Special psychology as a branch of psychology was formed in the 60s of the twentieth century. It is located at the intersection of psychology, pedagogy, medicine, and developed within the framework of defectology. It was called special because of the special object and subject of research.

An object special psychology - a person with developmental disorders, deviating from normal mental development.

Basically special psychology works with children and teenagers with congenital or acquired developmental disorders that have arisen due to a special (atypical) formation of the nervous system.

Thing special psychology - patterns of development and functioning of the psyche of people with developmental disorders.

Thus, special psychology- This is a branch of psychology that studies the patterns of mental development and activities of people with various disabilities.

Special psychology works mainly with children and adolescents, since their personality is still being formed, so there is an opportunity to compensate for physical and / or mental defects. You can help a special person to adapt in society through a special education and training.

Adult people with shortcomings that interfere with self-determination are given a special psychological help, support, support.

It is interesting that not only people with deviations with a minus sign happen to feel “abnormal”, but also different from the rest in positive side. People with super abilities (such as phenomenal memory, hearing, muscle strength, and so on), gifted, creative, brilliant and even just extraordinary personalities also find it difficult to fit into the world intended for "ordinary" people.

Who does a psychologist work with and what is his main task

For psychology, it is not so important what the child is sick with as the fact that he will have to face social consequences of his illness. The disease as such is not considered by psychologists in isolation from the individual (as doctors usually do).

The world is arranged in such a way that it is easiest for a “normal”, healthy and happy person to adapt, socialize and fulfill oneself in it, and it is very, very difficult for a deviant person.

Although the boundaries of the norm and pathology are rather arbitrary and relative, there are deviations that are too obvious and greatly complicate life.

Special psychology helping people with disabilities:

An outstanding Soviet psychologist contributed to the separation into a separate branch of special psychology. L.S. Vygotsky(1896-1934). It was he who first began to study the patterns of mental development of deaf, blind, dumb, mentally retarded children. Vygotsky in 1926 opened the first laboratory in the USSR for the psychology of abnormal childhood. The need for it was dictated by the adoption of laws on universal education. In the same period, special education appeared: schools for blind, deaf, mentally retarded children.

Nowadays, due to the emergence and spread of new diseases, psychologists, together with doctors, teachers, speech therapists and other specialists, work with children with all kinds of mental and physical anomalies: early childhood autism, cerebral palsy, HIV-infected and so on.

Due to the large number of deviations that specialists work with, special psychology began to be divided into sub-sectors.

Some sub-sectors special psychology:

• tiflopsychology (psychology of people with visual impairments),
• deaf psychology (psychology of people with hearing impairments),
• tiflosurdopsychology (psychology of people with hearing and vision impairments),
• oligophrenopsychology (psychology of mentally retarded people),
• logopsychology (psychology of people with speech disorders) and others.

The task of a psychologist- to minimize the negative consequences that a developmental defect provokes, to help a person adapt in society, to form an adequate personality through education and training.

Special psychology studies and investigates developmental disorders in order to identify ways, means and methods of their compensation for the successful self-realization of people whose life is different from the life of most others.

For a psychologist, an important feature personalities a child, adolescent, or adult weighed down with a handicap, which is why the branch is called special, and not anomalous or otherwise.

Advice for parents of children with developmental disabilities

Working with children burdened with ailments, psychologists and teachers are usually not limited. It is important to work with them parents.

No matter how good an aunt teacher is, mom is always more important. The contribution of parents to the formation of the personality of the baby is much more significant than anyone else. Therefore, psychologists conduct individual consultations, as well as seminars for parents, where they teach them:

• suitable parenting styles
• effective communication skills,
• ways to express love for a special child.

The most general advice for parents whose child has developmental disabilities:

1. Eye to eye look. Many parents look into the eyes of the child only when they try to force him to do something or scold him. It is important to look into the eyes of the baby, talking about love for him, expressing support and reassuring. Nothing gives a child more self-confidence than an affectionate, confident, calm look and smile of mom or dad.
2. Touching, stroking, hugging, kissing. All psychologists and teachers know about the importance of physical contact for a child, but the people who should carry it out - parents - forget. The positive influence of the physical manifestation of love on the development and formation of the child is undeniable. The main condition is that touches should be sincere, cordial, and not “I should hug you again, as psychologists say that children need to be hugged at least 12 times a day.”
3. Attention. The child needs to be provided with everything necessary (food, clothes, educational toys), but they are waiting for the most attention from their parents. And this attention should be of high quality! Not just staying in the same room, but showing interest, care, readiness to help, joint activities are waiting for children.

A person who is not similar and somewhat different from everyone else is no worse than them and has every chance of becoming happy. Evidence for this is plentiful. Among scientists, athletes, actors and representatives of other, less public professions, there are many unusual people.

Lecture #1

Special psychology as an independent branch of psychological science

Plan

General questions of special psychology

The concept of dysontogenesis. Etiology and pathogenesis of dysontogeny

Psychological parameters of dysontogenesis

The history of the formation of special psychology

I.

Special psychology studies the patterns of mental development and features of the mental activity of a person with mental and physiological disabilities. These patterns include a certain sequence of the stage of development of the psyche, the presence of sensitive periods in the development of mental functions, the sequence of development of all mental processes, the role of activity in mental development, the role of speech in the formation of higher mental functions, the leading role of education in mental development (studies by Vlasova, Solovyov, Zankov).

Sensitive is a period in a person's life that creates the most favorable conditions for the formation of certain psychological properties and types of behavior in him.

Sensitive period of speech development (0-6 years)

Sensitive period of order perception (0-3 years)

Sensitive period of sensory development (0-5.5 years)

Sensitive period of perception of small objects (1.5-6.5 years)

Sensitive period of development of movements and actions (1-4 years)

Sensitive period for the development of social skills (2.5-6 years)

Vygodsky singled out the general pattern of abnormal development of children. with insufficiency of one type or another - this is the occurrence of secondary defects in the process of mental development in such a child, and he also pointed out another pattern manifested in the difficulties of the interaction of social. environment and in violation. connections with the environment of all children with developmental disabilities. Shif formulates this regularity as follows: “common for all cases of abnormal development is that the totality of the consequences generated by the defect manifests itself in changes in the development of the personality of the abnormal child as a whole.”

special psychology can be defined as the psychology of special conditions that arise mainly in childhood and adolescence under the influence of various groups of factors (organic or functional nature) and manifested in a slowdown or pronounced originality of the child's psychosocial development, making it difficult for him to socially and psychologically adapt, be included in the educational space and further professional self-determination.

Special psychology - this is a section of psychological science about the patterns of development, education, training and preparation for social adaptation and rehabilitation of various categories of children with developmental problems.

