Development of forms of human mental reflection of reality. Forms of mental reflection. Stages of mental reflection

– a subjective idea of the world from a personal position. Rethinking reality, one’s worldview is formed from:

events that have already occurred;
actual reality;
actions that need to happen.

The accumulated experience and reproduction of acquired knowledge settles firmly in the past. The present carries information about the internal state of the individual. The future is aimed at realizing goals, objectives, intentions reflected in dreams and fantasies.

The essence of the worldview passing through the psyche

1. Activation.

The psyche is fickle, it changes under the influence external factors and is constantly improving in development. Everyone has their own opinion about how the world around them is built. Faced with the contradiction of other people, consciousness changes, transforms into reality, carrying a different meaning.

2. Focus.

By setting guidelines in life, a person sets himself tasks within his capabilities. He will never take on a business that contradicts his principles and does not bring him either moral or financial satisfaction of his needs. There is a deliberate effort to transform an existing substance.

3. Adjustment.

The approach and conditions may change, but the psyche is flexible to temporary transformations and adapts to any change.

4. Uniqueness.

Everyone has inherent specific motivational characteristics and goals for self-development. The view of the world is refracted through the prism of life guidelines. This prevents the study of psychological science from only one angle; it is necessary to evaluate all the qualities of different people to the same extent.

5. Anticipation.

Society creates a platform for the future, displaying surrounding objects and ongoing events in current life. It attracts only the best and most significant for subsequent introduction into activity.

6. Evaluation by the object.

Individual traits are reflected directly in thinking. Analyzed possible situations, an attitude towards current events is formed.

There are several stages that pass in consciousness from the bodily to the sensory:

Sensory. A physical external aggressor affects a person’s cognitive processes, causing them to react with body and mind. A reaction occurs only to a significant stimulus.
Perceptual. A person unconsciously strives to general view display a complex of irritating elements.
The individual focuses on the cumulative manifestation, reacting to biologically insignificant stimulants that provoke the emergence of sensitivity to important stimuli.
Thoughtful. A strong relationship is established between objects. A person controls it with the help of brain function.

Stages of psychic reflection

The first one is basic. The individual is guided by his feelings and information received from others, determines his behavior in the future. His actions are influenced by objects of reality. Having passed this stage, others are raised to it. This level is never empty, it is multifaceted and constantly changing.
The second level has the main feature of creativity and imagination. This is the highest stage of mental development; a person moves to it when a new model of inferences about the world around him is created. She comprehends the actions and adds previously laid down images.
A creative person has difficulty coping with emotions; her thinking consists of continuous ideas. Artistic abilities are superimposed on the pictures that appear in the head, and their assimilation depends on subsequent interaction.
The third - its main criterion is the presence of speech. Logic and communication are associated with mental activity based on concepts and techniques used by ancestors. He pushes into the background imagination, memory, sensory images, relying only on rationality in thinking and experience from the previous generation. This allows you to plan and manage your life path.

Only by rethinking and incorporating all stages into his consciousness can a person present the world in a generalized form from a unique point of view, different from those around him. And show it through behavior: facial expressions, gestures, posture.

Psyche (from the Greek psychikos - spiritual) is a form of active reflection by the subject of objective reality, arising in the process of interaction of highly organized living beings with the outside world and carrying out a regulatory function in their behavior (activity). The central category in this definition is the active display or reflection of reality.

Mental reflection is not a mirror, mechanically passive copying of the world (like a mirror or a camera), it is associated with a search, a choice; in mental reflection, incoming information is subjected to specific processing, i.e. mental reflection is an active reflection of the world in connection with some necessity, with needs. This is a subjective, selective reflection of the objective world, since it always belongs to the subject, does not exist outside the subject and depends on subjective characteristics. You can define the psyche as a “subjective image of the objective world” - this is our idea or picture of the world, according to which we feel, make decisions and act.

The fundamental property of the psyche - subjectivity - determined introspection as the main method of its research from ancient times until the emergence of the first research centers at the end of the 19th century. Introspection is self-observation organized according to special rules.

In Russian psychology, a rationalistic way of cognition is generally adopted, based on logic and experience, which connects the psyche with the activity of the brain, the development of which is determined by the evolution of living nature. However, the psyche cannot be reduced simply to the nervous system. Mental properties are the result of the neurophysiological activity of the brain, but they contain the characteristics of external objects, and not the internal physiological processes through which the mental arises. Signal transformations taking place in the brain are perceived by a person as events taking place outside of him - in external space and the world.

