Psychology: what you need to know about it. Psychology as a science about man Social psychology as a science

June 17 2011

There cannot be a complete and reliable picture of the world without knowledge about man. Human nature is studied comprehensively: philosophy, sociology, physiology, medicine, pedagogy. Science, philosophy, art, technology have joined forces to reveal the hidden secrets of the psyche and spiritual life of man. Gradually, disparate ideas about the essence and nature of mental phenomena developed into a separate area of ​​scientific psychological knowledge. According to one of the founders of modern psychology, G. Ebbinghaus, psychology has a long past, but a very short history.

It became an independent science only in the 19th century, when its research methods were improved, experiments were introduced, and its own conceptual apparatus and subject of research were formed.

The subject of psychology is the psyche. Psyche is one of the fundamental concepts of psychological science. The psyche is a property of the brain that provides animals and humans with the ability to reflect the influences of the outside world. Despite the fact that the psyche is inextricably linked with the brain, it is relatively autonomous from the world and the body and, as such, represents the way in which the whole organism, animal or human, functions. We will consider human psychology. The human psyche is diverse in its forms: these are feelings, thoughts, experiences, intentions - everything that makes up the inner world of the individual, which manifests itself in actions and deeds, in relationships with other people.

The entire diverse content of the psyche appears as a set of components such as mental processes, mental states, mental properties and mental formations.

Mental processes provide a person’s primary reflection and awareness of the influences of the surrounding world. As a rule, they have a clear beginning, a definite course, a pronounced end and last from a fraction of a second to tens of minutes. Mental processes usually include cognitive processes. With the direct participation of such mental phenomena as sensations and perceptions, attention and imagination, memory and thinking, he knows himself and the reality around him. There are also emotional (the emergence of feelings, their dynamics depending on the satisfaction of needs, etc.) and volitional processes.

Mental states are a certain level of performance and quality of functioning of the human psyche, characteristic of him at any given moment in time. Mental states include manifestations of feelings, attention, will, thinking, etc., for example, states of concentration or distraction, confidence or uncertainty, cheerfulness or depression, efficiency or fatigue. Mental states are longer lasting than mental processes and can last for several hours, days, weeks.

Mental properties are the most stable and constantly manifested personality traits that provide a certain qualitative and quantitative level of behavior and activity typical for a given person. Mental properties determine the possibility of a person’s self-realization and the specifics of his attitude towards people, mobilize him for purposeful actions. They are inherent in a person over a fairly long period of his life. Mental properties of a person include the qualities of the mind; stable features of her volitional sphere, fixed in character, temperament, abilities; properties of feelings; needs and motives, etc.

Mental formations are mental phenomena that are formed in the process of a person acquiring life and professional experience; this is what becomes the result of the work of the human psyche: acquired knowledge, skills, habits, etc.

The intellectual and moral development of a person and his professional activities are impossible without everyday communication between people. Social and psychological phenomena and processes are determined by the interaction, communication and mutual influence of people on each other.

Considering all of the above, we can give a definition of psychology. Psychology is the science of the psyche. She studies the participation of the psyche in a person’s cognition of the world around him, in his activities and communication, the individual characteristics of the human psyche and the properties of his personality. Teachers, doctors, lawyers, managers, politicians, engineers, and businessmen turn to psychology as one of the most important human sciences. Psychology helps people understand their inner state and navigate complex processes of interpersonal interaction and communication.

The tasks of psychology as a science are to reveal the objective laws of the functioning of mental phenomena, analyze their formation and development, study the structural features and physiological mechanisms of mental phenomena. Responding to the demands of modern social and economic progress, which involves the improvement of people, psychology in the last decade has begun to occupy a leading position among other branches of scientific knowledge.

1) Psychology of relationships

1.1 The founder of this theory in Russia was A.F. Lazursky.

In his opinion, attitude is a system-forming factor in the structure of personality. Characterizing it as a complex whole, he divided its manifestations into two types:

Endopsychic manifestations (internal mechanism of the human personality) are the totality of all interconnected and interdependent mental elements and functions.

Exopsychic manifestations (the relationship of the individual to external objects, to the environment), i.e. this is nature, material things, other people, social groups, science, art, religion, the soul of the person himself.

The foundation of personality, according to Lazursky, are two types of relationships:

The relationship between the individual and the environment and

The relationship between its endo- and exopsychic manifestations.

These relationships go through different levels of development, and their relationships are different at different levels. The main direction of development is increasing the importance of exopsychic characteristics.

According to Lazursky, the classification of personalities should be not only psychological, but also psychosocial in the broad sense of the word, that is, reflect not only the subjective characteristics of a given person, but also his worldview and his social “physiognomy.”

1.2 V. N. Myasishchev made a great contribution to the development of the concept of the psychology of relationships.

The starting point for personality psychology, according to Myasishchev, is the characterization of the essence of a person as an ensemble of social relations, that is, social relations in this case act as a system of connections between the individual and reality.

Social relations exist in two forms

Objective social relations

Subjective social relations (personal relations, psychological, internal, life relations) constitute the core of personality.

Psychological relationships constitute a system-forming quality of personality. In their developed form, they represent an integral system of individual, selective, conscious connections with various aspects of objective reality. A person’s relationships determine the driving forces of the individual, expressed in the goals and objectives that he sets for himself.

In the system of relationships, the central place is occupied by a person’s relationship to society, community, team, group, and to himself. The most important and meaningful relationships develop in interpersonal interactions. To understand personality, the nature of the prevailing relationships, varying in degree or level of development, is important.

The levels of development of the relationship system are determined:

The level of personality relationships: ideological, concrete personal and vital;

The comparative role of social-collectivistic and individual-egoistic tendencies in relationships with people;

Selectively positive or negative nature of relationships to certain objects in one form or another of activity.

For these reasons, three levels are distinguished in the development of a system of relations:

1) the lower level corresponds to the primitive, vital, situationally determined nature of relationships (drives),

2) the average level corresponds to the predominance of relations of a specific personal nature, personal sympathy, antipathy, direct utilitarian interest or calculation,

3) the highest level corresponds to the predominance of ideological attitudes, beliefs, consciousness of duty, and social-collectivist motives.

As the level of relationships increases, their sociality increases. In the personality structure, the importance of its socio-psychological qualities increases.

V.P. Myasishchev proposed an original concept for measuring relationships. As parameters for this measurement, they identified the degree of stability; basic character; emotionality; integrity; degree of activity; level of consciousness, etc.

A system of relationships is formed as a result of the development, education and self-education of a person. These processes take place in conditions of communication and social practice.

1.3 A significant step in the development of the psychology of relationships and its application to the development of socio-psychological problems of personality is the concept of B. F. Lomov.

The main thing in this concept:

Characteristics of social relations as the general basis of personality traits;

Analysis of the socio-psychological aspect of personality orientation;

A detailed description of subjective relations.

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Psychology- the science of man, his spiritual essence and psyche in their development and in all its diversity of forms.

General psychology- a fundamental discipline that studies the general patterns of cognitive processes and states and the general mental properties of the individual.

