Features of psychology as a scientific discipline. Reveal the features of psychology as a science

Psychology is a special type of science. The formation of psychology as a science was preceded by the development of two large areas of knowledge: natural sciences and philosophy; Psychology arose at the intersection of these areas, so it has not yet been determined whether psychology should be considered a natural science or a humanities one. From the above, it appears that none of these answers are correct. In the system of human sciences, psychology has a very special place, and for these reasons.

Differences between psychology and other sciences:

1. A person in psychology is simultaneously both a subject and an object of research;

2. the subject of psychology research is the most complex substance known to mankind;

3. unique practical consequences;

4. occupies an intermediate position between philosophical and social sciences;

5. consists of numerous scientific schools and currents that interpret the subject of psychology research in different ways.

1) Firstly, this is the science of the most complex thing so far known to mankind.

After all, the psyche is “a property of highly organized matter.” If we mean the human psyche, then to the words “highly organized matter” we need to add the word “most”: after all, the human brain is the most highly organized matter known to us. It is significant that the outstanding ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle begins his treatise “On the Soul” with the same thought. He believes that, among other knowledge, research about the soul should be given one of the first places, since “it is knowledge about the most sublime and amazing.”

The Armenian poet Paruyr Sevak wrote: “We still don’t even really know why a person laughs, only a person, and no one else.”

2) Secondly, in it the object and subject of knowledge seem to merge. Since a person explores his consciousness with the help of consciousness.

To explain this, I will use one comparison. Here a man is born. First, while in infancy, he is not aware and does not remember himself. However, its development is proceeding at a rapid pace. His physical and mental abilities are formed; he learns to walk, see, understand, speak. With the help of these abilities he understands the world; begins to act in it; his circle of contacts is expanding. And then, gradually, from the depths of childhood, a completely special feeling comes to him and gradually grows - the feeling of his own “I”. Somewhere in adolescence it begins to take on conscious forms. Questions arise: “Who am I? What am I?”, and later, “Why me?” Those. mental abilities and functions, which until now have served the child as a means for mastering the external world - physical and social, are turned to self-knowledge; they themselves become the subject of comprehension and awareness.

Exactly the same process can be traced on the scale of all humanity. In primitive society, the main forces of people were spent on the struggle for existence, on mastering the outside world. People made fire, hunted wild animals, fought with neighboring tribes, and gained their first knowledge about nature.

Humanity of that period, like a baby, does not remember itself. The strength and capabilities of humanity gradually grew. Thanks to their psychic abilities, people created material and spiritual culture; writing, art, and science appeared. And then the moment came when a person asked himself questions: what are these forces that give him the opportunity to create, explore and subjugate the world, what is the nature of his mind, what laws does his inner, spiritual life obey?

This moment was the birth of the self-awareness of humanity, that is, the birth of psychological knowledge. An event that once happened can be briefly expressed as follows: if previously a person’s thought was directed to external world, then now she turned on herself. Man dared to begin to explore thinking itself with the help of thinking.

Thus, in psychology, a person’s scientific consciousness becomes his scientific self-consciousness.

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

American psychologist Frank Beach rightly noted: “ The Greatest Challenge nowadays is not to know and use surrounding nature“, but to understand the mechanisms of your own behavior and learn to manage it.”

After all, to know something means to master this “something”, to learn to control it. Learning to manage your mental processes, functions, and abilities is, of course, a daunting task. At the same time, it must be especially emphasized that, by getting to know oneself, a person will change himself.

Psychology has already accumulated many facts showing how a person’s new knowledge about himself makes him different: it changes his relationships, goals, his states and experiences. If we move again to the scale of all humanity, then we can say that psychology is a science that not only cognizes, but also constructs and creates a person.

4) Psychology consists of numerous scientific schools and movements that interpret the subject of psychology research in different ways;

5) Occupies an intermediate position between philosophical and social sciences.

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Question

CHAPTER 1. PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

SUBJECT AND TASKS OF PSYCHOLOGY

1.1.1. Psychology - the science of the psyche

Literally translated, psychology is the science of the soul. (psyche- soul, logos- concept, doctrine), thus psychology is the science of the psyche and mental phenomena.

What is the psyche? Material scientists define it as a special form of reflection of the surrounding world, characteristic of highly organized matter.

1 Reflection is understood as the ability of material objects, in the process of interaction with other objects, to reproduce in their changes some features and traits of the phenomena affecting them.
It should be noted here that the psyche arises where there is a rather complexly organized nervous system, which means that mental phenomena are characteristic not only of humans, but also of animals. Moreover, science does not exclude the possibility that, over time, quite complex computer systems may be artificially created in which psychic phenomena may arise.

The peculiarity of psychology that determines its difficulties is immateriality of mental phenomena, which makes them inaccessible to direct study. The psyche cannot be seen, heard, tasted or touched. Neither a super-powerful microscope nor the most sensitive methods of chemical analysis will help in studying it. We can study the psyche only indirectly, drawing certain conclusions about mental phenomena only from the external, material signs of their manifestations. This is the complexity of psychology as a science, but this is what makes it fascinating.

Psychology– the science of the psyche and mental phenomena.

Psyche– a special form of reflection of the surrounding world, characteristic of highly organized matter (humans and animals). For a person who has highest form psyche - consciousness, another definition of psyche is given.

Human psyche- This subjective image the objective world that arises in the process of human interaction with his environment and other people.

Features of psychology as a science

The differences between psychology and other sciences are shown in Fig. 1.1.

Rice. 1.1. Features of psychology as a science

Question

Any science has as its basis some everyday, empirical experience of people. For example, physics relies on what we acquire in everyday life.

life knowledge about the movement and fall of bodies, about friction and energy, about light, sound, heat and much more.

Mathematics also comes from ideas about numbers, shapes, quantitative relationships, which begin to form already in preschool age.

But the situation is different with psychology. Each of us has a stock of everyday psychological knowledge. There are even outstanding everyday psychologists. Of course,

great writers, as well as some (though not all) representatives of professions involving constant communication with people: teachers, doctors, clergy

etc. But, I repeat, even an ordinary person has certain psychological knowledge. 06 this can be judged by the fact that each person, to some extent, can understand another, influence his behavior, predict his actions, take into account his individual characteristics, help him, etc.

Let's think about the question: how does everyday psychological knowledge differ from scientific knowledge? I will tell you five such differences.

First: everyday psychological knowledge, concrete; they are confined to specific situations, specific people, specific tasks. They say that waiters and taxi drivers do too good psychologists. But in what sense, to solve what problems? As we know, they are often quite pragmatic. The child also solves specific pragmatic problems by behaving in one way with his mother, in another with his father, and again in a completely different way with his grandmother. In each specific case, he knows exactly how to behave in order to achieve the desired goal. But we can hardly expect from him the same insight in relation to other people's grandmothers or mothers. So, everyday psychological knowledge is characterized by specificity, limitation of tasks, situations and persons to which it applies.

Scientific psychology, like any science, strives for generalizations. To do this, she uses scientific concepts. Concept development is one of the essential functions Sciences. IN scientific concepts the most essential properties of objects and phenomena are reflected, general connections and ratios. Scientific concepts are clearly defined, correlated with each other, and linked into laws. For example, in physics, thanks to the introduction of the concept of force, I. Newton was able to describe thousands of different specific cases of motion and mechanical interaction of bodies using the three laws of mechanics.

The same thing happens in psychology. You can describe a person for a very long time, listing in everyday terms his qualities, character traits, actions, relationships with other people. Scientific psychology seeks and finds such generalizing concepts that not only economize descriptions, but also allow us to see behind the conglomerate of particulars the general trends and patterns of personality development and its individual characteristics. One feature of scientific psychological concepts should be noted: they often coincide with everyday ones in their external form, i.e., simply put, they are expressed in the same words. However, the internal content and meanings of these words are usually different. Everyday terms are usually more vague and ambiguous.