The focus of special psychology is children and adolescents with various deviations in mental, somatic, sensory, intellectual, personal and social development, as well as older people with special educational needs ( By education, we mean “the process of shaping the image of a person”).

Modern special psychology proceeds from the fact that one can speak of a deficiency, a deviation in development, where and when there is a discrepancy between the capabilities of a given person and generally accepted social expectations, school and educational standards for success, established in society, the norms of behavior and communication, i.e. when there is a restriction of social opportunities.

In close connection with special education, the term rehabilitation.

There are different approaches to the definition of the concept of rehabilitation ( the term "rehabilitation" itself comes from the Latin "ability" "" - ability, "rehabilitation" - restoration of ability). So, in neurology, therapy, cardiology rehabilitation means, first of all, various procedures (massage, psychotherapy, therapeutic exercises, etc.), in traumatology and orthopedics prosthetics, in physiotherapy physical treatment in psychiatry- psycho- and occupational therapy.

In the Russian social encyclopedia rehabilitation defined as " a complex of medical, pedagogical and social measures aimed at restoring (or compensating) impaired body functions, as well as social functions and working capacity of patients and disabled people". Rehabilitation of the disabled includes:

Medical rehabilitation, which consists of restorative therapy, reconstructive surgery, prosthetics;

Vocational rehabilitation of the disabled, which consists of vocational guidance, vocational education, vocational orientation and employment;

Social rehabilitation of the disabled, which consists of social and environmental orientation and social adaptation.

The actual task of the rehabilitation process is development of effective methods for restoring personal attitudes aimed at overcoming the consequences of the disease in people who have undergone nervous and mental diseases, severe surgical interventions, etc.

object study and psychological assistance provided in the system of special education, is a person with disabilities in health and life, having as a result of this special educational needs.

Thing special psychology - patterns of development and manifestations of the psyche of various groups of children with developmental disorders.

To the number goals special psychology include: correction of shortcomings, their compensation by psychological means; rehabilitation, first of all, social and personal.

The components of personal rehabilitation can also be attributed to specific specific goals - the upbringing of self-esteem, overcoming feelings of low value, the formation of adequate forms of social behavior, etc.

To achieve these goals, special psychology solves the whole system tasks:

disclosure of patterns of development and manifestations of the psyche, common to normally developing children and children with developmental disorders;

study of various types of patterns of deviant development: general - violations of the ability to receive and process, store and use information, violation of verbal regulation of activity, slow formation of generalization and distraction processes, symbolization difficulties.

2. study of the possibilities and ways of compensating for a defect (the presence of preserved functions, the inclusion of compensatory mechanisms, special training designed for the zone of proximal development, i.e. the potential capabilities of the child.

study of patterns of development and manifestations of the psyche, specific for children with developmental disabilities;

study of disorders in the development and formation of specific forms of mental activity and mental processes in various groups of abnormal children;

identification of ways, means and ways to compensate for developmental disorders in children.

Let's give a definition:

To abnormal(from the Greek. anomalos - wrong) include children in whom physical or mental abnormalities lead to a violation of overall development. Defect(lat. defectus - defect) one of the functions violates the development of the child only under certain circumstances. The presence of a defect does not yet predetermine abnormal development . Hearing loss in one ear or visual impairment in one eye does not necessarily lead to a developmental defect, since in these cases the ability to perceive sound and visual signals remains. Defects of this kind do not disrupt communication with others, do not interfere with the mastery of educational material and learning in a mass school. Therefore, these defects are not the cause of abnormal development.

A defect in an adult who has reached a certain level of general development cannot lead to deviations, since his mental development took place under normal conditions.

Thus, children with impaired mental development due to a defect and in need of special training and education are considered abnormal. The modern equivalent of the term "abnormal children" are the terms "children with disabilities", "children with special needs" and "children with special educational needs"

children with hearing impairment (deaf, hard of hearing, late deaf);

visually impaired (blind, visually impaired);

with severe speech disorders (logopaths);

with intellectual development disorders (mentally retarded, children with mental retardation);

with complex disorders of psychophysical development (deaf-blind, blind mentally retarded, deaf mentally retarded, etc.);

with disorders of the musculoskeletal system.

There are alsoother groups of children with violations and deviations in development, for example, children with psychopathic forms of behavior; children who cannot adapt at school, suffering from school neuroses. A special group of children that require special attention from psychologists and teachers are gifted children.

In special psychology, the following branches are distinguished:

Tiflopsychology is a branch of special psychology that studies the mental development of blind and visually impaired people, ways and means of its correction. As a science, tiflopsychology at first included in its content only the psychology of the blind. Currently, tiflopsychology is also studying the characteristics of people with profound visual impairments and with amblyopia and strabismus.

Deaf psychology is a branch of psychology that studies the patterns of development of the mental activity of people with hearing impairments.

Oligophrenopsychology is a section of special and pathopsychology that studies the structure of an intellectual defect, the features of mental development and the possibility of its correction in people with severe forms of brain underdevelopment.

Logopsychology is a branch of special psychology that studies the psychological characteristics of people with various speech disorders.

Psychic children with mental retardation.

Psychology of children with ODA disorders.

Psychology of children with disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere and behavior.

Psychology of children with complex developmental disabilities.

The methodological foundations of special psychology were laid by L.S. Vygotsky, who formulated the principles that reflect the laws of mental ontogenesis.

Intravital mediated and arbitrary formation of higher mental functions.

Dependence of the structure of mental processes on the ways of their formation: different ways of HMF formation, depending on the nature of the damage to the function, the possibility of formation in a roundabout way.

The mechanisms of the direction of mental activity in dysontogenesis are similar to the mechanisms of the formation of the psyche in the norm.

A mental defect that is formed in the process of dysontogenesis has a complex multi-level structure and covers all aspects of mental life.

In human culture, in every society there is a specially created space that includes traditions and scientifically based approaches to teaching children of different ages in a family and specially organized educational institutions. Primary deviations in development lead to the child falling out of this socially and culturally conditioned space, the connection with society, culture as a source of development is grossly violated. Just as rudely at the earliest stages, the relationship between parent and child is disrupted, since an adult bearer of culture cannot, does not know how to convey to a child with developmental disabilities the social experience that his normally developing peer acquires spontaneously, without specially organized additional and specific means, methods, ways of teaching.

This regularity should be considered from the point of view of L.S. Vygotsky about the fusion of natural and cultural lines in the formation of a child's personality. Under natural line L.S. Vygotsky understood the biological maturation of the child's organism, under cultural- Development through directed learning. With regard to children with developmental disorders, L.S. Vygotsky speaks about the phenomenon divergence - the discrepancy between these two lines, which leads to the need to create special, "bypass" ways of the child's development.

The best description of this situation is the metaphor of L.S. Vygotsky about the “social dislocation” of a child with developmental disabilities as the main cause of childhood disability.

