Textbook for students of secondary pedagogical educational institutions
Fundamentals of self-knowledge and self-development
Approved by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation as a teaching aid for students of pedagogical institutions of secondary vocational education
Reviewers:
Doctor of Pedagogy, Professor of the Department of Pedagogy
Higher School of Moscow State Pedagogical University V.A. Sitarov;
Doctor of Psychology, Professor of the Department of General Psychology of Vologda
State Pedagogical University V.N. Karandashev
Maralov V. G.
M 25 Fundamentals of self-knowledge and self-development: Proc. allowance for students. avg. ped. education, institutions. - 2nd ed., erased. - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2004. - 256 p. 15VK 5-7695-0877-9
The manual, dedicated to topical issues of the psychology of self-knowledge and self-development, reveals the concepts, structure, mechanisms, barriers of self-knowledge and self-development, their role and significance in human life. Particular attention is paid to the issues of psychological and pedagogical support and support of self-knowledge and self-development at different age stages, as well as in the field of professional activity of a teacher.
The manual includes a workshop that provides specific diagnostic techniques, exercises and tasks for students of secondary specialized educational institutions in the process of mastering the course "Fundamentals of self-knowledge and self-development".
For students of secondary pedagogical educational institutions.
UDC 371(075.32) LBC 88.8ya723
I8BN 5-7695-0877-9
© V. G. Maralov, 2002
© Publishing Center "Academy", 2002
INTRODUCTION
One of the ancient philosophers owns the words: "Man is the measure of all things." And what
is the measure of man himself? The answer is probably obvious - his deeds and deeds. It is by deeds and deeds that they judge the value of a person, his maturity as a person. If, however, we shift the focus from the results of activity (deeds and actions) to the person himself and ask ourselves one more question: due to what is a person capable of performing actions? (i.e., what is the value of the person himself?), then the answers will no longer be so unambiguous. Someone will rely on talent, others - on the ability to build relationships with other people, and someone will explain success in life and work by favorable circumstances. The psychologist will answer this question as follows: the value of a person lies not only in his deeds and deeds, but also in his ability to constantly work on himself, improve himself, learn more and more deeply his capabilities and make the most of them in his life and work.
Indeed, only constant self-knowledge and self-development are tools for discovering one's inexhaustible personal and creative potential, identifying those areas of life where this potential can be fully used. Many cases are known when capable and even talented people, having achieved certain successes, calmed down, stopped working on themselves, as a result of which they even lost what had been achieved earlier.
The assertion of the value of self-knowledge and self-development can be traced in many religious, philosophical, psychological and pedagogical concepts. For example, in the religions of the Ancient East, a coherent, harmonious system of self-knowledge and self-development has been developed, which acts as a means of comprehending the true essence of man, achieving unity with the Universe. In Christianity, self-knowledge is the discovery of the Divine principle in oneself, and self-development is the way of comprehending God through faith and communion with the sacraments of the church. In humanistically oriented psychology and pedagogy, the need for self-actualization is considered as the highest human need, its satisfaction allows him to fully realize himself, to fulfill the mission, the destiny that life and destiny have assigned him.
Only in this case, he acquires the meaning of his existence, becomes what he is able to become, and not what others impose on him to be. Each person builds himself and chooses his life path, builds his own relationships with other people, and finally, he makes and corrects mistakes. Therefore, the concepts of "formation", "education", etc., used in science and practice, are rather conventional concepts. The task of the family, educational institutions is not to directly influence the personality of a growing person in order to achieve the desired results, but to create the necessary conditions for self-building, self-formation and self-education, to update the mechanisms of self-knowledge and self-development.
Approximately in this direction, both pedagogical thought and the practice of the work of educational institutions are moving: from the idea of obtaining predetermined results of personal properties, knowledge, skills, skills - to the idea of developing a young person; from the idea of comprehensive development to the idea of self-development and creation of conditions for its existence. Therefore, special technologies have recently been developed within the framework of the humanistic direction in science and practice, where the idea of self-development becomes dominant, which is reflected in the emergence of the concepts of "personally-oriented approach", "personally-oriented learning", "personally-oriented didactics", etc. . P.
At the same time, every person knows from his own experience that spontaneous self-knowledge and self-development often do not lead to significant results. While he understands himself, while he builds a program of self-improvement, time will pass, many mistakes will be made. Therefore, self-knowledge and self-development need tactful accompaniment by the Teacher, who, without imposing stereotypes, will support in time, provide assistance, give advice, and teach how to turn to one's own experience or to the experience of other people. Moreover, a person who decides to devote himself to a teaching career should be able to provide support in the processes of self-knowledge and self-development to children, but for this he himself must engage in self-knowledge and self-development, otherwise his support and support will not make any sense.
All of the above makes knowledge about what self-knowledge and self-development are, what role they play in life, what are the mechanisms of their functioning, how they develop at different age stages, how and by what means one can know oneself, and much, much more.
These problems are the subject of this study guide, which consists of two parts: theoretical and practical.
There are four sections in the theoretical part.
Section 1 " Psychology of self-knowledge» the concept of self-knowledge is given, its significance for human life is revealed, the spheres and areas of self-knowledge are described, it is shown that self-knowledge is a structural component of human self-consciousness. Particular attention is drawn to the procedural side of self-knowledge, ways and means, mechanisms and barriers of self-knowledge.
Section 2 " Psychology of self-development» the concepts of "development" and "self-development" are introduced, the stages of self-development are described, its forms are revealed: self-affirmation, self-improvement, self-actualization; mechanisms, barriers of self-development.
Section 3 " Psychological and pedagogical support for self-knowledge and self-development» is dedicated to the formation of self-knowledge and self-development at different age stages, the problems of self-education as a means of self-development. The main emphasis is on how to organize and implement support for self-knowledge and self-development in a growing person; directions for the formation of a culture of self-education are highlighted.
Section 4 " Professional self-knowledge and self-development of a teacher» touches upon the issues of supporting self-knowledge and self-development of the teacher himself. A general description of the personality and professional competence of the teacher, his professional self-awareness is given, the patterns of professional self-knowledge and self-development, barriers to self-development are described, it is shown how in the conditions of an educational institution it is possible to create such an atmosphere that would contribute to the actualization of the abilities for self-knowledge and self-development among teachers, the means of achieving this goal.
The practical part - "Workshop on self-knowledge and self-development" - provides specific diagnostic techniques, as well as tasks for organizing support for self-knowledge and self-development in children, examples of training exercises. The workshop also consists of four sections, which correspond to the logic of building sections of the theoretical part of the manual.
THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND SELF-DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE
§ 1. The concept of self-knowledge
Every person at least once in his life asked himself the questions: “Who am I?”, “What am I?”, “What is the meaning of my existence, my life?” Different people answer these complex philosophical questions in different ways: some never find answers to them; others are trying to give themselves a detailed description, to determine the direction and prospects of their life; others, having answered the questions posed, nevertheless remain unsatisfied with their answers.
The very posing of these questions is remarkable and indicates that man, as a rational being, has a fundamental need for self-knowledge, which animals do not have. Indeed, the inner world of each of us is an inexhaustible universe, as infinite as the cosmos. You can live life without looking into some of its hidden corners. Therefore, throughout the history of mankind, interest in self-knowledge has remained unchanged, it will remain so as long as people show curiosity about the world, as long as they are able to cognize the surrounding reality.
What is self-knowledge? On the one hand, it is quite easy to give a definition, based on the structure of the term “self-knowledge”. Self-knowledge is the process of knowing oneself, one's potential and actual properties, personal, intellectual characteristics, character traits, one's relationships with other people, etc. On the other hand, many questions arise about the meaning, structure, mechanisms of self-knowledge, the answers to which cannot be take from the definition. It is not for nothing that the expression of the Delphic oracle, which was inscribed on the pediment of one of the temples in Ancient Greece, still remains a mystery and is shrouded in some mystery: “Know thyself”.
For many, this phrase is not a secret, and they understand it literally as an imperative (indication) that you need to know yourself. If you ask to characterize yourself (“What do you know about yourself?”), Then, to the surprise of the questioner, the answer will be very stingy and extremely generalized, for example: “I am smart, kind, fair, I can build relationships with others.” Approximately in the same way a small child answers about himself: “I am good”, “I am big”, repeating what his parents tell him. It is interesting to note that uneducated people living in low cultured societies generally find it difficult to assess themselves and give a description.
We find a curious fact from the Russian psychologist A.R. Luria, who studied the psychological characteristics of peasants in Central Asia in the 30s of the 20th century, who were asked to evaluate themselves. Many simply did not understand the question, others, having understood what was required of them, said: "Ask the neighbors about me, they know better." For a person of high culture and education, the expression "Know thyself" leads to serious reflections, highlights more and more new philosophical questions. We will only ask four:
- What is the meaning of self-knowledge for a person?
What do you need to know about yourself and what do you not need to know? (What is the object of self-knowledge?)
- How, in what way does a person know himself? (What are the mechanisms, ways and means of self-knowledge?)
- A person has known himself, what's next?
In what follows, we will try to answer these questions.
§ 2. The value of self-knowledge in human life
For the first time, the problem of self-knowledge arose in the religious concepts of the Ancient East, where an attempt was made not only to reveal the meaning and essence of self-knowledge, but also to develop a unique technology of self-knowledge, elements of which are used in modern psychology.
In the most complete form, the problem of self-knowledge is revealed in Buddhism. The essence of the teachings of Buddhism is set forth in the three sermons of the Buddha - Prince Gautama*.
In the first sermon, Gautama points out two extremes to be avoided: indulgence in sensual pleasures and extreme asceticism. This can be achieved by choosing the middle path, which promotes vision and knowledge, leads to peace, higher wisdom, enlightenment and nirvana. Gautama further notes that life is suffering (dukkha): birth, sickness and death are dukkha; everything connected with attachments, desires is dukkha.
The cause of suffering is desire, attachment to life, sense enjoyment. The cessation of suffering is possible by separation from desires, renunciation, rejection, liberation from them, which is carried out by following the middle, eightfold path. This path includes: 1) correct understanding; 2) correct thought; 3) correct speech; 4) correct action; 5) the right way of life; 6) right intention; 7) correct effort; 8) correct concentration.
The second sermon outlines the theory that man has no soul: “The body (rupa) has no soul. If there were a soul, then the body would not be the subject of dukkha. But since the body is soulless, it is the subject of dukkha.” It follows that a person must give up his Self.
The third sermon speaks of the "wheel of life", which is set in motion by ignorance, obscuring the true mind of man. Ignorance gives rise to actions, as a result of which ordinary consciousness is formed, which highlights forms in the world. In the process of contact with forms, feelings arise that cause desires, desires become the cause of greed, greed leads to a thirst for eternal existence, a thirst for life leads to birth, the inevitable consequence of birth is old age and death. In other words, a living being is doomed to rotate in the "wheel of life" until he turns to the teachings of the Buddha.
What needs to be achieved in order to break out of the "wheel of life"? A person who professes Buddhism must renounce his Self, achieve enlightenment and ultimately nirvana.
Nirvana is a state of complete inner being, lack of desires, perfect satisfaction and self-sufficiency, detachment from the outside world. Nirvana is a complete merging with the absolute. How to reach the state of nirvana? This is where self-knowledge comes into play. A chain is being built: perfect self-knowledge - perfect self-regulation - enlightenment - nirvana. Thus, self-knowledge is an indispensable condition for achieving the ultimate goal, i.e., the state of nirvana. A person who does not know himself will never come close to it, will remain in the “wheel of life” for a long time. One of the leading means of self-knowledge is meditation, which is of great importance in Buddhism. In the process of meditation, a Buddhist subjects his own stream of psyche to an intuitive examination, his I - images, feelings, thoughts, aspirations, etc., as a result of which he discovers that all this does not have a separate, independent existence and, in this sense, is unreal, I cannot be reduced to any one manifestation of his psyche, nor to their sum, and therefore it is possible to speak of my I as something really existing only conditionally. Thus, self-knowledge through meditation frees a person, makes his self-regulation natural, leads to complete self-control due to the actualization of the subconscious, as a result of which a harmonious unity with the world is achieved. The meaning of self-knowledge in Christianity is considered somewhat differently. As you know, the main ideas of Christianity are: the idea of sinfulness, the idea of salvation and redemption, the idea of God-man, God-savior.
From the idea of sinfulness grew, on the one hand, the doctrine of sinfulness as the cause of all the misfortunes that befell mankind, on the other hand, the doctrine of deliverance, salvation. Jesus Christ became such a savior and savior, who sacrificed himself to humanity, to the world. This voluntary sacrifice delivered humanity from sin. Therefore, faith in Jesus Christ, following his teachings is the path of personal salvation for every believer.
Self-knowledge in Christianity acts as a means of comprehending one's divine nature, unity with God.
*In reference books of recent years and encyclopedic dictionaries on religious associations and religions of the world more often
Prince Shakyamuni ("hermit") is mentioned - this is the second name of Prince Gautama. - Note. ed.
Here the line is drawn between the individual and the individual. The individual is characterized by self-affirmation, which ultimately leads to the isolation of existence, to the denial of the other in order not to be absorbed, crushed, etc. by this other, whatever it may be: “another individual” or “another collective”. Personality, on the other hand, is completely different, the perfect personality is God. And since man is created in the image and likeness of God, he also has a personality, but it is often hidden from him and presented under the guise of an individual. Based on these premises, ways and means of self-knowledge are derived. Self-knowledge of the individual consists in the development of the ability to realize not only positive, but also negative sides, to accept oneself as a whole. The more a person realizes the measure of his sinfulness, the more he embarks on the path of repentance, the more he embarks on the path of self-development, the path of being himself.
