology as a science is not the concept of the soul, blurred in its interpretation, but a more rigorous concept of the psyche. The object of the study of psychological science is the patterns of emergence and development, as well as manifestations of the human psyche. In addition, the object of psychology research includes the mental processes and states of a person, the mental qualities of a person as a biosocial system, that is, a unique creature that is a complex alloy of biological and social properties.

In modern science, the psyche is understood as the property of highly organized matter to actively and adequately reflect the realities of the surrounding world.

So, we can say that by the end of the XIX century. psychology as a system of knowledge has reached the paradigm stage - the stage of a formed science. The term "paradigm" was introduced by the American philosopher and historian of science Thomas Kuhn. He put forward the concept of scientific revolutions as a change of paradigms - the original conceptual schemes, ways of posing problems and research methods that dominate the science of a certain historical period. In the process of formation and development of any science, he put forward three stages: pre-paradigm, when the methodology and categorical apparatus have not yet been fully developed, the stage of domination of the paradigm, and, finally, the stage of the crisis of science in the transition to a new paradigm. Psychology also has all these stages. Soviet psychology was based on the Marxist theory of reflection. At present, the emphasis has shifted. Gradually, a new paradigm of Russian psychological science is being formed. What it will be depends largely on the new generation of psychologists.

The concept of the subject and object of psychologicalscience.

The subject of psychology at the present stage is the psyche. Psyche – this is a property of highly organized matter to reflect the surrounding reality and regulate behavior depending on this reflection. In turn, the mental processes, states and properties of a person, especially in their highest manifestations, can hardly be comprehended to the end if they are not considered depending on the conditions of life of a person, on how his interaction with nature and society (activity and communication) is organized. Communication and activity are also therefore the subject of modern psychological research.

Mental processes are closely interconnected and act as primary factors in the formation of a person's mental states.

Mental processes, properties and states of a person, his communication and activity are separated and studied separately, although in reality they are closely related to each other and form a single whole, called vitality person.

mental processes: cognitive (communication, perception, representation, memory, imagination, thinking, speech, attention); emotional (excitement, joy, indignation, anger), volitional (decision-making, overcoming difficulties, struggle of motives, control of one's behavior).

mental state: cheerfulness, despondency. rise, depression, fear.

mental properties Key words: orientation, temperament, abilities, x-r.

Studying the psychology and behavior of people, scientists are looking for their explanation, on the one hand, in the biological nature of man, on the other, in his individual experience, and on the third, in the laws on the basis of which society is built and operates. In the latter case, the dependence of the psyche and behavior of a person on the place he occupies in society, on the existing social system, system, methods of training and education, specific relationships that a given person has with other people, on that social role, which he plays in society, from the activities in which he directly participates.

In addition to the individual psychology of behavior, the range of phenomena studied by psychology also includes relations between people in various human associations - large and small groups, collectives.

Thus, the subject of psychology is the psyche and mental phenomena of both one particular person and the mental phenomena observed in groups and collectives. In addition, psychology considers how the individual development of the subject, i.e. its ontogeny and phylogeny, that is, social development. In turn, the task of psychology is the study of mental phenomena. Describing the task of psychology, S. L. Rubinshtein writes: “Psychological knowledge is an indirect knowledge of the mental through the disclosure of its essential, objective connections”

The object of each science is the reality that it studies, regardless of the very fact of study (ie, since this reality is objective). The object of psychology is psychic reality as such. If there is no doubt about the existence of this reality, then psychology also has the right to exist. The specificity of mental reality: the difference between mental phenomena and physical and material phenomena, which are the subject of the sciences of nature, is that: 1) mental phenomena cannot be perceived through external sense organs (external experience), but can be directly known only through inner experience; 2) mental phenomena can be subject to direct contemplation only of the person who experiences them - while physical phenomena can be perceived by a large number of contemplators; 3) spatial extension cannot be attributed to psychic phenomena (in contrast to, say, physiological phenomena).

The subject of psychology are the laws of the emergence, development and manifestation of the psyche in general and the consciousness of man as a concrete historical personality in particular. Psychology studies the inner world of a person as a conscious subject of social development, which should be taken into account in the process of education and training, when predicting the behavior and activities of people. For a more complete and correct understanding of the subject of psychology, it is necessary, at least in general terms, to reveal the essence of mental phenomena that appear in the form of internal experiences (sensations, thoughts, feelings) that are inaccessible to direct observation and are called the psyche.

Every science has its own subject, your direction of knowledge and with a bow specific an object research. Moreover, from the point of view of modern science an object - it's not the same as subject science.

An object - far from the whole subject, but only that aspect of the subject, sometimes quite insignificant, which is being studied the subject of science, i.e. scientists. An object - it is only an aspect of the subject, which is included in one or another process of spiritual development, in the cognitive activity of the subject. Moreover, another part of the subject, and often very significant, inevitably remains outside the process of cognition.

Accounting for this difference is especially important for understanding the specifics of branches of science that have a complex, multifaceted subject, including psychology, in which, as we have already seen, more and more new objects of research are being revealed.

Given this difference, the subject and object of psychology are defined as follows.

The subject of psychology - this is psyche as the highest form of the relationship of living beings with the objective world, expressed in their ability to realize their impulses and act on the basis of information about it.

At the human level, the psyche acquires a qualitatively new character due to the fact that its biological nature is transformed by sociocultural factors. From the point of view of modern science, the psyche is a kind of mediator between the subjective and the objective, it implements the historically established ideas about the coexistence of the external and the internal, the bodily and the mental.

The object of psychology - this is laws of the psyche as a special form of human life and animal behavior. This form of life activity, due to its versatility, can be studied in a wide variety of aspects, which are being studied by various branches of psychological science.

They have as their object: norms and pathology in the human psyche; types of specific activities, the development of the human and animal psyche; relation of man to nature and society, etc.

The scale of the subject of psychology and the possibility of singling out various objects of research in its composition has led to the fact that at present, within the framework of psychological science, general psychological theories. based on different scientific ideals, and psychological practice, which develops special psychotechnics of influencing consciousness and controlling it.

The presence of incommensurable psychological theories also gives rise to the problem of differences between the subject and object of psychology. For the behaviorist, the object of study is behavior, for the Christian psychologist it is a living knowledge of sinful passions and the pastoral art of healing them. for a psychoanalyst - the unconscious, etc.

The question naturally arises: is it possible to speak of psychology as a single science that has a common subject and object of study, or should we recognize the existence of a plurality of psychology?

Today, psychologists believe that psychological science is a single science, which, like any other, has its own special subject and object. Psychology as a science deals with the study of the facts of mental life, as well as the disclosure of the laws that govern mental phenomena. And no matter how complex ways psychological thought has advanced over the centuries, changing its object of study and thereby penetrating deeper and deeper into its large-scale subject, no matter how knowledge about it changes and enriches, no matter what terms they are designated, it is possible to single out the main blocks of concepts which characterize the actual object of psychology, which distinguishes it from other sciences.