The path to the development of psychological science was more difficult than the development of other sciences, such as physics or chemistry. The reasons for this difference are not difficult to understand. After all, as is well known, the objects of physics, chemistry, and other natural sciences are in one way or another visible, tangible, material. Psychology deals with substance, which, although it constantly reveals itself, nevertheless acts as a special reality of the highest level and differs from material reality by its invisibility, intangibility, immateriality.

It was this difference, giving rise to difficulties in recording psychological phenomena, that from the very beginning made it difficult for the development of psychological knowledge, its transformation into an independent science, since its object itself for a long time seemed elusive and mysterious.

The history of psychological knowledge goes back more than 2000 years, during which it developed mainly within the framework of philosophy and natural science.

The beginning of the transformation of psychology into an independent science is associated with the name of the German scientist Christian Wolf(1679-1754), who published the books Rational Psychology (1732), and Experimental Psychology (1734), in which he used the term “psychology”.

However, only from the beginning of the 20th century. psychology finally emerged as an independent science. At the turn of the XX-XXI centuries. The importance of psychology has increased significantly due to its increasing involvement in various types of practical activities. Such branches as pedagogical, legal, military, management, sports psychology, etc. arose. At the same time, the uniqueness of the object of psychological science has given rise to a large number of scientific schools and theories that complement each other and often contradict each other.

The meaning of the word “psychology” itself becomes clear if we consider that it consists of two Greek terms: « psyche» - soul, derived from the name of the Greek goddess Psyche, And « logos» - word, concept, doctrine, science.

From the moment of its appearance, psychology began to stand out among other sciences, since it was the only one among them that was named after the goddess.

Psychology owes its name to Greek mythology. According to one myth, the god of love Eros fell in love with a simple peasant girl Psyche. distinguished, however, by divine beauty. But Eros's mother, the goddess Aphrodite, was very unhappy with her son. celestial, wanted to unite his fate with a mere mortal. Aphrodite began to make efforts to separate the lovers. She forced Psyche to go through many trials. But Psyche’s desire to unite her destiny with Eros turned out to be so great that it made a strong impression on the gods of Olympus and they decided to help Psyche overcome all the trials that befell her and fulfill Aphrodite’s demands. Meanwhile, Eros managed to convince the Supreme God, Zeus, to turn Psyche into a goddess, to make her as immortal as the gods. This is how lovers manage to unite forever.

In fact, it is precisely this deep thought about the integrity of the universe, which includes two main principles - material and spiritual. enclosed in an ancient myth, became the basis for the ideas of modern materialistic philosophy and psychology about the essence of the human psyche, as such a property of highly organized matter that embodies the highest stage of the universal evolution of nature.

It is this idea that is expressed in the most common definition of psychological science today:

Psychology is a science whose object is the laws of the psyche as a special, highest form of life activity in humans and animals.

The very same psyche today is understood not as something mysterious and inexplicable, but as the highest form of interrelation of living beings with the objective world, which emerged as a result of a long process of self-organization of nature, expressed in their ability to realize their impulses on the basis information about this world.

At the level of a person, expressing the highest stage of the process of organization, the orderliness of being, the psyche acquires a qualitatively new character due to the fact that the biological nature of a person is transformed by sociocultural factors, thanks to which an extensive internal plan of life activity - consciousness - arises, and a person becomes a personality.

However, even today it should be taken into account that for many centuries the psyche was designated by the term “soul”, which was presented as an ethereal entity, the history and fate of which, according to various religious beliefs that have survived to this day, depends not so much on processes of self-organization of natural life, not so much from a living body, how much from extraterrestrial, supernatural principles, from otherworldly forces inaccessible to our understanding. It is this idea of ​​the essence of the psyche that underlies all modern world religions, including Christianity, and is also supported by some areas of philosophy and modern psychological science.

However, from the point of view of other psychological teachings, the psyche is the highest product of the processes of self-organization of nature and acts as an intermediary between the subjective, human and objective, external world, providing a powerful rise in the effectiveness of human activity in transforming the natural and social environment.

But one way or another, the basis of modern psychology is formed by historically established ideas about the correspondence of the mental and material worlds, the coexistence of internal and external, mental and physical, subjective and objective existence.

Of course, before arriving at such an idea of ​​the essence of the psyche, knowledge about it had to go through a long path of development, including a number of stages. Familiarity with the content of these stages helps to better understand psychic reality and, on this basis, make a conscious choice between the various SS interpretations that exist today.

The process of developing psychological knowledge was long and difficult. These difficulties were not accidental. They are associated with the specifics of the psyche, which gave rise in the past and gives rise today to many problems in the development of psychological science, in particular, it explains the persistence up to the present day. polytheoretical nature this area of ​​knowledge.

Difficulties in the development of psychology are associated with the following features of the mental sphere:

Special location localization object of psychological science. The physical media of this object is located not outside, but inside us. Moreover, the physical carriers of mental functions are “hidden” especially securely inside us: in the skull and in other most durable bone structures of our skeleton.

This is a particularly reliable defense created by nature to protect the psyche. at the same time, it significantly complicates the study of the secrets of this sphere.

The specificity of the mental world also lies in the fact that, being closely connected with the material, physical world, with the process of self-organization common to the entire universe, at the same time, in a number of its properties it is opposite to it. As already noted, the psyche is distinguished by such properties as ethereality, immateriality, and invisibility. Of course, psychic properties sometimes come out; they manifest themselves in the words, gestures and actions of people and thus partly materialize.

However, between these visible, material manifestations and the psychic phenomena themselves there always remains a distance, sometimes of enormous size. It is not without reason that some experts on the human psyche claim that language is given to us in order to hide our thoughts.

From these features of the mental sphere follows another one that researchers have constantly encountered - impossibility of precise fixation, physical or chemical registration of mental processes occurring in the nervous system, especially in the brain, the impossibility of objectively determining the thoughts and feelings that arise within us. That is why repeated attempts to create a so-called “lie detector” or chronograph turned out to be unsuccessful, since it was invariably discovered. that during their experimental use, these devices record only physiological processes (changes in pulse, body temperature, pressure, etc.) with which mental phenomena are associated, but not these mental phenomena themselves.

And finally, another difficulty in understanding psychic reality arises in connection with the impossibility of using the entire complex of our cognitive abilities to study it, since mental phenomena cannot be seen, smelled, or touched: they can only be perceived indirectly, speculatively, with the help of our ability for abstract thinking, since only this unique ability of ours makes it possible see the invisible.

All these features of mental reality made the task of studying it particularly difficult and led to the fact that the path of development of psychology turned out to be very long and contradictory. This path included a number of stages, each of which generated its own special form of psychological knowledge.

The study of the history of psychology, of course, cannot be reduced to a simple listing of certain psychological problems, ideas and concepts. In order to understand them. it is necessary to understand their internal connection, the unified logic of the formation of psychology as a science.

It is especially important to understand that psychology as a doctrine about the human soul is always conditioned anthropology, the doctrine of man in his integrity. Research, hypotheses, conclusions of psychology, no matter how abstract and private they may seem, imply a certain understanding essence of man, are guided by one or another image of him.