Self-knowledge of a person is the knowledge of one's true calling, which consists in discovering the image of the Living God in oneself. Faith is the means of this, and communion with the sacraments of the church is the means. As a result, a person becomes himself. “To be oneself,” writes Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, “means to be in the image of the One Who wished to be in our image so that we would be saved and changed.”
From a scientific point of view, the meaning of self-knowledge is most fully revealed in psychology. Here, the most diverse facets of the meaning of self-knowledge are highlighted. Here are just a few of them:
self-knowledge is a condition for gaining mental and psychological health
personality;
self-knowledge is a means of gaining inner harmony and psychological maturity;
self-knowledge is the only way for self-development of the personality, its self-realization.
Of course, all these aspects are closely interconnected and do not act in isolation. In this or that psychological concept (and there are a lot of them), only one side is accentuated.
For example, in classical psychoanalysis, an important component of self-knowledge is the awareness of the repressed into the unconscious. According to the Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist Z. Freud, everything that is unacceptable to consciousness, primarily sexual and aggressive tendencies, is subject to repression. The role of the psychoanalyst is to help the patient, using the special techniques of psychoanalysis, to realize and experience what has been repressed. As a result, catharsis (purification) and recovery of the personality occurs.
The students of Z. Freud, somewhat departing from the positions of their teacher, go further. So, A. Adler (also an Austrian psychiatrist) sees the meaning of self-knowledge in a person’s knowledge of his true life goal, which is often hidden from the individual by false goals that prompt him to superiority over others, to power, etc. Another student, the Swiss scientist K. Jung, draws attention to the knowledge in oneself of those aspects of the personality that have gone into the area of the so-called Shadow, that is, a sphere that is not recognized by a person as his own, but really exists and forms an integral part of his self ( whole person). The task is to know these sides and accept them, thereby gaining one's integrity and the fullness of one's own Self.
In psychosynthesis, founded by the Italian psychologist R. Assagioli, the main idea of self-knowledge is to achieve inner harmony, unity with the Higher Self. To do this, a person must realize what features of his personality (i.e. subpersonalities) he identifies himself with, what they take "power" over the personality as a whole, thereby determining its disharmony.
For example, a person can identify himself with "Father", "Boss", "Loser", "Bore", "Lucky", "Trickster", etc. and behave in life in accordance with the chosen role. In order to find inner harmony, he must reveal and cognize his subpersonalities, disidentify with those of them who took “power” over him, gain complete control over all his subpersonalities.
In Gestalt therapy*, the creator of which is the German psychologist F. Perls, self-knowledge acts as a means for a person to achieve personal maturity. As indicators of personality maturity, F. Perls identifies the following: the ability to find support
* Gestalt (German: Gestalt)- form, image, structure in oneself, and not in others; the ability to take responsibility; mobilize own resources in difficult situations; take risks to get out of the impasse. To achieve the goal (maturity), a person must know and carefully work out his neurotic levels: “cliche” - at this level he acts under the influence of stereotypes; "artificial" - roles and various games dominate here; "dead end" - lack of support from others and adequate self-support; “internal explosion”, or “death”, - it is precisely having reached this level in his self-knowledge that a person discovers his true self, acquires the features of a mature personality.
Special importance is attached to the problem of self-knowledge in humanistic psychology.
Here, self-knowledge is considered as a necessary condition for the self-development of the individual, his self-actualization, i.e., the ability to become what he is capable of becoming, and not what others, the social environment, impose on him to become. One of the recognized authorities of humanistic psychology is the American scientist K. Rogers. According to his concept, two components are distinguished in a person: the Real Self and the Ideal Self, and one component that does not belong to a person, but has a great influence on him - this is the Social environment. The Real Self is a system of ideas about oneself, one's feelings, thoughts, aspirations, etc. The Ideal Self is what a person would like to be, his experience and deep feelings. The social environment is everything that is imposed on a person from the outside: norms, values, attitudes, ways of behavior, etc. The discrepancy that arises between the Real Self and the Ideal Self gives rise to a feeling of anxiety, non-adaptive forms of behavior, various psychological problems, which leads to a distortion of experience or its denial.
Hence, self-knowledge is a means of mastering one's own experience, deep feelings, and, ultimately, a means of being oneself. To do this, it is necessary to realize how a person perceives himself, how others perceive him, the reasons that impel him to distort his experience, to act to please the environment. As a result of self-knowledge, a person acquires the ability for personal growth, self-improvement and self-actualization, in which only the fullness of life, a sense of the joy of life, and awareness of the meaning of life are possible. Finally, from the point of view of common sense, everyday psychology, the meaning of self-knowledge is determined quite simply. If you ask any person, even one who has never studied psychology at all and has a vague idea about it, what is the meaning of self-knowledge, he will probably answer this way: “Self-knowledge allows you to use your abilities to the fullest in work, in communication with other people, in the pursuit of some business ”- and in general he will be right. At the same time, some may answer like this: "I know myself in order to have power over others, to manipulate them, to achieve my goals." Thus, from the standpoint of common sense, self-knowledge has two meanings: one is positive, the other is negative. Indeed, the positive meaning is that any business, situation, other people present certain requirements to a person, and in order to succeed in work, negotiations, establishing relationships, he must weigh his capabilities, rely on the qualities of his personality, but first you need to know them in itself.
The negative meaning is that often a good knowledge of oneself, the strengths and weaknesses of one's personality is used by a person for selfish purposes: to satisfy his claims, his ambitions, to achieve superiority over others, to secure certain privileges for himself, etc.
So, we tried to briefly answer the question, what is the meaning and meaning of self-knowledge for a person. Everyone determines this value for himself. At the same time, in the most general terms, there are three meanings, three spectrums of self-knowledge:
- for a religious person, self-knowledge is a way of uniting with God through the knowledge of the Divine principle in oneself;
- at the superficial psychological level, self-knowledge acts as a means of the most complete use of one's capabilities, abilities in life and activity, or as a means of managing other people;
- at the deep psychological level, which science is trying to reveal, self-knowledge is the way to gain mental and psychological health, harmony and maturity, the ability to self-development and self-actualization.
§ 3. Spheres and areas of self-knowledge
Let's try to answer the question: what in a person is the object of his self-knowledge? If we ask any of us: “What do you know about yourself?”, then each will initially experience a certain amount of confusion, after which the answer will follow, which will probably consist of several generalized characteristics such as: “I am sociable, but a little shy, generally friendly, somewhat indecisive”, etc. Here a situation arises similar to the situation before an exam, when the student immediately tries to remember all the material at once, which, of course, he fails.
But it is enough to take a ticket with specific questions, calm down, think, the answer will be much deeper and more meaningful, provided, of course, that the material has been well studied and worked out.
So in the process of self-knowledge, it is necessary to highlight the areas and areas of our own personality that we want to know and explore. One of the first in psychology to single out the sphere of self-knowledge was the American psychologist W. James (the founder of pragmatism). As cognizable elements in the human mind, he distinguishes: physical personality, social personality and spiritual personality.
physical personality- this is the bodily organization of a person and everything that belongs to a person or makes up his environment (in modern psychology, these provisions are disputed by scientists): clothes, family, home, condition, products of one's own labor.
Social personality is the recognition of our personality by other people. W. James notes that a person has as many social personalities as individuals recognize a personality in him and have an idea about it.
spiritual personality- this is a complete unification of individual states of consciousness, specifically taken spiritual abilities and properties. All three of these personality types are hierarchically organized. The highest level is occupied by the spiritual personality, the lowest - by the physical. Social personalities occupy an intermediate position.
Consequently, self-knowledge, according to W. James, can be carried out at the levels of physical, social and spiritual personality.
In domestic psychology, most scientists adhere to the position of the biosocial nature of man. In accordance with this, its biological and social properties are distinguished. Therefore, for a long time, science was dominated by the idea of a two-level organization of a person: an individual and a person, and only starting from the 80s of the XX century an intermediate variable was introduced - a social individual. In particular, the Russian psychologist V. V. Stolin identifies three levels of organization in a person: the organism, the social individual and the personality. As a biological individual (organism), a person is characterized by a certain constitution, type of nervous system, neurodynamic properties of the brain, and various biological needs. A social individual is the ability to master the world around him, to acquire knowledge, skills, norms and rules of behavior. Personality - the ability to make choices, build your life path, coordinate your behavior in the system of relations with other people.
These levels are also hierarchically organized, the highest of them is the personality, the lowest is the organism.
From this it becomes clear that we can cognize ourselves at all three levels, i.e. their characteristics as a biological individual, as a social individual and as a person.
At the same time, understanding the level structure of a person does not yet give us a complete picture of the spheres of self-knowledge, they need to be saturated with specific content.
In modern psychology, there are many schemes, using which you can give detailed characteristics to other people, organize your own self-knowledge and, of course, characterize yourself. In the most general form, the following blocks can be distinguished, which can be subjected to introspection and self-knowledge.
Personal-characterological features: personality traits and character traits in which attitudes towards other people are expressed (benevolentness, sociability, politeness, compliance, etc.); to activity, work, study (initiativity, diligence, diligence, etc.); to oneself (self-esteem, confidence - uncertainty); to things (thrift, accuracy, neatness); to nature; to art; to science, etc.
The motivational-value sphere of a person is self-knowledge in oneself of one's own motives, interests, motives, values that determine activity and behavior.
The emotional-volitional sphere of the personality is the knowledge of one's emotional states, dominant feelings, ways of responding in stressful situations, the ability to mobilize, show perseverance, perseverance, purposefulness, etc.
Sphere of abilities and opportunities - analysis of one's abilities in various spheres of life, assessment of opportunities for the implementation of ideas.
Cognitive sphere of personality - awareness and understanding of the functioning of mental processes: perception, memory, thinking, imagination; properties and qualities of your mind, attentiveness, ways of solving life and professional problems.
The sphere of appearance, features of temperament - self-analysis is subjected to one's own appearance, appearance, gait, manner of holding oneself, talking, as well as properties that together determine temperament.
The sphere of relations with other people, the social environment - a person analyzes how his connections with others develop - close and not very close people, how interaction is built, analyzes strategies of his own behavior, conflicts and barriers.
Field of activity - it is important to know what knowledge, skills, abilities, abilities a person has, how he uses them in life and work, how he develops them in himself.
The sphere of one's own life path - each person, to one degree or another, analyzes his life, sums up some results, makes plans for the future, is engaged in forecasting and self-forecasting his own personality.
It is clear that this scheme is rather conditional, it cannot reflect the whole diversity of the personality and life of a person, which can be subjected to self-knowledge and introspection. The scheme only orients to what we can in principle cognize in ourselves.
The listed spheres of self-knowledge can be "located" both in the external and in the internal world. Therefore, one can speak of self-knowledge of oneself in the external world and self-knowledge of oneself in the inner world, of this inner world itself. To know oneself in the outside world means to evaluate one's behavior, one's actions, to reveal one's own capabilities and abilities necessary to perform activities, to communicate. Like the outer world, the inner world has its own space, its own temporal characteristics, an endless dialogue of a person with himself unfolds here, numerous subpersonalities conclude an “alliance” and enter into a “confrontation”, which ultimately are the same human self. To the inner world belong to our feelings, experiences, dreams, intentions, thoughts and much more. The discovery and knowledge of one's inner world is no less interesting and exciting than the knowledge of one's behavior in the outer world. Let us now single out the areas of self-knowledge. Traditionally, two areas are distinguished in psychology: consciousness and the unconscious, however, in some concepts, attention is also drawn to one more area - superconsciousness, or the higher unconscious. So, 3. Freud in the structure of personality singles out the Ego, or I, which is completely in the sphere of consciousness and obeys the principle of reality, the Super-Ego, or Super-I, which is simultaneously in the sphere of consciousness and in the sphere of the unconscious, representing in its essence norms, values, various kinds of prohibitions developed by mankind and regulating the behavior of a particular person, as well as the Id, or It, which is the bearer of instincts and is in the sphere of the unconscious. According to K. Jung, a personality is a combination of a number of instances: Ego - the real I of a person; A mask is how a person wants to appear in front of other people; The shadow is the area of the unconscious, where all those personal qualities that are unpleasant to a person are forced out, cause him anxiety and which, in the end, he does not want to consider his own; finally, the Collective unconscious, which is based on the so-called archetypes, or prototypes that appear in myths, legends, tales among many peoples, for example, the archetype of the Mother, the archetype of the Hero, the archetype of the Ancestor, etc. Archetypes, forming the basis of the collective unconscious, are reflected in a specific way by a person in dreams, creativity, determine the originality of his personality, individual behavior.