Methods of psychology. The main methods of obtaining facts in psychology are observation, conversation and experiment. Each of these general methods has a number of modifications that refine but do not change their essence. Observation is the oldest method of knowledge. Its primitive form - worldly observations - is used by every person in his daily practice. The following types of observation are distinguished: slice (short-term observation), longitudinal (long, sometimes for a number of years), selective and continuous, and a special type - included observation (when the observer becomes a member of the group under study). The general monitoring procedure consists of the following processes: definition of the task and purpose (for what, for what purpose?); choice of object, subject and situation (what to observe?); choosing the method of observation that has the least effect on the object under study and provides the most necessary information (how to observe?); choice of methods for recording the observed (how to keep records?); processing and interpretation of the received information (what is the result?). Observation is also an integral part of two other methods - conversation and experiment. Conversation as a psychological method provides for direct or indirect, oral or written receipt from the student of information about his activities, in which the psychological phenomena characteristic of him are objectified. Types of interviews: history taking, interviews, questionnaires and psychological questionnaires. Anamnesis (Latin from memory) - information about the past of the student, received from him or - with an objective history - from persons who know him well. An interview is a type of conversation in which the task is to get the interviewee's answers to certain (usually pre-prepared) questions. In this case, when questions and answers are presented in writing, a survey takes place. There are a number of requirements for conversation as a method. The first is ease. You can't turn a conversation into a question. The conversation brings the greatest result in the case of establishing personal contact between the researcher and the person being examined. It is important at the same time to carefully think over the conversation, to present it in the form of a specific plan, tasks, problems to be clarified. The method of conversation involves, along with the answers and the formulation of questions by the subjects. Such a two-way conversation provides more information on the problem under study than just the answers of the subjects to the questions posed. One of the types of observation is self-observation, direct or delayed (in memories, diaries, memoirs, a person analyzes what he thought, felt, experienced). However, the main method of psychological research is the experiment - the active intervention of the researcher in the activities of the subject in order to create conditions in which a psychological fact is revealed. There is a laboratory experiment, it takes place in special conditions, special equipment is used, the actions of the subject are determined by the instructions, the subject knows that the experiment is being carried out, although he may not know the true meaning of the experiment until the end. The experiment is repeatedly carried out with a large number of subjects, which makes it possible to establish general mathematical and statistically reliable patterns in the development of mental phenomena. Test method - a method of testing, establishing certain mental qualities of a person. The test is a short-term task, the same for all subjects, the results of which determine the presence and level of development of certain mental qualities of a person. Tests can be predictive and diagnostic. Tests must be scientifically sound, reliable, valid, and detect consistent psychological characteristics.

Methods of psychology: classification, general characteristics, possibilities and limitations “A method is a way of knowing, it is a way by which the subject of science is known” - S.L. Rubinstein. Not all methods were invented by psychologists, there are adapted ones in connection with the specifics of scientific facts: they are not given directly, they are meaningful and judge them by external manifestations. That. not absolutely valid methods.

Various classifications of methods:

2 main groups

1. Subjective - introspection (not to be confused with introspection)

   objective: observation and experiment (about them later)

according to the criterion of immediacy-mediation of penetration into the psyche of the subject:

direct (introspection) (largely disappeared from psychological methods) - another name for "subjective"

indirect

By the aspect of dynamics

Cross section

Longitudinal

According to the degree of generalization of results

Broad representativeness (Ex. Questionnaire)

Narrow (e.g. case study)

Subject included

Interactive (interaction with the subject, e.g. Clinical conversation)

Artifact (analysis of products of activity, biographies, drawing tests)

According to the degree of formalization of the research procedure

Algorithmic formal (tests, questionnaires)

Informal (the procedure depends on the actions of the subject, for example, psychotechnical methods, the method of included observation)

By way of data processing

Quantitative analysis method

Qualitative analysis

Criterion of intervention – (intervention) ( most popular)

Surveillance – maximally non-interventional

experiment

Methods of observation and experiment

scientific observation - purposeful fixation of manifestations of behavior and judgments The requirement of objectivity (the possibility of repetition and control) and unambiguous information is important; clearly defined goal, hypothesis; plan

1. Kinds:

Open (the subject knows that he is being watched)

Hidden (subject does not know that he is being watched)

Direct - direct contact

Indirect - through something else, for example. surveys, videos, etc.

Included (researcher carries out activities together with the test subject)

Third party (eg Gesell mirror)

Natural-field (in real conditions) / laboratory

Periodic/single

Solid (everything is permanently fixed) / Selective (fixed at a certain time)

Structured (fixed in accordance with the plan) / arbitrary

Ascertaining / Evaluating (severity of parameters)

Systematic (clear purpose) / Exploratory (no clear purpose)

Method of Self-observation (other than introspection) - observe yourself as you would others

Meta-observation is the observation of the observation, the object is the very activity of the observer.

The fact of influence on the result of the observer himself.

Restrictions– observer effect, observer expectations, anthropomorphic error (attributing human thoughts, feelings or motives to animals, in particular as a way of explaining their behavior). Disadvantages - difficulties in monitoring, evaluation; inefficiency in time; not every phenomenon is observable

The advantage is the observation of a wide range of direct reactions in natural conditions.

Experiment - active intervention of the researcher in the activity of the subject, in order to create conditions in which the influence of independent variables on the dependent one is revealed. The concept of ecological validity is important – i.e. correlation of the obtained data with reality.

1. Kinds:

Natural

• Laboratory

  Ascertaining (revealing already established structures)

  Formative (impact on the test subject in order to form certain qualities in him), often - social on a group of people. Galperin.

  Blind (the test does not know which group they are in) and double-blind experiment (no one knows who is in which group)

Species according to A.R. Luria (3 groups)

• Methods of structural analysis (the str-ra of the studied mental process is singled out and analyzed)

  A set of experimental genetic methods (stages of development of the process under study are traced or activity is formed)

  Experimental pathological methods (syndromic analysis) (detection of changes in painful disorders and their factors of occurrence)

A special case of the experiment: the test is a standardized psychological test, the characteristic of the method is the presence of "norms". Often diagnostic purpose.

• Individual-group

  verbal-effective

  Projective (eg TAT)

  Types in form: t.-questionnaires, pictorial t., t. Actions.

A special case is modeling: the creation of a formal model of a mental or socio-psychological process, that is, a formalized abstraction of this process, reproducing some of its main, key points, in the opinion of this researcher, for the purpose of its experimental study or with the aim of extrapolating information about it to something what the researcher considers special cases of this process.

Experiment stages:

• Create multiple test groups that are similar except for changing conditions

  Change the condition that, according to the hypothesis, affects behavior in groups

  Leave unchanged in one group (control)

  Capture behavior change in groups

Variables are quantities that can change during the experiment:

• External ones are redundant. influence must be eliminated.

  Independent - conditions that vary in the experiment

  Dependent

dangers

• Placebo effect

  Experimenter effect (unwitting influence of the researcher)

Pluses - creation of certain controlled conditions; the possibility of varying conditions, the ability to vary quantitative ratios (for stat processing)

Observation and experiment are inseparable in scientific practice (observation can initiate an experiment, precede it; observation can be included in the experiment - for example, T. Dembo's experiment "the study of anger, test-my create a situation of intense need - to find a solution to a problem that cannot be solved ( to get an object that is at a considerable distance, but within the circle drawn in chalk) and observe how the person will behave.

1. Intermediate methods combine observation and experiment.

   1. Psychotherapeutic methods

      Psychotechnical

      Conversation method - A dialogue between two people, during which one person reveals the psychological characteristics of the other

You can mention a person as an object of research:

Subject activity during the study

The potential for self-creation - a person is able to change constantly

The reconstructive nature of experimental procedures - the psyche cannot be observed directly, it is important to create reconstructions of phenomena that are not directly observed.

Prerequisites for the emergence of scientific psychology.

Firstly

Secondly

Thirdly

Psychology is the science of the patterns of development and functioning of the psyche. The interaction of all living beings with the outside world is carried out through a special kind of mental processes and states. These special processes are inseparable from physiological processes, but are not reduced to them. For many centuries, these amazing and mysterious phenomena were designated by the general term "soul" and were considered the product of a higher essence - God. In the views of the ancients, the soul was interpreted animalistically, i.e. as a special incorporeal entity that inhabits the human body. But already Aristotle proposed the interpretation of the soul as a way of organizing a living body and its behavior, which served as a powerful stimulus for the development of scientific views in the field of the mental in the West. Having emerged as a branch of philosophical science, psychology has been inextricably linked with it for more than two millennia. Within the framework of philosophy, a huge amount of knowledge about various mental processes and states was accumulated, the processes of perception and knowledge of the surrounding world, emotional processes, mechanisms for the development of mental phenomena were studied, attempts were made to typology people. The biological foundations of the mental have been studied in medical science. Much knowledge about the psychic has been accumulated in astrology, the so-called occult sciences. The accumulation of knowledge about the nature and mechanisms of the functioning of the mental proceeded at two levels: empirical (experimental) and theoretical, and in the second half of the 19th century led to the emergence of psychology as an independent science. The emergence of scientific psychology is associated with the name of W. Wundt, who in 1879 created the largest psychological school, called the structuralist school. Since that time, the development of psychological science has gone by leaps and bounds. Already at the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, many psychological schools appeared that differed in their approaches to understanding the nature of the mental: functionalism, behaviorism, reflexology, psychoanalysis, humanistic schools, Gestalt psychology. The presence of a large number of schools emphasizes the complexity of the tasks facing psychology and the possibility of interpreting mental phenomena from various theoretical positions. At the same time, in the study of certain mental processes and states, an eclectic approach is often used, synthesizing the points of view of various schools.