In turn, doctrine of man fits into general picture of the world, formed on the basis of a synthesis of knowledge and ideological attitudes of a particular historical era. Therefore, the history of the formation and development of psychological knowledge is, although a complex, contradictory, but quite logical process associated with a change in the understanding of the essence of man and the formation on this basis of new explanations of his psyche.

In this process, three main historical stages are usually distinguished, which correspond to three forms of psychological knowledge:

• , or everyday psychology;

Structure of psychological science

The historical process of development of each science is associated with its increasingly significant differentiation, which is based on the process of expanding the object of this science. As a result, modern sciences, especially fundamental ones, which include psychology. represent a complex multi-branch system. As the structure of science becomes more complex, the need arises to classify its constituent branch sciences. The classification of branch sciences means their systematic division, the ordering of scientific knowledge by decomposing a particular science as a generic concept into its constituent generic concepts.

Psychology at the current level of development is a very branched system of scientific disciplines.

They develop general problems and study the general patterns of the psyche that manifest themselves in people, regardless of what activity they are engaged in. Due to its universality, knowledge of the fundamental branches of psychology is combined with the term "general psychology".

Studies such mental processes as sensations, perceptions, attention, memory, imagination, thinking, speech. IN personality psychology the mental structure of the individual and the mental properties of the individual that determine the deeds and actions of a person are studied.

In addition to general psychology, psychological science includes a number of special psychological disciplines, related to various areas of human life and activity.

Among the special branches of psychology that study the psychological problems of specific types of activity, there are: labor psychology, educational psychology, medical psychology, legal psychology, military psychology, trade psychology and the psychology of scientific creativity, sports psychology, etc.

social psychology.

The theory and practice of teaching and educating the younger generation is closely related to both general psychology and special branches of psychology.

genetic, differential and developmental psychology.

For a mentally competent organization of education, it is necessary to know the psychological patterns of interaction between people in groups, such as families, schoolchildren and student groups. Relationships in groups are the subject of study of social psychology.

Psychology of abnormal development deals with deviations from the norm in human behavior and psyche and is extremely necessary in pedagogical work with children lagging behind in mental development, or pedagogically neglected children.

Combines all information related to training and education. The subject of educational psychology is the psychological patterns of human learning and education. The sections of educational psychology are: psychology of learning (psychological foundations of didactics, private methods, formation of mental actions); psychology of education (psychological foundations of education, psychological foundations of correctional labor pedagogy); psychology of educational work with difficult children: teacher psychology).

Modern psychology is characterized by both the process of differentiation, which gives rise to numerous special branches of psychology, and the process of integration, as a result of which psychology merges with other sciences, such as, for example, through educational psychology and pedagogy.

Subject of psychological science

The very name of psychology means that psychology is the science of the soul. The study and explanation of the soul was the first stage in the formation. So, for the first time, psychology was defined as the science of the soul. But exploring the soul using scientific methods turned out to be quite difficult. In the course of historical development, focusing on natural scientific research methods and the general scientific ideal of objectivity, psychologists abandoned the concept of the soul and began to develop programs for building psychology as a unified scientific discipline based on a materialistic worldview. Along this path, psychology has achieved significant success in studying the phenomena of the human psyche: the main components of the psyche have been identified, the patterns of the formation of sensation and perception have been studied, types of memory, types and characteristics of thinking have been identified, psychological problems of specific types of human activity have been studied, etc.

However, as many psychologists state, the path of abandoning the concept of the soul and replacing it with the concept of the psyche ultimately turned out to be a dead end for psychology.

Throughout the 20th century. Both Western and Soviet psychology proceeded from the world of cash existence, and spiritual life was considered as a product of “specially organized matter” - the brain and social interactions. The result of this half-move was, as noted by B.S. Brother, not only a dead, soulless person who has given his soul as an object of study, but also a dead, soulless psychology.

No matter how much psychology lays claim to scientific objectivity, nevertheless, at the basis of any significant psychological concept of the 20th century, be it behaviorism or Marxist psychology, psychoanalysis or humanistic psychology, the initial image is of a person devoid of an immortal soul, subject to instincts, wandering in search of pleasure , pleasures, activities, self-realization, self-aggrandizement, etc.

In the course of attempts to build psychology as an independent scientific discipline on the basis of a materialistic worldview, a loss of unity psychological science itself. Psychology in the 20th century. is a conglomerate of facts, schools, trends and studies, most often almost in no way connected with each other. At one time, hopes were placed on general psychology, which was called upon to play a leading role in relation to specific psychological research, but these hopes were not justified.

Currently, within the framework of psychological science, there are general psychological theories, oriented towards various scientific ideals, and psychological practice, based on one or another psychological theory or a whole series of them and developing special psychotechniques for influencing consciousness and controlling it.

The presence of incommensurable psychological theories has led to to the problem of the subject of psychology. For a behaviorist, the subject of study is behavior, for a supporter of the activity theory - mentally controlled activity, for a Christian psychologist - living knowledge about the genesis of sinful passions and the pastoral art of healing them, for a psychoanalyst - the unconscious, etc.

The question naturally arises: is it possible to talk about psychology as a single science with a common subject of research, or should we recognize the existence of many psychologies?

Some scientists believe that psychology is a single science, which, like any other science, has its own special subject. Psychology as a science deals with the study of factors of mental life, as well as the discovery of the laws to which mental phenomena are subject. And no matter how complex ways psychological thought has advanced over the centuries, mastering its subject, no matter how knowledge about it has changed and been enriched, no matter what terms it has been used to designate it, it is possible to identify features that characterize the actual subject of psychology, distinguishing it from other sciences .

Psychology is a science that studies the facts, patterns and mechanisms of the psyche.

Other scientists are inclined to think that psychology is science and practice in unity, but science and practice in psychology are understood differently. But this means that there are many psychologies: no less than real experiences in the construction of psychological science and practice.

The restoration of a single subject of psychology and the synthesis of psychological knowledge is possible only by returning psychology to recognition of reality and the primacy of the soul. And although the soul will remain primarily outside the framework of psychological research, its postulation, its reverent recognition, the constant need to correlate with the very fact and goals of its existence will inevitably change and transform the forms and essence of psychological research.

Many open-minded psychologists, both in the West and in Russia, have realized the deep gulf separating modern scientific psychology from the great religious systems. The wealth of deep knowledge about the human soul and consciousness accumulated in these systems over centuries and even millennia has not received adequate recognition and has not been studied until recently.

In recent years, there has been a convergence of spiritual-experiential and scientific-theoretical ways of understanding the world.

There is an increasing desire to go beyond the understanding of psychology as a science about the psyche—the properties of the brain. Many modern psychologists consider human psychology as psychological anthropology and talk about spirituality as the deepest essence of man. From the perspective of today, the concepts of soul and spirituality are no longer interpreted as purely figurative expressions. Spirituality includes the meaning of life, conscience, highest moral values ​​and feelings, highest interests, ideas, beliefs. And although spirituality has no direct physical correlates other than energy, psychologists believe that spirituality can be studied within the framework of psychology.