An even wider range of the existence of consciousness and the unconscious is presented in the Eternal Psychology of the American scientist C. Wilber. There are five levels here:
1) the level of Mind, i.e., the intuitive comprehension by a person of his identity of the absolute and ultimate reality of the universe, variously called Brahman, Tao, God;
2) transpersonal area - this level is that area of the Spectrum that characterizes the superpersonal, where a person is not aware of his identity with the All-One, and yet his personality is not limited to the boundaries of a separate organism, it is here that we meet with archetypes (as in C. Jung);
3) the existential level (existence is existence) - at this level, a person identifies himself mainly with the entire psychosomatic organism (psyche - soul, soma - body), here there is a clear distinction between the Self and the environment;
4) the level of the Ego (I) - at this level, the release of one's own I from the body occurs, the image of the I is allocated;
5) the level of the Shadow - that which is alienated by a person, is not accepted by him, goes into the area of the unconscious, but which, undoubtedly, really continues to remain an integral part of the personality.
Of course, we have presented these views in a very concise, concise form, not in order to complicate the problem, but in order to show the variety of approaches that exist in modern science, to highlight areas that a person can cognize in himself. From a practical point of view, an ordinary person, if he is able to independently expand his circle of knowledge of himself both in the field of consciousness and, especially, in the field of the unconscious, this will already be his personal "feat", stimulating the tendency to self-development, to gaining meaning for his unique, unique life.
In conclusion, we note that it would be wrong to complete the topic by describing only the spheres and areas of self-knowledge. Another very interesting aspect emerges here. The fact is that self-knowledge of any of us is associated with our knowledge of others and others of us. What do we know about ourselves that others don't? What do others know about us that we don't? - these are the questions that consciously or unconsciously people ask themselves, especially in situations where any life conflicts are acutely realized and experienced, when we feel the need for growth and change. In psychology, there is one very interesting model that, in a concise, schematic form, allows us to answer these questions, expanding our understanding of the areas and areas of self-knowledge. It is called the "Jogari Window" in honor of its inventors D. Luft and G. Ingrom.
In accordance with this model, one can imagine that each person carries within himself, as it were, four "spaces" of his personality. The arena covers what I know about myself and the people around me know about it.
A blind spot is what others know about me, but I don't know myself. Appearance is what I know about myself, but others may not be aware of it. Finally, the Unknown is what I don't know about myself and what others don't know. With this in mind, the task of self-knowledge is to expand your Arena as much as possible, minimize the Unknown, narrow the Blind Spot as necessary, and clearly define your position regarding Visibility (what really needs to be hidden from others, and what can be revealed). and beneficially used to achieve their own goals).
The use of this model allows the individual to more visually imagine himself in interaction with other people, solve questions (for example: “What do others think of me?”), Gain confidence in understanding oneself and in understanding the measure of one’s self-presentation to others.
So, we tried to answer the question: what should we know in ourselves? As you can see, there is no definite answer to it. The spheres of self-knowledge can be quite wide, and the areas can be quite “deep”, including both our consciousness and various areas of the unconscious and “superconscious”. Moreover, our self-knowledge is always associated with what I think about myself, what I know about myself, what other people think about me, especially those who are important to me.
Chapter 2
§ 1. Consciousness and self-consciousness
Let us now turn to the central question: how does man know himself? (What are the mechanisms of self-knowledge?). To do this, we need to consider the problem from a broader perspective, namely, to analyze self-knowledge as a structural component of self-knowledge of the individual as a whole.
Since ancient times, people have been interested in questions: what is a person? How is it different from animals? On this occasion, a lot of scientific papers have been written, many scientific conferences have been held. If we try to summarize the research of scientists in this field, we can give the following definition, which is given in many textbooks on philosophy, psychology, and pedagogy: a person is a living being that has consciousness, speech, makes and uses tools. As you can see, consciousness comes first. Consciousness is the main difference between humans and animals. At the same time, it turned out to be more difficult to define the concept of "consciousness" than to define the concept of "man".
Usually, in special dictionaries, consciousness is interpreted as “the highest level of development of the psyche, peculiar only to man,” but such a definition does not reflect the full diversity and specificity of this concept. There are also more complex, difficult-to-remember definitions, in which, nevertheless, attempts are made to single out the most essential features of consciousness. As an example, we will give only one of them, given by the Russian philosopher and psychologist A. G. Spirkin. In his opinion, “consciousness is the highest function of the brain, peculiar only to a person and associated with speech, which consists in a generalized, evaluative and purposeful reflection and constructive and creative transformation of reality, in a preliminary mental construction of actions and anticipation of their results, in reasonable regulation and self-control human behavior."
Summarizing all that has been said above about the definition of the concept of "consciousness", we can state the following:
- consciousness is characterized by the ability of a person to distinguish himself from the surrounding reality, this is not available to many animals, in other words, for a person, the world around him begins to act as an objective (i.e., independent of him) reality, as a result of which the ability to distinguish by type " I'm not myself";
- a person generally reflects the surrounding reality and, using speech, fixes this reflection in his knowledge, which he is able to pass on from generation to generation;
- people are able to anticipate and plan their behavior, set and achieve life goals;
-we are biased towards the world, expressing our bias in emotions, feelings, experiences, etc.
Since our consciousness functions in the “I-not-I” system, in its center is the I, which acts as the initiator of behavior and activity, the whole set of diverse relationships. Each of us knows what our own Self is, but it is also difficult to give it a scientific definition. To put it simply enough, I am a person viewed from the inside, a person's ability to distinguish himself from the environment and act as a subject (initiator) of his own activity and behavior.
Thus, to be a human means to have consciousness, i.e., to have the ability to distinguish oneself from the surrounding external world, to form a certain attitude towards this world, to interact with it, to make purposeful changes in it. If instead of the “not I” of the external world we put the “I”, the “I-I” system is formed, and we get a completely different mental reality, which is called self-consciousness. In other words, a person, having consciousness, inevitably has self-consciousness, i.e. the ability to self-knowledge, emotional and valuable attitude towards oneself, the ability to self-control and self-regulation.
§ 2. The structure of self-consciousness
The human Self is one and indivisible, it is identical to itself. It is no coincidence that, remembering ourselves in childhood, we perceive all events as our own, and not as someone else's, although we are well aware that the Self today is something different than 10-15 - 40 years ago.
Such unity is provided by our memory, which "cements" the personality in time. If it is violated, a severe disease occurs, which is called a split, sometimes a personality disorder. In such situations, a person lives, as it were, several lives, at one time he is like that, has, for example, a balanced and calm character, at another time he is completely different. Cases are known when the bifurcation occurs quickly, within a few hours or even minutes, and the personality that exists at the moment is unaware of another personality that functioned quite recently. A healthy normal person does not have such disidentification.
As can be seen from everything that has been said before, isolating oneself for oneself as an object of self-knowledge presupposes a plurality of the Self, which, fortunately, does not imply disidentification and loss of unity. At least in the structure of the Self, one can single out the Self as a subject, as an initiating activity principle, and the Self as an object, in other words, the Self-knowing and the Self-knowable. In fact, such I within the framework of a single, indivisible, self-identical I-set. This fact is pointed out not only by scientists, but also by writers and poets. Here is an excerpt from a poem by the famous poet A. Voznesensky, which well illustrates the fact we have named:
I am family
in me, as in a spectrum, seven "I" live
unbearable like the seven beasts,
and the bluest one whistles into the flute!
And in the spring
I'm dreaming
what am I -
eighth...
Indeed, one can talk about "I-real", "I-ideal", "I-fantastic", "I-in the past", "I-in the future", etc. But all these I are parts of our integrity, and in At the same time, each of them can take the role of both the knower (subject) and the knowable (object).
From this it is clear that if there is a Self as a subject and a Self as an object, then there must be something that characterizes the degree of interaction between them. Such a measure is self-knowledge and an emotional-valuable attitude towards oneself, on the one hand, and self-regulation and self-control, on the other. So, the central link in the structure of self-consciousness is the I as a subject, which plays a role under the influence of various causes (motives) of an active active principle. It performs this function using self-knowledge, which is closely intertwined with the emotional and value attitude. The result of self-knowledge is the clarification of the image of the Self, and sometimes the construction of a new image of the Self, to which, for example, a person aspires. This image of the Self does not appear immediately; initially, certain aspects of the Self, personality traits, and behavioral features are clarified. self-image is formed. It is only in the course of systematic self-knowledge that these separate representations form a coherent image. Important role at the same time, the activity of self-evaluation plays, comparing oneself with other people or in some ideal way. Depending on the chosen standards (scale), self-esteem can be high, medium, low, adequate (corresponding to reality), inadequately overestimated or inadequately underestimated.
When the image of the Self receives a rational explanation, justification, stability, it develops into a psychological formation, which is called the Self-concept. The formed I-concept influences all spheres of life and activity of a person, determines his intentions, plans, claims, i.e., being included in the activity of the I as a subject, it performs a self-regulatory function. Comparison of their activities in the course of self-regulation with certain standards and models makes it possible to make the necessary adjustments in life, makes behavior more adaptive. Self-control is also necessary in the very process of self-knowledge and is based on self-assessment data, assessments of us by other people.
The above explanations allow us to formulate the following definition of self-consciousness. Self-consciousness is the activity of the Self as a subject to cognize (or create) the image of the Self (I-concept), in turn, the image of the Self, being included in the structure of the Self as a subject, performs a self-regulating function. Self-knowledge and emotional-valuable attitude towards oneself can act as independent processes, however, they can also be integrated into a single activity of self-assessment, as a result of which a self-image, an image of I, I-concept is born. This, in turn, acts as a condition for the deployment of self-regulation and self-control activities.
The scheme of functioning of self-consciousness presented and described by us is of a generalized nature and acquires its own specifics at different levels of human organization. We have already referred to the Russian psychologist V.V. Stolin, who proposed to consider a person at three levels of his organization: a biological individual, a social individual, and a personality. Therefore, self-consciousness at these levels will look as follows.
At the level of a biological individual (organism), self-consciousness makes it possible to isolate one's physical self from the surrounding world, to build an image of one's body. At the level of a social individual, self-consciousness characterizes: acceptance of the other’s point of view on oneself (what others think and say about me), identification with parents, assimilation of standards for performing actions, the formation of self-esteem, the formation of sexual, later professional identity, the formation of self-control. At the level of the individual, self-consciousness is characterized by the identification of one's social value and the meaning of existence, the formation and change of ideas about one's future, past and present.
So, we tried to show how our self-consciousness works. And it works on the principle of constant interaction (“Dialogue”) of different aspects of the Self, where the mechanisms of self-knowledge, emotional-value attitude, on the one hand, and self-regulation and self-control, on the other, are actively involved. A peculiar product of this interaction is self-awareness, I-concept. Let us consider the structure of the self-concept in more detail, highlight some of its characteristic features. In modern science, there are a variety of approaches to describing the self-concept. We will try to generalize them and present the essence of this personal education in an understandable form.
The basis of the self-concept, its content is knowledge about oneself, that is, a kind of picture of one's own personality. For example, a person says about himself: I am smart, sociable, a little egocentric, attentive, good-looking, etc. This "picture" is immediately superimposed attitude. For example: in general, I am satisfied with myself and accept myself as I am - high self-esteem. Various options are possible, for example: satisfied with one's abilities, but not satisfied with appearance, etc.
The manifested picture of a particular quality in the structure of the self-concept, or the self-concept as a whole, is evaluated by comparing oneself with other people or some kind of ideal (literary hero, invented ideal, etc.). As a result, self-esteem is formed: high, medium, low, adequate - inadequate, stable - unstable, which makes its own adjustments to the level of emotional attitude towards oneself, also enriching knowledge and ideas about oneself. Self-esteem is a powerful regulator of behavior. We will dwell on this a little later.
Finally, a person has certain thoughts about himself, about his qualities and personality traits, about the personality as a whole, about his attitude towards himself, his self-assessments due to the functioning of a special mechanism called "reflection". As a result, the reasons for low or high self-esteem, satisfaction - dissatisfaction with oneself are found, intentions to improve oneself are formed, or, conversely, everything is left as it is.
The diagram also shows that all these structural components of the Self-concept are characteristic not only for the Real Self, but equally for the Ideal Self and the Mirror Self. Of course, the concepts of the Real, Ideal and Mirror Self can vary significantly, enter into contradiction and even conflict.
It is clear that a person can single out different aspects of the Self in himself: physical, social, intellectual, emotional - and in relation to each aspect, build his own idea of it, form private I-concepts. In addition, all these aspects within the framework of the Real, Ideal, Mirror Self can also be considered in a temporal sense.
Let us now try to describe some general psychological features that expand our understanding of the self-concept of a person. These include the following. Completeness - the fragmentary nature of the Self-concept - is determined by how fully and thoroughly a person knows his personality, how carefully he can explain, including to himself, why he is such and not different, what determines his strengths and weaknesses. Depth - the superficiality of self-knowledge - the ability to know yourself not only at the level of consciousness, but also at the level of the unconscious, as well as what others know about you and which at first is difficult to introspect. Superficial knowledge of oneself, on the contrary, is characterized by fragmentary, unsystematic and only those qualities that are accessible to rapid awareness. Deep knowledge of oneself is the desire for the constant expansion of the Arena (remember the “Jogari Window”).
Harmony - the conflict nature of the self-concept is determined by how different parts of the personality, even contradictory ones, "get along" with each other, constituting an integral unity, which is recognized by a person as such. We are dealing with a conflicting self-concept when a person accepts certain qualities and rejects others, or when he is satisfied with the same property and quality in himself, and is not satisfied at the same time, when conflicts arise between “I want”, “ I can and I must.
We will talk about these issues a little later.