Formation of the first paradigms.

From the 60s of the XIX century. A new period in the development of psychological science began. The main characteristic features of which are:

1. The emergence of the first scientific paradigms, institutions and professional psychological community,

2. Formation of intra-paradigm ideas about the subject and method of research, development of ideas corresponding to various aspects of the subject, research in various paradigms.

3. Coordination of ideas about the subject and method of psychology with general scientific values,

4. Development of contacts with other disciplines, and, as a result, the emergence of new paradigms and branches of psychology.

5. Diversity and competition of paradigms.

The stage of formation of the first paradigms can be identified from the 60s of the 19th century to the 10s of the 20th century. The formation of psychology as an independent discipline is associated with the appearance of the first scientific programs developed by I.M. Sechenov and V. Wundt. It is important to note that Sechenov's progressive program had a strong influence on the formation of the first paradigms in Russia (N.N. Lange, V.M. Bekhterev, I.P. Pavlov, A.A. Ukhtomsky), but at the same time did not become an independent paradigm.

Wundt's program was oriented towards the general scientific experimental method. As Wundt himself wrote, “no difference between psychological and natural scientific methods can be allowed” (Wundt V., 1912; cited by Zhdan A.N., 1990).

However, Wundt considered self-observation to be the only direct psychological method, since the subject of psychology is direct experience, as it is given to the person himself.

The role of the experiment is limited only to imparting accuracy and reliability to its results.

Wundt identified the main tasks of psychology:

1. analysis of the process of consciousness by the method of introspection,

2. revealing the elements of consciousness,

3. establishing patterns of their connection.

Obviously, Wundt's program followed logically from empirical and associative psychology. Using the concepts of “apperception”, “experience” and “association” that have developed in the philosophy of knowledge, and believing that complex mental phenomena cannot be reduced to the sum of their constituent parts, Wundt inherited, although not in their original form, historically established explanatory principles.

The culture of experiment and its importance were learned by Wundt in the laboratory of the physicist and physiologist G. Helmholtz, during the years of his work with him. However, Wundt believed that the experimental method is applicable only to the study of the simplest psychological phenomena, but not the higher ones associated with language, culture, etc. According to Wundt, the methods of sociology and anthropology are applicable for these purposes.

The experiment-oriented line of Wundt's program was recorded in such of his works as "Essays on the Theory of Perception" (1862), "Fundamentals of Physiological Psychology" (1874), and the cultural-historical line - in the 10-volume work "Psychology of Peoples" (1900-1920). It is important to note that the experimental line of Wundt's program had an immeasurably greater historical influence on the emerging new discipline than the cultural-historical one. This manifested the need of the emerging psychological community to develop a general scientific culture of research.

The most important role of W. Wundt in the development of psychology as an independent scientific discipline was that it was he who organized the first specialized institutes of psychological science. In 1879, Wundt founded a scientific laboratory in Leipzig (Institute of Experimental Psychology), which conducted research and trained experimental specialists (more than 150 psychologists from 6 countries of the world were trained), and in 1881 the scientific journal Philosophical Research, despite the name, is entirely dedicated to psychological issues.

Wundt also established a fixed membership in the scientific psychological society through the holding of the First International Psychological Congress in Paris in 1889.

Introspection, proposed by Wundt as a method of psychology, was further developed in the paradigm of Structural Psychology, which was founded by E. Titchener (1867-1927), the successor of Wundt's ideas in the USA.

The tasks of structural psychology were:

1. in the decomposition of the "state of mind into its component parts",

2. in establishing how these parts are connected,

3. in establishing the conformity of the laws of the combination of this connection with the physiological organization.

It can be seen that these tasks are not in conflict with the tasks of psychology proposed by Wundt.

The difference was that Titchener studied the structure of consciousness, abstracting from the functional role of the psyche in behavior.

Titchener's most important innovation is the method of analytical introspection. In accordance with paradigm requirements, he strictly limited the possible content of the subject's self-observation report. So it was required that the results of self-observation be given in terms of the elements of the structure of consciousness, but not in terms of objects of the external world or stimuli.

Titchener argued that introspection by experienced specialists is no different from external observation, characteristic of any other scientific methods. Another blow to the method of introspection was also inflicted by Wundt's follower O. Külpe (1862-1915), the founder and leader of the Wurzburg school. His views on the method of introspection differed from those of Wundt. Wundt's introspection unfolded, like Titchener's, in synchrony with observable conscious experience.

Külpe's systematic introspection was separated from experience by a time interval, it was retrospective. The subject solved the problem proposed to him, and then described in detail the course of mental processes during its solution. This modification of introspection, according to Külpe, did not lead to a split into the observed and observing parts of the subject of observation, which led to the possibility of studying thinking.

Thus, by the end of the 19th century, it was discovered that the method of introspection does not reveal the main aspects of the psyche, if only because the range of phenomena studied in psychology is not limited to the phenomena of consciousness. These circumstances alone deprive introspection of the status of a method.

The use of self-observation as a technique is faced with an unpredictable dependence of the results of introspection on the following factors:

1. cultural affiliation of the subject,

2. the degree of mastery of self-observation, which is limited by age characteristics, culture of behavior, language competence.

3. correlation of some internal plans when combining the main activity and introspection, from which retrospective introspection does not save,

4. setting the subject to participate in the study, his role in the relationship with the researcher,

Therefore, introspection is also not a method of psychological research. The cultural-historical line in Wundt's research program was opposed by the understanding psychology of the historian and literary critic W. Dilthey and his follower Spranger. They considered the main task of psychology not to explain the patterns of human mental life, but to understand it in a subjectively experienced integrity.

Psychology, from their point of view, does not belong to the cycle of natural sciences, such as chemistry, physiology, but to the sciences of the spirit, to a number of humanitarian disciplines, which include, for example, history, cultural studies.

Dilthey and Spranger argued that the experimental method is not applicable in these sciences. The method of the humanities should be the method of empathy - understanding, which is also called the method of empathy.

Note that the criticism of the introspective method in general terms extends to the method of understanding, since it is applicable only to a limited part of the entire set of objects of study and can only affect potentially conscious phenomena. The application of the method of understanding inevitably leads to erroneous judgments.

Significant changes in the ideas about the subject and method of psychology were introduced by Z. Freud (1856-1939), who founded the paradigm of psychoanalysis.

The history of the origin of psychoanalysis is a good illustration of the origin and development of the paradigm, its dependence on predecessor ideas and influence on successor paradigms.

The idea of ​​the unconscious, the study of which is the subject of psychoanalysis, was introduced into psychology by Leibniz and developed by Helmholtz, as well as G. Fechner, who believed that most of the mental activity does not reveal itself in consciousness.

Psychoanalysis in its developed form, before its transformation into a version of popular psychology, was aimed at the study of personality and was built in accordance with the principles of determinism, development, activity, the source of which, according to Freud's teaching, lies within the subject. Psychoanalysis abandoned introspection as a research method. To obtain source material on the deep internal structures and processes of the psyche, the analysis of free associations, reservations, the specifics of forgetting, the interpretation of dream retellings, etc. was used. Establishing the features of deep psychological structures through the analysis of this material constitutes the essence of a new method, which Freud called psychoanalysis.