Let's determine what exactly these children need. They need to:

- the primary developmental disorder was identified as early as possible;

- special education began immediately after the diagnosis of the primary developmental disorder, regardless of the age of the child;

- bypassed learning paths were built, specific means and methods were used that are not used in traditional education;

- regularly monitored the compliance of the chosen training program with real achievements, the level of development of the child;

- the spatial and temporal organization of the educational environment corresponded to the capabilities of the child;

– all surrounding adults were prepared and really participated in solving the problems of the rehabilitation of the child, their efforts were coordinated;

– rehabilitation by means of education did not end with the period of schooling;

– the rehabilitation process was carried out by qualified specialists who are competent in solving developmental and correctional tasks.

Defect structure . This concept is based on the allocation of L.S. Vygotsky system of defects. His theory about the complex structure of the abnormal development of the child, the systemic structure of the defect, rejected the idea of ​​an isolated loss of one function due to damage to any analyzer or illness of the child. The defect causes a number of deviations and creates a complex structure of atypical development. L.S. Vygotsky proposed to distinguish two groups of symptoms in abnormal development:

- primary - violations directly arising from the biological nature of the disease, and

- secondary, arising indirectly in the process of social development. The secondary defect is the main object in psychological study.

Correction (from lat correcccio - I correct) - a form of psychological and pedagogical activity aimed at correcting shortcomings, deviations in the development of children. In special psychology, the term is used in a particular sense - the correction of individual disorders, for example, deficiencies in sound pronunciation, correction of myopia with glasses, etc., and in a general sense - correctional and educational work as a system of means aimed at smoothing out secondary shortcomings. In this sense, correction should be carried out by a complex of psychological, medical and pedagogical means with the help of special methods and based on preserved functions.

Compensation – This is a complex, diverse process of restructuring the functions of the body in case of violations or loss of any functions. Compensation is based on neuropsychological mechanisms of replacing the functions of some affected areas of the cerebral cortex with others.

In the process of compensation, the decisive role belongs to social factors. According to L.S. Vygotsky, in the process of compensation, “the law of turning a minus of a defect into a plus of compensation” comes into play.

Social adaptation - in relation to children with developmental disabilities, this is their adaptation to the conditions of life and work in society, bringing the individual and group behavior of children in line with the system of social norms. Closely related to this term is the concept of "social rehabilitation", which refers to the inclusion of children with disabilities in the social environment. Both of these concepts can be combined by the term "socialization".

The general tasks of social adaptation in relation to all children with special needs include their optimal career guidance and employment, the development of adequate self-esteem and assessment of others.

II.

In 1927, E. Schwalbe first used the term "dysontogeny" denoting by them the deviations of the intrauterine formation of body structures from normal development. Subsequently, this term began to denote various forms of ontogenesis disorders during periods when the morphological systems of the body had not yet reached maturity.

Currently, there are concepts "dysontogenesis" and "disontogeny".

Dysontogenesis it is a mechanism of deviant development, and while dysontogeny it is a form of deviant development.

Developmental disorders may be due to biological and social factors. According to the time of exposure, pathogenic factors are divided into prenatal(intrauterine), natal(active during childbirth) and Ppostnatal(postpartum).

Congenital malformations (CM) are persistent morphological changes in an organ, part of an organ or part of the body that go beyond normal structural variations and disrupt their function. The share of mutations (gene, chromosomal and genomic) accounts for more than 30% of all defects.

Chromosomal syndromes are caused chromosomal(due to a violation of the structure of the chromosome) and genomic(associated with a violation of the numerical composition of the chromosome set) mutations leading to gene imbalance. Chromosomal syndromes are characterized by a complex or complicated defect ( mental retardation combined with impaired hearing, vision, musculoskeletal system, etc. ).

With gene pathology, the number and structure of chromosomes remain unchanged. Under the influence of unfavorable environmental factors, gene mutation occurs, the chain of biochemical changes in the body is disrupted, and serious diseases occur, in many cases accompanied by mental retardation and sensory impairments.

Endocrine diseases and metabolic defects in the mother can disrupt the morphological differentiation of the fetal organs.

Many medications also have a negative effect on the development of the fetus. Some antibiotics have a pathogenic effect, causing various disorders. The use of the tranquilizer thalidamide by pregnant women leads to multiple malformations in children.

Of great importance time damage: the earlier the pathogenic factor acts, the more pronounced the volume of damaged tissues. The fetus is particularly susceptible to pathogenic influences in critical periods of development. The first critical period in a person is the first week after conception, the second corresponds to a five-eight-week embryo.

The time intervals during which a primary violation of organogenesis occurs, leading to malformations, are called teratogenetic termination periods.

According to E. Schwalbe, these periods are different for individual systems:

brain - 1.512 weeks of pregnancy;

eyes - 2.58 weeks;

heart - 2.58 weeks;

teeth - 612 weeks;

ear - 712 weeks;

sky - 1012 weeks;

limbs - 410 weeks.

The nature of the violation also depends on cerebral localization process and its prevalence. Peculiarities of childhood are immaturity and a greater, compared with adults, tendency to growth and the ability to compensate for a defect. Therefore, with lesions localized in certain centers and pathways, a loss of certain functions may not be observed for a long time. With a local lesion, compensation, as a rule, is much higher than with a function deficiency. In the first case, compensation comes at the expense of the preservation of other brain systems; in the second case, general brain insufficiency limits compensatory capabilities.

Of great importance intensity of brain damage.

A number of manifestations of dysontogenesis are associated with the influence of adverse social factors. The earlier social conditions unfavorable for the child have developed, the more severe and persistent the developmental disorders will be.

Socially conditioned types of non-pathological developmental deviations include the so-called micro-social-pedagogical neglect. It manifests itself in a delay in intellectual and emotional development.

Deprivation(English) deprive deprive) the insufficiency of adequate and appropriate interpersonal environmental experiences, especially in the first years of life, the lack of satisfaction of any needs. Various types of deprivation can lead to developmental disorders. Maternal (emotional) deprivation occurs in early childhood due to lack of contact with the mother and is clinically expressed in affective, neurotic and psychotic disorders, speech development disorders. touch deprivation can cause disturbances in mental and speech development and internal neurotic conflicts. Social deprivation causes disturbances in speech development, leads to severe neuroses and psychoses.

Socially conditioned types of pathological disorders of ontogenesis include the so-called pathocharacterological development of the personality, an anomaly in the development of the emotional-volitional sphere with the presence of persistent affective changes, vegetative dysfunction, caused by prolonged unfavorable conditions of education and arising as a result of pathologically fixed reactions of protest, imitation, refusal, etc.

III.