Once high school students were asked to answer in writing the question: what is personality? The answers varied widely, with one student responding like this:<Это то, что следует проверить по документам>. I will not talk now about how the concept<личность>is defined in scientific psychology - this complex issue, and we will specifically deal with it later, in one of the last lectures. I will only say that this definition is very different from the one proposed by the mentioned schoolboy.

The second difference between everyday psychological knowledge is that it is intuitive in nature. This is due to the special way they are obtained: they are acquired through practical trials and adjustments.

This method is especially clearly visible in children. I have already mentioned their good psychological intuition. How is it achieved? Through daily and even hourly tests to which they subject adults and which the latter are not always aware of. And in the course of these tests, children discover who can<вить веревки>, and from whom it is impossible.

Often teachers and trainers find effective ways to educate, teach, and train by following the same path: experimenting and vigilantly noticing the slightest positive results, that is, in a certain sense<идя на ощупь>. They often turn to psychologists with a request to explain the psychological meaning of the techniques they have found.

In contrast, scientific psychological knowledge is rational and fully conscious. The usual way is to put forward verbally formulated hypotheses and test the logically following consequences from them.

The third difference lies in the methods of knowledge transfer and even in the very possibility of its transfer. In the field of practical psychology, this possibility is very limited. This directly follows from the two previous features of everyday psychological experience - its concrete and intuitive nature. The profound psychologist F. M. Dostoevsky expressed his intuition in the works he wrote, we read them all - after that did we become equally insightful psychologists? Is life experience passed on from the older generation to the younger? As a rule, with great difficulty and to a very small extent. Eternal problem<отцов и детей>is precisely that children cannot and do not even want to adopt the experience of their fathers. To every new generation, to every young man have to do it myself<набивать шишки>to gain this experience.

At the same time, in science, knowledge is accumulated and transmitted with greater, so to speak, efficiency. Someone long ago compared representatives of science to pygmies who stand on the shoulders of giants - outstanding scientists of the past. They may be much smaller in stature, but they see further than giants because they stand on their shoulders. The accumulation and transmission of scientific knowledge is possible due to the fact that this knowledge is crystallized in concepts and laws. They are recorded in scientific literature and transmitted using verbal means, that is, speech and language, which is what we, in fact, began to do today.

The fourfold difference lies in the methods of obtaining knowledge in the fields of everyday and scientific psychology. In everyday psychology, we are forced to limit ourselves to observations and reflections. In scientific psychology, experiment is added to these methods.

The essence of the experimental method is that the researcher does not wait for a combination of circumstances as a result of which the phenomenon of interest to him arises, but causes this phenomenon himself, creating the appropriate conditions. Then he purposefully varies these conditions in order to identify the patterns to which this phenomenon obeys. With the introduction of the experimental method into psychology (the opening of the first experimental laboratory at the end of the last century), psychology, as I have already said, took shape into an independent science.

Finally, the fifth difference, and at the same time advantage, of scientific psychology is that it has extensive, varied and sometimes unique factual material, which is not available in its entirety to any bearer of everyday psychology. This material is accumulated and comprehended, including in special industries psychological science, such as developmental psychology, educational psychology, pathological and neuropsychology, occupational psychology and engineering psychology, social psychology, zoopsychology, etc.

In these areas, dealing with various stages and Levels of mental development of animals and humans, with mental defects and diseases, with unusual working conditions - conditions of stress, information overload or, conversely, monotony and information hunger etc., - the psychologist not only expands the range of his research tasks, but also encounters new unexpected phenomena. After all, examining the operation of a mechanism under conditions of development, breakdown or functional overload from different angles highlights its structure and organization.

Let me give you a short example. You, of course, know that in Zagorsk we have a special boarding school for deaf-blind children. These are children who have no hearing, no vision, no vision and, of course, initially no speech. Main<канал>, through which they can come into contact with the outside world, is the sense of touch.

And through this extremely narrow channel, under conditions of special training, they begin to understand the world, people and themselves! This process, especially at the beginning, goes very

slowly, it unfolds in time and in many details can be seen as if through<временную лупу>(the term used to describe this phenomenon by famous Soviet scientists A.I. Meshcheryakov and E.V. Ilyenkov). It is obvious that in the case of development of normal healthy child a lot passes too quickly, spontaneously and unnoticed. Thus, assistance to children in the conditions of a cruel experiment that nature has placed on them, assistance organized by psychologists together with defectologists, simultaneously turns into the most important means of understanding general psychological patterns - development

perception, thinking, personality.

So, to summarize, we can say that the development of special branches of psychology is a Method (method with capital letters) general psychology. Of course, everyday psychology lacks such a method.

Now that we have become convinced of a number of advantages of scientific psychology over everyday psychology, it is appropriate to pose the question: what position should scientific psychologists take in relation to the bearers of everyday psychology?

Suppose you graduated from university and became educated psychologists. Imagine yourself in this state. Now imagine next to you

some sage, not necessarily living today, some ancient Greek philosopher, for example.

Features of psychology as a science

The first reason why it is necessary to highlight psychology in the system of sciences is that it studies the most complex thing known to mankind - the psyche. The psyche is “highly organized matter” and if we apply this concept to a person, then we can add the word “most” to it. The human brain is the highest organized matter known to mankind.

Secondly, psychology is a unique science in it the subject and object of knowledge merge.

To make it clearer to you how this happens, let's look at a simple example. A person after birth in infancy has absolutely no memory of himself, but over time he develops at a very rapid pace. The child develops both physiological and mental abilities. Children gradually learn to speak, walk, and gradually begin to interact with the world around them.

Then, with the process of its development, the child comes to a sense of his own “I” and in adolescence this feeling begins to take on more conscious forms. The child begins to ask various questions: “Who am I?” What am I? , and here’s what’s interesting: all those abilities that he used to understand the world around him, he now uses to understand himself, that is, the person himself becomes the subject of comprehension and self-awareness.

This trend can be traced throughout human history. At first, man learned to interact with the outside world, all his strength was thrown into the struggle for existence and knowledge of the outside world.

Humanity has created writing, culture, art, science, etc. And over time, humanity, like a child, began to ask questions about what laws their minds follow, how their psyche functions, what gives them the strength to explore and create in the world. This moment can be called the moment of the birth of the self-awareness of humanity, or to put it differently psychological knowledge.

From all this we can conclude that the peculiarity of psychology as a science is that the tasks of psychology are the most complex when compared with other sciences. Only in this science the thought of man, which was previously directed towards the world, is directed over time towards itself.

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

Psychology constantly accumulates more and more new facts in the process of a person’s self-knowledge. After all, to know something means to learn to manage it. Moreover, the most interesting thing is that by getting to know oneself, a person can change himself. Always new knowledge of a person about himself makes him different, changes his relationships, goals, worldview. Looking at this, we can say with confidence that the practical results that psychology gives us are of quite high quality and valuable.

Thus, this science is not only cognizing, but also constructing and creating man, and only for this reason can it be classified as a special type.

psychology in the system of sciences. place The connection with the natural sciences is quite obvious. The most obvious connection with biological sciences. Psychology borrowed some general biological theoretical principles to substantiate the laws of mental development. Related industries have emerged at the intersections with many biological disciplines. It is more difficult to see the connection between psychology and physics. Psychology in certain respects and directions reflects the worldview that is determined by the main discoveries in the field of the physical picture of the world. A number of psychological theories include such concepts as “energy”, “field”. The connection between psychology and chemistry similar, but in some cases more specific. There are areas regarding which chemical, physiological, and psychological theories have been put forward (for example, memory mechanisms). There is psychopharmacology - a discipline that studies the patterns of the effects of drugs on the psyche. A number of psychological trends are focused on understanding psychology as a natural science.