The breadth of the original psychoanalytic paradigm allowed it to differentiate into many neo-Freudian paradigms: the analytical psychology of C. Jung, the individual psychology of A. Adler, the theory of deep sources of anxiety by C. Horney, etc.

A radical revolution in the ideas about the subject and method of psychology was made by J. B. Watson (1878-1958). The date of birth of behaviorism (from the English. Behavior - behavior) is considered the publication in 1913 of the article "Psychology from the point of view of a behaviorist" in the scientific psychological journal "Psychological Review".

From the point of view of this paradigm, psychology is an objective experimental field of the natural sciences. Behaviorists reject the method of introspection and refuse the idea of ​​consciousness as a subject of psychological research, and also assume that any psychological structures and processes that are not observed by objective methods either do not exist or are inaccessible for scientific research.

The subject of psychology from the point of view of behaviorism is behavior, understood as a set of observed muscular glandular reactions to external stimuli. The task of psychology is to identify the patterns of this connection, and the goal is to predict the behavior of the subject and control it.

Behavioral experiment is considered as a research method in behaviorism.

Behavioral criticism, addressed to introspective and depth psychology, and later to cognitive psychology, did much to expose the logical and methodological contradictions in these paradigms, but the radical line of behaviorism did not last long. It was the idea of ​​internal psychological structures and processes that split the ranks of behaviorism when E. Tolman formulated the main provisions of cognitive behaviorism.

Fundamental differences between everyday psychological knowledge and scientific knowledge.

Psychology has a special place in the system of sciences. Why?

Firstly, this is the science of the most complex that is known to mankind so far. The psyche is a “property of highly organized matter”.

Secondly, psychology is in a special position, because the object and the subject of cognition seem to merge in it.

Thirdly, the peculiarity of psychology lies in its unique practical consequences.

Psychology is a very young science. In this capacity, it began to take shape in 1879, when the German psychologist W. Wundt opened the first experimental psychology laboratory in Leipzig. The emergence of psychology was preceded by the development of the natural sciences and philosophy. Psychology arose at the intersection of these sciences.

Any science has as its basis the everyday, emnic experience of people. What is the difference between everyday psychological knowledge and scientific knowledge? There are 5 differences.

1st difference-worldly psychological knowledge is specific, it is associated with specific situations, specific people, specific tasks. Waiters, taxi drivers are good psychologists. But in what sense and for what purposes? To solve pragmatic problems.

Conclusion: everyday psychological knowledge is characterized by specificity, limited tasks, situations and persons to which they apply.

Scientific psychology, like any science, strives for generalizations. Scientific concepts reflect the most essential properties of objects and phenomena, general connections and correlations. Scientific concepts are clearly defined, correlated with each other, linked into laws.

Scientific psychological concepts often coincide with everyday ones in their external form, that is, they are expressed in the same words, but the internal content, the meaning of these words are different. Everyday terms are usually more vague and diverse.

The second difference is that they are intuitive. This is due to a special way of obtaining them - through practical trials.

Scientific psychological knowledge is rational and conscious, has verbally formed hypotheses and consequences logically arising from them.

The third difference is in the ways of transferring knowledge. Life experience from the older generation is not passed on to the younger.

In science, knowledge is accumulated and transferred, transfer is possible because this knowledge is crystallized in concepts and laws. They are recorded in the scientific literature and transmitted through language, speech.

The 4th difference is in the methods of obtaining knowledge in the fields of everyday and scientific psychology. In everyday psychology, they are limited to observations and reflections.

In scientific psychology, experiment is added to these methods. The essence of the experimental method is that the researcher causes the phenomena of interest to him himself, creating the appropriate conditions, then varying these conditions in order to reveal the patterns that this phenomenon obeys. With the introduction of the experimental method into psychology, psychology was formed as a science.

5th difference. The advantage of scientific psychology is that it has a variety of factual material that is not available to any bearer of everyday psychology. This material is accumulated and comprehended in special branches of psychological science, such as developmental, educational psychology, patho- and neuropsychology, labor psychology and engineering, social, zoopsychology.

In these areas, the psychologist deals with various stages and levels of mental development of animals and humans, with defects and diseases of the psyche. The psychologist expands the range of his research tasks, but also encounters new unexpected phenomena. The development of special branches of psychology is the "method of general psychology." Everyday psychology lacks such a method.

What position should scientific psychologists take in relation to worldly psychology?

A scientific psychologist must at the same time be a good worldly psychologist, otherwise he will be of little use to science, he will not find himself in his profession.

Scientific psychology, firstly, relies on everyday psychological experience.

Secondly, it extracts its tasks from it.

Thirdly, at the last stage they are checked.

What is the subject of study of scientific psychology?

The word "psychology" in translation into Russian means "the science of the soul." Nowadays, instead of the concept of “soul”, the concept of “psyche” is used.

Under the mental phenomena understand the facts of internal, subjective experience. You see this room, everything that is in it, you hear what I am telling you, you are trying to understand it; you are now happy or bored, you want something. All of the above are elements of your inner experience, subjective or psychic phenomena. There are other forms of manifestation of the psyche - facts of behavior, unconscious mental processes, creations of human hands and mind, that is, products of material and spiritual culture. In all these facts, phenomena, the psyche manifests itself, reveals its properties.

Concluding our question, let us fix the difference between mental phenomena and psychological facts.

Psychic phenomena are understood as subjective experiences or elements of the subject's inner experience.

Psychological facts mean a wide range of manifestations of the psyche, their objective forms (behavior, bodily processes, products of human activity, socio-cultural phenomena), which are used by psychology to study the psyche - its properties, functions, patterns.

The main directions of development of psychological schools.