L.S. Vygotsky singled out two interrelated lines of development biological and socio-psychological. The disease, causing, first of all, a violation of the biological line of development, creates obstacles to the socio-psychological development of the assimilation of knowledge and skills, the formation of the child's personality. This provision served as the basis for the selection by Viktor Vasilyevich Lebedinsky of a number of psychological parameters that determine the nature of mental dysontogenesis.

First parameter associated with the functional localization of the lesion. There are two types of defect: private, due to the deficiency of individual functions of gnosis, praxis, speech; general associated with a violation of cortical and subcortical regulatory systems that provide mental activity, emotional state and intellectual activity.

Second parameter dysontogenesis is associated with the time of the lesion. The earlier the defeat occurred, the higher the probability of the phenomenon of underdevelopment. The late occurrence of disorders of the nervous system causes the phenomena of damage with the collapse of the structure of mental function.

The time factor is also determined by the duration of development of a given function in ontogeny. Functional systems with a relatively short time cycle of development are more often damaged. So, functions that have subcortical localization, the formation of which in ontogenesis ends relatively early, are more often damaged. Cortical functions with a longer period of development with early exposure to harmfulness either persistently underdeveloped or retarded in their development.

The time parameter is also associated with another probability of defeat of one or another function. In sensitive periods of development, functions not only develop intensively, but also have the greatest vulnerability and instability to pathogenic factors. There are periods in which most psychophysical systems are in a sensitive state (from 0 to 3 years, from 11 to 15 years), and periods for which sufficient stability is characteristic. The period from 4 to 11 years is more resistant to various hazards.

Third parameter dysontogenesis characterizes the relationship between primary and secondary defects. Based on the idea of ​​the systemic structure of the defect, L.S. Vygotsky proposed to distinguish two groups of symptoms in anomalous development: primary disorders that directly result from the biological nature of the disease (hearing and visual impairments in case of damage to the sense organs, cerebral palsy, etc.), and secondary ones that arise indirectly in the process of abnormal social development.

The primary defect may have the character of underdevelopment, damage, or a combination of both. Secondary underdevelopment is typical for functions directly related to the damaged one (underdevelopment of speech understanding in children with hearing impairment), as well as for functions that are in a sensitive period.

The specificity of underdevelopment decreases with distance from the primary defect. The more complex the mental process, the more it is mediated by a number of intercentral interactions, the more factors can cause secondary disorders. For example, a violation of the sensory side of speech, along with specific secondary disorders, also causes mental retardation, which will manifest itself in the slow formation of logical forms of thinking, emotional underdevelopment, etc.

Fourth parameter dysontogenesis is associated with a violation of interfunctional interactions in the process of abnormal systemogenesis. In normal ontogenesis, several types of interfunctional relationships can be distinguished: phenomena of temporary independence of a function, associative, hierarchical connections.

Special psychology - a branch of psychology devoted to the study of the characteristics of mentally retarded children with lesions of the cerebral cortex, children with impaired activity of analyzers, underdevelopment of speech with intact hearing.

Special psychology is a relatively young science. It is an area of ​​scientific knowledge that has arisen in connection with the demands of practical life at the junction of a number of sciences: psychology, defectology, and medicine. By studying the patterns and mechanisms of assimilation of sociocultural experience in atypical mental development and developing methods of comprehensive assistance to children with such development, special psychology builds theoretical models and a system of practical assistance to children with developmental atypia.

The purpose of special psychology is to study individual-typical features in atypical development, the causes, mechanisms and structure of atypia, as well as the rationale and development of strategies for targeted assistance to improve the quality of life of people with atypia.

Subject special psychology as a branch of scientific knowledge are children with developmental problems and the problems of their education and upbringing. The goals and objectives of raising a child with ontogenesis disorders are determined by the general principles of psychology and pedagogy - preparation for an active socially useful life, the formation of civic qualities, but they are implemented in an accessible volume by methods and means corresponding to the degree and structure of the defect. Depending on the nature of the violation, special tasks are put forward related to overcoming its consequences.

Branches of special psychology

1. Psychology of the mentally retarded (oligophrenopsychology).

Oligophrenopsychology is a special section of psychology that studies the development of the mental and the possibilities of its correction in mentally retarded people with severe forms of underdevelopment of the brain.

2. Psychology of the deaf (surdopsychology).

Deaf psychology - (psychology of the deaf) - a special section of psychology that studies the development of the mentality of deaf and hard of hearing people, the possibilities of its correction in the conditions of training and education, in particular - in the conditions of special education.

3. Psychology of the blind (tiflopsychology).

Tiflopsychology - (psychology of the blind) - a special section of psychology that studies the patterns of development of the mental activity of an individual with completely or partially impaired vision

The place of special psychology in the system of sciences. Intrasystem and interdisciplinary connections.

Having arisen at the intersection of medicine, psychology and defectology, special psychology retains its status as a frontier science. Being at the intersection of other sciences leads to the uncertainty of the position of any new science, each of the "parent" disciplines often considers it as its constituent part.

Intrasystem communications

Communications special and general psychology follow from the similarity of their definitions, methods, conceptual apparatus. But if general psychology studies the most general patterns of mental activity, the structure and development of the psyche in the norm, then special psychology studies such patterns in atypical (deviating and disturbed) development.

special and age psychology brings together the commonality of their object - a developing person. But if developmental psychology studies the age dynamics of the human psyche, the ontogeny of mental processes and psychological qualities, then special psychology studies the formation of mental neoplasms in conditions of specific socialization - a violation of the interaction of the individual with the environment.

With educational psychology especially intense interaction occurs when establishing the patterns of mastering knowledge, skills, skills by children with atypia, when studying changes in their psyche in the process of educational work.

Solving the problems of integrated education of children with developmental disabilities required socio-psychological research and thus created the prerequisites for interpenetration social and special psychology. The arsenal of fundamental provisions of special psychology has been enriched with ideas about the specifics of communication and interaction of people with atypia, in the same context, studies of the personal characteristics of this contingent are being carried out.

Special psychology- This is a science that studies the patterns of atypical development, its manifestations and influence on a person's life path.

Special psychology arose and developed as a frontier field of knowledge, which has broad connections with other sciences, especially with general psychology, medicine, and pedagogy. It incorporates the achievements of the humanities and natural sciences (philosophy, sociology, jurisprudence; biology, genetics, anatomy, physiology, etc.).

Like any science, which is an independent branch of human knowledge, special psychology has its own subject. These are the patterns of atypical development, its causes and mechanisms, the features of the development of sociocultural experience by people with atypia (deviations and disorders of mental development), in particular, the patterns of spontaneous and directed knowledge of the world, the acquisition of practical experience, socialization and those changes in the psyche that occur in the process of corrective influence of specialists.

Special psychology studies the spontaneous and directed formation of mental neoplasms in atypical development and determines ways to manage it in order to effectively and optimally socialize each individual with atypia.