However, the connection between psychology and the humanities is no less strong. WITH history Psychology is brought together by interest in the peculiarities of the mental appearance of a person in different historical eras and in different cultures. WITH sociology psychology is connected through the study of patterns of interaction between the individual and his social environment. Political psychology studies the characteristics of individuals and groups due to their inclusion in political life. Art history and psychology find common ground in approaches to problems artistic creativity and the personality of the artist, the perception of works of art. Please note: if in relation to the fundamental natural sciences psychology mainly borrows from them some explanatory principles, then in relation to the humanities the situation is different: psychology not only “takes”, but also offers its own ways of understanding phenomena. We have not touched upon the connection between psychology and philosophy. Although this connection is extremely important. For psychology, certain philosophical concepts act as methodological basis. In addition, in a number of cases, psychological theories developed into philosophical directions. Direct connection with pedagogy. Psychology tries to identify the psychological mechanisms underlying pedagogical interactions, study patterns pedagogical process, determine the conditions for optimal organization. Thus, the place of psychology in the system of other sciences can be determined in the following way: if the basic sciences are represented in the form of a tetrahedron, and mathematics, philosophy, biology, and technology are taken as its vertices, then the place of psychology will be in the middle, because both historically and topically it is connected with all major areas of knowledge. Those. psychology – is a science that occupies an intermediate position between natural science and the humanities, using natural scientific methods to study problems traditionally related to humanities.

Everyday and scientific psychology connections and differences

Everyday psychology is not a science, but simply views, ideas, beliefs and knowledge about the psyche, generalizing the everyday experience of people, as well as life... Scientific and everyday psychology are not antagonists, they cooperate,... an everyday and scientific psychologist are often one and the same person

Main branches of psychological knowledge

With the development of psychology as a science, with the use of psychological knowledge in the most various fields human activity certain branches of this knowledge gradually emerged and became independent.

There are general psychology, developmental psychology, pedagogical psychology, social psychology, genetic psychology, engineering psychology, military psychology, medical psychology, legal psychology, sports psychology, animal psychology, labor psychology, art, and pathopsychology. In connection with space flights, a special branch of psychology arose - space psychology.

Each of these branches of psychological knowledge has certain subjects and methods for studying the uniqueness of mental activity, depending on working conditions in a particular area of ​​human life and activity and their requirements for the moral and psychological qualities of the individual. However, all branches of psychological knowledge require knowledge of general psychology, which studies methodological issues of psychology, the nature of psychological phenomena, patterns of development and course of cognitive psychological processes, individual characteristics of the human psyche, his feelings and will, temperament, character and abilities. Heated floor heating, connection of heated floors. Profitable terms. .

In the era of scientific, technological and social progress Special attention of psychologists is attracted to problems of labor psychology and social psychology.

Psychology, theoretical and practical

Today, these two areas are significantly separated, but more and more people are appearing who understand the need to merge theoretical and... The main stages in the development of ideas about the subject of psychology Stages in the development of psychology:

The formation of domestic psychology

Later, at the turn of the century, experimental studies were continued by such scientists as A.F. Lazursky, N.N. Lange, G.I. Chelpanov. A. F. Lazursky worked a lot on personality issues, especially the study... Having started a conversation about the experiment, we cannot help but mention the name of N. N. Lange - one of the founders of the experimental...

During this period, several scientific schools and directions emerged. Thus, the famous psychological school of D. N. Uznadze was formed in Georgia. Representatives of this trend adopted the concept of attitude and widely used it to analyze many psychological phenomena.

Another scientific direction is associated with the name of L. S. Vygotsky, the creator of the cultural-historical theory of the development of the human psyche. Scientists working at Moscow State University mainly belonged to this direction. The scope of their scientific interests included issues of general and educational psychology.

The third school was created by S. L. Rubinstein, who at one time directed scientific research at the Department of Psychology at Moscow State University and at the Institute of General and Educational Psychology. S. L. Rubinstein is credited with writing the first fundamental psychological work in our country, “Fundamentals of General Psychology.”

At the same time, such world-famous psychologists as B. M. Teplov and A. A. Smirnov lived and worked. The latter is known for his works in the psychology of memory, and B. M. Teplov laid the scientific foundations for the study of temperament and the psychology of creative activity.

In more later years the main modern psychological schools. These are schools of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) State University and Moscow State University. The creation of the first school is associated with the name of B. G. Ananyev, who created the Faculty of Psychology at Leningrad State University.

A.V. Zaporozhets, together with D.B. Elkonin, laid the foundations of child psychology. Elkonin is known as the author of a textbook on child psychology, the theory of children's play, and the concept of periodization of age-related development.

A significant contribution to the development of educational psychology was made by P. Ya. Galperin, the creator of the theory of systematic (stage-by-stage) formation of mental actions.

Thanks to the research of A. R. Luria, domestic psychology has made significant progress in the field of neurophysiological foundations of memory and thinking. Luria's works laid the scientific and psychological basis for modern medical psychology.

The works of psychophysiologist E. N. Sokolov became world famous, who together with his employees created modern theory color vision; a theory that explains human perception of the shape of objects; neurophysiological theory of memory, etc.

Domestic psychology initially developed as materialistic, so it became widespread experimental methods.

Brief description of the features of the study of mental phenomena in foreign psychology

PSYCHOANALYSIS AS ONE OF THE DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY

The formation of Freud's views went through two main stages. At the 1st stage, it was developed dynamic model psyche, including the idea of ​​three... However, very few followers of 3. Freud agreed with him that... E. Erikson, using a large amount of empirical material, proved the sociocultural conditioning of the human psyche, as opposed to...

Gestalt psychology.

The primary data of psychology are integral structures (gestalts), which in principle cannot be derived from the components that form them. Gestalts are inherent... Gestalt (German Gestalt - form, image, structure) - spatially visual... Gestalt psychology arose from studies of perception. The focus of her attention is the characteristic tendency of the psyche to...

Psychology as the science of the soul.

The first stage is characterized as the stage of the science of the soul. During this period of development of psychology, the human psyche was considered as something... It was believed that the soul has the form subtle body or a creature that lives in all human organs. Later, due to...

What are behavioral facts?

secondly, individual movements and gestures, such as bowing, nodding, nudging, squeezing a hand, knocking with a fist, etc.; thirdly, actions as larger acts of behavior that have a certain... Based on the specified criteria, 16 types of behavior have been identified.

Perceptual behavior is the desire to cope with information overload through perceptual categorization, as a result of which the variety of influencing information is classified, simplified and can lead to both a clearer understanding of what is being assessed and the loss of significant information. Defensive behavior is any real or imagined actions of psychological defense (rejection, substitution, projection, regression) that allow you to create and maintain a positive image of the “I”, a person’s positive opinion about himself. Inductive behavior is people’s perception and evaluation of themselves based on the interpretation of the meaning of their own actions.