Main psychological schools

In any field of knowledge there are competing concepts (view, vision of the process) and schools. In psychology at the beginning of the 20th century, the differences in positions were determined by the fact that each of the schools left its own subject different from the others. Functionalism. At the beginning of the 20th century, most psychologists continued to study consciousness, but Wundt and other scientists were looking for the "building" material of direct experience and its structures. This approach is called structuralism. He was opposed to functionalism. This direction rejected the analysis of internal experience and its structures, considered the main thing is how these structures work when they solve problems related to people's needs. The well-known US functionalist William James (1842-1910) in his book Fundamentals of Psychology (1890) wrote that the inner experience of a person is not a ‘chain of elements’, but a ‘stream of consciousness’. It is distinguished by personal (in the sense of expressing the interests of the individual) selectivity (the ability to constantly make a choice). Discussing the problem of emotions, James (with the Danish physician Carl Lange) proposed the concept that measurements in the muscular and vascular systems of the body are primary, and the emotional states caused by them are secondary. James's views on the role of consciousness in the interaction of the organism with the environment have become firmly established in American psychology. Currently, according to the book of James, they are studying in American colleges. Reflexology - this approach to the subject of psychology appeared under the influence of the works of I.P. Pavlov (1859-1963) and V.M. Bekhterev (1857-1927). Experimental psychology arose from the study of the sense organs. She considered the products of the activity of these organs - sensations - to be her subject. Pavlov and Bekhterev studied the brain - the control organ of the behavior of the whole organism in the environment. This direction became known as reflexology. The Pavlovian doctrine of behavior later became known as the doctrine of higher nervous activity. He introduced a new term - a conditioned reflex (the body acquires and changes the program of its actions depending on conditions - external and internal). External stimuli for the body become signals imitating in the environment, and the reaction is fixed if it is supported by an internal factor - the need of the body. Bekhterev in 1907 in the book "Objective Psychology" gave conditioned reflexes a different name: but both of them stimulated psychologists to restructure their ideas about the subject of psychology. Behaviorism is a new direction that has approved behavior as a subject of psychology, understood as a set of reactions of the body, due to its communication with the stimuli of the environment in which it adapts. The term behavior (English - behavior). D. Watson is considered the father of behaviorism. In his article “Psychology as the Behaviorist Sees It” (1913), he proposed to abandon all concepts of the subjective psychology of consciousness and replace them with objectively observed reactions of living beings to stimuli. Behaviorism began to be called "psychology without the psyche." Watson believed that the psyche is identical to consciousness. By demanding the elimination of consciousness, behaviorists did not turn the body into a device devoid of mental qualities. They changed the idea of ​​these qualities. A new direction in psychology included stimuli, accessible to external objective observation, independent of consciousness - reactive attitudes. The schemes of psychological experiments have changed. They were placed mainly on animals - white rats. Various types of labyrinths were invented as experimental devices instead of physiological apparatuses. Animals launched into them “learned” to find a way out of them. The theme of “learning”, acquiring skills through trial and error, has become central to this school. The views on the laws of behavior of animal creatures have changed (a rat looking for its way in a maze, its success, that is, the way out of the maze depends on the case). Excluding consciousness, behaviorism turned out to be a one-sided direction, but it changed psychological consciousness. His subject studied the construction and change of real bodily actions in response to a spectrum of external challenges. Supporters of this direction believed that, based on experimental data, they would be able to explain any natural forms of human behavior (such as building a skyscraper or playing tennis). The basis of everything is the laws of learning. Freudism is the name of a psychological trend associated with the name of the Austrian psychologist Z. Freud. The formation of his teaching dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. Freudianism became widespread in bourgeois society in the 1920s. In the structure of personality, Freud drew attention to the unconscious and turned it into an object of study. Freud noted that a person cannot always explain the motives of his actions. They are not conscious, their real cause can be revealed by studying dreams, slips of the tongue, involuntary movements. To interpret the true motives of behavior and make them conscious for a person and for a mentally ill person (for the purpose of his treatment) is the task of psychoanalysis, a method developed by Freud for the study of the unconscious. Freud derived all personality development from 2 innate instincts: procreation (sexual pleasure) and preservation of life (fear of death). Living in society, a person to some extent suppresses these forces, they are forced out into the sphere of the unconscious and replaced by activity. For example, all Freudians claim that creativity is an unconscious manifestation of the desire for sexual pleasure. The complete separation of the individual from the social conditions of its formation, the promotion of the unconscious, the biological - this is the essence of Freudian theories. Freudianism is one of the most reactionary trends in personality psychology.

Spheres of practical application of psychological knowledge.

Spheres of practical application of psychological knowledge. One of the common types

psychological practice is the psychological support of the enterprise. AT

In Russia, in the last decade, private enterprises have reappeared, and the activity of a psychologist in them has its own specifics. A psychologist at a commercial enterprise, depending on the relevance of the tasks facing the company, takes part in:

In recruitment and adaptation of personnel;

In the assessment of personnel;

In training and advanced training of personnel;

In motivating staff;

In the organization of effective personnel management;

In the analysis and optimization of the social structure of the enterprise;

In management consulting.

The work of a practical psychologist in an educational institution, and above all in a school, contributes to the optimal conduct of the entire process of education and upbringing and is carried out in direct interaction with teachers, schoolchildren and their parents. There are two areas of work:

current and future. The current direction is focused on solving topical problems associated with certain difficulties in teaching and educating students, violations in their behavior, communication, and in the formation of their personality. A promising direction is aimed at developing the individuality of each child, at the formation of psychological readiness for conscious life in society. At the same time, the main task of the school psychologist is to create psychological conditions for the optimal and complete development of the abilities of schoolchildren (Dubrovina I.V., Akimova M.K. and others,

1991). Of course, the level of development of abilities in children will be different, but the tasks that the psychologist sets and solves in relation to each child will also be different. You can specify the most important tasks solved by a practical psychologist at school.

1. Determination of readiness for school - a set of intellectual, motivational and behavioral characteristics that allow you to successfully master the school curriculum in the classroom. If necessary, the psychologist participates in the formation of the characteristics necessary for learning and / or recommends a different form of education (for example, family education).

2. Development and implementation of developing programs together with teachers and parents, taking into account the individual characteristics of students in order to better adapt younger students to school conditions.

3. Monitoring and providing psychological assistance to schoolchildren in transitional periods and difficult moments in their lives (puberty, the consequences of acute and chronic diseases, stressful events in the life of schoolchildren, etc.)

4. Carrying out diagnostic and corrective work with "difficult" schoolchildren (with underachieving, undisciplined, with children suffering from various kinds of nervous and mental disorders, with adolescents registered with commissions for minors, with children from "unfavorable" families).

5. Conducting a diagnostic examination of schoolchildren in order to determine the intellectual, personal and emotional-volitional characteristics of students. Determination of developmental anomalies and carrying out corrective work. Identification of potentially gifted children and creation of conditions for the manifestation of their giftedness (intellectual, psychomotor, special).

6. Determination and elimination of the psychological causes of violations of interpersonal relations between students and teachers, peers, parents and other people.

7. Counseling the school administration, teachers, parents on psychological problems

upbringing and education of children.

8. Conducting individual and group counseling of students on educational issues,

mental development, problems of life self-determination, self-education, relationships with adults and peers, psychological problems of sexual development and sexual relationships.

9. Carrying out career guidance work aimed at identifying and developing abilities, interests, as well as the formation of an adequate self-assessment of value orientations, life

prospects. Assistance in choosing a life professional path and consulting on its implementation.

The tasks solved by a practical psychologist in a medical institution depend on the type of institution. In psychiatric clinics, the psychologist, together with the psychiatrist, participates in the diagnosis and its clarification. In addition, he is directly involved in the treatment of patients, conducting group and individual psychotherapy, depending on the type of mental disorder and the severity of the disease.

In narcological medical institutions, psychologists are actively involved in the treatment of drug addiction,

substance abuse and alcoholism, using special types of psychotherapy and non-drug treatment.

Often, treatment continues after discharge from the hospital, while psychotherapy is carried out

outpatient (Bratus B.S. Sidorov P.I., 1984). The final stage of such treatment is the organization of territorial societies such as the society of "anonymous alcoholics" and the promotion of their functioning.

The specifics of the work of a practical psychologist in the treatment of somatic patients depends on the specifics of the disease itself. It is possible to distinguish some groups of patients, in the successful treatment and rehabilitation of which the role of a psychologist is quite large: oncological patients, patients with bronchial asthma, gynecological patients. Psychologists help patients adequately perceive and understand what happened, contribute to the formation of an adequate idea of ​​the disease, themselves and the upcoming treatment, and, together with doctors, develop and teach patients certain forms of behavior that contribute to recovery (for example, in the case of asthmatics, these are relaxation techniques and a delayed response to allergens, for pregnant women - these are methods of easing labor pains, etc.).

Psychology as a science of behavior

According to the tradition that has developed in psychology, behavior is understood as the external manifestations of a person's mental activity. And in this regard, behavior is opposed to consciousness as a set of internal, subjectively experienced processes. In other words, the facts of behavior and the facts of consciousness are bred according to the method of their detection.

Behavior takes place in the external world and is detected by external observation, while the processes of consciousness take place inside the subject and are detected by self-observation. We must now take a closer look at what is called human behavior.

This should be done for several reasons: First, to test our intuition that behavior should be the object of study in psychology. Secondly, to cover the widest possible range of phenomena related to behavior, and to give their preliminary classification. Thirdly, in order to give a psychological characterization of the facts of behavior. Let's do the same as in the initial acquaintance with the phenomena of consciousness - let's turn to the analysis of specific examples.