Adequacy - inadequacy of self-image - another important characteristic. Its essence is clear. A person can create such an image of himself and believe in it, which actually does not correspond to reality and leads to conflicts with reality; the causes of this conflict are usually attributed to others. An adequate ^-concept is the key to a more successful adaptation to the world, to other people. Sustainability - the dynamism of the self-concept can be considered in two aspects. First, there is the temporal aspect. It is characterized by the extent to which a person is able to maintain a stable idea of himself for a certain period of time. Secondly, this is an aspect of personal growth, determined by how quickly a person is able to expand and deepen his idea of himself, to improve himself if necessary.
Acceptance - non-acceptance of self - when people who have low self-esteem consider themselves to be significantly inferior to others, as a result they form a low level of self-acceptance. Low self-acceptance leads either to fighting with oneself or to humility and apathy, and sometimes to thoughts of suicide. It is believed that for a full life a person must have a high self-acceptance of even those qualities that, from the point of view of others, are not positive. It is quite possible to agree with this, however, with one significant caveat: a high level of self-acceptance only gives a positive effect when it is organically combined with a tendency towards positive self-development. Without this, self-acceptance develops into snobbery and complacency. We have given here only some important characteristics of the self-concept, which allow a more meaningful understanding of its originality and specificity, give self-knowledge a certain direction, set a coordinate system for a deeper introspection.
In conclusion, I would like to raise a few more important questions: how does the self-concept “work”? How does it regulate a person's behavior, determine his actions, actions, life scenarios?
Let's try to reveal this problem on the example of the formation of a specific level of claims. The fact is that in any activity, in the process of communication, we correlate our capabilities (evaluate ourselves) with the requirements of the activity, or the requirements that other people place on us. Because of this, we set either more difficult or easier goals, in other words, a certain attitude towards the goal, or a level of claims, is formed. The more difficult the goal a person sets for himself, the higher his claims; on the contrary, if he prefers to set easy goals, this indicates his low claims, fear of failure, and through this - to change his attitude towards himself.
Let us explain this scheme, then illustrate it with a specific example.
Many factors influence the formation of the self-concept of a person. The most important of these include a person's ability to self-knowledge and self-evaluation (internal factor), real achievements and assessments of the personality by others (external factors). For example, if a person has really high achievements in any area, he constantly achieves success and this is confirmed by others, a significant social environment, then this is an essential prerequisite for the development of an appropriate self-concept, high self-esteem in this type of activity. And if such activity becomes significant, then high expectations are formed in him, pretentiousness as a personality trait, expressed in the desire to achieve high results.
Pretentiousness in a particular situation will stimulate a high level of claims. This is an understandable and natural process. However, there are some interesting "buts" here. Firstly, much will depend on how much a person perceives the goal (situation) as significant and difficult for himself. Secondly, he will definitely evaluate his readiness to achieve this goal. Thirdly, situational motives of activity will play an important role. Fourthly, the achievement of success will depend on what strong-willed qualities he will show in the course of overcoming the inevitable obstacles. Hence, there can be a significant number of behavioral options, it all depends on the combination and interaction of the above factors. Self-esteem and pretentiousness can be low, and a specific level of pretensions is high, or vice versa - a person highly appreciates himself, having high pretensions, but a specific level of pretensions will be at the level of average or low.
Example(only one strategy of behavior is described). Imagine a student who is about to take an exam. The high performance of previous activities, the high marks of teachers and fellow students contributed to the formation of a positive attitude towards oneself, high (adequate) self-esteem: “I am smart, capable, I have a good memory, I quickly grasp the material, I have a developed imagination, good speech skills, etc. P.". Of course, all this contributes to the emergence of high pretensions as a desire to achieve significant results. It is logical to assume that he will qualify for a high mark in the exam. However, this assumption is only hypothetical. The specific level of claims will depend on the assessment of the degree of preparedness, on the significance of the exam for future professional activity, on motivation, etc. The student will lower his claims if he did not prepare or did not have a relationship with teachers. On the contrary, a student with low self-esteem and pretentiousness will increase his claims if he perceives the exam as easy, is well prepared for it, and wants to receive a scholarship next semester.
In any case, the influence of the self-concept on the attitude towards the goal of activity can be traced unambiguously. The same can be said about our communication, behavior. Based on the image of I (self-esteem), self-regulation is carried out, accompanied by self-control.
So, we have shown that self-knowledge is an integral part and structural component of self-consciousness. Without self-knowledge, the emergence of the I-concept of personality would not have been possible. We tried to reveal the structure of this self-concept, to show its role in the self-regulation of behavior and activity. At the same time, the mechanisms of self-knowledge as a specific activity have not yet been analyzed by us. This requires a special discussion.
Chapter 3. SELF-KNOWLEDGE AS A PROCESS: GOALS, MOTIVES, METHODS, RESULTS
§ 1. General characteristics of self-knowledge as a process
Process * - a successive change of states, phenomena in the development of something; in a narrower concept - a sequence of actions to achieve a specific goal. We will consider self-knowledge in the second, narrower sense: self-knowledge is a set and sequence of actions, as a result of which the goal is achieved, i.e. knowledge about oneself, the image of the Self, the Self-concept. Since self-knowledge is a sequence of actions, then it itself represents a specific cognitive activity and, like any activity, can be described through the characteristics of goals, motives, methods and results.
So, in the beginning, we find in ourselves some kind of personality trait or behavioral characteristic, for example, insecurity. The moment of discovery is very important, without it all further self-knowledge loses its meaning. Sometimes it is detection that is the most difficult moment, there are many things in us that we simply do not fix our attention on, do not make the subject of analysis. Often a significant trait or characteristic is discovered by a person very late, when it is not possible to use its positive potential.
At the same time, it is not enough to discover some kind of personality trait or behavioral characteristic in oneself; it is important to consolidate it, fix it in the mind, and not lose it in the course of later life. There are situations when we, communicating with a certain circle of people, experience hostility, but do not fix it until the next case, as a result, we cannot conduct an appropriate analysis and assess the extent of our hostility in general.
The next step is the analysis of a particular personality trait, behavioral characteristic, skill, ability, etc. During the analysis, the quality structure, its relationship with other properties, and, most importantly, cause-and-effect relationships are established. Having discovered and fixed insecurities in oneself, it is necessary to ask specific questions: in what way does my insecurity manifest itself? Do I experience it in all situations? What are the reasons for its occurrence? What other qualities (type of temperament, kindness, kindness, etc.) is it associated with? By consistently asking and answering these questions, we deepen our understanding of our uncertainty and the limits of its distribution.
The next stage - we evaluate this or that quality, comparing it with some ideal model of this or that quality, which we ourselves create for ourselves, or with the samples generally accepted and assimilated by us. In this case, we can evaluate ourselves in different ways: as a very insecure person, comparing ourselves with other people or a specific person we know well; as a moderately insecure person with insecurities that only show up in certain situations; like a confident person, and insecurity
*Process (lat.) - promotion manifests itself only in critical, unexpected situations and acts, rather, not as uncertainty in its pure form, but as confusion.
And finally, there comes the act of accepting or not accepting this quality. If accepted, we include our uncertainty in the structure of the self-concept, we are calm about its existence, we try to find a positive in it, we can set the task of limiting the manifestation of uncertainty and developing self-confidence in the future. But there are cases when we do not accept uncertainty, we reject it (in the area of the unconscious), we are trying to prove to everyone that I am a confident person, and if we do not reject it, then we begin to “fight” with it, to get rid of it. Such a struggle only worsens the situation, general well-being, gives rise to intrapersonal conflicts that develop into conflicts with other people. In general, it must be said that fighting with yourself is nonsense, there is nothing worse than fighting with the most expensive thing you have, i.e. you yourself. Therefore, the art of self-acceptance is a great art, which, completing the act of self-knowledge, begins a new act - the act of self-improvement (we will talk about this in the next section).
So, self-knowledge as a process is the discovery in oneself of any qualities, personal and behavioral characteristics, fixing them, comprehensive analysis, evaluation and acceptance. What are the most general patterns of self-knowledge? These may include the following. The degree of awareness - unconsciousness. In most cases, the process of self-knowledge is continuous and, to a certain extent, is unconscious. A person simply lives, studies, works, communicates, conducts an unceasing dialogue with himself. (There is such a “talker” in us who begins to “talk” as soon as we wake up, and sometimes manifests itself in a dream.) In the course of life, facts are accumulated, data about other people, about ourselves, which, due to the operation of the law of the transition of quantity at one fine moment they are recognized and fixed in consciousness, but they may not be realized, but function at the level of an unconscious attitude, determining our behavior and ways of self-regulation. It should be noted that a significant part of the self-concept is formed in this way, especially among people who are not highly educated, not inclined to reflection, that is, not able to take the position of an observer in relation to themselves. Self-knowledge as a conscious process is characterized by purposefulness, i.e. a person sets himself a special goal - to reveal in himself this or that ability, inclination, personality trait, using specific means for this, which help to analyze and evaluate himself. It is in this case that self-knowledge turns into a conscious activity and obeys its laws. The more often a person turns his self-knowledge into activity, the faster and deeper he knows himself. True, there is also the other side of the coin here, when, with a high level of emotionality, self-rejection, self-knowledge turns into self-digging, which gives rise not to objective knowledge about oneself, but to various kinds of complexes, including inferiority complexes. Therefore, there must be a measure and common sense in everything. There is a different saturation of self-knowledge at different stages of the life path. Our life consists of calm and crisis periods, of segments that are not saturated and eventful, which can dramatically change fate and biography. Therefore, self-knowledge is activated where life is eventful, when it is necessary to make responsible decisions: to choose a place of study, work, spouse, etc. To make an informed decision, a person must know well not only the circumstances, but other people involved in his destiny, but also himself, his qualities and capabilities. In these situations, self-knowledge functions actively, allowing a person to receive as much information about himself in a short period of time as he did not receive in the years of his life before. Many of these periods are well known and studied in psychology, these include: the crisis of 3 years, when for the first time the child begins to realize himself as a subject of activity, the initial social system of the Self is formed, an irresistible desire arises to declare oneself, to assert itself - remember the famous childhood “I myself! »; the crisis of the age of seven, when the child begins to realize himself as a subject of learning and he has a need to evaluate himself as a student; a crisis of adolescence, which is not inferior in intensity to the crisis of 3 years. A teenager discovers a lot in his I already in the context of interaction with the social environment, with peers, a feeling of adulthood arises, a process of reorientation from children's norms of behavior to adults is underway. There are crises in adults, for example: a crisis of thirty years; midlife crisis; retirement crisis. In all these cases, there is a rethinking of life, fixing the existing image of the Self, determining the prospects for self-development for the future, and assessing achievements and failures.
The fundamental incompleteness of self-knowledge is, perhaps, one of the most interesting regularities. It is due to the fact that real life, as it were, is ahead of the process of its awareness, a person has already been born, lives, he even has formed elementary acts of self-consciousness in the form of separating his physical self from the world around him, but he knows himself a little later. The same is true for an adult, in reality his personality and life are richer than what he knows about himself. There is always an unidentified, blind spot (remember Jogari's Window). Therefore, it is impossible to know oneself completely, even for people who have outstanding abilities in this area. For example, Buddhist monks are engaged in self-knowledge and the practice of self-improvement all their lives, but only one Buddha (Prince Gautama) has reached his limits. For some people, this state of affairs can cause despair, a sense of the meaninglessness of life if they cannot know themselves. However, in reality this is a normal process, this fact should simply be accepted in the same way that we accept the inevitability of death. What is important is not a complete knowledge of oneself, but the desire for a deeper and more comprehensive knowledge, and even more important - the adequate use of what is known in life, activity, especially the strengths of one's personality.
In addition to the general laws of self-knowledge: the degree of awareness, different saturation, fundamental incompleteness, there are also some specific features of self-knowledge that complement its holistic picture.
1. Self-knowledge goes through two stages in its development. At the first stage, self-knowledge is carried out in the "I-others" system. On the one hand, starting from early childhood, a person is in a system of interpersonal relations, other people constantly evaluate him, and, voluntarily or involuntarily, he begins to be guided by these assessments, accept them to one degree or another, and learn the methods of assessment themselves. On the other hand, the child himself acquires the experience of evaluating others, first repeating the assessments of adults, and then formulating them independently. Thus, he learns to compare himself with others, through the system of mutual assessments he gradually begins to comprehend his own Self, he forms initial ideas about himself, then the first experience of creating an image of the Self through awareness of his difference from others. At the second stage, the correlation of knowledge about oneself occurs already within the framework of the “I-I” system, when a person operates with ready-made knowledge about himself, formed at different times under various circumstances. Here he already analyzes his own activity, its effectiveness, the features of his interaction with people, his own personality traits and behavioral characteristics. That is, self-knowledge begins to work as an independent process, capable of detecting, fixing, analyzing, evaluating and accepting what is known in itself. In fairness, it should be noted that the first stage retains its potential until the end of life, it is simply organically included in the structure of the second stage and does not lose its significance.
2. The intensity, depth, validity of self-knowledge depend on many personality traits that have been formed, in particular, on those that are of a nature that determines the orientation of the personality. For example, they include extraversion and introversion. An extrovert is a person oriented to the outside world, he lives in this world, absorbed in its events. Therefore, his self-consciousness goes in the sphere of self-knowledge in the external world. An introvert, on the contrary, is focused on the inner world and its events, his own experiences, dreams, internal dialogue with himself are significant for him. It is clear that his self-knowledge is carried out in the sphere of his own inner world. Of course, this does not mean that an extrovert is not capable of self-knowledge of the inner world, and an introvert is not capable of self-knowledge of himself in the outside world. We are talking about the priorities that a person chooses depending on extraversion-introversion. The same can be said about some other features, in particular, about the influence of various types of character accentuation on the originality and spheres of self-knowledge.