By the end of the 20th century. the need to build a unified picture of the world is realized, in which both the results of scientific knowledge of nature and man, and the fruits of thousands of years of spiritual experience would be synthesized. The leaders in this process, as has always been the case in the history of scientific knowledge, are physicists. Following physics, scientific psychology also began to realize the need to restructure the worldview and reach a multidimensional understanding of man.

Taking into account all of the above, psychologists come to understand psychology as a science about man, his spiritual essence and psyche in their development and in all its diversity of forms.

The structure of psychology as a science

Psychology at the current level of development is a very branched system of scientific disciplines, divided into fundamental and applied.

Fundamental branches of psychology develop general problems and study general patterns of the psyche that manifest themselves in people, regardless of what activity they engage in. Due to its universality, knowledge of the fundamental branches of psychology is combined with the term "general psychology".

General psychology studies the individual, highlighting his mental cognitive processes and personality. Psychology of cognitive processes studies such mental processes as sensations, perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking, speech. IN personality psychology the mental structure of the individual and the mental properties of the individual that determine the deeds and actions of a person are studied.

In addition to general psychology, psychological science includes a number of special psychological disciplines that are at different stages of formation, related to various areas of human life and activity.

Among the special branches of psychology that study the psychological problems of specific types of activity, there are: labor psychology, educational psychology, medical psychology, legal psychology, military psychology, trade psychology, psychology of scientific creativity, sports psychology, etc.

Psychological aspects of development are studied by developmental psychology and psychology of abnormal development.

Explores psychological aspects of the relationship between the individual and society social psychology.

The theory and practice of teaching and educating the younger generation is closely related to both general psychology and special branches of psychology.

The scientific basis for understanding the laws of child mental development are genetic, differential And developmental psychology. Genetic psychology studies the hereditary mechanisms of a child’s psyche and behavior. Differential psychology identifies individual differences between people and explains the process of their formation. Developmental psychology studies the stages of mental development of an individual.

For a mentally literate organization of education, you need to know the psychological patterns of interaction between people in groups, such as families, schoolchildren and student groups. Relationships in groups are the subject of study of the social psyche.

The psychology of abnormal development deals with deviations from the norm in human behavior and psyche and is extremely necessary in pedagogical work with children lagging behind in mental development.

Educational psychology brings together all information related to teaching and education. The subject of educational psychology is the psychological patterns of human learning and education. The sections of educational psychology are:

• psychology of learning (psychological foundations of didactics, private methods, formation of mental actions);
• psychology of education (psychological foundations of education, psychological foundations of correctional labor pedagogy);
• psychology of educational work with difficult children;
• teacher psychology.

Modern psychology is characterized by both the process of differentiation, which gives rise to numerous special branches of psychology, and the process of integration, as a result of which psychology merges with other sciences, for example, through educational psychology and pedagogy.

Dictionary

Transpersonal psychology- a direction in psychology of the 20th century, founded by the American psychologist S. Grof and considering man as a cosmic and spiritual being, inextricably linked with all of humanity and the Universe, and his consciousness as part of the global information network.

Soviet psychology- a period in the development of Russian psychology, when Marxist-Leninist philosophy served as the ideological basis for psychological research.

Spiritually oriented psychology- a direction in modern Russian psychology, based on traditional spiritual values ​​and recognizing the reality of spiritual existence.

Our whole life is an endless series of events, situations, affairs, meetings, conversations, changes, victories and defeats, hopes and disappointments. In other words, a person’s life is a constant interaction between his inner world and the surrounding reality. Every day we wake up, start our day, do different things, communicate with many people, go to work, develop a business or do something else. Human life in the modern world is life in a world of high technology, an endless flow of information, rapid development and change. And in order to meet all the requirements of the surrounding reality, a person must be developed, able to overcome difficulties and have an unbending inner core that will always support and help remain strong. The modern world is ready to absorb a person in a matter of seconds, make him part of the gray mass, depersonalize him, empty him and throw him to the sidelines. And if a person is not ready for this, then defeat cannot be avoided. But there is a way to emerge victorious in this fight.

One of the most important knowledge for a person in our time is knowledge in the field of psychology, and one of the most important skills is the ability to apply it in practice. To understand people, to be able to find a common language and communicate with them, to be able to instantly adapt to any situation, to always help yourself and others, you need to understand psychology. So that the problems and stress that put enormous pressure on a person today do not break you or your loved ones, and you or they can continue on their path, you need to understand human psychology. To understand others at a deep level, to be able to nurture yourself, raise your children, and influence others, you need to know the nuances of people’s psychology. To achieve success, achieve new results, conquer new heights, live in abundance, harmony and well-being, you need to have important knowledge - knowledge about human psychology.

Considering the importance of psychological knowledge, as well as the reasons that motivate people to grow and develop, their desire to become better and improve their lives, we have created this course, which is called “Human Psychology”. In the lessons of this course, we explore very important things in detail: we reveal the main and key problems of human psychology, the stages and patterns of his development and the formation of the characteristics of his behavior and communication with people. This course provides an opportunity to answer questions about how to understand human psychology, how to influence your life, those around you, and, most importantly, yourself. Studying psychology and applying the knowledge gained in life contributes to personal growth, improving personal life, establishing excellent relationships, achieving success in the professional sphere and other areas of activity. This course “Human Psychology” is an online training consisting of lessons that contain interesting theoretical information about human psychology, provides examples (experiences, tests, experiments) and, most importantly, gives a large number of practical tips that you can apply in practice already on the first day of acquaintance with the training. At the end of the course there are links to useful materials: books (including audiobooks), videos, recordings of seminars, experiments and quotes about psychology.

Psychology(from the ancient Greek “knowledge of the soul”) is a science that studies structures and processes that are inaccessible to external observation (sometimes called the “soul”) in order to explain human behavior, as well as the characteristics of the behavior of individuals, groups and collectives.

It is a complex, but important and interesting discipline to study. As has probably already become clear, human psychology is a very fascinating area of ​​scientific knowledge and covers many sections that you can get acquainted with on your own if you have the desire. You can even say that it is from this moment that your self-development will begin, because... you will independently decide what exactly you would like to study and begin to master new knowledge. Human psychology, in itself, has many properties, one of which is the fear of everything new and incomprehensible. For many people, this is an obstacle to self-development and achieving the desired results. We recommend that you cast aside any fears and doubts and start studying the materials on our website and this course. After a while, you will be proud of yourself, thanks to the new skills and results achieved.

Object of psychology- this is a person. From this we can conclude that any psychologist (or anyone interested in psychology) is a researcher of himself, due to which a close relationship between the objective and the subjective arises in psychological theories.

Subject of psychology in different historical eras has always been understood differently and from the perspective of different areas of psychological science:

• Soul. Until the beginning of the 18th century, all researchers adhered to this position.
• Phenomena of consciousness. Direction: English empirical associationist psychology. Main representatives: David Hartley, John Stuart Mill, Alexander Bain, Herbert Spencer.
• The subject's direct experience. Direction: structuralism. Main representatives: Wilhelm Wundt.
• Adaptability. Direction: functionalism. Main representatives: William James.
• Origin of mental activities. Direction: psychophysiology. Main representatives: Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov.
• Behavior. Direction: behaviorism. Main representatives: John Watson.
• Unconscious. Direction: psychoanalysis. Main representatives: Sigmund Freud.
• Information processing processes and their results. Direction: Gestalt psychology. Main representatives: Max Wertheimer.
• Personal experience of a person. Direction: humanistic psychology. Main representatives: Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Viktor Frankl, Rollo May.