A historical view of the content of science allows us to state that special psychology in the generally accepted sense traditionally considers those deviations that fit into the framework of deaf psychology, oligophrenopsychology, tiflopsychology, logopsychology as sections of defectology. Therefore, special psychology is defined as the psychology of special conditions that arise mainly in childhood or adolescence under the influence of various groups of factors (organic or functional nature). They manifest themselves in a slowdown or pronounced originality of the child's psychosocial development, make it difficult for him to adapt socially and psychologically, to be included in the educational space and further professional self-determination (Kuznetsova L.V., 2002).

However, special psychology is not limited to the defectological perspective. Separate studies in its context are devoted to the study of children with complex combined disorders; with emotional-volitional disorders and autism; with movement disorders; with deviant behavior. Some authors consider the psychology of orphans and disabled children as a direction of special psychology (Troshin O.V., 2000). In some cases, gifted children are also included in the competence of special psychology. Thus, the content of special psychology as a science is closely related to the object of its study.

The study of the features of the mental development of children with "anomalies" was carried out by special psychology from the moment of its inception in line with defectology. The mental development of other categories of children with disabilities (mild disabilities, giftedness, etc.) has often been the subject of study in child and educational psychology.

Subject of study special psychology as a branch of scientific knowledge are children with developmental problems and the problems of their education and upbringing. Thus, the subject of special psychology is the study of the process of mental development in constrained circumstances. The very same disturbed development, which is a consequence of the impact of these circumstances, is a persistent change in the parameters of the actual functioning of the psyche and the pace of its age dynamics, significantly different from the average values ​​characteristic of a given age.

The object of study of special psychology- persons (children and adults) with atypia (congenital or acquired deviations and developmental disorders) and the attitude towards them in society at different stages of its existence.

We understand atypia as development in which changes occur in the form of deviations or disturbances in the functioning of cognitive, emotional and regulatory processes of the psyche.

However, it should be immediately noted that there is no consensus in defining the subject and object of study of special psychology, just as there is no uniformity in its categorical-conceptual apparatus.

The goals and objectives of raising an abnormal child are determined by the general principles of psychology and pedagogy - preparation for an active socially useful life, the formation of civic qualities, but they are implemented in an accessible volume by methods and means corresponding to the degree and structure of the defect. Depending on the nature of the violation, special tasks are put forward related to overcoming its consequences. The upbringing of an abnormal child is carried out in close contact with the family and the school, in an atmosphere of mutual understanding, mutual assistance, a reasonable combination of exactingness and a sparing regime.

The purpose of special psychology- study of individual typical features in atypical development, causes, mechanisms and structure of atypia, as well as substantiation and development of strategies for targeted assistance to improve the quality of life of people with atypia.

The tasks of special psychology include:

The study of the patterns and characteristics of the mental development of children and adults with various mental and physical disabilities in different conditions, and above all in the conditions of remedial education;

Creation of methods and means of psychological diagnostics of developmental disorders;

Development of means of psychological correction of developmental deficiencies;

Psychological substantiation of the content and methods of training and education in the system of special educational institutions;

Psychological assessment of the effectiveness of the content and methods of teaching children with developmental disabilities in different conditions;

Psychological study of social adaptation of persons with disabilities;

Psychological correction of maladaptation.

Currently, the most urgent task is the development of diagnostic methods.

(option 2)

Special psychology- a branch of psychology that studies the psychological characteristics of children with developmental disabilities.

The identification of special psychology as an integral field of psychological science is associated with the name of the outstanding domestic psychologist L.S. Vygotsky.

L.S. Vygotsky was the first in world psychology to identify the general patterns of mental development in various defects: mental retardation, deafness, visual impairments, and speech disorders. Thanks to this, it became possible to unite separate branches of psychology, which studied children and adults with such disabilities in isolation, into a special psychology. A significant contribution to its development was made by such prominent domestic scientists as G.Ya. Troshin, L.V. Zankov, I.M. Solovyov, Zh.I. Shif, G.M. Dulnev, R.E. Levina, I.A. Sokolyansky and others. Many of them were associates and students of L.S. Vygotsky.

The object of study of special psychology is children with congenital or acquired disorders of physical and mental development.

The subject of special psychology are patterns of development and manifestations of the psyche of various groups of children with developmental disorders.

Tasks of special psychology:

1) disclosure of patterns of development and manifestations of the psyche, common to normally developing children and children with developmental disorders;

2) study of patterns of development and manifestations of the psyche, specific for children with developmental disorders;

3) the study of disorders in the development and formation of specific forms of mental activity and mental processes in various groups of abnormal children;

4) identification of ways, means and ways to compensate for developmental disorders in children.

The main task of special psychology at the present stage is the formation of an adequate personality in the context of the use of special methods and techniques of education and training, due to which the replacement and restructuring of impaired functions occurs.

Special psychology arose and developed as a border area of ​​knowledge, closely related to psychology, pedagogy and medicine. Its connection with psychology is determined by the commonality of methodological positions, conceptual apparatus, methods of studying the psyche.

In its development, special psychology relies on the achievements of such medical sciences as physiology, neuropathology and psychiatry. Deep consideration of medical data allows you to get an idea of ​​the causes, structure and mechanisms of a particular defect, helps in studying the characteristics of the psyche of an abnormal child.

With regard to the connection of special psychology with spatopsychology, the point of view is expressed in the literature that special psychology is a part of pathopsychology. However, we cannot agree with this. Pathopsychology studies the structure and regularities of the decay of the formed mental sphere and personality, while the peculiarity of the psyche of an abnormal child is development in the conditions of a current or completed pathological process. In addition, pathopsychology is focused on solving the problems set by clinical psychiatry, and special psychology is focused on the theory and practice of correctional pedagogy.

The relationship of special psychology with pedagogy is expressed in the fact that the issues of teaching and educating children with developmental anomalies are developed on the basis of a general theory of didactics and particular teaching methods.

Special psychology is closely connected with correctional pedagogy . These branches of knowledge have a common subject of study - children with developmental disabilities, a certain commonality of tasks, general methodological foundations, methods of study, natural science base, which allows us to qualify the studied phenomena in common concepts. However, correctional pedagogy develops and scientifically substantiates the system of education and upbringing, and special psychology studies the patterns of development of abnormal children.

The interrelation and interdependence of these two sciences is confirmed by the words of the outstanding domestic psychologist S.L. Rubinshtein: “For all the interconnectedness of the child’s mental development and the pedagogical process, the subject of psychology is the child’s psyche in the laws of its development, the pedagogical process here acts as one of the conditions for this development. In pedagogical research, relationships change: the subject of pedagogy is the process of education and training in its specific patterns, the mental properties of the child act as conditions that must be taken into account.

4 question. Research methods in special psychology.