3. Different people have different abilities for self-knowledge. Abilities are personality traits on which the speed, depth, quality of acquiring knowledge, skills and abilities depend, but which cannot be reduced to this knowledge, skills, skills. Self-knowledge abilities are such personal characteristics that make it possible to quickly, qualitatively, comprehensively and adequately know oneself. Due to the different levels of development of these abilities, people differ significantly from each other: some are constantly engaged in self-knowledge, know themselves well and comprehensively and are able to use this knowledge in life and work; others are engaged in self-knowledge episodically, their knowledge of themselves is fragmentary and fragmentary, and, most importantly, their ideas about themselves are inadequate, i.e., do not correspond to reality. How often do we meet people with overestimated or underestimated self-esteem, who have invented themselves, who, for these reasons, are not able to properly build their relations with the world, the social environment. But, like any ability, the ability to self-knowledge can be developed. What does that require? First of all, to form a positive motivation for self-knowledge; to fully use the potential of the main mechanisms of self-knowledge - identification and reflection; learn specific methods of self-knowledge - self-observation, introspection, self-modeling, etc.; use various means of self-knowledge: reading fiction, studying psychology, keeping diaries, etc.
§ 2. Goals and motives of self-knowledge
The source of activity of the individual is its needs. A need in a broad sense is a need, a need for something, and in a narrower sense, a state in which a person’s dependence on the conditions of existence is reflected. Since man is a biosocial being, the needs can be both biological and social. Biological needs include: the need for food, water, warmth, air, a sexual partner, and much more. Fundamental social needs include: the need for work, knowledge, communication, achievement, etc.
Self-knowledge as a process acts as a manifestation of a form of specific activity, therefore, it is also based on a need, which can be called the need for self-knowledge.
The need for self-knowledge is an expression of the need for a more general plan, namely the need for knowledge. The object of its satisfaction is the world, the surrounding reality. A person became a person only because he had the named need, which begins to manifest itself very early and initially has a pronounced potential. Neither work, nor communication, nor study is possible without the need for knowledge. When the object of self-knowledge becomes the person himself, his inner world, then the need for knowledge takes the form of the need for self-knowledge.
It should be noted that the need for self-knowledge does not operate in isolation, but is closely connected with other needs, in particular with the needs of the I. The most important of them include: the need for self-esteem, the need for the integrity of the I, the need for self-identity, the need for self-recognition by others and others. In fairness, it should be noted that some people may also develop negative needs that direct their activity in a completely different way, for example: the need for self-abasement, i.e. the desire to belittle one's capabilities, to be offended, the willingness to accept criticism, punishment, misfortune and rejoice in them. The development of such a need leads to various pathologies of the personality.
The need for self-esteem reflects the tendency of a person to meet his own requirements and the requirements of others, to be on top. The need for integrity. It is characterized by the desire to create a holistic, complete image of one’s Self. The need for self-identity ensures the unity, “non-splitness” of the Self, and the need for recognition from others determines the desire to live, work, study, and communicate in such a way as to ensure this recognition.
All these needs are closely interconnected, mutually complement each other, and determine a complex “palette” of behavior motivation. The presence of needs for the integrity of the Self, for self-respect, etc. increases the need for self-knowledge. For its part, the satisfied need for self-knowledge facilitates the satisfaction of all other needs. For example: to be at the level of requirements for yourself, you need to know yourself well; good knowledge of oneself is the key to creating a holistic, consistent image of the Self, etc.
On the basis of these needs, higher-order needs arise that are already associated with self-development: the need for self-affirmation, the need for self-improvement, the need for self-realization, etc. (we will focus on them in section 2 “Psychology of self-development”). The need for knowledge is closely related to all other needs that we attribute to the needs of the I. For example, the need for self-knowledge increases if a person has a need for communication. To communicate, you need to know yourself. It also intensifies in situations of a developed need for achievements. To achieve, you need to know yourself. This list can be significantly expanded. The functioning of so many needs and activities is associated with self-knowledge and the need of the same name.
It is no coincidence that we made this short digression into the psychology of needs, the fact is that the level of severity of the need for self-knowledge and other needs of the self associated with it determines the specifics of the goals and motives of self-knowledge. A motive is a specific motivation for activity, it expresses one or another need. So, the need for communication activates the motive of communication, the need for work - the motives of labor activity, the need for self-knowledge - the motives of self-knowledge. Under the influence of this or that motive, a person sets certain goals of Activity, achieves them using methods, techniques, sequence of actions.
The goal is an image of the future result. When we talk about the Goals of self-knowledge, they can be very different, it all depends on what image of the future result achieved in the course of self-knowledge we see. Goals can be broad or narrow, real or unreal, true or false.
The extremely broad goals of self-knowledge include the knowledge of one's personality as a whole and the knowledge of life goals. There are people who set the goal of self-knowledge to be the knowledge of themselves as a person, their I-concept not only at the level of consciousness, but also at the levels of the unconscious and superconsciousness (higher unconscious). Such self-knowledge in itself can turn into a life goal, pushing all other goals of life into the background.
An ordinary person, intuitively feeling the fundamental incompleteness of self-knowledge, limits his self-knowledge to certain real limits, sufficient to live, create, self-develop. Another broad goal of self-knowledge is life goals. Each of us asked ourselves questions: what do I want to achieve in life? What profession should I choose? Do I want to be a leader or a subordinate? Which spouse should I choose? To what extent and how am I able to raise my children? Etc. Clarification, knowledge of life goals gives life itself stability, purposefulness, meaningfulness. At the same time, there are many people who do not think about life goals, go with the flow. All this, of course, impoverishes their life, makes it meaningless, and human behavior unpredictable.
The narrow goals of self-knowledge include the specific content of one's self-image, which becomes relevant for us at the present moment. Narrow goals can be considered in different coordinate systems, for example: we learn our intellectual capabilities or character traits; properties of attention or their sociability. This list can be continued, but what is important is not the list of objects of one's own personality or characteristics of activity and behavior, but what is becoming significant for the individual today. If we choose a profession, then the assessment of our abilities in the chosen field will be significant. If we are going to get to know and make friends with a person, then knowledge of our communicative qualities, the ability to please, the ability to be a good friend will be significant. It is also possible to systematically set goals for self-knowledge. One of the most common and widely used systems in practice is the system: “I want” - “I can” - “I must”. When a person clearly answers these questions - what do I want to achieve in the near and distant future, what are my capabilities and how does all this meet the requirements of the society around him - he significantly expands the boundaries of his self-knowledge.
As we have already noted, the goals of self-knowledge are real and unreal, true and false. The real goal is that we discover and analyze in ourselves what really exists; the goal is unrealistic - we are trying to fix and cognize in ourselves what is not really there.
Example. Some people try to discover, moreover, analyze and evaluate abilities that they do not have. Not finding them in themselves, they invent them, begin to believe in their existence. As a result, they send their self-knowledge down the wrong path. There are cases when a person, setting off self-knowledge on a false trail, completely invents himself, creates a false self-concept, begins to live in accordance with this image, and, as a result, there is a complete separation from reality, a decrease in adaptive capabilities, the emergence of intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts. Thus, the unreality and falsity of the goals of self-knowledge closely merge with the unreality and falsity of the final result - the image of the Self and the Self-concept.
What awakens a person to set wide and narrow, real and unreal, true and false goals of self-knowledge? Of course, the motives in which the corresponding needs are expressed. Such motifs can be divided into two groups: specific, i.e. underlying the very activity of self-knowledge, and non-specific, which are indirectly related to self-knowledge.
Interest in oneself is one of the specific motives. Interest is an emotionally colored cognitive need. In this case, an emotionally colored need for self-knowledge.
There are several stages in the development of self-interest:
curiosity;
own interest in oneself;
passion for self-knowledge.
Curiosity - the original form of self-interest - is characterized by the desire to learn about oneself, mainly what a person does not know, but may be known to other people. Curiosity may not be enduring; as soon as curiosity is satisfied, it disappears, the person begins to occupy other, more pressing problems. Under favorable conditions, curiosity develops into a steady interest in oneself, which begins to determine more and more new goals of self-knowledge, expands the boundaries of self-knowledge activity. When interest in oneself crosses certain boundaries, acquires emotional intensity, it turns into a passion for self-knowledge, and a person devotes a significant part of his life to this passion. The negative representations of the passion for self-knowledge are the use of alcohol, drugs, psychological means to penetrate the subconscious in order to search for something special in oneself, which in fact may not be.
Non-specific motives of self-knowledge include all other motives, which can also be divided according to the degree of importance for the deployment of self-knowledge into three groups: motives associated with the Self (this includes the motives of self-esteem, which are based on the needs already analyzed by us); motives associated with self-development (namely, the motives of self-affirmation, self-improvement, self-realization, self-presentation, self-actualization); motives of other types of activity (communication, prestige, achievement, knowledge, teaching, moral motives, etc.). The mechanisms of their interconnection with the motive of self-knowledge and with the activity of self-knowledge are approximately the same. The developed motive of self-knowledge favorably affects the functioning of all other motives. Self-interest stimulates self-development motives. In turn, the expressed motives of self-development positively influence the formation of the need for self-knowledge and a specific motive - interest in oneself. The same should be said about other motives. For example, interest in oneself, if it is not an absorbing passion, also determines interest in other people, giving an appropriate coloring to the motive of communication. In cases where the motive of self-knowledge is poorly developed, other, more pronounced motives replace it and determine the activity of self-knowledge. For example, a person has a pronounced achievement motive, but interest in himself is not expressed. It is impossible to achieve high significant results, relying only on luck, luck, so you have to weigh your capabilities, evaluate your chances and abilities, that is, engage in self-knowledge. In other words, without self-knowledge, not a single motive can be fully realized; in the end, everything revolves around self-knowledge, attitude towards oneself, the ability to self-regulate and self-control, only in this case the implementation of all other motives will be successful.
§ 3. Ways and means of self-knowledge
Let us now turn to the very process of self-knowledge as a successive change of actions that allows us to achieve the goals of self-knowledge. Let's try to answer the question: what means can be used in the course of organizing self-knowledge? The most common ways of self-knowledge include the following: self-observation, introspection, comparing oneself with a certain "measure", modeling one's own personality, awareness of opposites in each quality, behavioral characteristic.
Introspection. This is a way of self-knowledge by observing oneself, one's behavior, actions, events of the inner world. Mankind has long been familiar with self-observation, which at one time acted as the main method of psychology and was called "introspection" (looking inside), and psychology itself was called "introspective". Subsequently, this method was abandoned as the main one, since it is very subjective and does not give an accurate picture of the human psyche, but as a way of self-knowledge it is of great importance.
Self-observation can be incidentally unconscious and purposeful. As a passing little-conscious self-observation is carried out constantly and identically to the functioning of our consciousness. We do something, communicate, relax and, as it were, simultaneously observe ourselves, exercise self-control. As soon as behavior goes beyond the norm set by others or ourselves, we make adjustments to it. In the course of non-purposeful self-observation, however, the process of accumulation of facts is carried out, some of them, due to their significance or repetition, become the object of our consciousness, i.e. discovered, recorded, analyzed.
Purposeful self-observation takes place when we set a goal to discover and fix in ourselves the manifestation of a particular quality, personality trait, behavioral characteristic. To do this, often a person deliberately puts himself in appropriate situations or even creates them himself, conducting a kind of experiment on himself. Good opportunities for such experimentation are created by specially organized psychological trainings that allow you to discover and fix certain properties and qualities in yourself.
From the foregoing, it is clear that both passing and purposeful self-observation make it possible to detect and fix personality traits, character traits, communication features, and much more.
Introspection. What is discovered with the help of introspection is subjected to analysis (dismemberment, splitting), during which a personality trait or behavioral characteristic is divided into its constituent parts, causal relationships are established, and the process of thinking about oneself, about this particular quality, is underway.
Example. You have established or discovered through self-observation and fixation of unpleasant emotions that you are shy. Through introspection, we clarify whether this is really so, i.e. what are the signs of shyness. You can say to yourself: “I am shy, I blush (or turn pale), I cannot clearly answer the questions posed.” But if you dwell only on this, then you may be overwhelmed by unpleasant feelings and experiences, an inferiority complex may arise. However, this is only a preliminary introspection. Further, reflecting on this, one can ask questions: does this always manifest itself? Am I shy when interacting with family and friends? - Not. Am I shy when answering a lesson? - Not. What about talking to strangers? - Yes. With everyone? - No, only with members of the opposite sex. Thus, it turns out that you are shy, but not in general, but with members of the opposite sex. What caused it? You can think that this is either a desire to please, or ignorance of how to behave in different situations, or insecurity that manifests itself in communicating with strangers of the opposite sex, which arose in childhood as a result of ridicule and irony about you. Here we come to the hypothetical truth in our hypothetical example.
It turns out that the reason for the shyness of an adult can be a hidden resentment experienced in childhood, as a result of ridicule over him.