Mental phenomena are correlated not with a separate neurophysiological process, but with organized sets of such processes, i.e. psyche is a systemic quality of the brain, realized through multi-level functional systems brain, which are formed in a person in the process of life and his mastery of historically established forms of activity and experience of mankind through active activity. Thus, specifically human qualities (consciousness, speech, work, etc.) are formed in a person only during his lifetime, in the process of assimilating the culture created by previous generations. Consequently, the human psyche includes at least three components, as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig.3. The structure of the subject’s mental reflection of the external and internal world.

Functions of the psyche.

The definition and concept of the psyche, analyzed above, gives an idea of the functions of the psyche or answers the question - why does the subject need a psyche?

Even W. James, the founder of the functional approach in psychology (the forerunner of behaviorism - the science of behavior) believed that the psyche serves the purpose of adapting the individual to the surrounding world and therefore reflects it. Accordingly, the functions of the psyche include: 1) reflection, 2) adaptation necessary for survival and interaction with environment– biological, physical, social. From the definition of the psyche it is clear that it also performs 3) a regulatory function, that is, it directs and regulates the activity of the subject and controls behavior. In order to regulate behavior adequately to the conditions of the external and internal environment, that is, adaptively, it is necessary to navigate this environment. Consequently, it is logical to highlight 4) the orientation function of the psyche.

The mental functions mentioned above 5) ensure the integrity of the body, which is necessary not only for survival, but also for maintaining the physical and mental health of the subject.

Modern domestic psychologists are expanding the list of traditionally considered mental functions. Thus, V. Allakhverdov in his works pays great attention to 6) the cognitive or educational function of the psyche and considers the psyche as an ideal cognitive system. One of the famous Russian methodologists B. Lomov, based on a systems approach, identifies 7) the communicative function of the psyche, since the psyche of the subject arises and develops in interaction with others, that is, it is included as a component in other systems (an individual within a group, etc. ).

Ya. Ponomarev drew attention to the fact that human behavior can be non-adaptive (for example, creative behavior - where a person, when implementing his ideas, sometimes acts contrary to common sense and the instinct of self-preservation). Accordingly, he added 8) the function of creative activity, which leads a person to create a new reality that goes beyond the existing one.

It seems that this is an incomplete list of the functions of the psyche, that is, why and for what it is needed by an individual, personality and subject of activity. Psychological science is waiting for new discoveries in the study of mental phenomena.

1. Reflection activity. The mental reflection of a person is active, not passive, i.e. people, reflecting the objective world, influence it themselves, change it in accordance with their goals, interests and needs.

2. Purposefulness of reflection. The mental reflection of a person is purposeful, conscious in nature, and is continuously associated with active activity.

3. Dynamic reflection. As it develops in phylogenesis and ontogenesis, with the complication of the NS, mental reflection develops: it deepens and improves.

4. Uniqueness, individuality mental reflection. Each person, due to the peculiarities of his structure, nervous system, due to the specifics of his life experience, reflects the objective world in his own way. There are no identical pictures of the world for two different people.

5. The mental reflection of a person is of a proactive nature. Reflecting objects of the real world, a person identifies, first of all, those that may be important for his future activities.

6. Objectivity of mental reflection. The mental reflection of a person presupposes a certain similarity between the material characteristics of the source of information and what is represented in the mental formations of the subject. Any reflected image, no matter how amazing it may be, contains really existing elements. The correctness of reflection is confirmed by practice.

Thanks to the above-listed features of mental reflection, it ensures the expediency of behavior and objective activity.

Phenomena studied by psychological science

Let's continue our discussion of the categories and concepts of psychology. Among the most important concepts are “mental phenomena.” Let us recall that psychological science studies the processes of active reflection of reality by the subject in various forms: sensations, feelings, mental forms and other mental phenomena. In other words, mental phenomena are the forms in which the facts of mental life exist.

Psychic phenomena include:

1. Mental processes

a) cognitive processes: sensations, perception, thinking, imagination, attention, representation, memory, motor skills, speech;

b) emotional - volitional processes: feelings, will.

2. Mental properties (features): abilities, temperament, character, knowledge;

3. Mental states: apathy, creativity, doubt, confidence, attentiveness, etc.;

4. Mass mental phenomena.

It should be noted that not all authors use the term “mass psychic phenomena” when speaking about psychic phenomena.