Let's answer one of the previous questions: What are Behavioral Facts? It, firstly, all external manifestations of physiological processes associated with the state, activity, communication of people - posture, facial expressions, intonations, glances, eye shine, redness, blanching, trembling, intermittent or restrained breathing, muscle tension, etc .; Secondly, individual movements and gestures, such as bowing, nodding, pushing, clenching the hand, banging the fist, etc.; thirdly, actions as larger acts of behavior that have a specific meaning

Based on these criteria, 16 types of behavior were identified. Perceptual behavior - the desire to cope with information overload due to perceptual categorization, as a result of which the variety of influencing information is classified, simplified and can lead to both a clearer understanding of what is being assessed and the loss of meaningful information.

Protective behavior - any real or imaginary actions of psychological defense (rejection, substitution, projection, regression), which allow you to create, maintain a positive image of the "I", a positive opinion of a person about himself.

Inductive behavior - people's perception and evaluation of themselves based on the interpretation of the meaning of their own actions.

Habitual behavior—the satisfaction of positive reinforcement—makes it more likely to reproduce familiar behaviors in appropriate situations.

Utilitarian behavior is the desire of a person to solve a practical problem with maximum achievement (subjective experience of the maximum possible success).

Role behavior in accordance with role requirements, circumstances that force a person to take some action (even if it does not coincide with personal aspirations).

Scenario behavior - a person is an executor of a set of rules of acceptable "decent" behavior, corresponding to his status in a given culture, society.

Modeling behavior - options for the behavior of people in small and large groups (infection, imitation, suggestion), but difficult to control both by the person himself and by other people.

Balancing behavior - when a person has simultaneously conflicting opinions, assessments, attitudes and tries to "reconcile" them, harmonize them by changing their assessments, claims, memories.

Liberating behavior - a person seeks to "secure himself" (physically or his reputation) from real or apparent "negative conditions of existence" (to maintain the stability of his internal emotional state through active external actions: avoid possible failures, rejection of unattractive goals, compliance.

Attributive behavior - active elimination of contradictions between real behavior and subjective system of opinions, weakening, elimination of cognitive dissonance between desires, thoughts and real actions, bringing them to mutual correspondence.

Expressive behavior - in those cases, areas in which a person has achieved a high level of skill and satisfaction from a "well-done job", while maintaining a consistently high self-esteem, the constant reproduction of which is the main regulator of everyday social behavior.

Autonomous behavior - when a feeling of freedom of choice (even the illusion of such a choice and control of one's actions) creates a person's readiness to overcome any barriers on the way to achieving the goal (a high level of internal "locus of control" of one's actions, an idea of ​​oneself as an active "doer", and not executor of someone's orders, someone's will).

Approving behavior is the experience of one's actions as the fulfillment of one's plans with the maximum use of one's own internal conditions.

Exploratory behavior - the desire for novelty of the physical and social environment, the willingness to "tolerate" information uncertainty, "reducing" a variety of external information to a form to which the previously mastered methods of processing it are applicable.

Empathic behavior - accounting, a large coverage of sensory information underlying the interpersonal interaction of people, the ability to feel and understand the emotional and mental state of another person.

deeds- even larger acts of behavior that, as a rule, have a public, or social, sound and are associated with norms of behavior, relationships, self-esteem, etc. So, external bodily reactions, gestures, movements, actions, deeds - this is a list of phenomena related to behavior. All of them are objects of psychological interest, since they directly reflect the subjective states of the content of consciousness, personality traits.

Personality for many remains unknown. And this inner life is in many ways more important for a person than the outer one, since the injuries inflicted on the psyche do not heal for decades, unlike the wounds of the body. This is well known to psychologists - people whose lives are devoted to the study of the secrets of the soul. And, of course, the desire to understand the other is valuable.

Those who have embarked on the path of self-learning must go through a difficult path. What are the main difficulties of studying, why is it so difficult to master the science of psychology; where to start studying? Let's try to figure it out.

Methodology

When a person decides to study a science such as psychology, it is worth thoroughly familiarizing yourself with the methodology of science. And devote a lot of time to reading various literature.

But where to start studying psychology on your own? How to find the knowledge base that you can rely on further and study science in depth? Without fundamental orderly concepts, there is no real science. First, the subject of science and methodology are studied. Methodology is a systematic analysis of the methods that are used in a given science to obtain knowledge.

Start with yourself. Why and for what

The beginning of the study of human psychology is the understanding of personal motives. First of all, you need to understand why the first step to the study of human behavior is being taken: in order to be well versed in the development of children and help them grow harmoniously either for their own personal growth, or you want to become a professional and get the opportunity to help outsiders.

It is also important to decide in advance which side of science you will study thoroughly: theoretical or practical. It's hard to find without knowing what it is. Especially in the ocean of information.

Psychology books. What do newbies need

What books to start studying psychology? When setting out to study the basics of any science, one must start from the basics: the most basic categories, terms and concepts - all this can be found in any first-year textbook. Such textbooks are available in all city libraries. Although they are not very eloquently written, and full of definitions and tables, they need to be mastered. Further it will be easier. After reading this first book, you need to find the classics of psychology: K. Jung, K. Horney, A. Adler, E. Fromm, and, of course, you need to familiarize yourself with the works of Freud.

A lighter and more interesting book by I. Yalom “When Nietzsche Wept”. You can then search for any author's book in the direction that is currently more interesting.

We must not forget that it is important for a psychologist to know the basics of philosophy and sociology. It is important to form humanitarian thinking, science is not only theories and theses.

Fiction also contains a lot of useful information for a future psychologist. Classical writers clearly analyzed the nature of the inner world and the actions of their fictional characters. A particularly deep analysis can be found in the books of F. Dostoevsky.

Journals and publications

In today's incredibly vast information space, finding an accessible and interesting psychology journal is not a problem. Many universities publish their own journal and post free versions on the Internet quite freely. You just need to find the journal that will be informative and useful for you in the chosen field of science.

• "Russian Psychological Journal".
• VAK magazine "Bulletin of VlGU".
• "Experimental Psychology".
• "Existential and Humanistic Psychology".
• Online magazine psychology.ru.
• Other.

The online magazine psychologies.ru was created for a wide range of readers. If you need scientific publications written by qualified employees of institutes, it is better to read official publications. Such as: "Russian Psychological Journal".

The world of psychology. Main directions

In what directions is modern psychology developing? Where to start studying the development trends of the main areas of this science? It is impossible to succeed in everything at once, and it is required to decide on the direction in which a person will feel most confident, what is closer to him to learn and apply.

The classic directions are:

• cognitive direction;

• Gestalt psychology;

• associative psychology;

• humanistic;

• deep.

And there are new directions: psychodrama, coaching, transpersonal psychology and neurolinguistic programming.

Non-verbal communication as a basis

Without what it is not conceivable Where to start studying? A beginner needs to study both theory and practice. And practice, respectively, immediately work out: learn to listen, learn to pay attention to non-verbal signs. This practice is important in the same way as for learning a foreign language it is necessary to immediately pronounce sentences.

Non-verbal messages are a hint to the interlocutor; The theory of non-verbal communication says that facial expressions and postures of a person speak about much more than words. A good psychologist immediately "calculates" the state of a nearby person by his appearance. Even if you are not going to study psychology professionally, but are only interested in it, you need to learn how to identify non-verbal signs. This will make it easier to communicate with family and friends.

What qualities of character should be developed

Working with people is absolutely impossible without working on yourself. A psychologist is one who studies souls. This is how psychology is interpreted. Where to start studying the behavior and problems of others? From work on your character traits. Because without knowing yourself, it is impossible to know others.

Psyche was the goddess-soul, respectively, the science of the soul cannot be studied without love for the souls of people. It is necessary to be able to put yourself in the place of another and represent his feelings and emotions. A psychologist also needs good abilities for introspection and self-reflection - that is, the ability to understand one's own emotional state and behavior. The ability to establish verbal contact with any person.