Habitual behavior – satisfaction from positive reinforcement– creates a greater likelihood of reproducing familiar behaviors in appropriate situations. Utilitarian behavior is a person’s desire to decide practical problem with maximum achievement(subjective experience of the greatest possible success). Role behavior in accordance with role requirements, circumstances that force a person to take some actions (even if they do not coincide with personal aspirations). Scripted behavior - a person is an executor of many rules of acceptable “decent” behavior corresponding to his status in a given culture and society. Modeling behavior – variations of people’s behavior in small and large groups(infection, imitation, suggestion), but difficult to control both by the person himself and by other people. Balancing behavior - when a person has both contradictory friends friend's opinions, assessments, attitudes and tries to “reconcile” them, coordinate them by changing his assessments, claims, and memories. Liberating behavior - a person seeks to “protect himself” (physically or his reputation) from real or apparent “negative conditions of existence” (preserve the stability of his inner emotional state through active external actions: avoiding possible failures, abandoning environments of unattractive goals, compliance. Attributive behavior is the active elimination of contradictions between real behavior and a subjective system of opinions, weakening and eliminating cognitive dissonance between desires, thoughts and real actions, bringing them to mutual correspondence. Expressive behavior - in those cases, areas in which a person has achieved a high level of mastery and satisfaction from a “job well done”, while maintaining a stable high self-esteem, the constant reproduction of which is the main regulator of everyday social behavior. Autonomous behavior - when a sense of freedom of choice (even the illusion of such choice and control of one’s actions) creates a person’s willingness to overcome any barriers to achieving a goal ( high level internal “locus of control” of one’s actions, the idea of ​​oneself as an active “doer”, and not an executor of someone’s orders, someone’s will). Affirmative behavior is experiencing your actions as the accomplishment of your plans with maximum use of your own internal conditions. Exploratory behavior is the desire for novelty in the physical and social environment, the willingness to “tolerate” information uncertainty, and the “reduction” of various external information to a form to which previously mastered processing techniques are applicable. Empathic behavior - taking into account, a large coverage of sensory information underlying interpersonal interaction between people, the ability to feel and understand emotional and state of mind another man .

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

Any human action can be:

1. the result of a response to external influence (reactive behavior) or

2. manifestation of some internal source activity, internal needs, desires (active behavior).

The purpose of a person’s action can be:

1. maintaining a familiar, adaptive state (stability) or

2. acquisition of new quality, new results (development).

An action can end when it reaches:

1. desired internal effect (opinion, assessment, feeling, mood) or

2. desired external effect, external result (achieving agreement, understanding, desired result, etc.).

A person's action includes three components:

1. the action itself,

3. feelings experienced when performing a certain action. Outwardly similar actions may be different, since thoughts and feelings were different.

Methods of psychology.

Methods of psychology– the main ways and techniques of scientific testimony of mental phenomena and their patterns.

In psychology, it is customary to distinguish four groups of methods for studying the psyche.

Organizational methods: comparative, comparative-age, longitudinal and complex.

Comparative age method - comparison of individual characteristics of people by age in order to identify the dynamics of the studied mental... Longitudinal method - repeated examinations of the same individuals over the course of... An integrated method involves the implementation of research programs in which representatives of different...

Empirical methods: observation and introspection; experimental methods; psychodiagnostic methods (tests, questionnaires, questionnaires, sociometric method, interviews and conversations); analysis of the process and products of activity; biographical methods.

Data processing methods: quantitative (statistical) and qualitative (differentiation of material into groups, options, description of typical cases, description of exceptions, etc.).

Interpretive methods: genetic and structural.

The structural method establishes “horizontal” structural connections between all studied personality characteristics. Any psychological research has several general stages.…Material processing includes next stages:

General classification methods empirical research in psychology.

Observation is one of the main empirical methods psychology, which consists in the deliberate, systematic and purposeful perception of mental phenomena in order to study their specific changes in certain conditions and search for the meaning of these phenomena, which is not directly given.

A description of phenomena based on observation is scientific if the psychological understanding contained in it of the internal side of the observed act provides a logical explanation for its external manifestation.

Only exteriorized (external) manifestations of verbal and nonverbal behavior:

· pantomime (posture, gait, gestures, poses, etc.);

· facial expressions (facial expression, expressiveness, etc.);

· speech (silence, talkativeness, verbosity, laconism; stylistic features, content and culture of speech; intonation richness, etc.);

· behavior towards other people (position in the team and attitude towards this, method of establishing contact, nature of communication, style of communication, position in communication, etc.);

· the presence of contradictions in behavior (demonstration of different, opposite in meaning, ways of behavior in similar situations);

· behavioral manifestations of attitude towards oneself (towards one’s appearance, shortcomings, advantages, opportunities, one’s personal belongings);

psychological behavior significant situations(task completion, conflict);

· behavior in the main activity (work).

Factors that determine the difficulty of knowing the internal through observing the external are:

· polysemy of connections between subjective mental reality and its external manifestation;

· multi-level, hierarchical structure mental phenomena;

· unique character and originality of mental phenomena.

There is the following classification of types of observation

Depending on the observer's position:

· open – observation, in which the observed are aware of their role as the object of study;

· hidden- an observation about which the subjects are not informed, carried out unnoticed by them.

Depending on the activity of the observer:

· passive– observation without any direction;

· active– observation of specific phenomena, lack of interference in the observed process;

· laboratory (experimental)– observation in artificial created conditions. natural (field)– observation of objects in their natural conditions Everyday life and activities.

Depending on the frequency:

· random– observation not planned in advance, carried out due to unexpected circumstances;

· systematic– deliberate observation, carried out according to a premeditated plan and, as a rule, according to a predetermined schedule;

· included– observation, in which the observer is part of the group under study and studies it as if from the inside;

not included– observation from the outside, without interaction of the observer with the object of study. This type of observation, in essence, is objective (external) observation.

By order:

· random – observation not planned in advance, carried out due to unexpected circumstances;

· solid– constant monitoring of the object without interruption. It is usually used for short-term study or when it is necessary to obtain the most complete information about the dynamics of the phenomena being studied;

· selective– observation carried out at separate time intervals chosen by the researcher at his own discretion;

· systematic- deliberate observation, carried out according to a premeditated plan and, as a rule, according to a predetermined schedule.

5. From the point of view of the chronological organization of observation:

· longitudinal– observation over a long period of time;

· periodic– observation for certain periods

time kov;

· single– description of an individual case.

Features of the application of the observation method

The wealth of information collected (analysis of both verbal information and actions, movements, deeds)

Subjectivity (results largely depend on experience, scientific views, qualifications, interests, performance of the researcher)

Maintaining the naturalness of operating conditions

It is acceptable to use a variety of technical means

It is not necessary to obtain the preliminary consent of the subjects

Significant time consumption due to observer passivity

Inability to control the situation, interfere with the course of events without distorting them

Requirements for recording data in the observation diary:

adequate transmission of the meaning of observed phenomena;

accuracy and figurativeness of formulations;

mandatory description of the situation (background, context) in which the observed behavior took place.

Experiment

Rice. 6. Classification of types of experiment: a – depending on the conditions of the experiment; b – depending on... mental phenomena

Questionnaire

1. Determining the content of the questionnaire. This could be a list of questions about facts of life, interests, motives, assessments, relationships. 2. Selecting the type of questions. Questions are divided into open, closed and... 3. Determining the number and order of questions asked.

Test method

A test is a method of psychological measurement, consisting of a series of short tasks and aimed at diagnosing the individual expression of properties and... Depending on the area that is subject to diagnosis, they distinguish... the following types tests:

Expert assessment method

One of the most important points in using this method is the choice of experts. Experts can be persons who know the subject well and...

Method of analyzing the process and products of activity

Biographical method

Characteristics of the main methods. Observation is systematic and purposeful recording psychological facts in natural conditions...

Main types of psychological tests.

I. Personality tests (features of intelligence): a) tests of action (targeted personality tests): · tests of the structure of intelligence by R. Amthauer (methodology for studying the characteristics of thinking);

A natural experiment, or field experiment, is a type of experiment that is carried out under the conditions of the subject’s normal life activities with a minimum of experimenter intervention in this process.

This is an experiment carried out in ordinary life, when there seems to be no experiment and no experimenter.

This type of psychological experiment is used, for example, in many studies in social psychology, and is often carried out in pilot mode, a trial version.

Capabilities and limitations of the method

When conducting such an experiment, it remains possible, if ethical and organizational considerations allow, to leave the subject in the dark about his role and participation in the experiment, which has the advantage that the naturalness of the subject’s behavior will not be affected by the fact of the research.