The division of all manifestations of the psyche into these categories is very arbitrary. The concept of “mental process” emphasizes the processuality and dynamics of the phenomenon. The concept of “mental property” or “mental feature” expresses the stability of a mental fact, its consolidation and repeatability in the structure of the personality. The concept " mental condition"gives characteristics of mental activity for a certain period of time.

All mental phenomena have general properties , allowing us to combine them - they are all forms of reflection of the objective world, therefore their functions are basically similar and serve to orient a person in the external world, regulate and adapt his behavior.

The same mental fact can be characterized as a process, as a state, and even as a property (since a certain personality trait is revealed).

Each type of mental phenomena is designed to perform certain functions.

For example:

a) functions of cognitive processes: cognition, study of the surrounding world; creation of a subjective image of the objective world; developing a strategy for your own behavior.

b) Functions of mental properties and states: regulation of human communication with other people; direct control of actions and actions.

All mental phenomena have common characteristics that unite them. At the same time, each mental phenomenon carries within itself not one particular sign, but a certain totality. Owning the system specific features allows us to attribute this or that phenomenon to the facts of the mental world. What are the signs of mental phenomena?

Specifics of mental phenomena

1. Polyfunctionality and polystructure.

Mental phenomena have intersecting functions and difficult-to-define structures.

2. Inaccessibility for direct observation.

Internal mechanisms and internal processes are in most cases inaccessible to direct observation. Exceptions are motor acts.

3. Lack of clear spatial features.

Most mental phenomena do not have clear spatial characteristics, which makes it almost impossible to accurately indicate and describe their spatial structure.

4. High mobility and variability.

5. High adaptability.

Principles of Psychology

1. The next important term for any science is “principles of science.” Scientific principles are understood as guiding ideas, the basic rules of science. Principle is the central concept, the basis of the system, representing the generalization and extension of a position to all phenomena of the area from which this principle is abstracted.

For modern Russian psychology, the dialectical approach is used as a general scientific methodology, and the activity-based approach is used as a specific scientific methodology.

Basic principles of the system-activity approach:

1. pr. determinism;

2. Ave. unity of consciousness and behavior (activity);

3. Ave. development;

4. etc. activity;

5. Ave. systematicity.

The principle of determinism means that every phenomenon has a cause. Mental phenomena are generated by factors of external reality, because psyche is a form of reflection of objective reality. All mental phenomena are caused by the activity of the brain. Mental reflection is determined by lifestyle and the functioning of the central nervous system.

The principle of the unity of consciousness and activity means that activity is a category that combines the unity of the external and internal: the subject’s reflection of the external world, the subject’s own knowledge of the current situation and the activity of the subject’s interaction with the environment. Activity is a form of manifestation of the activity of consciousness, and consciousness is the internal plan and result of activity. Changing the content of activity contributes to the formation of a qualitatively new level of consciousness.

Development principle means that the psyche develops, is realized in different forms:

a) in the form of phylogenesis - the formation of mental structures in the course of biological evolution;

b) in ontogenesis – the formation of mental structures during the life of an individual organism;

c) sociogenesis - the development of cognitive processes, personality, interpersonal relationships, due to socialization in different cultures Oh. The consequence of sociogenesis is the development of thinking, values, and standards of behavior among representatives of different cultures;

d) microgenesis – the formation and dynamics of images, ideas, concepts, etc., determined by the current situation and unfolding in short time intervals (skill, assimilation of a concept, etc.).

Higher, genetically later forms of the psyche develop on the basis of lower, genetically earlier ones. With a dialectical understanding, the development of the psyche is considered not only as growth, but also as change: when quantitative changes turn into qualitative ones.

Each step mental development has its own qualitative originality, has its own patterns. Consequently, it is unlawful to elevate the reflex mechanisms of animal behavior to the rank of universal laws of human behavior. And the thinking of an adult differs from the thinking of a child not so much in the amount of knowledge and skills as in other ways of thinking, the use of other logical schemes, and reliance on other adult value systems.

The human psyche has genetic diversity, i.e. in the psyche of one person structures of different levels – higher and lower – can coexist:

· along with conscious regulation there is reflex;

· logical thinking is adjacent to irrational, pre-logical.