Indeed, the study of human psychology is not so easy. Where to begin? Develop awareness. For a novice psychologist, this is a key moment. If a beginner is faced with the question: where to start studying psychology on their own, then it is better to reformulate it - where to start studying. From myself. A psychologist will not be able to solve other people's problems if he does not learn how to solve his own complexes, problems, fears and anxieties.

Proxemics

The distance and the need to observe it when conducting a conversation is studied by such a science as proxemics. The concept was introduced into science by Edward Hall.

Edward Hall introduced 4 zones into the scientific world of psychologists that must be observed when communicating:

• intimate;
• personal;
• social zone;
• public.

Understanding the inner state of people is not so easy. There is no point in reading books if the beginner does not know how to recognize the internal mood of the interlocutor.

A psychologist cannot put pressure on a person. When he does not keep his distance, the person will close and will not allow him into his inner world.

Some believe that all people have special psychic abilities. Some of us have such natural abilities more developed than others - just as someone shows great success in music or mathematics. Like all other skills, psychic abilities can be trained and improved. With the help of the following exercises you will be able to develop your subconscious abilities given by nature.

Steps

Meditate. Experiment with different techniques and find the one that works best for you. Eat healthy food. Remember, there is no right or wrong way to meditate. The only important thing is that you can relax and concentrate. The longer you practice meditation, the more you will feel the existence of your inner spiritual energy. It represents the link to your spiritual being, which is associated with intuition and premonitions. Strengthening this link will help increase your psychic abilities. Meditation is an extremely important process for the development of spiritual energy. With the help of meditation, you can overcome a large number of life's difficulties. For example, if your child is slow to learn to read, teach him to meditate, and things will go smoothly right away. It may sound strange, but meditation really helps.



Try to interact with the world around you as much as possible. Before getting out of bed in the morning, try lying down for a few minutes without opening your eyes. Try to take in as many sights, sounds, and smells as you can before you open your eyes. Performing this exercise for several weeks will help to significantly develop intuition and enhance the perception of the world around you.



Listen. The process of listening is very important for developing a higher level of spirituality. Some time after the start of these trainings, you will begin to notice an increase in the overall level of spiritual perception of the world, which, accordingly, will develop your intuition.



Pay attention to random feelings and thoughts. Always keep a diary handy and try to write down all those thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere. Over time, you will notice how they begin to streamline. Thoughts that previously seemed random and incoherent will begin to take shape in recognizable ideas and coherent reasoning.



Write down your dreams in a diary. If you constantly do the exercises described above, you will notice that it becomes easier to induce dreams over and over again. A few minutes after waking up with your eyes closed will help you remember dreams more easily and in more detail than when you jump out of bed instantly. Try to set your alarm 10 to 15 minutes before your normal wake up time. Take some time to remember your dreams and make notes in your diary.



Enjoy the power of silence and solitude. Thought processes are easier away from the hustle and bustle, especially when it comes to the development of internal mental stability and concentration. Spend time surrounded by the natural sounds of nature: birdsong, the sound of running water, a waterfall and so on. This natural background sound is well known for its ability to develop intuition and psychic abilities. But most importantly - always be open to new things!

• It is also useful to listen to your inner voice, to give it the opportunity to control your actions. Every person at least once heard this voice through the stream of his own thoughts, when he told us what is good and what is bad. Usually we neglect it, and then regret it, because if we had listened to it, we would have acted differently. The inner voice is something like a spiritual guide. It is a very powerful tool if you know how to use it correctly.
• The simplest exercise described above can give significant results if performed regularly. It is just one of many techniques that you can use to expand your understanding of your psychic abilities. There are quite a few other ways and methods. When looking for additional information regarding the development of psychic abilities, it is very important to beware of any methods that claim that psychic abilities are developed under the influence of external forces. Or that mental processes are something different from natural human abilities.
• A good mental technique that will help you achieve your goals is a special sensitivity achieved through self-hypnosis.
• Try again and again! If you are easily frustrated by failure, then developing psychic abilities is not for you. Motivation and perseverance are extremely important to achieve results.
• You may need a voice recorder. Keep it on your bedside table so that you can immediately write down the impressions of a dream, even while still in a state of half-asleep.
• Sometimes only the realization that someone is able to "make" you can give strength to commit an action. Remember that this is only a temporary stimulus caused by your subconscious perception of a real event.
• The next time you're in the pool, try to predict what gender the next person coming down the slide will be. The practical application of psychic abilities also contributes to their development.

Warnings

• Most people don't take too well to talk about psychic abilities or experiences.
• Most people cannot or will not take the idea of ​​psychic abilities seriously.
• The effect of the development of mental abilities is difficult to understand and realize. You can even inadvertently hurt yourself if you overdo it. However, try to be aware of what is happening to you.
• Mainstream science is on the verge of accepting the credibility of scientific research in the field of human consciousness and parapsychology. That is, evidence has been obtained of the existence of such mental phenomena as telepathy, remote vision, clairvoyance, preconsciousness, healing, psychokinesis, the ability to determine a person’s illness by his appearance. However, most people are not aware of the results of these studies, and a significant part of the population holds a pseudo-skeptical view (while real skeptics will try to find as much information as possible, pseudo-skeptics will not bother and immediately jump to a conclusion).

PSYCHOLOGY AND PEDAGOGY

Section "Psychology"

Tutorial

Barnaul 2008

UDC 159.9: 37.01 (07)

Psychology and pedagogy. Section "Pedagogy". Tutorial. / Compound. Sivtsova, N.S. Kolmogorov. - Barnaul: AGAU Publishing House, 2008. - p.

The textbook is intended for full-time and part-time students of the ASAU studying the courses "General Psychology", "Psychology and Pedagogy", "Ethics and Psychology of Business Relations", "Psychology of Engineering Labor", teachers, as well as for all those who are interested in psychology, who wants to succeed in their studies, business and personal life. The textbook includes general theoretical information on the topics of the discipline "Psychology and Pedagogy" (section "Psychology"), questions for self-examination, topics of essays, a list of references for self-study. The textbook is designed to help students in organizing independent work on mastering the main theoretical provisions of the courses being studied, as well as in self-development and self-knowledge of the individual.

Reviewers: Kashirsky D.V., Ph.D. psychol. Sciences, Associate Professor, Belarusian State Pedagogical University

Kudakov S.V., Ph.D. ped. Sciences, Associate Professor, ASAU

© Sivtsova A.V., Kolmogorova N.S. 2008

© Altai State Agrarian University, 2008

INTRODUCTION

Today's life, with its new way of thinking and acting, which creates many psychological and economic difficulties, requires a person to mobilize all his moral, physical and mental reserves in order to adapt to new conditions, overcome the circumstances and, above all, himself. Everyone who strives to fully live life, to achieve success in all areas of activity must be able to manage himself, resist circumstances, change himself (if necessary), and be able to establish relationships with people.

For effective professional and personal development, a person needs psychological knowledge, as they are an integral part of the general and professional culture of a person. In connection with this educational standard, students of all specialties are expected to study such disciplines as: “Psychology and pedagogy”, “Ethics and psychology of business relations”, “Psychology of engineering work”, etc.

The proposed publication includes a short course in psychology, and is a methodological guide for studying the discipline "Psychology and Pedagogy" (section "Psychology"). The manual is intended for students of all specialties of full-time and part-time departments. This development will help students navigate the whole variety of educational literature on this subject, will effectively prepare for seminars and perform creative and scientific work. Questions for self-examination, proposed at the end of each chapter, will allow students to more meaningfully approach the study of theoretical material, develop the ability to analyze, think independently.

Since psychology is a reflexive science, it is impossible to study it in isolation from the process of self-knowledge, the study of the properties of one's own psyche. For the qualitative assimilation of knowledge in psychology, it is necessary not only to study various theoretical sources (educational literature, primary sources, periodicals), but also to perform practical tasks (tests, observations, experiments), as well as independently and under the guidance of a teacher to engage in research work (preparation abstract works and thematic reports).