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Federal Agency for Education of the Russian Federation

in the discipline "Psychology and Pedagogy"

The main branches of psychology and connection with other sciences

At present, psychology is a very branched system of sciences. It highlights many industries that are relatively independently developing areas of scientific research. Bearing in mind this fact, as well as the fact that at present the system of psychological sciences continues to develop actively, it would be more correct to speak not about one science of psychology, but about a complex of developing psychological sciences.

They, in turn, can be divided into fundamental and applied, general and special. The fundamental, or basic, branches of the psychological sciences are of general importance for understanding and explaining the psychology and behavior of people, regardless of who they are and what specific activities they engage in. These areas are designed to provide knowledge that is equally necessary for everyone who is interested in the psychology and behavior of people. Due to this universality, this knowledge is sometimes combined with the term "general psychology".

Applied are the branches of science, the achievements of which are used in practice. General branches pose and solve problems that are equally important for the development of all scientific areas without exception, while special ones highlight issues of particular interest for the knowledge of one or more groups of phenomena.

Let's consider some fundamental and applied, general and special branches of psychology.

General psychology explores individual highlighting cognitive processes and personality in it. Cognitive processes cover sensations, perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking and speech. With the help of these processes, a person receives and processes information about the world, they also participate in the formation and transformation of knowledge. Personality contains properties that determine the deeds and actions of a person. These are emotions, abilities, dispositions, attitudes, motivation, temperament, character and will.

The study of the psychological sciences 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.

General psychology includes the following sections:

Theoretical - contains basic concepts, categories about processes, properties and phenomena;

Psychology of personality - pathopsychology, neuropsychology.

Fig.1. The structure of general psychology

Special branches of psychology, closely related to the theory and practice of teaching and raising children, includes genetic psychology, psychophysiology, differential psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, educational psychology, medical psychology, pathopsychology, legal psychology, psychodiagnostics and psychotherapy.

Fig.3. Branches of psychological science related to training and education

genetic psychology (from Greek origin) - a branch of psychology that studies the origin and development of the psyche of animals and humans, studies the hereditary mechanisms of the psyche and behavior, their dependence on the genotype. It traces the change in various mental processes in ontogenesis and phylogenesis, explores the psyche of various animal species, the development of the child's psyche, and the conditions for the emergence of human consciousness. The methods of genetic psychology are aimed at identifying stages and stages in the development of the psyche, transitions from its lower forms to higher ones, which makes it possible to gain knowledge about mental phenomena in their dynamics. Until recently, researchers focused on childhood and adolescence. But gradually, in the sphere of interests of scientists, they move to aspects of life associated with maturity, old age and the approach of death, which is approximately 3/4 of a person's life path. One of the most famous scientists, whose work constituted an important stage in the development of genetic psychology, is the Swiss psychologist J. Piaget (1896-1980).

Psychophysiology - an area of ​​interdisciplinary research at the intersection of psychology and neurophysiology. He studies the psyche in unity with its neurophysiological substrate - considers the relationship between the brain and the psyche, the role of biological factors, including the properties of the nervous system, in the performance of mental activity. In essence, the knowledge of the functions of the brain structures of the brain and the nervous system is just beginning. The term "psychophysiology" was proposed at the beginning of the 19th century by the French philosopher N. Massias and was originally used to refer to a wide range of mental studies based on precise objective physiological methods (determination of sensory thresholds, reaction time, etc.).

Psychophysiology also studies the physiological and biochemical changes that occur in the nervous system. She tries to connect them with various aspects of activity: memory functioning, emotion regulation, sleep and dreams. Research methods are very diverse - from the implantation of electrodes into the brain to the use of special devices for recording physiological manifestations.

These studies elucidated the most important role of "primitive" brain structures present in animals and humans, which serve as centers of emotional processes, the manifestation of instincts, sleep, etc.

The main task of psychophysiology is a causal explanation of mental phenomena by revealing the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. The successes of modern psychophysiology are due to the fact that along with traditional methods - registration of sensory, motor, vegetative reactions, analysis of the consequences of damage and stimulation of the brain - electrophysiological methods - encephalography and others, as well as mathematical methods for processing experimental data, have become widespread in research.

Within the framework of psychophysiology, separate areas are distinguished related to the development of especially important problems:

1) sensory psychophysiology - psychophysiology of the sense organs, sensations and perceptions;

2) psychophysiology of movement organization;

3) psychophysiology of activity;

4) psychophysiology of voluntary actions;

5) psychophysiology of attention, memory and learning;

6) psychophysiology of speech and thinking;

7) psychophysiology of motivation and emotions;

8) psychophysiology of sleep, psychophysiology of stress;

9) psychophysiology of functional states, etc.

A special direction is differential psychophysiology, which studies the physiological foundations of individual psychological differences.

The achievements of psychophysiology are widely used in clinical practice, in the construction of cybernetic models of psychophysiological processes, as well as in such applied areas of psychophysiology as labor psychophysiology, sports psychophysiology, etc.

Unlike many Western studies that did not overcome the principle of psychophysical dualism (psychophysical problem) and limited themselves to establishing correlations between certain psychological and physiological parameters, Russian psychophysiology considered the mental as a product of the activity of the brain.

differential psychology - a section of psychology that studies individual psychological differences. A prerequisite for the emergence of "differential psychology" at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was the introduction of experiment into psychology, as well as genetic and mathematical methods. The pioneer in the development of differential psychology was F. Galton (Great Britain), who invented a number of techniques and instruments for studying individual differences.V. Stern (Germany) introduced the very term "differential psychology" (1900). The first major representatives of differential psychology were A. Binet (France), A.F. Lazursky (Russia), J. Cattell (USA) and others.

The object of study can be both specific individuals and different social, class, ethnic, age groups. Most often, the focus of the study is on the personal and intellectual characteristics of the individual, correlated with neurophysiological ones.

In differential psychology, tests are widely used, both individual and group; they are used to determine mental differences, and with the invention of the so-called projective tests - to determine interests, attitudes, emotional reactions. Using test methods factor analysis factors that characterize the general properties (parameters, measurements) of the intellect or personality are identified. On this basis, quantitative variations in the psychological properties of individual individuals are determined. The facts and conclusions of differential psychology are important for solving many practical problems (selection and training of personnel, diagnosis and prognosis of the development of individual properties, inclinations, abilities of individuals, etc.).

AT developmental psychology these differences are presented by age. This branch of psychology studies also. Genetic, differential and developmental psychology together are the basis for understanding the laws of a child's mental development.