The psyche is constantly changing quantitatively and qualitatively. Characterization of a mental phenomenon is possible with simultaneous clarification of its characteristics at a given moment, the history of its occurrence and prospects for change.

Activity principle means that the psyche is an active reflection of the external world. Thanks to activity, the psyche performs the function of orienting the subject in the variety of surrounding events and phenomena, which is manifested in the selectivity and partiality of the subject in relation to external influences ( increased sensitivity or ignoring certain incentives depending on the needs or attitudes of the individual) and regulation of behavior (an incentive to action that corresponds to the needs and interests of the individual).

Systematic principle. A system is understood as a set of elements that are connected to each other and form integrity and unity. A person is included in a variety of connections with reality (cognition, communication, adaptation to conditions). According to the many such connections, a person has many mental properties. At the same time, he lives and acts as a single whole. The development of the entire diversity of human mental properties cannot be derived from one foundation. Systems approach assumes a variety of sources and driving forces of human mental development.

Methods of psychology

Let us give examples of the most common modern psychological study methods.

Observation- a widely used empirical method. The observation method makes it possible to collect a rich variety of material, the naturalness of the activity conditions is preserved, it is not necessary to obtain the preliminary consent of the subjects, and the use of a variety of technical means is permissible. Disadvantages of observation can be considered the difficulty of controlling the situation, the duration of observation, the difficulty in differentiating significant and minor factors influencing the observed phenomenon, the dependence of the results on the experience, qualifications, preferences, and performance of the researcher.

Experiment– central empirical method scientific knowledge. It differs from observation by active intervention in the situation on the part of the researcher, systematically manipulating one or more variables and recording concomitant changes in the behavior of the object being studied. An experiment allows you to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships without limiting yourself to establishing relationships between variables. The experiment provides high accuracy of results, almost complete control over all variables, and repeated studies in similar situations are possible. At the same time, during an experimental study, the operating conditions of the subjects do not correspond to reality; the subjects may provide unreliable information, because aware of their participation in the study.

Questionnaire– an empirical socio-psychological method of collecting information based on answers to specially prepared questions that meet the main objective of the study.

Among empirical methods, methods such as conversation, interview, projective methods, testing, analysis of activity products, physiological, etc. are often used.

The whole variety of psychological methods is not exhausted by the above, in order to give at least a general idea of the methods of psychological science, we will try to systematize them, in other words, we will present one of the many classifications of psychological methods.

The emergence of a living being's own activity (including response, i.e. reactive) opens up new opportunities for interaction with surrounding objects, presented to the subject of activity as objects in the field of his action (useful or harmful). Now a living being may strive to provide intentional physical contact with certain objects (for example, food) or avoid physical contact with objects dangerous to living things. The possibility arises of moving from a chance encounter with an object to a deliberate search for an object or avoiding physical contact with it. This search activity is not caused by external factors, but internal reasons a living being, its life tasks (needs).

In other words, the task arises of determining the presence and location in space of the desired object and distinguishing it as different from other objects.

Help in solving this problem can be the ability of objects to directly come into physical contact with living objects, independently emit some energy or reflect external radiation, i.e. the energy of any intermediary (for example, radiation from the Sun and other luminous objects, sound and ultrasonic radiation, etc.). In this case, a living creature often generates energy flows itself (ultrasound, electromagnetic field, etc.). These radiations, reflected from objects, begin to bear the signs of these objects and can come into contact with the sensory organs of living beings before there is actual physical contact between the objects and the living being, i.e. remotely. But biological reflection, which can only create a signal of impact on a living being, provides information only about the presence of a source of physical (chemical) impact in the environment. It often cannot indicate either the direction or location of the influencing object in the field of action of a living being, or the shape and size of the object. We need a new form of reflection. The possibility of its appearance is determined by the ability nerve tissue to the transformation of biological signals (biocurrents) into subjective feelings (experiences or states). It must be assumed that nerve impulses, due to the characteristics of nerve cells, can be transformed into the subjective states of the living being itself, i.e. into light, sound, heat and other sensations (experiences).

Now we have to understand the following.

1. How does this transformation of nerve impulses into subjective experiences occur and what features do nerve cells differ in order to give subjective states (experiences)?
2. Does subjective experience remain only the state of a living being or is it capable of separating the bearer of the experience and the external world? If subjective experience (state) is initially unable to separate the subject and the external world, then what is the mechanism of such separation and how is it formed?
3. What is the participation of subjective feelings (the result of the transformation of nerve impulses) in ensuring the localization of the desired object constructed by the subject in space? How is this subjective space created? How are the direction and location of an object determined? How is the image of an object generally constructed, i.e. an object as a representative of an object, based on subjective feeling?