Limitations of the method - the experimenter's ability to control additional variables is limited.

Types and forms of natural experiment

· Introductory tasks. In its simplest form, it is widely used in the form of introductory problems. Objectives... · Formative experiment

Control over additional variables

To control additional variables, the researcher should:

· Clarification of all irrelevant factors that can be identified

· If possible, keep these factors constant during the experiment

· Tracking changes in irrelevant factors during the experiment

Examples of psychological laboratory experiments

The Milgram Experiment This experiment was presented to participants as a study of the effects of pain on memory. The experiment involved an experimenter, a subject, and an actor playing the role of another subject. It was stated that one of the participants (the “student”) should memorize pairs of words from a long list until he remembers each pair, and the other (the “teacher”) should test the memory of the first and punish him for each mistake with an increasingly stronger electric shock.

At the beginning of the experiment, the roles of teacher and student were distributed between the subject and the actor “by lot” using folded sheets of paper with the words “teacher” and “student”, and the subject always got the role of teacher. After this, the “student” was tied to a chair with electrodes. Both the “student” and the “teacher” received a “demonstration” shock of 45 V.

The “teacher” went into another room, began giving the “student” simple memorization tasks, and with each mistake of the “student” he pressed a button that supposedly punished the “student” with an electric shock (in fact, the actor playing the “student” was only pretending to do so). that gets hit). Starting with 45 V, the “teacher” had to increase the voltage by 15 V up to 450 V with each new error.

At “150 volts,” the “student” actor began to demand that the experiment be stopped, but the experimenter told the “teacher”: “The experiment must be continued. Please continue." As the tension increased, the actor acted out increasingly intense discomfort, then severe pain, and finally yelled for the experiment to be stopped. If the subject showed hesitation, the experimenter assured him that he took full responsibility for both the experiment and the safety of the “student” and that the experiment should continue. At the same time, however, the experimenter did not threaten the doubting “teachers” in any way and did not promise any reward for participating in this experiment.

Formative experiment

Such an experiment usually involves two groups: an experimental group and a control group. Participants in the experimental group are offered a certain... Formative psychological and pedagogical experiment as a method appeared thanks to...

Advantages and disadvantages of the observation method.

There are certain requirements for organizing and conducting scientific observation: – drawing up an observation plan; – recording the results (most often in the form of an observation diary);

Leontyev identified the instinctive, perceptual, intellectual stage of the psyche.

Irritability and sensitivity.

2. Change in physiological state whole organism, its organs, tissues or cells under the influence of external influences, called... Irritability refers to the fundamental properties of living systems: its presence is... SENSITIVITY (English sensitivity).

The simplest forms of animal behavior

Taxis Single-celled creatures at the lower end of the animal ladder have more complex behavior. Such, for example, is Paramecium (Fig. 1.5), a tiny organism barely visible to the naked eye (its length is 0.25 mm), living in ponds and puddles almost all over the globe. It consists of a single cell equipped with a “mouth” and a primitive digestive system, and on its surface there are scattered areas that are sensitive to light, heat, touch and various chemical factors. The paramecium is covered with cilia, thanks to the wave-like beating of which, directed backwards, the cell moves forward. Paramecia feeds on bacteria, which it digests, extracting nutrients and throwing the rest into the water. With the help of very simple automatic movements, the paramecium is directed towards anything that looks like food and moves away from any unpleasant stimuli, in particular from too much bright light. This general and, moreover, mechanical orientation of the body in relation to the source of irritation is called taxis. Taxis are usually characteristic of unicellular organisms that lack a nervous system, but are also observed in some species with a higher organization.

As we have just seen, taxis represent reactions of the organism as a whole to certain stimuli emanating from the environment. These primitive forms of behavior disappear as we move up the evolutionary ladder. Their place is taken by more localized and more accurate reactions - reflexes; These are already mechanisms associated with the development of the nervous system. In the process of evolution, unicellular organisms are followed by multicellular organisms, in which different groups of cells perform different functions. A good example is the jellyfish, whose body consists of an umbrella-shaped gelatinous mass. Jellyfish can be found swimming in the sea (Fig. 1.6). They do not yet have a brain, but they already have a primitive nervous system, consisting of nerve cells connected to each other like a fishing net. If you touch the surface of a jellyfish in some place, the irritation quickly spreads throughout the network, and as a result of muscle contraction, the animal moves away from the irritant. For example, when a crab tries to grab a jellyfish with its claws, the nervous network reacts to this irritation and the animal swims away from the source of danger. Instinctive behavior and individual skills.

. Instinctive behavior is a species-specific behavior that is equally directed in all representatives of the same animal species. As a rule, instinctive behavior is determined by biological expediency and consists in ensuring the possibility of existence (survival) of a specific representative or species as a whole. But it would not be entirely correct to say that the behavior of an animal is only genetically determined and does not change throughout life.

The conditions in which an animal finds itself are constantly changing, so individual adaptation exists in all animals.

A feature of animal behavior in the early stages of development is that it is always stimulated and controlled separate properties of objects, affecting the animal.
Firstly, what explains the incentive effect of certain properties of objects and, secondly, why is any animal behavior possible at all? The answer to the first question is simple: the vibration of the web is consistently associated with the absorption and assimilation of food by the spider - an insect caught in the web. Therefore, such behavior of animals has a biological meaning, since it is associated with satisfaction biological needs, in this case with the absorption of food.

It should be noted that the biological meaning of the influence of objects that excite and direct the behavior of an animal is not constant, but changes and develops depending on the specific living conditions of the animal and the characteristics of the environment.
This stage of development, characterized by the fact that the behavior of an animal is stimulated by individual properties of an object due to the fact that they are associated with the implementation of the basic vital functions of animals, is called stage of elementary behavior. Respectively this level mental development is called stage of the elementary sensory psyche.
individual skills.
Now it is necessary to answer the question, why is this behavior possible in animals? Such animal behavior is possible due to the existence of certain organs, which are the material basis of the psyche. At the stage of elementary behavior in the development of animals, it is observed differentiation of sensory organs. Mollusks are at a higher stage of development. Due to the arching of the plates, the light-sensitive organs acquire a spherical shape, due to which the mollusks are able to perceive the movement of surrounding objects.

In animals that have reached the stage of elementary behavior in their development, the organs of movement are more developed (which is associated with the need to pursue prey) and a special organ for communication and coordination of behavioral processes - nervous system. Initially, it is a network of fibers running in different directions and directly connecting the sensitive cells located on the surface of the body with the contractile tissue of the animal - reticular nervous system.
In the process of further development of the nervous system, the separation of central nerve nodes, or ganglia, is observed. This level of development of the nervous system is called nodal nervous system. The appearance of nodes in the nervous system is associated with the formation of segments of the animal’s body. In this case, a complication of the animal’s behavior is observed. Firstly, it is characteristic that chain behavior which is a chain of reactions to separate, sequential stimuli. Describing this type of behavior, Leontyev A.N. gives as an example some insects that lay eggs in the cocoons of other species. First, the insect goes to the cocoon under the influence sense of smell. Then, when approaching the cocoon, the insect acts visually. Finally, the deposition itself takes place depending on whether the larva is mobile in the cocoon, which is revealed by direct contact with the cocoon, i.e. based touch.

INTELLIGENCE STAGE

Thanks to experiments carried out by Pavlov's colleagues and his followers, today we have a clear idea of ​​the level of development of animals... Firstly, if operations were formed at a lower stage of development... Secondly, if we repeat the experiment, the found operation, despite the fact that it was performed only 1 time, it will be...

Language and tool activity of animals.