As you can see, the introspection algorithm presented here is quite simple, it only requires attention to yourself, some time and the ability to ask yourself questions correctly and, using life facts, answer them correctly.
Comparing yourself to some "measure". The words "measure" and "scale" are conventional concepts, but they allow you to accurately convey the essence of this method. We constantly compare ourselves with other people, or with ideals, or with accepted standards. The method of comparison makes it possible to build self-esteem as an important component of self-knowledge. Such a comparison is carried out by a scale whose polar poles are opposites, for example: smart - stupid, kind - evil, fair - unfair, attentive - inattentive, hardworking - lazy. And we definitely find our place in this scale.
Example. You say: "I'm smart enough, but not very obliging, a very kind person, but sometimes insecure." Such measurements are formed in you throughout your life, often unconsciously, on the basis of constant comparison of yourself with other people or with generally accepted standards. The measures are different: in the form of a scale, as in this case, or in the form of ranks, when you rank people according to the degree of expression of a particular quality, finding a place in this row for yourself, for example: you can highlight the strong qualities in yourself that give you have the strength to live, work, interact with other people, and weak personality traits, which, on the contrary, make life difficult, bring disharmony, and give rise to negative emotions.
However, in any case, comparing ourselves with some "standard", we give ourselves self-esteem both in general and in terms of individual qualities and behavioral characteristics. This ultimately brings us closer to knowing and building a self-concept. Modeling one's own personality is already a fairly special method of self-knowledge, and it is best to use it, relying, for example, on the help of a psychologist. But, unfortunately, communication with a psychologist is not available to everyone, so the elements of self-modeling can be used independently. Modeling is a display of individual properties and characteristics in symbols, signs, objects of real processes (in this case, one's personality, one's relationships with others).
The simplest modeling technique is, for example, drawing yourself: “I am in the present”, “I am in the future”, “I am like a friend”, “I am like a student” and much more. The drawing facilitates introspection: what am I, what are my traits, qualities, what do I want, what can I do, etc. Such a technique is also effective when symbols (for example, circles) denote I and other significant people, connections are prescribed and comprehended between themselves and others: likes, dislikes, dominance, submission, conflicts, etc. This is how you can designate the qualities of your own personality: some of them are located in the center, some are on the periphery, grouping them according to the degree of proximity to each other (some help to live, build relationships with the environment, others interfere, make the personality weak ). After that, an analysis is carried out in a similar way, there is a process of reflection on oneself, one's behavior and actions. Practice shows that such techniques greatly facilitate the process of self-knowledge, as they make it possible to bring your inner world outside, to look at it as if from the outside.
More complex ways of modeling both the structure of one's personality and one's relationships are possible, for example, with the help of role-playing games and psychodrama, but these methods require the inclusion of other people and can only be implemented under the guidance of an experienced psychologist.
Awareness of opposites refers to the methods that are used at later stages of the process of self-knowledge, when one or another personal characteristic has already been identified, analyzed, evaluated and makes it possible to painlessly carry out acts of self-acceptance. The bottom line is that our personality as a whole, its individual qualities simultaneously have positive and negative sides. Therefore, self-knowledge will be incomplete if we fixate on only one side, perceiving it either as unconditionally positive or as unconditionally negative.
Example. Responsibility is a strong quality. We often talk about the need to cultivate responsibility, we want people to show this quality. But a high level of responsibility or super-responsibility interferes with a person, causes negative experiences, since it is impossible to be responsible everywhere and in all situations. Let's take another property that people usually attribute to negative characteristics - aggressiveness. In many cultures and societies, aggressiveness is not encouraged because of its destructiveness and is regarded as an indicator of the weakness of the individual, its immaturity, as an inability to control oneself, as a lack of restraint and self-control. But aggressiveness is at the same time the ability to “let off steam”, discharge, get rid of the accumulated negative energy, a way of catharsis, purification. Therefore, in terms of education and self-education, it will not be about a person not showing aggression at all, but about mastering acceptable ways of expressing it, for example, it is important to learn how to translate destructive aggression into constructive, to master substitution actions that do not harm other people, animals, things , as well as ways of restraint, self-control, patience, tolerance, etc.
Usually, a person, having discovered and even analyzed this or that quality, feels a sense of satisfaction if it is positive and meets his need to be at the level of his claims, or dissatisfaction if this quality belongs to the category of negative, weak. This approach is one-sided. It is important to find weaknesses in a positive (positive) strong quality, and positive and strengths in a negative one. It is this kind of inner work that often makes it possible to reformulate, replace qualities, as a result of which the property is accepted as one's own property, and its negative consequences are minimized. Let's analyze this situation using the example of shyness.
Example. Some perceive shyness in themselves as a negative quality that interferes with communication with other people, and they can experience this fact very strongly. Experiences, in turn, increase suspicion towards others. Suspicion reinforces shyness. The circle closes. Shyness is not accepted, they begin to fight with it. The struggle in fact comes down to only intensifying experiences. However, it is enough to highlight a strong positive side in shyness, as it can be painlessly accepted. Such a strength can be, for example, sensitivity to the attitude of people, which is an indicator of a fine mental organization and inner world. It is easier to accept sensitivity, subtle mental organization than shyness, although by and large (with the exception of nuances) this is one and the same.
In general, it should be noted that self-acceptance is an important moment of the final part of self-knowledge, it is also the starting point for self-improvement, self-development, acting simultaneously as a stage of self-knowledge, and as a way to achieve unity and harmony of the individual, and as a mechanism for self-development.
The widest and most accessible way of self-knowledge is the knowledge of other people.
Giving characteristics to our relatives, friends, understanding the motives of their behavior, we transfer these characteristics, often unconsciously, to ourselves, comparing ourselves with others. Such a comparison makes it possible to single out the general and the special, to understand one's difference from others and what exactly it is.
Let's turn to the means of self-knowledge.
One common means of self-knowledge is self-reporting, which can take many forms. An oral self-report can be held at the end of the week, month, etc. Here it is important to reproduce the events of the day or week: analyze your behavior in different situations; note all the positives and negatives; reasons that prompted to act one way or another; play models of more spectacular behavior; highlight the qualities and personality traits that manifested themselves in the “reporting” period.
Another form of self-reporting is journaling. The advantages of this form are undoubted, although it requires time and willpower. Firstly, when a person writes down events, intensive work of the mind takes place, especially in those cases when it is necessary to express various experiences in verbal form, as a result of which there is a process of awareness of both events and experiences. Secondly, keeping a diary allows us to record in writing the most unique thing that we have - our life experience, which acts as an important result of our life and teaching. Thirdly, in the diary you can describe your past, thereby becoming more deeply aware of it, discovering the dynamics of the development of your personality. Fourth, the diary allows you to give yourself a self-characterization, where description is combined with analysis.
The following means of self-knowledge are watching movies, performances, reading fiction. It is known that writers, especially classics, are unsurpassed psychologists; moreover, they often raise questions that scientific psychology is only just beginning to solve. Reading fiction, paying attention to the psychological portraits and characteristics of the characters, their actions, relationships with other people, you unwittingly compare yourself with these characters. After watching a movie, a play, reading a work of art, try to ask yourself a number of questions: what are the actions of the main characters? What factors played a leading role in shaping the character of the protagonist? What motivated a person to become this way? Could he have done otherwise? How would I behave in this situation? What does this hero need to do, from my point of view, to be different, to change? Etc. The truth is well known that the more a person is well-read, the more erudite he is, including in matters of self-knowledge.
And, perhaps, the widest opportunities for self-knowledge | provides the study of psychology, in particular its sections such as the psychology of the individual, groups; social Psychology; psychology of cognitive activity. At present, psychology has become a compulsory subject in many secondary and higher educational institutions, which is undoubtedly a positive factor. In this regard, the volume of popular psychological literature has significantly increased, where you can get a lot of useful information, improve your psychological literacy, and expand the scope of self-knowledge.
It is useful to use psychological tests, but it must be borne in mind that it is better to use serious, proven tests, carefully reading the instructions and methods of interpretation. If possible, the interpretation is best done in conjunction with a specialist psychologist. Entertainment tests should be treated accordingly, without taking them seriously.
Special means of self-knowledge include various modern forms of work of a psychologist. In the course of individual counseling, the psychologist builds work with the patient in such a way that he opens up as much as possible, understands his problems, finds internal resources to resolve them, and carries out acts of self-knowledge. Work in a group of socio-psychological training also gives good results. Here the contact is built in such a way that the group, being a kind of mirror in which each of its members is reflected, intensifies the processes of cognition of others and oneself. An indispensable condition for the interaction of the group and the psychologist is the atmosphere of trust and mutual acceptance created by the leader. In psychology, there are a large number of various psychotherapeutic methods and techniques that allow a person not only to know himself more deeply, but also to develop directions for self-development, his own solutions to various life problems and difficulties.
§ 4. Results of self-knowledge
Having considered the procedural aspects of self-knowledge, it is advisable to ask the following questions: what do we get as a result? How can the results of self-knowledge be used in your life?
First of all, on the basis of self-knowledge, knowledge about oneself is born. This knowledge is grouped into constructs according to the principle of proximity, for example, intellectual properties, character traits, emotional qualities, abilities, behavioral characteristics. In turn, these constructs in their totality reveal the image of the Self. Coordination, substantiation of the components of the image of the Self clarify for a person his Self-concept. Naturally, the self-concept cannot be fully realized, since a significant part of it remains in the sphere of the unconscious. Therefore, as we have already noted, self-knowledge cannot be a complete process.
The degree of awareness of the Self-concept largely depends on the person, the development of his ability to self-knowledge, his desire for self-knowledge and the habit of systematically engaging in self-knowledge.
The "bricks" of the image of the Self (knowledge about oneself) can be true and false, adequate and inadequate, relatively complete and fragmentary. If a person discovers in himself a quality that is actually inherent in him, then such knowledge will be true. False knowledge about oneself is the discovery and fixation of a quality that is not developed in a given person.
Not to mention the false, true knowledge about oneself may differ in the degree of adequacy (the relational component is already wedged in here). For example, a person considers himself sociable, contact, but others believe that this person's sociability is not well developed. Finally, the completeness of knowledge about oneself implies a comprehensive knowledge of some quality or personality as a whole. A person, analyzing his qualities, identifies not only content characteristics, but also the degree of their development, areas of application, is aware of limitations, determines strengths and weaknesses. Fragmentation is fragmentary, one-sided, inability to explain, to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
But knowledge about oneself as a whole, individual qualities of a person is not the only result of self-knowledge. Man is not a computer for collecting and processing information, including about himself. Already in the course of self-knowledge, the emotional-value component is included, which at the final stages of self-knowledge begins to play an increasingly prominent role, and together with the content of self-knowledge determines the specifics of its results. Emotional-value relations are diverse and can be expressed in a variety of concepts: sympathy, love, rejection, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, etc.
In psychology, attempts are being made to single out certain pivotal axes of some conditional coordinate system so that one can place one's most diverse emotional experiences on them. Domestic psychologist V. V. Stolin proposes to single out three such axes of self-relationships: “sympathy-dislike”, “respect-disrespect”, “proximity-remoteness”. For example, self-love, combined with respect and a sense of closeness, produces self-love; antipathy, along with disrespect for oneself and a feeling of alienation - hostility, rejection, sometimes self-hatred, etc.
If we try to single out the most general results of self-knowledge from the point of view of an emotional and value attitude towards oneself, then these include a sense of identity, self-acceptance, self-respect, and as a result, a sense of personal competence. All these concepts are closely related to each other and are actively studied and discussed in modern psychology.
Identity. The concept of "identity" was first identified and described by the American psychologist E. Erickson, and it means a sense of personal identity, one's own truth and worth, belonging to the world and other people. The sense of identity is born as a result of not only self-identification, but also the awareness of the continuity of one's existence in time and space, the perception of the fact that others recognize this identity and continuity. Under favorable conditions, this feeling intensifies with age, a person throws bridges between his past and future, between who he wants to be and how he perceives the expectation of others in relation to himself.
If a sense of identity does not arise, or, as we will show below, a person is identified only with a part of himself, alienation of himself from his own personality arises, a mismatch between the substructures of the personality, the personality and its goals, etc. This leads to difficult experiences, crisis phenomena, loss of the meaning of life, despair.
Self-acceptance is closely related to personal identity, includes the recognition of negative and positive, strong and weak in oneself, and expresses a measure of closeness to oneself on the basis of self-identity. Self-acceptance arises on the basis of knowledge about oneself, a detailed analysis of one's strong and weak qualities, their assessment and a positive emotional attitude even to those properties that a person refers to as weak qualities. In the case of non-acceptance of oneself or partial acceptance, there is a desire to fight oneself, to rebuild oneself, which not everyone succeeds in. True self-acceptance does not mean fighting with oneself, but it does not mean that a person does not set goals to be different. True self-acceptance is the basis for self-development and self-improvement.