Not all the answers are visible to us today, but without them the value of ideas about the transformation of biological signals into subjective states (feelings) turns out to be small. We know that the ability for subjective experiences (states) as feelings, which emerged in evolution, is somehow involved in providing a living being with information about the shape, size and location of the desired object in space, its movements and other properties. To explain these processes, we are forced to enter the realm of assumptions that have only partial grounds for their confirmation or do not have them at all.

Today we know quite definitely how the primary traces of interaction in the senses are formed. It is known in more or less detail how the secondary transformation of primary traces into biological impulses occurs (for example, into nerve impulses from the organs of hearing, vision, temperature and tactile receptors, etc.). But we do not know the mechanism for transferring (transforming) nerve impulses into a subjective state. We do not know what is the mechanism of separation in the generated images of the state of a living being and information about the external world.

On the other hand, we understand that subjective feeling (sound, for example) and air vibrations are not the same thing. The first remains a signal of an external event, although isomorphic to it. But we also understand that behind the ability of an object to consistently reflect light in the green spectrum (or red, yellow, etc.) lies the constant objective quality of the object itself. Therefore, although the subjective experience of the color of a wave of electromagnetic radiation affecting the body is only a signal, a symbol of external influence, the sensation of the color of an object is a reflection of the objective property of the object. And when we receive three different subjective experiences from the same object—brilliance in the light, slipperiness in the tactile sensation, and cold in the temperature sensation—we understand that these are three different descriptions of the same quality of the object—its smoothness. Here feelings begin to perform the functions of a language for describing reality that exists outside of us, becoming a sensory language in which we (living beings) try to describe the external world for ourselves. This means that subjective experiences and sensations are the result of two various processes: the first arise as a transformation of bioimpulses, and the second are constructed by the subject of perception as the simplest images of objects.

At the same time, we must remember one more function of subjective experiences - on their basis and with their help, a living being discovers objects located in space, i.e. the subject field in which it operates. Today we can describe how this process is built only in the most general form or, conversely, in individual small details that do not give big picture the formation of what is called the image of an object, the image of a situation and the image of the world, i.e. what is called a mental image.

Let's take a general look at how the visual image of objects is formed in order to see those unresolved problems that still exist in the analysis of mental reflection. Let us recall our reflection scheme (Fig. 2.4).

Rice. 2.4.

The first stage is physical reflection. But now object A and object B interact not directly, directly, but through an intermediary. An intermediary C appears - a light source. Light interacts with object A (table) and, reflected from it already changed (C + a), falls on the human eye. The structures of the eye interact with light, and we get the primary traces of light (C + a) on the retina (1). Further, these primary traces are transformed into spikes of nerve impulses (2) traveling along optic nerve through subcortical nuclei to the occipital regions of the cerebral cortex. Reaching the primary visual fields of the brain, nerve impulses are transformed into light sensation (3). But normally, as we know, in this situation we see not light, but table A (4), occupying a certain place in space. A natural question arises: “Where did the table come from, if the eye interacted only with light and traces of light, and not the table, were transformed in the brain? Where to look for the solution to this riddle - the eye deals with light, and we see the table?!”

The first thing inquisitive readers noticed: the eye deals not just with light, but with traces of the interaction of light with the table. After such an interaction, the light reflected from the table changes: in its spectrum, in the direction and location of the rays in space and other indicators. So, objectively, in the traces of interaction between light and the table there is information about the table. But according to the laws of transformation of traces, the image of a table as a three-dimensional object located in space cannot arise. A picture of color spots with a certain contour may be formed, but not an image of a table, i.e. vision of an object taking its place in space. What makes a transformed subjectively experienced picture a visible space with three-dimensional objects? In other words, we must ask ourselves the question: “How, through what mechanisms and methods does visual subjective feeling (as a subjective state, as a visual picture) once again transform into a visible objective space, where desirable and undesirable objects are located?” There can be only one answer - in no way and in no way can this subjective picture turn into an image of an object. Today, the only truth-like answer is the recognition by such a mechanism of the own directed activity of a living being, constructing images of the objective conditions of its behavioral space, i.e. representing the visible external world to the subject; activity that “stretches” the visual sensory picture into the visible spatial field of adaptive activity and creates in it images of physical objects as objects of need or landmarks. The task of generating images of objects arises before the subject of activity only when adaptive behavior creates the need for the subject of activity to discover the objective conditions of his behavioral space. In other words, the psyche as a discovery for the subject of his zero actions is initially included in the activity of a living being as a necessary link, as an integral part of adaptive behavior, which was emphasized by I. M. Sechenov, S. L. Rubinstein and A. N. Leontyev.