Main branches of psychology:

• Acmeology
• Differential psychology
• Gender psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Virtual psychology
• Military psychology
• Applied psychology
• Engineering psychology
• Clinical (medical psychology)
• Neuropsychology
• Pathopsychology
• Psychosomatics and psychology of physicality
• Oncopsychology
• Psychotherapy
• Educational psychology
• Psychology of art
• Psychology of Parenting
• Labor psychology
• Psychology of sports
• Psychology of management
• Economic psychology
• Ethnopsychology
• Legal psychology
• Criminal psychology
• Forensic psychology

As is easy to see, there are many branches of psychology, and different directions study different aspects of a person’s personality and his activities. You can determine which section you personally like by reading each of them yourself. In our course, we consider human psychology in general, without highlighting any areas, types or sections, but making it possible to use new skills in any area of ​​life.

Application of psychological knowledge

The use of psychological knowledge is necessary and useful in absolutely any area of ​​human activity: family, study, science, work, business, friendship, love, creativity, etc. But it is important to learn how to apply the relevant knowledge in different situations. After all, what may work effectively in communication with work colleagues may not be suitable at all in a relationship with a loved one. What is suitable for the family may not be useful in creativity. Although, of course, there are general techniques that are universal and work almost always and everywhere.

Knowledge about psychology gives a person many advantages: it develops and makes him more erudite, educated, interesting, and versatile. A person with psychological knowledge is able to understand the true reasons for the events that happen to him (and others), realize the motives of his behavior and understand the motives of the behavior of others. Knowledge of human psychology is the ability to solve many problems with significantly greater speed and efficiency, increasing the ability to withstand adversity and failure, and the ability to achieve outstanding results where others cannot. The skill of applying psychological knowledge, provided it is systematically and regularly reinforced, will make you a stronger person with significant advantages over others. It would take a very, very long time to list all the advantages. But, as they say, it is better to see once than to hear a hundred times. And drawing an analogy with this saying, we can say that it is better to apply it once than to read it a hundred times.

It is also worth noting that knowledge of psychology has long been used by you in everyday life. But this is only done spontaneously, unconsciously and without understanding what strength, power and potential this knowledge actually carries. And if you truly want to become closer to your “best you” and improve your life, it can and should be intentionally learned.

How to learn this?

Naturally, knowledge about psychology is not present in us from birth, but is formed throughout life. Some people, of course, have a predisposition to psychology. Such people often become psychologists, intuitively understand people, and look at life a little differently. Others have to specifically study psychological knowledge and put more effort and patience into mastering it. But, in any case, you can learn anything. And master the skill of applying psychological knowledge - even more so. Moreover, you can do this yourself.

There are two aspects to learning this skill - theoretical and practical.

• Theoretical aspect of psychology- this is the knowledge that is taught in educational institutions, and is also given in the presented course;
• Practical aspect of psychology- is the application of new knowledge in life, i.e. transition from theory to practice.

But it often happens that a theory remains a theory, because people simply do not know what to do with the information that they now possess. Any lessons, courses, trainings, lectures, seminars, etc. should be aimed at the practical application of knowledge in real life.

Taking this feature into account, the course, the introduction to which you are now reading, was compiled. The purpose of this course is not only to give you a good theoretical basis of psychological knowledge, but also to teach you how to use this knowledge. All course lessons have a two-way focus - theory and practice. The theoretical part contains the most important knowledge on the topic of human psychology and represents its quintessence. The practical part, in turn, consists of recommendations, advice, psychological methods and techniques designed for you to use them.

This course “Human Psychology” is:

• Systematized and understandable material for anyone, presented in a simple, interesting and accessible form.
• A collection of useful tips and tricks that are easy to put into practice from day one.
• The opportunity to see yourself and your life, as well as other people from a new, previously unknown side.
• The opportunity to increase the level of your intelligence, education and erudition by several levels, which undoubtedly plays a significant role in the life of a modern person.
• The opportunity to find the main motivating force that will encourage you to go forward and achieve success.
• An opportunity to grow as a person and improve the level and quality of your life.
• The opportunity to learn how to establish contact with any people (from your own children and parents to bosses and hooligans on the street).
• A way to achieve harmony and happiness.

Want to test your knowledge?

If you want to test your theoretical knowledge on the topic of the course and understand how suitable it is for you, you can take our test. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question.

Psychology lessons

Having studied a lot of theoretical materials, choosing the most important ones and adapting them for practical use, we have created a series of lessons on human psychology. They discuss the most popular sections and areas of psychology, provide scientific research data and expert opinions. But the most important thing is that the emphasis of each lesson is on practical tips and recommendations.

How to take classes?

The information from the lessons of this course is fully adapted for practical use and is suitable for absolutely everyone. The most important thing here, as has been said more than once, is the transition from theory to practice. You can read smart books for years and know a lot of things, but all this will be equal to zero if it remains just a baggage of knowledge.

You can divide the study of all lessons into several stages. For example, set yourself the task of studying 2 lessons a week: 1 day - studying the material, 2 days - testing in practice, 1 day - a day off, etc. But you need to not just read, but study: carefully, consciously, purposefully. It is important to not just check or apply the tips and practical recommendations presented in the lessons once, but to systematically implement them in your everyday activities. Develop the habit of always remembering that you are studying human psychology - this will automatically make you want to apply something new in life again and again. The skill of applying psychological knowledge in practice will become honed and automatic over time, because it largely depends on experience. And our lessons are precisely aimed at teaching you how to gain this experience and give it the right direction.

Additions and auxiliary materials:

Psychological games and exercises

Games and exercises created specifically to understand the characteristics of the human psyche. There are different types of such games and exercises: for children and for adults, mass and single, for men and women, arbitrary and targeted, etc. The use of psychological games and exercises helps people understand others and themselves, form some qualities and get rid of others, etc. This includes exercises for developing various qualities, overcoming stress, increasing self-esteem, role-playing, developmental, health games and many other games and exercises.

Psychology is a science that studies human mental activity, the formation of cognitive processes, mental properties and states. Psychology also studies the impact of external factors on the psyche and the interaction between individuals in society. There are many sections of general psychology, and each of them studies a certain area of ​​mental manifestations, for example, educational psychology, developmental psychology.

Psychology as a science

Throughout human history, there has been a need to separate and study the psychological make-up of people. Many ancient scientists touched upon the topic of psychology and highlighted certain aspects in terms of idealism and materialism.

Plato is considered the founder of idealism and dualism, who was the first to classify people according to their personal qualities - intelligence in their heads, courage in their chests and lust in their bellies. It was believed that leaders had intelligence, warriors had courage, and slaves had lust. In addition, Plato paid special attention to the human soul, and considered it something divine, existing separately from the body and cognizing eternal truths. Thus, Plato identified two independent principles, and his teaching was the first of its kind.