Age-related psychology - a branch of psychological science that studies the regularities of the stages of mental development and personality formation throughout ontogeny a person from birth to old age (i.e. changes that occur during the transition from one age to another). Developmental psychology took shape as an independent field of knowledge by the end of the 19th century. Originating as child psychology, mental development was limited for a long time to the study of the patterns of the child's mental development, but the demands of modern society and the logic of the development of science have made obvious the need for a holistic analysis of ontogenetic processes and interdisciplinary research. Currently, the sections of V. p. are: child psychology (see. Childhood), psychology of youth (see. Youth), psychology. adulthood (cf. Maturity); gerontopsychology (cf. Old age). V. p. strives to reveal the psychological content of the successive stages of ontogeny, studies the age-related dynamics of mental processes, which is impossible without taking into account the influence of cultural, historical, ethnic and socio-economic conditions on the individual development of a person. For V. p., differential psychological differences are very significant, which include the sex, age and typological properties of the individual. A significant number of studies are based on the method of age (transverse) sections: by comparing the properties of samples that differ from each other in chronological age. Longitudinal (longitudinal) studies, in which the development of certain psychological properties is traced on the same sample over a more or less long period of ontogenesis, have certain advantages over the age-comparative method. A special place in modern V. p. is occupied by a group of genetic modeling methods based on the causal genetic method. L.S. Vygotsky. The study of development using the method of active formative experiment ( P.Ya.Galperin) and other teaching methods are carried out in the process of directed influence on certain properties or aspects of the mental development of the subject. Among the most important practical tasks facing V. p., is the creation of a methodological basis for monitoring the course, the usefulness of the content and conditions of the mental development of the child, the organization of optimal forms of children's activity and communication, psychological help during periods of age crises, in adulthood and old age. Developmental psychology is the scientific basis educational psychology.

Social Psychology studies human relationships, phenomena that arise in the process of communication and interaction of people with each other in various groups, in particular in the family, school, in student and pedagogical groups. Such knowledge is necessary for the psychologically correct organization of education. This branch of psychological knowledge has a short but rich history of its development. As an independent branch of psychological science, it has existed for less than 100 years. Officially, the year of birth of social psychology is considered to be 1908, when two books with the same name were published simultaneously, declaring themselves to be the first textbooks in the new humanitarian discipline. Having arisen at the intersection of sciences - psychology and sociology, social psychology still retains its special status, which leads to the fact that each of the "parent" disciplines quite willingly includes it as an integral part.

In the process of development, social psychology has gone through a difficult path of searching for its subject of study. If at the beginning of the century the interest of researchers was mainly concentrated on the study of social psychology, mass social phenomena (crowd, infection in the masses, the nation and its mental warehouse, etc.), then in the middle of the century all attention was given to the study of small groups, social attitudes of people, ways to influence the microclimate of the group and the relationships between different people. At present, social psychology is faced with the acute problem of constructing a general theory of human social behavior. Since psychological science in our country, in defining its subject, proceeds from the principle of activity, it is possible to conditionally designate the specifics of social psychology as the study of the patterns of behavior and activities of people, due to their inclusion in social groups, as well as the psychological characteristics of these groups themselves.

Pedagogical psychology combines all information related to education and upbringing. Particular attention is paid to the justification and development of methods for teaching and educating people of different ages.

PEDAGOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY(from the Greek pais (paidos) - child and ago - I lead, educate) - a branch of psychology that studies the psychological problems of education and upbringing. P. p. explores the psychological issues of the purposeful formation of cognitive activity and socially significant qualities of the individual; conditions that ensure the optimal developmental effect of training; the possibility of taking into account the individual psychological characteristics of students; relationships between the teacher and students, as well as within the educational team; psychological issues of pedagogical activity itself (psychology of the teacher). The emergence of psychological psychology as an independent branch of psychological science is associated with the penetration of developmental ideas into psychology in the second half of the 19th century. First successes experimental psychology allowed us to hope that taking into account the data obtained in psychological laboratories and their application in the learning process will significantly optimize the pedagogical process. This idea was reflected in the first works on P. p., focused on practice. However, knowledge of the laws psychophysics, some characteristics memorization and forgetting, indicators reaction time clearly not enough. The recommendations made by P. p. were vague and scholastic in nature. In addition to the paucity of experimental facts, the reason for this was the limited theoretical views of the representatives of the P. p. of that time. Application biogenetic law in psychology(along with other theories of spontaneous development), having summed up the theoretical basis for the theory and practice of “free education”, in fact closed the way for the development of issues of purposeful formation of a person’s personality. behaviorist (cf. Behaviorism) psychological and pedagogical concept (its modern version is the theory B.F. Skinner) suggested focusing on a rigid "behavior modification": without proper grounds, it was assumed that it was enough to organize an appropriate system of external influences - and all issues of training and education would be resolved. The theory of “two factors”, seeking a compromise between the biologization and sociologization approaches, could not create an adequate conceptual basis for P. p. and in the 20s. had a significant impact on pedology, which was successfully overcome by her in the early 30s. At the heart of modern Soviet mentality is the fundamental proposition that the essence of a person's individual mental development is his assimilation of socio-historical experience, recorded in objects of material and spiritual culture; this assimilation is carried out through active human activity, the means and methods of which are updated in communication with other people. Thus, the direction of research on mental health is dramatically restructured: the basis of its strategy is not the registration of the achieved level of mental development, but the active formation of mental processes and personality traits. In accordance with this general strategy, other issues of P. p. action,images and concepts underlying knowledge and skills are investigated by the theory gradual formation of mental actions(P.Ya.Galperin, N.F. Talyzina and others). The means and methods of developmental education are studied, the relationship between the organization of education and the course of mental development is analyzed (V.V. Davydov), the role of a differentiated approach to the problem learnability, means and methods of control and evaluation of educational activities. A special place is occupied by developments on the purposeful formation of the required personality traits. With a certain degree of conventionality associated with the real unity of training and education, P. p. can be divided into the psychology of learning (exploring the patterns of mastering knowledge, skills and skills) and the psychology of education (studying the patterns of active, purposeful personality formation). In recent years, the psychology of the teacher and the study of relationships in the teaching and upbringing team have stood out. According to the areas of application of P. p., one can single out the psychology of preschool education, the psychology of teaching and upbringing at school age, divided into younger, middle and older school ages, which have their own significant specifics (see. Age-related psychology), psychology of vocational education, psychology of higher education.