On the basis of a sense of identity and self-acceptance, self-esteem arises, which expresses the degree of sympathy of the individual for himself. Self-respect is a holistic positive attitude towards oneself as a value; numerous self-assessments are integrated in it. It is clear that in some areas a person evaluates himself highly, in some not so much, but in general he accepts himself, treats himself positively, and is proud of himself and his achievements. It is important that this self-respect be realistic. In the case of low self-esteem, a person ceases to love himself, experiences intrapersonal conflicts, in the case of super-high self-esteem, he is centered only on himself, admires himself, treats others with disdain, shows self-confidence, complacency, egocentrism. It should be noted that self-esteem is formed not only on the basis of a positive attitude towards oneself and the integration of private self-assessments, but also on the comparison of one's claims and real achievements. Even the American psychologist W. James at one time deduced an original formula that connects the claims of the individual and the successes that he achieves. This formula has the following form:
Success
Self-respect = Claims
The higher the success and lower the claims, the higher the self-esteem, and vice versa, the higher the claims and the lower the success, the less a person will respect himself. The paradox, however, is that a person cannot completely abandon claims as a relation to the goals of activity; success and failure are real categories, depending both on the circumstances and on the individual himself. Therefore, a person is forced to vary his claims depending on success and past experience, and a change in claims, in turn, affects success. Hence, in particular cases, we rejoice in our successes or are upset by our failures, sometimes we respect ourselves, sometimes we are not very pleased with ourselves. The main thing is that outside of a specific situation as a whole, we can still treat ourselves positively, perceiving failures as a temporary phenomenon, and if these failures are still persistent, then we would not lose presence of mind, faith in ourselves, could constantly change tactics and strategy of behavior and activity. With realistic ambitions, high self-respect and self-acceptance, with hard work, many problems can be resolved. By and large, such a conviction enables a person to live, overcome obstacles, and achieve results.
Finally, a favorable combination of identity, self-acceptance, self-respect gives rise to a sense of one’s own competence, which is due to knowledge of oneself, one’s capabilities, belief in the meaningfulness and value of one’s own life, confidence that a person is able to independently build his life, determine his choices and his destiny (and everyone has it).
As you can see, the results of self-knowledge are quite extensive and versatile and represent a fusion of knowledge and emotional and value attitude towards oneself: feelings of identity, self-acceptance, self-respect, personal competence. Let us now turn to the analysis of some psychological mechanisms that internally determine the work of this entire complex "kitchen" called self-knowledge.
Chapter 4. IDENTIFICATION AND REFLECTION AS MECHANISMS
SELF-KNOWLEDGE
A mechanism is usually understood as something that ensures the functioning of a system. We have already noted that self-knowledge is one of the mechanisms for the functioning of self-consciousness. At the same time, self-knowledge has its own mechanisms that determine its activity, contribute to the beginning and completion of acts of self-knowledge. These mechanisms include identification and reflection. Identification makes it possible to identify with someone or something, and reflection, on the contrary, to move away from the subject of analysis, to “look” at the whole process, as it were, from the outside. Let us consider these mechanisms in turn.
§ 1. Identification
Identification * in psychology is used in several meanings:
- identification of oneself with another person, other people on the basis of establishing an emotional connection with them;
- self-identification with oneself or various aspects of the Self. For example, identification with a name, gender, role, any of one's qualities;
Identification of something (someone), in this sense, they talk about the identification of a stimulus, the identification of a criminal, the identification of a person with a profession, and much more. From the standpoint of the problem of self-knowledge, the first two aspects are the most important.
Let's dwell on them in more detail.
* Identification (lat.) - identification, equivalence, assimilation, sameness, similarity.
Let's start with identification with another person, other people, a model, which can be a fictional character, a literary character. In turn, two sides are also distinguished here: one, in the course of identification, transfers the qualities of the other onto itself; the second is the transfer of one's qualities to another.
The prerequisites for identification can be found already in the animal world. For example, baby animals mimic the behavior of adults. By imitating them, they learn typical behavioral skills, resulting in a kind of imitative learning. In addition, animals instinctively have many forms of life activity: postures, sounds, actions that need to be recognized (identified) in order for responses to work.
In a person in the initial period of his development, identification also played one of the leading roles. As many historians and psychologists note, during the time of tribal relations, a person did not separate himself from the clan, perceived himself as part of the universal “We”.
This made it possible to cooperate in achieving common goals, strengthened interdependence, and formed what would later be called collective relations. As society develops, such a phenomenon arises as the purposeful transfer of knowledge, skills and abilities from the older generation to the younger, i.e., training. And if there is training, then there is a teacher and students. Initially, the role of the teacher was reduced to the fact that he acted as a kind of model for his students. The latter, identifying with the teacher, repeated his actions, mastered ways of thinking, various sign systems.
Gradually, identification becomes a universal mechanism and begins to determine the direction of personality development, the originality of its self-knowledge. The first identification occurs, of course, with the parents.
Example. Being identified with the mother and father, the child, through imitation, reproduces the actions, deeds, verbal expressions of the parents, thereby learning both the adults themselves and themselves. At first, this process occurs unconsciously, but gradually becomes more and more conscious and purposeful. It is especially active during the crisis of 3 years. If an adult begins to do something, the child immediately expresses a desire to do the same. “I want”, “I will”, “I myself” become the life-affirming formulas of the little man. Over time, the circle of people with whom a person is identified expands significantly: these are relatives, kindergarten teachers, teachers at school, as well as peers, literary heroes, movie characters, etc.
Thus, through identification, a person cognizes another person, through imitation transfers what is known to himself and, discovering what has already been transferred in himself, becomes capable of establishing similarities and differences. Consequently, in the process of identification with another, a person moves from simple imitation to the appropriation and awareness of behavior, qualities, skills, etc., which did not originally belong to him. With age and experience, this process becomes more complex and selective. More often, a person is identified not so much with another person, but with certain of his properties and qualities due to their significance for himself.
And one more thing I would like to stop. Identification from early childhood occurs not only with close people as such, i.e. their actions and behavior, but also with what others say about the child, how they evaluate him. In other words, the child constantly tries on the point of view of others on himself. The process of unconscious inclusion by an individual into his inner world of the views, attitudes, assessments of other people is called "introjection" in psychology. As a result of introjection, these views, opinions, assessments, including those about one's own personality, are perceived as one's own. Over time, as a result of the development of another mechanism - reflection - this process becomes more critical and conscious, when a person acquires the ability to independently build an idea of himself and his personality traits. At the early stages of development, introjection plays one of the leading roles, acting as a result of the corresponding identification.
The other side of identification is the desire to attribute one's own traits, properties, attitudes, attitudes to other people. In a similar way, our many expectations in relation to other people are formed.
Example. Parents form certain expectations in relation to their child and, when he does not justify them, they try to do everything to “squeeze” him into the appropriate framework, considering this the main goal.
If you want to better understand yourself and your deepest needs, if you ask yourself the question: "Who am I, and why did I come to this planet?" If you're interested in trying to see into your future or who you were in a past life, hypnosis can provide you with the perfect opportunity to do all of this and more.
With the help of hypnosis, you can master astral travel in your sleep and the technique of lucid dreaming, improve your memory, learn how to interpret your dreams by deciphering important messages from your subconscious, develop intuition, unleash your creativity, become more self-confident, learn how to manage your well-being and use your inner resources for healing from disease and maintaining good health.
Hypnosis and self-hypnosis is a safe and simple method by which you can change your life for the better. This method has a significant effect due to therapeutic metaphors and hypnotic suggestions that go straight to the subconscious and change negative beliefs into positive ones, which allows you to solve your problems with the least effort.
How to develop charisma?
Charisma is the presence of unique qualities in a person that can charm and attract others. It is generally accepted that you have to be born with charisma. In fact, even the most famous and prominent spiritual and political leaders and artists have painstakingly developed their gift for making millions fall in love with them.
What do you need to know to develop charisma?
In order to understand how a person's charisma develops, it is enough to know the key factors that affect your attractiveness and authority in the eyes of other people. Researchers studying the phenomenon of charisma identify the following factors: expressive body language, a passionate and at the same time friendly voice, enthusiasm, optimism, a sincere smile and confidence. The issues of manifestation and development of charisma continue to be widely studied in the scientific community, however, based on the research already available to date, we can conclude that this gift is mastered by people, like any other skill.
7 mistakes, making which, you scare away prosperity, love, joy, happiness and good luck, and how to fix them.
Mistake 1: You are used to the fact that events in your life happen by themselves, instead of planning, setting goals and achieving them.
Many people feel as if they are floating in the river called life. They work hard, but this does not help them achieve anything significant. If this is about you, then the main reason why this is happening is because you have not taken enough time to think about what you really want from life, and have not set clear goals for yourself. Well, for example, could you go on a trip without thinking about the destination? Probably not!
By setting goals for yourself, you start an important process of thinking about what your ideal future is like. This process is necessary to charge you with powerful energy - motivation in order to turn your dreams into reality.
The causes of adult problems and failures must be sought in childhood
We are not all perfect, and each of us has our flaws. There are those who do not notice their shortcomings, but for some reason the same problems arise in their lives and failures haunt them. Others are aware of their weaknesses, but think that this can no longer be fixed, and they will have to live with it for the rest of their lives. Have you thought about where your adult problems, failures, and relationship difficulties come from? The character of a person is formed in the environment in which he is brought up, and many shortcomings or weaknesses of character are not congenital defects, but patterns of behavior learned by him in childhood. Fortunately, a person is a trainable being, and by doing some work on yourself, you can change for the better at any age and thereby improve your life. But in order to do "work on the mistakes", you need to understand where these mistakes come from.
If you would like to become a more successful, self-confident, successful and charismatic person, if you want to understand the reason why in society you form such relationships with people, and not others, read this article and you will find a lot in it. useful information and interesting food for thought.
If you have a child growing up, then, for sure, you do not want him to turn into an adult loser: an egoist, a bully, or a sissy. In this article, you can get acquainted with the mistakes that parents make when raising children, and maybe even see yourself from the outside and find out how you can correct the situation.
This article will also be of interest to those who are interested in the psychology of relationships in society, and most likely, after reading it, you will better understand your friends and acquaintances, your children and parents, and the reasons why in some situations they behave this way and not otherwise.
positive thinking
In our daily life, with all its worries and problems, it is so easy to get caught up in negative thoughts and emotions. If you feel tired, or exhausted from work, or constantly under stress due to the demands of modern reality, negative thoughts can literally flood your mind. You can feel high at some point, and after a few seconds find that the mood is at zero, and all your energy has gone somewhere for no obvious reason.
Negative thoughts associated with an unpleasant experience in the past or with the expected negative outcome of events in the future take away our energy in the present. The fact is that such thoughts cause negative emotions (fear, anger, longing, etc.), which draw out the vitality and burn the inner energy that every person needs every day for big and small things. Just think, even to get out of bed in the morning you need a certain amount of energy to set the muscles in your body in motion! And what can we say about some more serious aspirations and dreams. The bigger the dream, the more energy it will take to make it a reality.
Associative test "Cube in the desert"
This association test will reveal secrets about your unique personality that may have remained a mystery even to you. The test will show the relationship between the images that will arise from the depths of your subconscious and your inner world.
It is generally accepted that the Cube test came to us from the East and is the personification of ancient wisdom. The test helps decipher the language of the subconscious - the language of mental images, in order to better know yourself and see yourself as the person you really are, and not how you imagine yourself.
Keep in mind that the very first images that come to your mind will be the correct answers to the questions.
Take a pen and a sheet of paper. Before answering the questions, imagine yourself in the given situations. Remember, and better write down the images that arise in you in all details and details.
Do not look at the interpretation of the test before answering the questions, this may distort the result!
Learning a foreign language: the five most common mistakes.
Do you think it is easy to learn a foreign language?
Whether you think it's easy, or you think that not everyone can do it, learning a foreign language will be much easier if you don't fall into the trap of the following common mistakes.
It is a delusion to think that intellectually developed people necessarily achieve better results in language learning.
Of course, intelligence does not hurt, especially if a person from birth has an arsenal of special strategies for learning. However, most language learning skills are essentially habits that can be formed on your own through discipline and mindfulness.
Confidence: How to Build Self-Confidence with Hypnosis
Hypnosis can help boost self-esteem and build self-confidence so you can live a fulfilling and interesting life. Here are some of the situations and emotions associated with them that can be treated with hypnosis:
- Nervousness and insecurity on dates;
- Fear of making commitments;
- Fear of being rejected (outcast);
- social phobia;
- Nervousness during interviews, exams;
- Fear of public speaking.
Although these are all very common situations in which many people experience fear, this fear is always based on a lack of self-confidence and insufficient self-esteem.
Understanding Anger, Managing Anger
Can you learn to control your anger and irritability?
Are you famous for your explosive temper? Are you easily irritated and able to undeservedly offend a person, and then bitterly regret it? Are you easily pissed off and do other people take advantage of it? Is it difficult for you to stop in time? Do you think that you can do nothing with yourself to change this? This will probably surprise you, but learning to control your anger is easier than you think.
Anger is a normal healthy emotion. It is not normal when anger gets out of control and interferes with life. Chronic, uncontrollable anger has serious consequences for relationships, health, and state of mind. We all learn something at some point, then we remember our experience, repeat it, and as a result, it becomes a habit. By understanding the real causes of your anger (also known as psychological triggers) and using hypnosis to remove those triggers, you can learn to express your feelings in a healthier way.
Fear of failure and hypnosis
If there is one thing that can be learned from life experience, it is not to be afraid to tempt fate. If you are in doubt about what to do, ask yourself: "What is the worst thing that could happen?" Failure is the worst thing that can happen, but the best thing that can happen is success.