His follower was Aristotle, who became the founder of materialism - a direction that asserts the primacy of matter and the secondary nature of human consciousness. Aristotle sought to see psychology as a part of medicine, but he failed to fully explain human behavior from this point of view. That is why Aristotle first put forward the theory of the inseparability of body and soul.

Based on the works of these scientists, many philosophers worked towards studying the human psyche and behavior. In 1879, the famous psychologist Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychological laboratory, which marked the beginning of the development of psychology as an experimental science.

Subject of study psychology

Psychology is a science that considers a person as a subject of activity, the characteristics of his formation and personal qualities, the ability to understand the world and interact with it. An important aspect is the study of the emergence and development of the human psyche, the foundations of mental activity, the peculiarities of the formation of mental images of the world and their embodiment in reality, the unity of social and biological factors in human life, individual characteristics, individual behavior in the social environment and in specific types of activities.

Knowing yourself is just as important as knowing the world around you, so everyone should have the basics of general psychological knowledge. This helps to interact correctly with other people, strive for constant improvement and development, and feel confident in any environment. Psychology is used in a variety of areas of human activity, which has contributed to the development of its branches - medical, legal, pedagogical, military affairs, marketing.

General psychological knowledge is needed wherever there is a need to use the resources of the human psyche. Psychology is widely used in clinics, schools, management structures, astronaut training and social development centers. Today there are many qualified specialists who master one or another method and provide professional assistance to everyone who needs it.

Methods of psychology

Currently, it is impossible to identify any universal technique suitable for each specific person, therefore many directions have been developed to help understand the peculiarities of behavior. Psychology distinguishes the following most interesting methods:

• psychoanalysis - this method is most often used to solve personal problems and internal experiences. An experienced specialist carefully works with unconscious childhood memories, which are often the cause of problems in adulthood;
• body-oriented therapy - some psychologists believe that when emotions are suppressed, so-called muscle tension is observed in the body. To relax them, it is necessary to use special massage and exercises;
• Positive psychology is a consideration of a specific situation as a whole, seeing its positive and negative aspects. Thanks to this approach, it becomes possible to reveal and develop a person’s hidden abilities, which helps him cope with a certain problem.
• Gestalt psychology is the ability to be aware of oneself “here and now,” which helps to better cope with stressful situations through understanding personal experience.

Often, when personal problems arise, a person rushes for help to a specialist who knows some method of psychology. If you select it as much as possible for a specific patient, you can effectively find out the cause of the problem and cope with the problem.

The main tasks of psychology

The main task is to understand mental characteristics by revealing the subject connections that caused the appearance of mental phenomena. Such psychological cognition should be understood as awareness of mental characteristics through the disclosure of connections with the outside world. Thus, it becomes obvious that psychology is the most practical science that examines the essence of man, since through its study one can understand oneself, other people and the world around us.

The constant interest in self-knowledge and enrichment of the inner world is explained by the fact that there is a tendency towards the integration of all aspects of social life - economic, political and spiritual, as the basis of well-being. This is explained by the fact that classical concepts of economics (solving technological problems in economic activity) are relegated to the background by newer tasks - modernized concepts aimed at solving humanitarian and psychological problems.

10 thoughts on “ Psychology is...”

Of course, psychology is a strong science! The essence of man, his thoughts in all centuries have caused a whole storm of controversy among philosophers in search of truth...
One thing is clear: you need to know some basics of Gestalt therapy. This may come in handy in an emergency situation.

I also believe that psychology is needed in absolutely any field of activity. Whatever a person does, he is surrounded by complete psychology. Even if he is not at his best professionally, but at the same time he is a strong psychologist, climbing the career ladder is guaranteed

Everyone often considers themselves good psychologists! Whether it's sales managers or realtors! But many of them often still make mistakes in people or themselves become victims of an even greater psychologist!
I often hear more and more that “Psychology is life”!

Having not yet thoroughly mastered psychology, people made it a weapon of influence on the most unknown organ - the brain - and a method of manipulation. I don’t like that psychology is taught in every second university. This science is not for everyone. It belongs only in medical schools.

I think that every family should have a psychologist or that everyone should simply visit psychologists. These are people who save lives. But you need to be a real professional in order to help and not harm people!

Psychology has become quite popular among young people in recent years. But, as can be seen from the article, it is much more complex and multifaceted than the banal phrase “do you want to talk about this?”, with which psychologists are often associated. Interesting information, thanks.

Psychology is a rather interesting science, one that you want to study not only in a compulsory institute program, but also on your own, for self-development. It helps a lot in life, in the process of communicating with other people, achieving your own life goals.

In the USSR, very little was said about psychology and information for ordinary people was even prohibited. But this is very important knowledge and people still need to know a lot. We do a lot of things unconsciously, but our actions still work and sometimes turn out to be negative. But if you know and do it purposefully, it is easier to achieve success.

Psychology is truly a science, but what kind of “psychologists” does our society produce? Where is it actively used now? In NLP, to increase sales and create a society of “consumers”, not creators, and this is a fact. When a person personally begins to take an interest in psychology, read books and analyze, then this is the psychology that society needs, in contrast to when a “brainless biorobot” comes to a so-called psychologist for help, in the hope that sessions with a “more knowledgeable person” will solve his problems. Saving a drowning person is the work of the drowning people themselves. You need to live with your own head, and not with the advice of those who tell you what is right and what is wrong.

the science of the patterns of development and functioning of the psyche as a special form of life activity, based on the manifestation in self-observation of special experiences that are not attributable to the outside world. The field of knowledge about the inner - mental - world of a person. The term originated in the 16th century. and means the actual doctrine of the soul or the science of the soul. In a strict sense, it is understood as the science of the psyche, and a psychologist is a person who professionally deals with psychology in theoretical and practical terms, including to help people in certain situations.

The separation of psychology from philosophy occurred in the 2nd half of the 19th century. This became possible due to the development of objective experimental methods, which replaced introspection, and the formation of a special subject of human psychology, the main features of which were activity and the appropriation of socio-historical experience.

Psychology occupies a very special place in the system of sciences. Reasons:

1) it is the science of the most complex things known to mankind;

2) in it, the object and subject of knowledge seem to merge; only in it does thought make a turn towards itself, only in it does a person’s scientific consciousness become his scientific self-consciousness;

3) its practical consequences are unique - they are not only incommensurably more significant than the results of other sciences, but also qualitatively different: since to know something means to master it and learn to manage it, and managing one’s mental processes, functions and abilities is the most ambitious task; Moreover, by getting to know oneself, a person thereby changes himself.

In historical terms, we can distinguish two fundamentally different stages in the development of psychology - the stages of pre-scientific psychology and scientific psychology. When we talk simply about psychology, we usually mean scientific psychology.

In general, psychology faces a twofold task: to further develop theoretical research and to adequately solve - sometimes urgently - practical problems. This calling of psychology gives reason to consider it as a scientific study of behavior and mental processes, including mental activity, as well as the practical application of acquired knowledge.