1. Characteristics of psychology as a science: object, subject and methods of psychology

Development of psychology as a science

Psychology is both a very old and very young science. Having a thousand-year past, it is nevertheless all still in the future. Its existence as an independent scientific discipline barely dates back a century, but it can be said with confidence that the main problem has occupied human thought since the very moment when a person began to think about the secrets of the world around him and learn them.

Famous psychologist of the late XIX - early XX century. G. Ebbinghaus was able to say about psychology very succinctly and precisely: psychology has a huge prehistory and a very short history. History refers to that period in the study of the psyche, which was marked by a departure from philosophy, rapprochement with the natural sciences and the organization of its own experimental method. This happened in the last quarter of the 19th century, but the origins of psychology are lost in the mists of time.

The very name of the subject in translation from ancient Greek means "psyche" - the soul, "logos" - science, teaching, that is - "the science of the soul." According to a very common idea, the first psychological views are connected with religious ideas. In reality, as the true history of science testifies, already the early ideas of the ancient Greek philosophers arise in the process of practical knowledge of man, in close connection with the accumulation of the first knowledge and develop in the struggle of the emerging scientific thought against religion with its mythological ideas about the world in general, about the soul in particular. . The study, explanation of the nature of mental phenomena is the first stage in the development of the subject of psychology.

Psychology as a science has special qualities that distinguish it from other scientific disciplines. As a system of proven knowledge, few people know psychology, mainly only those who are specially engaged in it, solving scientific and practical problems. At the same time, as a system of life phenomena, psychology is familiar to every person. It is presented to him in the form of his own sensations, images, ideas, phenomena of memory, thinking, speech, will, imagination, interests, motives, needs, emotions, feelings and much more. We can directly detect the basic mental phenomena in ourselves and indirectly observe in other people.

The subject of study of psychology is, first of all, the psyche of man and animals, which includes many subjective phenomena. With the help of some, such as, for example, sensations and perception, attention and memory, imagination, thinking and speech, a person cognizes the world. Therefore, they are often called cognitive processes. Other phenomena regulate his communication with people, directly control his actions and deeds. They are called mental properties and states of the individual (these include needs, motives, goals, interests, will, feelings and emotions, inclinations and abilities, knowledge and consciousness). In addition, psychology studies human communication and behavior, their dependence on mental phenomena and, in turn, the dependence of the formation and development of mental phenomena on them.

Mental processes, properties and states of a person, his communication and activity are separated and studied separately, although in reality they are closely related to each other and form a single whole, called human life.

Psychology has come a long way of development, there has been a change in the understanding of the object, subject and goals of psychology. Note main steps its development.

I stage− psychology as the science of the soul. Arises in the 5th century BC. in connection with the appearance of Aristotle's treatise "On the Soul", which is considered the first psychological work. The presence of the soul tried to explain all the incomprehensible phenomena in human life.

II stage- psychology as a science of consciousness. It arises in the 17th century in connection with the development of the natural sciences. The ability to think, feel, desire is called consciousness. The main method of study was the observation of a person for himself and the description of the facts.

Stage III- psychology as a science of behavior. Arises in the 19th century. The task of psychology is to set up experiments and observe what can be directly seen, namely: behavior, actions, reactions of a person (motives that cause actions were not taken into account).

IV stage- the modern stage of development of psychology (from the 20th century to the present). Psychology today is a science that studies the facts, patterns and mechanisms of the psyche. It was formed on the basis of a materialistic view of the world. Modern psychology was formed on the basis of a materialistic view of the world.

Thus, modern psychology - this is a science that studies the phenomena and patterns of development and the mechanisms of the functioning of the psyche as a special form of life. object its study is the human psyche, and subject - facts, patterns, mechanisms of the psyche. At the same time, under psyche understand the property of the brain to reflect objectively and independently of consciousness the existing reality, which ensures the expediency of human behavior and activity.

Branches of psychology

The psyche and behavior of a person cannot be understood without knowledge of his natural and social essence. Therefore, the study of psychology involves familiarity with human biology, knowledge of the structure and functioning of its central nervous system. Specifically, the relationship between mental phenomena and the activity of the central nervous system (CNS) is considered physiology of higher nervous activity. Psychology is closely related to history of society and its culture, since the main historical achievements of civilization - tools and sign systems - played a decisive role in the formation of higher mental functions of a person. The human psyche is formed in the conditions of social relations, therefore the specificity of a particular society in which a person lives mutually determines the features of his psyche, behavior, worldview, social interactions with other people. In this regard, an in-depth understanding of the human psyche is facilitated by knowledge of the basics sociology. This is eloquently evidenced by the rapid development of social psychology, which helps to understand how a person acquires the mental properties of socially oriented behavior.

Consciousness, thinking and many other mental phenomena are not given to the human individual from birth, but are formed in ontogenesis (individual development), in the process of his upbringing and education. This explains the connection between human psychology and pedagogy Finally, psychology is related to philosophy , since it originated as a special scientific discipline in its depths.

As a result of "contacts" of psychology with other sciences, psychology is enriched with new ideas and approaches that develop its content and categorical apparatus, and ensures its integrity as an independent science.

At present, psychology is a complex, highly branched system of sciences. It highlights many industries that are relatively independently developing areas of scientific research.

The study of the psychological sciences, as a rule, begins with general psychology, since without a sufficiently deep knowledge of the basic concepts introduced in the course of general psychology, it will be impossible to understand the material contained in the special sections of the proposed course. After all, it is probably difficult to imagine a schoolboy trying to comprehend the basics of higher mathematics, but who has not yet studied the multiplication table, who has not learned how to add and subtract numbers.

General psychology- a branch of psychology that theoretically and experimentally studies the patterns of the emergence and functioning of mental reflection in the activities of humans and animals. It reveals the essence of the structure and functions of the human psyche, reveals the laws by which it develops in phylogenesis and ontogenesis. Explains the role of congenital and acquired, biological and social in mental development, how the psyche and the brain relate, etc.

The fundamental ideas on which all approaches to the analysis of mental phenomena are built are the principles of psychology. Figure 1 presents the most important principles of modern psychology.

Rice. 1. Basic principles of psychology

These principles are one of the most important foundations for the classification of psychology into separate branches. If the basis put principle of unity of consciousness and activity , then we can distinguish a number of branches of psychology that study the psychological problems of specific types of human activity: pedagogical, medical, legal, etc.

If we base principle of development , then the following branches can be distinguished: comparative, age, special.

If the classification is based on the relationship of a person to society − principle of determinism − it is possible to single out social psychology and personality psychology.

The separation (“spinning off”) of various branches of psychology and the acquisition of relative independence by them occurs, firstly, as a result of the complication of social life and activity and, consequently, the demands of practice. Secondly, this happened as the methods of psychological research developed and scientific knowledge accumulated in the relevant areas.

Rice. 2. Branches of psychology

By nature of activity one can single out a number of branches of psychology that study the psychological problems of specific types of human activity.

Labor psychology studies the patterns of formation and manifestation (processes and states, personality traits) in the process of his work. Research on the psychology of labor is carried out in various branches of the social division of labor. Within the framework of labor psychology, industrial, transport, aviation, legal, and medical psychology has developed, research in the field of military psychology is developing, research on the psychology of labor in the field of management and service is acquiring great importance.

Engineering psychology studies the regularities of the processes of interaction between man and modern technology in order to use them in the practice of designing, creating and operating automated control systems, new types of technology.

Pedagogical psychology studies the patterns of the process of assimilation of social experience by an individual in the conditions of educational activities; deals with the study of psychological characteristics and patterns of training and education processes. The tasks of educational psychology include the study of the processes of assimilation of knowledge and the formation of skills and abilities in connection with the needs of schooling; mental substantiation of methods, techniques and methods of education and upbringing, etc.

Psychology of trading finds out the psychological conditions of the impact of advertising, individual, age and other characteristics of demand, psychological factors of customer service, etc.

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