MEDICAL PSYCHOLOGY(from Latin medicus - medical, medical) - a branch of psychology that studies the psychological aspects of hygiene, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, examination and rehabilitation of patients. The field of study of M. p. includes a wide range of psychological patterns associated with the occurrence and course of diseases, the influence of certain diseases on the human psyche, the provision of an optimal system of health effects, the nature of the relationship of a sick person with a microsocial environment. The M.'s structure of the item includes a number of the sections focused on researches in concrete areas of a medical science and practical health care. The most common of these is clinical psychology, which includes pathopsychology,neuropsychology and somatopsychology. Intensively developing branches of medical science related to psycho-correctional work: psycho-hygiene, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy,mental rehabilitation. Among the most important problems of M. p. are the interaction of mental and somatic (bodily, physiological) processes during the onset and development of diseases, the patterns of formation of the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhis disease in a patient, the study of the dynamics of awareness of the disease, the formation of adequate personal attitudes associated with treatment, the use of compensatory and protective mechanisms of the individual for therapeutic purposes, the study of the psychological impact of therapeutic methods and means (medicines, procedures, clinical and instrumental studies, surgical interventions, etc.) in order to ensure their maximum positive impact on the physical and mental state of the patient. An important place among the issues studied by M. items is occupied by the psychological aspects of the organization of the medical environment (a hospital, sanatorium, polyclinics, etc.), the study of the relationship of patients with relatives, staff, and with each other. In the complex of problems of organizing therapeutic measures, it is of particular importance to study the patterns of the psychological impact of a doctor in the course of his diagnostic, therapeutic, preventive work, rational building of relationships between participants in the treatment process iatrogenic.

PATHOPSYCHOLOGY(from the Greek pathos - suffering, illness) - a section of medical psychology that studies the patterns of decay of mental activity and personality traits in case of illness. Analysis of pathological changes is carried out on the basis of comparison with the nature of the formation and course of mental processes, states and personality traits in the norm. This is the main difference between P., who interprets research data in terms of psychological theory, and psychopathology, a field of psychiatry that studies the pathology of the psyche on the basis of general clinical categories (the onset and outcome of a disease as a clinically regular change of symptoms and syndromes). Moreover, if clinical (psychopathological) studies are detected, describe and systematize the manifestations of disturbed mental processes, then P. reveals the nature of the course and structural features of mental processes leading to the symptoms observed in the clinic. P. studies mental disorders primarily by experimental psychological methods. The applied value of P. in the practice of medicine is manifested in the use of data obtained in the experiment for the differential diagnosis of disorders of the penis, establishing the severity of a mental defect in the interests of expertise (judicial, labor, military, etc.), evaluating the effectiveness of treatment based on objective characteristics of the dynamics of mental the condition of patients, analysis of the possibilities of the patient's personality in terms of its intact aspects and prospects for compensating for lost properties in order to select optimal psychotherapeutic measures, and conduct individual mental rehabilitation. The significance of P. research for psychology lies in the possibility of a deeper knowledge of the patterns of functioning and development of the normal psyche, the study of the categories of “mental norm”, “mental health”, as well as factors that activate or inhibit the development of the personality in the course of its onto- and sociogenesis. P. is one of the most intensively and fruitfully developed areas of domestic medical psychology. The foundations of modern P. are laid down in the works of Soviet psychologists. A.R. Luria,B.V. Zeigarnik and etc.

LEGAL PSYCHOLOGY(from Latin juris - law) - a branch that studies the patterns and mechanisms of people's mental activity in the sphere of relations regulated by law. Influenced by success experimental psychology at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. the first laboratory studies were carried out in the field of Yu. p. The main efforts were aimed at studying the psychology of testimonies and interrogation ( A. Binet, G. Gross, K. Marbe, V. Stern etc.), “diagnostics of involvement” in a crime ( K.Jung etc.), judicial and investigative work, the psychological foundations of professional selection and training of lawyers ( G.Munsterberg). Research on Yu. p. began to be intensively carried out in the USSR in the 20s. Numerous works were carried out on the study of the psychology of criminals and prisoners, the life of the underworld, the patterns of formation of testimonies and the causes of errors in them, on the theory and methodology of forensic psychological examination (A.E. Brusilovsky, M.N. Gernet, M.M. .Grodzinsky, Ya.A. Kantorovich, A.S. Tager and others), original experiments were carried out to detect traces of a crime by psychological methods ( A.R. Luria). Scientific research in the field of legal education became more active, its subject was specified, and legal principles were formulated (A.V. Dulov, A.R. Ratinov and others). The system of modern domestic Yu. p. form criminal psychology studying the psychological mechanisms of criminal behavior and the personality of the offender; forensic psychology, covering a wide range of issues related to legal proceedings (see also Forensic psychological examination); correctional psychology, which develops problems of correction of offenders; legal psychology, which studies legal consciousness, the principles of its upbringing, the reasons for its deformation. In Yu. p., all the main methods of psychology are used ( experiment,observation,conversation, survey (cf. Questionnaire), testing, etc.), methods specific to a given field of knowledge are also being developed (for example, psychological analysis of criminal case materials, etc.).

PSYCHODIAGNOSTICS(from the Greek psyche - soul and diagnostikos - able to recognize) - a field of psychological science that develops methods for identifying and measuring individual psychological characteristics of a person. P.'s formation as an independent area of ​​​​research took place in the 20s of the 20th century. A significant contribution to the formation of P. was made by the works F. Galton, J. Cattell, G.Ebbinghaus, E.Krepelina, A. Binet and others. Starting with attempts to “encompass the operations of the mind” (F. Galton) and with the use intelligence tests, P., to measure individual psychological differences, developed methods for studying personality, which later served as the basis for the creation of projective methods and questionnaires. At the same time, the lag of the theoretical level of comprehension of phenomena from the methodological equipment affected the development of P.. The emergence and improvement of the mathematical and statistical apparatus and, above all, the correlation and factor analysis, the use of opportunities psychometry influenced the practical effectiveness of P. In Soviet psychology, there are two periods of development of L. The first refers to the beginning of the 20s - the middle of the 30s. 20th century These years were marked by the massive use of tests in public education, professional selection and career guidance. The level of development of P. at that time was characterized by a fairly wide borrowing of foreign tests, since, as a rule, their own methods lacked a serious theoretical and experimental justification. The results of test examinations were often considered as decisive, they were absolutized. At the same time, Soviet scientists put forward a number of progressive ideas, the development of which was interrupted by the decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On Pedological Perversions in the System of People's Commissariat of Education” (1936) (see. Pedology). During this period, fruitfully worked in P. M.S. Bernshtein,M.Ya.Basov,P.P.Blonsky,S.G. Gellerstein, N.D. Levitov, A.M. Mandryka, G.I. Rossolimo, M.Yu.Syrkin, I.N. Shpilrein, A.M. Schubert and others. A significant contribution to the development of the doctrine of psychological diagnosis was made L.S. Vygotsky. The second period in the development of Soviet P. began in the late 1960s. and marked by discussions about its place in the system of psychological knowledge, about the principles and methods of research, about the attitude to foreign experience. The problems of P. are developed by V.M. Bleikher, L.F. Burlachuk, E.T. Sokolova, L.A. Venger, A.E. Lichko, K.M. Nepomnyashchaya, V.I. Lubovsky and others. One of the primary tasks of Soviet P. is to overcome the gap between theory and practice, between the academic concepts of personality and the reality of its study.