Psychology has already accumulated many facts about how new knowledge about oneself makes a person different, changes his relationships, goals, states and experiences. We can say that psychology is a science that not only cognizes, but also constructs and creates a person.

Psychology is a living, evolving, developing field of knowledge and practice. It coexists many approaches, trends, theories, not mutually consistent in everything, and sometimes difficult to correlate: based on different philosophical systems, with different conceptual apparatuses, different explanatory principles. In psychology there is no single paradigm - a dominant theoretical and practical system that defines science as a whole. Moreover, many of its directions fundamentally do not adhere to traditional scientific principles, avoid deep theoretical constructions without asking for serious self-substantiation, and to a significant extent turn out to be the art of working with the human spiritual world. There is also no agreement on what psychology should study first and what its subject is.

Object of psychology; although psychology literally means the science of the soul, the question of the reality of the soul is still controversial from traditional scientific positions; Until the soul can be “scientifically” discovered and proven or disproved its existence, experiment with it. The soul remains empirically elusive. This is one of the features of psychology. If we talk not about the soul, but about the psyche, the situation will not change: the psyche turns out to be just as elusive. But for everyone it is quite obvious the existence of a certain subjective reality, a world of mental phenomena in the form of thoughts, experiences, ideas, feelings, impulses, desires and other things; it can be considered an object of psychology. Although this mental reality is different for everyone, we can assume that it is formed according to common basic principles, and try to discover and explore them.

Another feature of psychology is that, leaving the psyche as an object of reflection, it cannot make it an object of direct research: it has to look for other objects and through their study - indirectly - draw conclusions about the psyche itself. The choice of such a “secondary object” depends on what is considered the main thing that determines mental life - on the explanatory principle that is proposed by a certain scientific school.

The subject of psychology has changed over time. During the reign of introspection, it was inextricably linked with its method and represented the sphere of human consciousness. In the second decade of the 20th century, in connection with the debunking of the introspection method, the subject of psychology changed: it became human behavior. Thus, completely new facts were introduced into psychology - facts of behavior. But consciousness as a subject of psychology can be opposed not only by behavior (as internally observable - externally observable), but also by unconscious mental processes - as observable only indirectly, through “side effects” (-> mental unconscious process). These processes began to be studied especially intensively from the beginning of the 20th century, and already the first results dealt a blow to the psychology of consciousness that is quite comparable with the blow of behaviorism.

From the standpoint of activity theory, the subject of psychology is the laws of generation and functioning of the individual’s reflection of objective reality in the process of human activity and animal behavior. Here, activity is accepted as the initial reality with which psychology deals, and the psyche is considered as its derivative and as its integral side. So the psyche cannot exist outside of activity, and activity cannot exist outside of the psyche. To simplify, we can say that the subject of psychology is mentally controlled activity. A narrower point of view is the identification of an indicative system of mental control of activity as a subject of activity psychology. In research practice, this has been implemented along two strategic lines: in one of them, activity acts as a subject of research, in the other, as an explanatory principle. Thus, ideas about the structure of activity, its dynamics, forms, the process of interiorization, etc. are the result of the implementation of the first line. And the application of the concepts and provisions of the theory of activity to the analysis of mental processes, consciousness, and personality is the result of the implementation of the second line. Both lines are closely intertwined, and the success of each of them forms the basis for the development of the other.

The main problems of scientific psychology are:

1) a psychophysiological problem - about the relationship of the psyche to its bodily substrate;

2) a psychosocial problem - about the dependence of the psyche on social processes and its active role in their implementation by specific individuals and groups;

3) a psychopraxic problem - about the formation of the psyche in the course of real practical activity and about the dependence of this activity on its mental regulators - images, operations, motives, personal properties;

4) a psychognostic problem - about the relationship of sensory and mental mental images to the reality they reflect, etc. The development of these problems is carried out on the basis of:

1) the principle of determinism - revealing the conditionality of phenomena by the action of the factors that produce them;

2) the principle of systematicity - the interpretation of these phenomena as internally related components of an integral mental organization;

3) the principle of development - recognition of transformation, changes in mental processes, their transition from one level to another, the emergence of new forms of mental processes.

In the course of developing the main problems of psychology, its categorical apparatus was formed, where the categories of image, motive, action, personality, etc. are distinguished. The categorical structure of psychology, reflecting mental reality in its originality, serves as the basis for the whole variety of branches of psychology, which act as separate branches, often gaining independent status. The transformation of psychology into a bundle of branches is due to the demands of various areas of practice, confronting psychology with specific problems. These problems are usually complex and are developed by many disciplines. The inclusion of psychology in interdisciplinary research and participation in it is productive only when it enriches it with concepts, methods and explanatory principles unique to it. And in contacts with other sciences, psychology itself is enriched with new ideas and approaches.

The further development of psychology was seriously influenced by the emergence and widespread use of computers, which took over a number of functions that were previously the unique property of the human brain - the functions of accumulating and processing information, management and control. This made it possible to widely use cybernetic and information-theoretic concepts and models in psychology, which contributed to the formalization and mathematization of psychology, the introduction of the cybernetic style of thinking with its advantages due to the use of logical-mathematical apparatus, computers and other things, but also with its obvious and implicit shortcomings associated not so much with the humanization of the machine, but with the “cybernetization” of man and living beings in general.

Automation and cybernetization have sharply increased interest in operational diagnostics and prognosis, effective use and cultivation of human functions that cannot be transferred to electronic devices, primarily creative abilities. The study of problems of artificial intelligence and human creativity are becoming important areas of psychology.

Along with them, social psychology and management psychology are rapidly developing, solving problems related to the role of the “human factor” in the development of society, in management processes, as well as research related to space exploration, demographic, environmental and other pressing problems of our time. The inclusion of psychology in the multifaceted context of interaction between various social, natural and technical sciences gives particular urgency to the methodological analysis of its conceptual tools, explanatory principles, concepts and methodological procedures - in order to identify the most promising directions for its development.

PSYCHOLOGY

psycho + greek logos - science, teaching). The science of the patterns of development and functioning of the psyche as a special form of life activity.

P. ASSOCIANIST. The direction of P., which considers the ability to form associations from primary mental units as the basis of mental activity.

P. AGE studies the characteristics of mental activity caused by age.

P. DEEP. The direction of foreign psychology and psychiatry, the subject of study of which is the unconscious as a source of motives for human behavior and the causes of mental disorders. Includes psychoanalysis, Adler's individual psychology, Jung's analytical psychology, neo-Freudianism, etc.

P. CHILDREN'S. Section P. age.

P. INDIVIDUAL ADLER. See Adler's individual psychology.

P. CRIMINAL. A section of legal (juridical) law that studies the psychological patterns of the formation of illegal attitudes and their implementation in criminal behavior. In recent years, along with forensic psychiatric examination, forensic psychological examination has become increasingly important.

P. MEDICAL studies using psychological methods the characteristics of the psyche of a sick person, as well as the psychological characteristics of the professional activities of medical workers, the relationship between them and patients. Includes pathopsychology, neuropsychology, somatopsychology, psychophysiology, socio-psychological diagnostics in relation to medical practice, medical professional guidance, psychological aspects of psychoprophylaxis, mental hygiene and psychotherapy.