Another important feature of animal language is the dependence of the alphabet of signals on the situation. Many animals have only 10-20 sounds in their alphabet... Language of postures and body movements. The language of postures and... The language of smells plays an important role in the exchange of information. The most important element The language of animals is the language of smell. Many species have special scent…

General concept of the psyche

Psychology studies that property of the brain, which consists in the mental reflection of material reality, as a result of which the formation... Mental images ensure the achievement of certain goals, and their content... Consciousness does not photographically reflect the phenomena of reality. It reveals objective internal communications between…

Kinds mental processes

Cognitive

· Feeling

· Performance

· Imagination

· Attention

Related to higher mental functions:

· Perception

· Thinking

Emotional

· Feelings

· Affects

Strong-willed

· Struggle of motives

· Decision-making

· Goal setting

Classification of mental phenomena

Groups of mental phenomena:

1) Mental processes (the most short-term);

2) Mental states (more extended);

Mental properties (most stable).

Cognitive mental processes: 1. Processes of sensory cognition; 2. Processes of logical (rational) cognition.

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Psychology and esoterics

Psychology is a science in which the object and subject of knowledge merge, the merging of the subject and object of psychology is explained by the fact that a person, with the help of the psyche, cognizes the world around him and then, on the basis of this, his own psyche, the influence of the world on it 3. The peculiarity of psychology lies in its unique practical consequences unique practical consequences psychology is that the results of the research of this science are quite significant for people both objectively and subjectively because they explain the reasons for all actions, actions and behavior...

Features of psychology as a science

V.G. Krysko

1. Psychology the science of the most complex phenomena known to mankind (psychology is one of the most complex sciences, since the carrier of the psyche is the brain, the most complex organ in structure and patterns of activity, and the psychological phenomena themselves are very multifaceted and most of the laws of the psyche are up to has not yet been studied)

2. Psychology a science in which the object and subject of knowledge merge (the merging of the subject and object of psychology is explained by the fact that a person, with the help of the psyche, cognizes the world around him, and then, on the basis of this, his own psyche, the influence of the world on it)

3. The peculiarity of psychology lies in its unique practical consequences (the unique practical consequences of psychology are that the results of the study of this science are quite significant for people both objectively and subjectively, since they explain the reasons for all human actions, deeds and behavior)

4. Psychology one of the most advanced sciences(the ever-increasing role and importance of predicting people’s behavior and actions)

Yu.B. Gippenreiter

Firstly, this the science of the most complex things known to mankind. After all psyche is “a property of highly organized matter”. If we keep in mind the human psyche, then to the words “highly organized matter” we need to add the word “most”: after allThe human brain is the most highly organized matter known to us.

Secondly, psychology is in a special position because it seems tothe object and subject of cognition merge.

Third, The peculiarity of psychology lies in its unique practical consequences. Practical results from the development of psychology should become not only incommensurably more significant than the results of any other science, but also qualitatively different. After all, to know something means to master this “something”, to learn to control it. Learning to control your mental processes, functions, and abilities is, of course, a more ambitious task than, for example, space exploration. At the same time, it must be especially emphasized that,by getting to know oneself, a person will change himself. (Psychology is a science that not only cognizes, but also constructs and creates a person).

The relationship between scientific and everyday psychology

V.G. Krysko

Everyday psychologythis is psychological knowledge gleaned by people from everyday life Peculiarities	PSYCHOLOGY	Scientific psychologythis is stable psychological knowledge obtained in the process of theoretical and experimental study of the psyche of people and animals
Specificity , i.e. attachment to specific situations, people, tasks of human activity	Comparative characteristics	Generality , i.e. meaningfulness of a particular psychological phenomenon based on the specificity of its manifestation in many people, in many conditions, in relation to many tasks of human activity
Intuitiveness , indicates a lack of awareness of the origin of knowledge and patterns of mental functioning			Rationality , indicates that scientific psychological knowledge has been maximally researched and understood
Limited knowledge, insufficiency of a person’s ideas about the specifics and areas of functioning of specific psychological phenomena			Knowledge is unlimited, i.e. can be used by many people
Based on observation, everyday psychological knowledge has not been subjected to scientific comprehension			Based on experiment, scientific psychological knowledge has been researched in different conditions
Limited in materials, a person with certain worldly skills psychological observations, cannot compare them with similar ones from other people			Unlimited in materials, scientific psychological knowledge reflects both all human experience and the conditions in which it accumulates

IN AND. Slobodchikov, E.I. Isaev

	Everyday	Scientific
An object	Specific people	Various manifestations of the human psyche
Level of generalization of knowledge	Knowledge is confined to specific situations and people, and therefore is little generalized and situational. Knowledge is often expressed figuratively and metaphorically.	Knowledge is generalized; it records facts and patterns of behavior, communication, interaction of people, and their inner life. Knowledge is expressed in concepts that indicate essential and permanent properties human psychology
Methods of obtaining	Direct observation of other people and self-observation	Using an arsenal of methods: targeted observation, experiment, tests
Features of the received data	The data is unsystematized, fragmented, and often contradicts each other.	The presence of extensive, varied material reflecting the psychological aspects of the multifaceted human life. The material is generalized, systematized, presented in logically consistent constructions, concepts, and theories.
Ways and methods of knowledge transfer	The possibilities of transmitting ordinary psychological knowledge from one person to another are very limited. The rule applies here perfectly: everyone learns from their own experience and from their mistakes. On the one hand, there are difficulties in verbalizing individual psychological experience, expressing subjective experiences in language to convey them, and on the other hand, there is a certain kind of mistrust in the truth of the information being reported.	Scientific and psychological knowledge has been verified and organized in scientific theories and described in scientific works. There are socially developed and fixed ways and forms of replenishment and preservation, reproduction and transfer of scientific and psychological knowledge; research institutes, educational institutions, scientific literature, etc.

Yu.B. Gippenreiter

Everyday	PSYCHOLOGY	Scientific
Knowledge is specific, related to specific situations, people, tasks	Comparative characteristics everyday and scientific psychology	Scientific psychology strives for generalizations and uses scientific concepts
Everyday psychological knowledge is intuitive in nature (acquired through practical trials)			Scientific psychological knowledge is rational and fully conscious (hypotheses are put forward and the logically following consequences are tested)
Methods of transferring knowledge in the field of everyday psychology are very limited			In scientific psychology, knowledge is accumulated and transmitted due to its crystallization in concepts and laws
Methods of acquiring knowledge observation and reflection			Methods of obtaining knowledge observation, reflection and experiment, which allows you not to wait for a combination of circumstances, but makes it possible to cause a phenomenon yourself and create the appropriate conditions
Limited in materials			Scientific psychology has extensive, varied, unique factual material that is inaccessible in its entirety to the bearer of everyday psychology

HER. Sokolova

Everyday and scientific psychology differ on a number of grounds.

1. Subject everyday psychological knowledge can be any person who needs to take into account the psychology of another person or his own for some purpose. The subject of scientific knowledge of the reality studied in psychological science can be either separate representative scientific community, and the scientific community itself as a whole. That is why it is so important for any science, and especially psychology, to know the laws of life of various scientific communities, one of the typical forms of which is a scientific school.

2. Object The knowledge of an everyday psychologist comes, as a rule, from other people and himself in everyday communication situations. Therefore, the knowledge obtained in them is obviously limited to these everyday conditions and familiar objects. When an everyday psychologist finds himself in some extreme situations, he is surprised to discover that he knew nothing either about himself or about other people, because now they behave somehow differently (it is no coincidence folk wisdom states that “friends are made in adversity”). Or, say, an everyday psychologist has never encountered a mentally ill person, and therefore no everyday experience will help him in practical work in the clinic.