Since, along with response activity to interaction with objects of the world, a living being has the ability to search initiative, i.e. activity coming from himself, we can assume that this search activity and special additional activity ensure the creation of images of objects in the spatial field of action of a living being. Somehow, the response activity of a living creature is also involved in constructing the image of the situation - its behavior, which takes into account the presence of a real object and its properties. In other words, to form a sample of an objective spatial field of action, a special activity of a living creature is required, i.e. special interaction with the environment. We still don’t know very well how this process of mental reflection occurs, but we have a lot of evidence that without the own activity of a living being, aimed at building an image of the situation (i.e., the objective field of the subject’s action), the opening of a behavioral space with objects is not formed. Mental reflection, as we see, corresponds to its own type of interaction with the world.

This position remains true not only for the simple situation of constructing a spatial image of an object, but also for more complex cases of acquiring ready-made knowledge (learning) and constructing a picture of the world (science). Without one's own active work, a student or scientist will not be successful. A natural question arises about the nature of this special activity. For now, the answer to this question is only speculative.

A living being is an active being. It maintains its existence without any external reasons, having a program for renewing itself (i.e., a program of self-construction), the implementation of which requires appropriate external and internal conditions. This initially existing activity of a living being in evolution is transformed into external motor activity and into activity in the internal plane, generated on the basis of subjective states as feelings and images of the objective conditions of the behavioral space. Activity is manifested, first of all, in adaptive responses, in exploratory initiative behavior and in adaptive behavior to satisfy various needs (life tasks) of a living being.

Since, as we see, the image of objects and the situation as a whole is impossible without the independent activity of a living being, we must assume that primary activity penetrates into the sphere of subjective experiences. It manifests itself not only in the movements of the whole body, limbs and sensory organs, “feeling” the object, but also in special activity in terms of subjective phenomena. It is precisely this kind of activity that the great G. Helmholtz could designate when analyzing perceptions as “unconscious inference.” Evaluating the results of its directed interaction with an object, a living being builds an image of the object of its field of action on the basis of subjective states (feelings) of certain modalities.

With this understanding of mental reflection, a serious question arises about the content of the concept “psyche”. What is considered psyche? A subjective state (experience as a feeling), an image of an object, or all together?

The answer is not easy to give, and it cannot be unambiguous.

We have established that on the basis of mental reflection, it is no longer a response, but behavior - a complexly structured, time-delayed activity of a living being, solving its life problems, often initiated by the living being itself.

Biological reflection serves the reactions of a living being, and complex behavior that lasts over time, with the achievement of intermediate results, can only be based on mental reflection, which provides knowledge about the conditions of behavior and regulates behavior.

Understanding the psyche as one of the forms of reflection allows us to say that the psyche does not appear in the world unexpectedly, as something unclear in nature and origin, but is one of the forms of reflection and has its analogues in the living and inanimate world (physical and biological reflection). Mental reflection can be considered as the transformation of secondary traces into a subjective state (experience), and on its basis the construction by the subject of activity of an objective spatial image of the action field. We see that the basis of mental reflection is the primary interaction with the outside world, but for mental reflection a special additional activity of a living being is needed to construct images of objects in the field of the subject’s behavior.

We have already talked about how, above the primary traces of the interaction of objects (energy flows and objects), which we can consider as a physical reflection, a biological reflection is built on in the form of primary traces of interaction with the outside world transformed into the own processes of a living being and in the form of adequate responses body.

Traces of primary interaction transformed into nerve impulses are further transformed into subjective states (sensory experiences) external influences. This subjective form of reflection becomes the basis for the discovery of the objective field of action of a living being, acting adequately in this objective space taking into account the properties of objects, or, in other words, on the basis of subjective images of objects and the situation as a whole.