P. "OBJECTIVE". P.'s direction, which studies mainly the body's reactions to the influence of external, situational factors, while abstracting from the subjective experiences of the patient.

P. SOCIAL. P., which studies the patterns of behavior and activity of people determined by the factor of their inclusion in social groups, as well as the psychological characteristics of the groups themselves.

P. AGING. Gerontopsychology. Studies the characteristics of the psyche during aging. Age section P.

P. JUDICIAL. A branch of legal psychology that studies the mechanisms and patterns of human activity in the investigation, trial and prevention of crimes.

P. LABOR explores mental activity, personal characteristics of a person in the process of work. It is important for organizing the rehabilitation of mentally ill patients.

Psychology

Most often, the term is defined as “the science of the patterns of development and functioning of the psyche.” Other definitions offered by some scholars reflect their interpretation and, depending on professional inclination, emphasize the leading role of reason or behavior. Some psychologists even believe that the study of the human psyche cannot be considered a scientific discipline in the strict sense of the word.

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology simply cannot be defined; indeed, it is not easy to characterize. Even if someone does it today, tomorrow it will be considered an inadequate effort. Psychology is something that scientists and philosophers of various persuasions have created to try to understand the minds and behavior of various organisms, from the most primitive to the more complex. Consequently, in reality it is not a subject at all, it is about a subject or many subjects. There are few boundaries here, and except for the canons of science and the ethical standards of a free society, there should be no restrictions either on the part of its representatives or on the part of its critics. This is an attempt to understand what has so far largely eluded understanding. Any attempt to limit it or put it into some kind of framework implies that something is known about the limits of our knowledge, and this is not true. As a distinct discipline, it only emerged a century or so ago in the faculties of medicine and philosophy. From medicine she took the orientation that the explanation of what is done, thought and felt must ultimately be found in biology and physiology; from philosophy she took a class of deep problems relating to the consciousness of will and knowledge. Since then, it has been defined in different ways: as “the science of the psyche,” “the science of mental life,” “the science of behavior,” etc. All such definitions, of course, reflect the prejudices of those who give them rather than the actual nature of the field. In the course of writing this dictionary, a rather strange metaphor has emerged that seems to capture, to some extent, an essential quality of our discipline. It is like an amoeba, relatively unstructured, but clearly identifiable as a separate being with a special mode of action in which it projects itself onto some new techniques, some new problem areas, some theoretical models or even some other separate scientific fields, incorporating them and slowly and clumsily transforming into another form. Not very flattering, maybe for sure. For lexicographical problems, see psychologist.

PSYCHOLOGY

see psychology + -logy] - the science of the patterns of development and functioning of the psyche as a special form of life activity. Among the branches of psychology, neuropsychology, pathopsychology, developmental psychology, pedagogical psychology, special psychology, etc. stand out (see Special psychology)

Psychology

the science of consciousness, mental activity and behavior of living beings, starting from primitive ones and ending this series with man, from their birth to the end of life (science currently does not know more highly organized creatures than humans).

PSYCHOLOGY (DIMENSIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY)

procedures for determining the quantitative expression of psychological phenomena. They use a variety of scales containing a certain set of positions, put in some correspondence with psychological elements. According to the classification of scales proposed in 1946 by the American psychologist and psychophysicist S. S. Stevens, the following scales are distinguished: ratio scale, interval scale, ordinal scale and nominal scale.

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology) is a science that studies the psyche and consciousness of a person, as well as his behavior. Psychology deals with such basic concepts as memory, rational and irrational thinking, intelligence, learning, personality, perception and emotions, and also studies their connection with human behavior. Existing psychological schools differ in what philosophical concept they adhere to and what methods they use in their work. These include such schools of self-analysis as the school of Freud, Jung and Adler, as well as Gestalt psychology, behavioral and cognitive schools; modern psychology is especially attracted to schools of the latter direction (see Cognitive Psychology). Many practicing psychologists do not belong to any of these schools; some take eclectic positions. The various current branches of psychology, on the other hand, are functional or professional subdivisions of psychology, which are based on practical considerations. These include: abnormal, analytical, applied, clinical, comparative, evolutionary, educational, experimental, geriatric, industrial, child, physiological and social psychology. - Psychological.

Psychology

Word formation. Comes from the Greek. psyche - soul + logos - teaching.

Specificity. Studies the patterns of functioning and development of the psyche. It is based on the representation in introspection of special experiences that are not attributable to the outside world. From the 2nd half of the 19th century. There was a separation of psychology from philosophy, which became possible due to the development of objective experimental methods that replaced introspection, and the formation of a special subject of human psychology, the main features of which were activity and the appropriation of socio-historical experience. The main philosophical problem of psychology is whether psychology should be considered as an objective, explanatory, hypothetical-constructive natural science or as a dialogical, understanding, interpretive, reconstructive human science.

PSYCHOLOGY

from Greek psushe – soul + logos – teaching, science) – the science of the laws of development and functioning of the psyche as a special form of life. The interaction of living beings with the surrounding world is realized through mental processes, acts, and states that are qualitatively different from physiological ones, but not separable from them. For centuries, the phenomena studied by P. were designated by the general term “soul” and were considered the subject of one of the branches of philosophy, called in the 16th century. P. It has been shown that mental processes, being a product of an individual’s interaction with the external environment, are themselves an active causal factor in behavior. If idealistic concepts incorrectly explained this activity by a special mental causality, cognizable through internal observation, then the natural scientific study of genetically primary forms of the psyche approved the priority of objective methods, which later became decisive for P. Self-observation retains the importance of an important but auxiliary source of information about the human psyche . Being a product and function of social processes, the consciousness of an individual subject has a systemic and semantic organization that gives various manifestations of the psyche properties that qualitatively distinguish them from the psyche of animals. The possibility of comprehending the processes of consciousness, regardless of the subject’s self-report about them, is due to the fact that they develop in the objective system of his relations with other people and the surrounding world. In the same system, peering at others, the subject acquires the ability to judge the internal plan of his behavior. See Self-concept Not all components of this plane are translatable into the language of consciousness, but they, forming the sphere of the unconscious, serve as the subject of P. Inclusion of P. in interdisciplinary research and participation in them is productive only when it enriches them with concepts inherent only to it , methods, explanatory principles. At the same time, as a result of contacts with other sciences, philosophy itself is enriched with new ideas and approaches that develop its content and categorical apparatus, ensuring its integrity as an independent science. P.'s inclusion in the multifaceted context of interaction between various social, natural, and technical sciences gives particular urgency to the methodological analysis of its conceptual means, explanatory principles, concepts, and methodological procedures in order to identify promising directions for its further development. P. conflicts is one of the areas of research in P. and at the same time a branch of conflict management. The analysis of conflicts is a system-forming branch of conflictology. Of the 16 sciences that study conflict, only P. studies all types of conflicts in humans (social, intrapersonal) and animal conflicts. Man is the central link in conflicts at all levels without exception. Therefore, P.’s knowledge of human behavior in conflicts is a condition for their explanation.