On the contrary, training in scientific psychology involves familiarity with the behavior of people (including those with developmental disabilities) in a wide variety of situations, including extreme ones, and not only people, but also animals with mental health. At the same time, in scientific psychology the object of research is also texts various kinds, representing “traces” of human activity, an objectified form of the existence of his thoughts, feelings, etc. (memoirs, letters, human-created literary texts, paintings, etc.). By mastering the methods of scientific psychology, a person has the opportunity to acquire knowledge about any object of psychological research.

3. Accordingly, they differ andmethods of obtaining knowledgein everyday and scientific psychology. An everyday psychologist can use introspection and observation of the behavior of other people to solve his problems.

When solving the problems of scientific psychology, professional psychologists do not limit themselves to these methods, but also use various types of psychological experiments, studying the products of human activity and other methods.

4. Using observation and introspection, the everyday psychologist comes to the appropriate generalizations the experience gained, expressed in the form of so-called everyday concepts. They are specific and situational, vaguely defined and not connected into a system; moreover, in everyday generalizations, directly opposite truths can coexist with each other, and the everyday psychologist does not always notice this (the same proverbs of the Russian people record this inconsistency of everyday knowledge: “Without difficulty you can’t even pull a fish out of the pond”, “Patience and work will grind everything down” and “Work is not a wolf, it won’t run into the forest”). An everyday psychologist may try to use a generalization created in his own experience in other situations and fail. Because the created generalization is initially limited by the experience of the everyday psychologist and its transfer to other situations, different from the original one, is very limited or even impossible.

On the contrary, scientific-psychological knowledge is ideally presented in the form of more or less unified system scientific concepts, distinguished by a more rigorous and higher level of generalization not only of the experience of acquaintances to this psychologist specific situations, but also the work experience of other psychologists. And therefore, working, for example, in a family consultation, a professional practicing psychologist will never give his client specific advice that has already led to success once; he will first of all analyze the situation and highlight what is essential in it, which either justifies the use this technique, or prohibits its use and gives grounds to use something else (after all, the psychologist has knowledge about psychological laws, which in real specific situations can manifest themselves in exactly the opposite way depending on the conditions). Not always, of course, scientific-psychological knowledge in reality meets the requirement of creating a system of scientific concepts proper (due to the specifics of the subject and the historical path of psychology, it still contains many everyday concepts or concepts close to them), but it is necessary to strive to solve this problem. L.S. Vygotsky, as a methodologist of psychological science, always highly valued conceptual work in psychology itself, because concepts are not words, they are generalized ways of understanding the world and managing it.

5. The knowledge of an everyday psychologist differs from scientific concepts proper not only in the level of generalization; they are more subjective, permeated emotional attitude towards the knowable; At the same time, a person in everyday life, as a rule, does not ask the question of how exactly he received this or that knowledge (most often this happens intuitively).

On the contrary, scientific psychology always strives for strictly rational knowledge of the reality being studied (realizing how difficult this is in psychology) and constantly discusses the principles and methods of scientific knowledge.

1. Finally, the knowledge gained in everyday psychology is almost impossible to transfer to another person precisely because of its intuitiveness, emotionality and apparent unsystematic nature (you can, however, learn something from the experience of a good everyday psychologist by staying close to him for a long time, looking closely at the techniques he uses and etc.).

On the contrary, the system of scientific-psychological knowledge is characterized by a constant desire to organize the acquired knowledge and methods of its comprehension and creationbroadcast methods(transfer) this knowledge to new generations of researchers. This happens in different ways, the main one of which is the organization of special training in psychological disciplines in relevant educational institutions. This requires the professional work of psychology teachers, which also has its own characteristics (the researcher may not always be good teacher and vice versa). However, these two areas of work of professional psychologists (research and teaching) are related to each other no less closely than psychological science and practice.

To summarize the above, let us present them for clarity in the form of a small table, dividing everyday and scientific psychology on a number of grounds.

Comparison of everyday and scientific psychology

No.	Breeding grounds	Everyday psychology	Scientific psychology
	Subject of knowledge	Any person who needs, for practical purposes, knowledge of the psychology of another person or his own	Science community
	Object of knowledge	The person himself and his environment in everyday situations	A wide variety of human (and animal) activities, including in situations that are unique and not encountered in everyday life, as well as texts various kinds, representing the results of past human activities
	Specific methods for obtaining psychological knowledge	Self-observation and observation	Observation (in its various forms), experiment, as well as other scientific methods of obtaining knowledge
	The degree of generalization of knowledge and forms of their representation (presentation)	Knowledge is specific, situational, generalization is minimal, carried out at the pre-conceptual level	Knowledge is presented in a generalized and abstract form, the desire for strict scientific concepts is expressed to the limit
	Methods of acquiring experience and the degree of its subjectivity	Experience is most often acquired in an intuitive, irrational way and is characterized by obvious subjectivity.	The desire for rational, conscious, objective knowledge with reflection on the means used is clearly expressed
	Methods of transferring (broadcasting) experience	Transfer is difficult and is carried out in direct contact with the bearer of experience	The transfer of knowledge is possible by appropriating what has been accumulated throughout the history of psychology in various concepts of scientific and psychological experience

It may seem that scientific psychology can give more to everyday psychology than vice versa. This is not entirely true: scientific psychology can give a lot, for example, descriptions of the “dialectics of the soul” in fiction, representation of human psychology in works of fine art created by everyday psychologists, as well as memoirs, letters, diaries, oral stories, etc. historians, lawyers, teachers, politicians and representatives of other professions dealing with man in general and the peculiarities of his psychology in particular. Scientific psychology must try to express in scientific terms the fullness of reality. mental life different people, a more or less adequate description of which was approached by great everyday psychologists: writers, poets, artists, historians, priests, wise elders, etc.

The world of psychic phenomena

Psychic phenomena

Mental processesmental phenomena that reveal the basic way of existence of the mental Cognitive: sensation, perception, memory, thinking, speech, imagination, attention Regulatory: emotions, feelings, will

Mental propertiesmental phenomena denoting stable manifestations of the psyche: temperament, character, abilities, orientation

Mental conditionsmental phenomena that determine the uniqueness of various mental processes

V.G. Krysko

Mental phenomena

a set of phenomena and processes that reflect the basic content of the human psyche, studied by psychology as a specific branch of knowledge

Mental processes These are mental phenomena that provide a person’s primary reflection and awareness of the influences of the surrounding reality. Mental processes are divided into: Cognitive (sensation, perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking, speech) Emotional-volitional (emotions, feelings, will).		Mental properties These are the most stable and constantly manifested personality traits, providing a certain qualitative and quantitative level of behavior and activity typical for a given person. Mental properties include: temperament, character, abilities, orientation.
	Mental states This a certain level performance and quality of functioning of the human psyche, characteristic of him in every this moment time. TO mental states include activity, passivity, vigor, fatigue, apathy, etc.
Psychic formations These are mental phenomena that are formed in the process of a person acquiring vital and professional experience, the content of which includes a special combination of knowledge, skills and abilities.		Socio-psychological phenomena and processes These are psychological phenomena caused by the interaction, communication and mutual influence of people on each other and their belonging to certain social communities.

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Firstly, this is the science of the most complex thing so far known to mankind. After all, the psyche is “a property of highly organized matter”: after all, the human brain is the most highly organized matter known to us.

Secondly, psychology is in a special position because it seems to merge the object and subject of knowledge (who knows and what they know). Humanity in primitive society, like a baby, does not remember itself. The strength and capabilities of humanity gradually grew. Thanks to their psychic abilities, people created material and spiritual culture; writing, art, and science appeared. And then the moment came when a person asked himself questions: what are these forces that give him the opportunity to create, explore and subjugate the world, what is the nature of his mind, what laws does his inner, spiritual life obey? This moment was the birth of the self-awareness of humanity, that is, the birth of psychological knowledge. An event that once happened can be briefly expressed as follows: if previously a person’s thought was directed to the outside world, now it has turned to itself. Man dared to begin to explore thinking itself with the help of thinking. So, the tasks of psychology are incomparably more complex than the tasks of any other science, because only in it thought takes a turn on itself. Only in it a person's scientific consciousness becomes his scientific self-consciousness.