Why are some people successful as if from birth, they are said to be "born in a shirt", while others are haunted by failures? And how to change your destiny, and is it possible to do this at all? The famous psychotherapist Eric Berne in his best-selling book "People who play games" wrote: "The fate of a person is determined by what happens in his head when he comes into conflict with the outside world. Each person plans his own life. Freedom gives him the strength to carry out his own plans, and strength gives him the freedom to interfere in the plans of others." And one cannot but agree with this, despite the fact that sometimes it is more convenient to be in an illusion and even deceive oneself.
Psychologist consultation. Ability to deal with difficulties. Determination is the key to success.
Most of the tasks and problems that you have ever had to solve have one thing in common: it takes determination to achieve a goal. Even this word "determination" speaks for itself: on the one hand, determination is your willingness to do everything that is necessary to achieve success, and on the other hand " determination" means your belief that your problem solvable.
If you have the determination, you already have everything you need to succeed. After all, all the people who achieved the realization of their dreams had this unique quality and went towards their goal despite all the difficulties.
And difficulties always arise, it is important to be aware of this and be prepared for this. Whether it's diet, dealing with difficulties at work, or dealing with family differences, we all need to deal with something, and without determination, we simply can't do it.
Lucid dreaming
The Secret of Lucid Dreaming
In psychology, the value of dreams is well known for providing important information to the unconscious mind and tracking the progress of the therapeutic process. With successful therapy, one can observe how the patient's dreams change, and the subconscious in the figurative language of the dream speaks of the removal of internal blocks, restrictions and worries as the patient solves some important problems in life. Far fewer people know about lucid dreams and how to use them.
The term "lucid dreaming" describes the phenomenon when you realize that you are dreaming, while continuing to sleep and participate in the dream. By learning to involve your consciousness in the process of dreaming, you can control the events that occur in a dream and change its course.
Why is this needed? There are many possibilities for using this state of altered consciousness. For example, with the help of the lucid dreaming technique, you can get rid of nightmares, train your body physically, make important decisions, unleash your creativity and bring your new abilities to life, or even get a psychotherapeutic effect, say, get rid of fear or phobia.
Body image: conscious and unconscious
Plastic surgery: before and after
Many plastic surgeons are aware of the existence of the following phenomenon: a large number of their patients who have already got rid of some physical defect through surgery continue to behave and feel the same as if they still had this defect. Studying this phenomenon, scientists have concluded that true change is something that originates from within, and only then is reflected outside. Psychologists have developed a concept called "body image".
How do you think other people see you?
Your body image is, in short, your perception of yourself, the way you look, your attractiveness, and your sexuality. This is a mental image of your body that you create within yourself, and it may or may not correspond to how others perceive you. Body image has a powerful effect on personality and largely determines our behavior in society, despite the fact that it is often highly distorted.
The key to success
Success is within you. And if you don't notice it first, no one will ever notice it! Different people have different ideas about success. Success for you can be:
improve relationships with others
expand your circle of friends
find love
organize a successful business, find a decent job
buy the apartment or car of your dreams
improve health, get rid of diseases
to lose weight or, conversely, to get better
make more money
become a singer, actor, artist
get married, find a life partner
to refuse from bad habits
Get rid of a bad habit in 28 days!
Now you will learn a simple but incredibly powerful method by which you can make lasting changes in your habits.
Physiologists have found that, on average, it takes 28 days to change a habit. This means that you need to consciously dedicate 4 weeks of your life to focusing your attention on what changes you want to make. After 4 weeks, you have reached your goal. Isn't it wonderful?
Introduction
The modern market economy is characterized by a high level of competition. Effective management is a prerequisite for the survival and long-term success of a company in a competitive market environment. The effectiveness of the organization as a whole depends on the effective work of managers.
Self-development of a manager is a process of conscious purposeful development of oneself as a leader, which includes self-improvement of one's knowledge, skills, personal and functional qualities, competence in general, ensuring the effectiveness of professional activity. This process is a unity of the following components:
Personal development (personal growth);
intellectual development;
Professional (qualification) development;
Maintaining physical condition (recovery).
In practical terms, a person's professional development is spoken of in cases where the level of his skill does not just somehow change, but increases by an order of magnitude. Why do some people experience these changes and others don't?
Professional self-development is not a mass or even a typical phenomenon, because not everyone has the qualities that are necessary for purposeful work on oneself. Self-development occurs only in those who have the necessary qualities, the main of which are:
Internal motivation for professional tasks, achievement of high results in their solution and self-motivation;
Ability for self-development;
Understanding the content and methodological foundations of self-development.
The effectiveness of self-development of a manager also depends on external factors:
Organizational and socio-psychological conditions of professional activity, in a broader context - from the corporate culture of the enterprise;
Availability for him of modern information systems, as well as readiness to work with them;
Methodical provision of conditions for professional development.
Self-knowledge and self-development
self-development self-awareness management
One of the ancient philosophers owns the words: "Man is the measure of all things." And what is the measure of the man himself? The answer is probably obvious - his deeds and deeds. It is by deeds and deeds that they judge the value of a person, his maturity as a person. If, however, we shift the focus from the results of activity (deeds and actions) to the person himself and ask ourselves one more question: due to what is a person capable of performing actions? (i.e., what is the value of the person himself?), then the answers will no longer be so unambiguous. Someone will rely on talent, others - on the ability to build relationships with other people, and someone will explain success in life and work by favorable circumstances. The psychologist will answer this question as follows: the value of a person lies not only in his deeds and deeds, but also in his ability to constantly work on himself, improve himself, learn more and more deeply his capabilities and make the most of them in his life and work. Indeed, only constant self-knowledge and self-development are tools for discovering one's inexhaustible personal and creative potential, identifying those areas of life where this potential can be fully used. Many cases are known when capable and even talented people, having achieved certain successes, calmed down, stopped working on themselves, as a result of which they even lost what had been achieved earlier.
The assertion of the value of self-knowledge and self-development can be traced in many religious, philosophical, psychological and pedagogical concepts. For example, in the religions of the Ancient East, a coherent, harmonious system of self-knowledge and self-development has been developed, which acts as a means of comprehending the true essence of man, achieving unity with the Universe. In Christianity, self-knowledge is the discovery of the identical beginning in oneself, and self-development is the way of comprehending God through faith and communion with the sacraments of the church. In humanistically oriented psychology and pedagogy, the need for self-actualization is considered as the highest human need, its satisfaction allows him to fully realize himself, to fulfill the mission, the destiny that life and destiny have assigned him. Only in this case, he acquires the meaning of his existence, becomes what he is able to become, and not what others impose on him to be. Each person builds himself and chooses his life path, builds his own relationships with other people, and finally, he makes and corrects mistakes. Therefore, the concepts of "formation", "education", etc., used in science and practice, are rather conventional concepts. The main task is not to directly influence the personality of a person in order to achieve the desired results, but to create the necessary conditions for self-construction, self-formation and self-education, to update the mechanisms of self-knowledge and self-development.
At the same time, every person knows from his own experience that spontaneous self-knowledge and self-development often do not lead to significant results. While he understands himself, while he builds a program of self-improvement, time will pass, many mistakes will be made. Therefore, self-knowledge and self-development require a certain methodology, research and development of special technologies, methods and techniques.
In recent decades, the development of psychology is closely connected with discoveries in the natural sciences and the achievements of philosophical thought. I decided to devote my next article to such an issue as the direction of psychology, which in my student years caused a stupor and forced me to shovel mountains of abstruse textbooks. I hope my article will be interesting for you, and you will learn something useful for yourself.
Spiritual development - three ways of self-improvement
Philosophers of the ancient world claimed: “Seek new knowledge, read wise books and listen to wise people, but treat everything you hear and read, everything you see thoughtfully, passing everything through your ears, through your mind and through your heart. Separate truth from lies and collect this treasure throughout your life. And if you do so, you will find the great wisdom of this world.”
So each of us has three paths of spiritual development:
- Books. In order to achieve harmony, to develop the greatest intellectual potential, one should choose a wide variety of books, and not only of an entertaining nature, but more often of an educational one. History, philosophy, fiction, religion - that's what allows you to develop the mind and soul. Technical sciences contribute to the development of logical thinking, without which a developed personality is also unthinkable. Books on psychology, and not textbooks and manuals, which contain only a concise theory, but practical guides will allow you to lift the veil of the secrets of the world and your own capabilities. Of the psychological works, the most remarkable are the works of Dale Carnegie, in which the author pays special attention to such an important issue as personality development. Dale Carnegie has long been a world classic of applied psychological science.
- Art. “Art is the world. This is an opportunity to speak with the Universal Mind. This is a way of spiritual self-realization and comprehension of the world. The ability to create and perceive art is the highest happiness of man,” said Dante. And it is true: it is high-quality art that can set thoughts in the right way, purify the soul and receive a powerful charge of positive energy, inner strength. A person in art is a thinking person who has his own opinion. So, subtly, imperceptibly, it forms a personality, life attitudes. It is good to accustom yourself to study classical painting and listen to calm beautiful music before going to bed, not necessarily classical music, the music of Paul Mauriat, Vladimir Kosma, Raymond Lefebvre gives no less charge.
- Meditation, yoga. Recently, meditation techniques have become very popular. Indeed, performed correctly, with the arrangement, they are able to bring the body and spirit to a state of harmony, balance, which is especially important among the hustle and bustle of everyday life and the crazy rhythm of a big city, crushing with its dustiness and crowding.
Along with the above, a significant place in such a matter as personal growth is occupied by a psychological attitude, self-hypnosis. But let's dwell on this issue in more detail.
Self-installation and self-knowledge
The power of our faith, the power of our thought is a tremendous power. The way we tune in to the day, to the performance of a particular task, directly affects the final result.
Psychologists recommend that before every serious matter, conduct a small mental auto-training in front of a mirror: “I can. I deserve to win. I will succeed. I believe that! I know it!" It is worth saying these simple words three times, without taking your eyes off your mirror image (preferably looking into your eyes), and there is no trace of past doubts.
Doubt is the cause of most defeats. So, a self-confident person with minimal physical capabilities can win a battle with a real giant who is not self-confident. That is why it is so important to train yourself in this direction and work on yourself will bring a positive result. But do not confuse self-confidence with self-confidence, which no longer leads to anything good and good.
The topic of self-knowledge and self-development is one of the richest, most multifaceted topics, which you can talk about endlessly, each time discovering something new, significant, and interesting.
Now, having studied the basics of this knowledge, choose your own method of personal growth. And I sincerely wish you good luck on this path!
The most important thing in life is working on yourself. Personal self-improvement is a complex work on oneself, one’s “I”, which allows, first of all, to become taller, cleaner, brighter, helps to achieve one’s goals, makes your life happier and easier. Self-improvement is what it is. self-development
personality, and this process is impossible without self-knowledge.
As a child, learning about the world around you, you learned to listen to your desires, learned about opportunities and shortcomings. When we grow up, this process becomes more difficult, many believe that if they graduated from school, and even more so from college, and even work, then they know everything about this life. But let us remember the sages who studied all their lives and did not consider it something shameful. They considered the process of constant replenishment of knowledge necessary. They also worked hard on themselves. This allowed them to find peace, eliminate shortcomings, increase their virtues, that is, form the kind of personality that they wanted to “offer” to the world.
A person who is a strong personality is not afraid to be himself, he does not think that others are talking about him, he is not "on the lead" of prejudice, he is not interested in rumors. He has his own opinion on any account. He will give advice when asked for it, and will not impose his opinion if it does not interest anyone.
Often people think that if they can sit in silence for a few minutes (even hours), learn to meditate or pray, then they have already known themselves. But this is the wrong approach. You can learn to meditate and pray, but at the same time, you can’t move a single step towards knowing yourself.
True self-knowledge does not mean that you will experience peace and a sense of peace at the very beginning. No, at the beginning of knowing yourself as a person, you are more likely to feel shame, remorse, lack of confidence in your abilities. To know yourself, you need to look into the most hidden corners of your soul, and we all once did things that we are afraid to admit even to the closest people. It is difficult to admit them to oneself, especially since each person eventually acquires the habit of justifying himself or pushing out bad memories. But you can’t just get rid of the burden of the past. That is why you need to work on yourself. Otherwise, you will not be able to move forward along the path of personal self-development.
You can choose different techniques that allow you to get rid of negative memories and the consequences that your past carries with it. The most effective are the revision of one's own life (Carlos Castaneda), entry-level meditation (Buddhism) and repentance through confession (Christianity).
Reading the books of Carlos Castaneda, you can try to reconsider your own life. He presents it as the experience of a whole life with a review of all its events. He tells his readers that everything that happens in a person's life is the result of his volitional efforts, and random circumstances do not play any role here. It is necessary to stop demanding special treatment from others and stop feeling sorry for yourself.
Meditation will help to focus on the positive aspects of your life, to bring special harmony into it. It will also help to overcome the adverse impact of the actions that happened in your past on the events that are happening in your life now.
One of the most difficult practices for any person who is far from Christian commandments, who has forgotten the way to the temple, is confession. But if you feel the full power of this rite - confession followed by sincere repentance, then you can simply physically feel how you get rid of the burden of the past, how strength appears for further accomplishments and for moving forward. The power of the past turns out to be powerless over a person who has passed the sacrament of confession and repentance.
self-knowledge it is not easy to implement, but if you yourself, consciously, have passed this stage of your development, then now you can move forward, to the heights of your self-development. And self-development is a constant creative process that helps a person realize his true destiny, and this is the most important thing in this world.