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

Practical results from the development of psychology should become not only incomparably more significant than the results of any other science, but also qualitatively different. After all, to know something means to master this “something”, to learn to control it. Learning to control your mental processes, functions, and abilities is, of course, a more ambitious task than, for example, space exploration. At the same time, it must be especially emphasized that, by getting to know oneself, a person will change himself. We can say that psychology is a science that not only cognizes, but also constructs and creates a person.

The outstanding ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in his treatise “On the Soul”. claims that among other knowledge, research about the soul should be given one of the first places, since “it is knowledge about the most sublime and amazing”

Branches of psychology

(structure of modern psychology)

Currently, psychology is a complex, branched system of sciences. Each branch of science included in this system is a relatively independent developing direction, having its own subject and using its own methods.

On modern stage psychology is a number of scientific disciplines at different stages of formation related to various areas practices. How to classify (structure) these numerous branches of psychology?

The main basic branch of psychology is general psychology.

Currently, psychology is a very extensive system of sciences. Can be divided into fundamental and applied, general and special.

Fundamental The , or basic, branches of psychological science are of general importance for understanding and explaining the psychology and behavior of people. These areas are designed to provide knowledge that is equally necessary for everyone who is interested in psychology and human behavior (general psychology, psychophysiology, social psychology, developmental psychology, etc.). Due to such universality, this knowledge is sometimes combined with the term “general psychology.”

Applied name branches of science that strive to obtain new knowledge, but priority is given to the study of mental phenomena in a natural setting and the use of what is obtained in fundamental science knowledge in specific situations and conditions (ergonomics, advertising psychology, management psychology, organizational psychology, legal, etc.).

Variety applied research advocates practical psychology decides on a scientific basis specific tasks, arising in real life and the activities of people and teams, and obtaining new knowledge is, as a rule, an optional application. Practical psychology - special kind activities of a psychologist, which involves obtaining psychological information about specific person or a group of people, analysis of this information based on knowledge obtained in fundamental or applied psychology, development (planning) and implementation of influence on them in order to change or measure their behavior.

General industries pose and solve problems that are equally important for the development of all scientific areas without exception, and special- highlight issues of particular interest for the knowledge of one or more groups of phenomena.

General psychology(Fig. 2) explores individual, highlighting cognitive processes and personality in it. Cognitive processes include sensation, perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking and speech. With the help of these processes, a person receives and processes information about the world, and they also participate in the formation and transformation of knowledge. Personality contains properties that determine a person’s deeds and actions. These are emotions, abilities, dispositions, attitudes, motivation, temperament, character and will.

Special branches of psychology(Fig. 3), closely related to the theory and practice of teaching and raising children, include genetic psychology, psychophysiology, differential psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, educational psychology, medical psychology, pathopsychology, legal psychology, psychodiagnostics and psychotherapy.

Genetic psychology studies the hereditary mechanisms of the psyche and behavior, their dependence on the genotype.

Differential psychology identifies and describes the individual differences of people, their prerequisites and the process of formation.

In developmental psychology these differences are presented by age. This branch of psychology also studies the changes that occur during the transition from one age to another. Genetic, differential and developmental psychology taken together are scientific basis to understand the laws of child mental development.

Social Psychology studies human relationships, phenomena that arise in the process of communication and interaction of people with each other in various types of groups, in particular in the family, school, student and teaching teams. Such knowledge is necessary for psychologically correct organization of education.

Pedagogical psychology combines all information related to training and education. Special attention here it turns to the justification and development of methods of training and education of people of different ages.

The following three branches of psychology are - medical and pathopsychology, as well as psychotherapy- deal with deviations from the norm in the human psyche and behavior. The task of these branches of psychological science is to explain the causes of possible mental disorders and justify methods of their prevention and treatment. Such knowledge is necessary where the teacher deals with so-called difficult, including pedagogically neglected, children or people in need of psychological help.

Legal psychology considers a person’s assimilation of legal norms and rules of behavior and is also needed for education.

Psychodiagnostics poses and solves problems psychological assessment level of development of children and their differentiation.

If we base the classification of branches of psychology on its principles, we obtain the following classification of branches.

1. According to the principle of activity: labor psychology, military, pedagogical, sports, engineering, clinical, legal, arts, aviation, science, space, etc.

Psychology of work and studies psychological characteristics labor activity human, psychological aspects of scientific organization of labor (SLO). The task of occupational psychology includes research professional characteristics of a person, patterns of development of labor skills, clarification of the influence of the production environment on the worker, the design and location of instruments and machines, signaling devices, etc.

Pedagogical psychology has as its subject the study of the psychological laws of human training and education. She studies the formation of students' thinking, studies the problems of managing the process of mastering techniques and skills intellectual activity, finds out psychological factors influencing the success of the learning process, the relationship between teacher and student and relationships in student team, individual psychological differences of students, psychological characteristics of educational work with children who exhibit deviations in mental development, psychological specifics of working with adults in the process of their education, etc. Sections or narrow areas of educational psychology include: psychology of learning, psychology of education, teacher psychology, psychology of educational work with abnormal children.

Medical psychology – studies the psychological aspects of the doctor’s activities and the patient’s behavior. It is divided into neuropsychology, which studies the relationship of mental phenomena with physiological brain structures; psychopharmacology, which studies the effect of drugs on human mental activity; psychotherapy that studies and uses tools mental impact to treat a patient; psychoprophylaxis and mental hygiene, developing a system of measures to ensure people’s mental health.

Legal psychology– examines psychological issues related to the implementation of the legal system. It is divided into forensic psychology, which studies the mental characteristics of the behavior of participants in criminal proceedings (psychology of testimony, characteristics of the behavior of the accused, psychological requirements for interrogation, etc.); criminal psychology, dealing with psychological problems of behavior and the formation of the criminal’s personality, motives for crime, etc.; penitentiary or correctional labor psychology, which studies the psychology of a prisoner in a correctional labor colony, psychological problems education by methods of persuasion and coercion, etc.

Military psychology explores human behavior in combat conditions, the psychological aspects of the relationship between superiors and subordinates, methods of psychological propaganda, counter-propaganda, psychological problems of controlling military equipment, etc.

Psychology of sports examines the psychological characteristics of the personality and activities of athletes, the conditions and means of their psychological preparation, the psychological parameters of the athlete’s training and mobilization readiness, and the psychological factors associated with the organization and conduct of competitions.

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

Recently, the development of problems in psychology has begun, scientific creativity(peculiarities creative personality, stimulating factors creative activity, the role of intuition in implementation scientific discovery etc.)

A unique branch of the psychology of scientific creativity is heuristic, the tasks of which include not only the study of the patterns of creative (heuristic) activity, but also the development of methods for managing heuristic processes.

Psychology of artistic creativity(in the field of literature and art) and aesthetic education– an area whose significance is beyond doubt, but still poorly studied.

2. According to the principle of development: Age, comparative, zoopsychology, ethology, pathopsychology, psychogenetics, etc.

Age-related psychology, studying the ontogenesis of various mental processes and psychological qualities of the individual developing person, branches into child psychology, adolescent psychology, youth psychology, adult psychology, gerontopsychology. Developmental psychology studies age-related characteristics of mental processes, age-related opportunities for acquiring knowledge, factors of personality development, etc. One of the central problems of developmental psychology - the problem of learning and mental development and their interdependence - is widely discussed by psychologists who are busy finding reliable criteria for mental development and determining the conditions under which effective mental development is achieved during the learning process.