It is clear that images of objects and situations can be attributed to mental reflection. But the question arises about the subjective experience itself as feeling. Can it be attributed to mental reflection or is it necessary to single out a special form - subjective reflection (experience), which is not the psyche? To answer this question, we need to consider the concept of the psyche in more detail.

Spinoza B. (1632–1677) – Dutch materialist philosopher.
Spinoza B. Ethics // Selected works. T. 1. M., 1957. P. 429.
Right there.
Spinoza B. Ethics // Selected works. T. 1. M., 1957. P. 423.

Psychic reflection– this is the most complex look reflection, it is characteristic only of humans and animals.

MENTAL REFLECTION - during the transition from the biological form of reflection to the mental, the following stages are distinguished:

1) sensory - characterized by the reflection of individual stimuli: response only to biologically significant stimuli;

2) perceptual - the transition to it is expressed in the ability to reflect a complex of stimuli as a whole; orientation in the totality of signs begins, and reaction to neutral biological stimuli, which are only signals of vital stimuli;

3) intellectual - manifests itself in the fact that in addition to the reflection of individual objects, a reflection of their functional relationships and connections arises.

Mental reflection is characterized by a number of features:

· it makes it possible to correctly reflect the surrounding reality, and the correctness of the reflection is confirmed by practice;

· the mental image itself is formed in the process of active human activity;

· mental reflection deepens and improves;

· ensures the appropriateness of behavior and activity;

· refracted through a person’s individuality;

· is anticipatory in nature.

The criterion of mental reflection is the body’s ability to react not to a directly vitally significant stimulus, but to another, which in itself is neutral, but carries information about the presence of a vitally significant influence.

For example, in one of the experiments to study the behavior of the simplest animals - single-celled ciliates living in water, they were placed in an extended aquarium, one part of which was heated to the optimal temperature for these creatures and at the same time illuminated by an external light source. Temperature is a vital influence for ciliates, so they moved to the heated zone. Light is not a vital influence for them.

Several such series of experiments were carried out, and then in a control experiment, other ciliates were added to the aquarium with participants in previous experiments, after which they began to illuminate part of the aquarium without heating it. It turned out that the ciliates behaved differently: those that had participated in previous experiments began to move towards the light source, while the new ciliates continued to move chaotically, without any system. In this experiment, these simplest creatures demonstrate the ability for psychic reflection, which significantly expanded the capabilities of living beings in their interaction with the external environment.

Mental reflection is not a mirror, mechanically passive copying of the external world (like a mirror, camera or scanner), it is associated with search, selection, in mental reflection incoming information is subjected to specific processing. In other words, mental reflection is a subjective reflection of the objective world; it does not exist outside the subject and depends on its subjective characteristics.

A.N. Leontyev identifies in the evolutionary development of the psyche three stages :

The first stage of the psyche is called sensory (sensual). For example, a spider reflects the connection between the vibration of the web and the food (fly) caught in the web. In the process of evolution of parts of the brain, the reflective functions of the psyche become more diverse. Mental activity moves to the second stage of development, which is called perceptual. All mammals are at this stage; here the reflection of various properties of one object occurs. For example, a dog recognizes its owner by voice, clothing, and smell.

Some of the properties of an object are more important for a dog (as a signal), others are less important. Therefore, with some signs animals react correctly, with others they make mistakes.

Higher mammals (monkeys) have thinking (stage 3), their brain is well developed, its structure is close to that of a human, and mental activity is richer and more complex than that of other animals. This stage of the psyche is called intelligence. Monkeys reflect not only individual properties or objects as a whole, but also connections between objects. This is facilitated by a highly developed orientation-exploratory reflex. Pavlov noted that monkeys are capable of thinking without having speech, and therefore they cannot put what they know into concepts, be distracted from reality, or think abstractly. The monkey is able to use the water from the barrel to light the fire in front of the bait, but if you move the barrel to the side, the monkey will head towards the barrel rather than using the water that is nearby. She has no concept of water at all.

TICKET 7

Consciousness and self-awareness

Consciousness- This highest level mental reflection of objective reality, as well as the highest level of self-regulation inherent only to man as a social being.

What is consciousness characterized by? Consciousness is always actively and secondly, intentionally. The activity of consciousness is manifested in the fact that the mental reflection of the objective world by a person is not of a passive nature, as a result of which all objects reflected by the psyche have the same significance, but, on the contrary, differentiation occurs according to the degree of significance for the subject of mental images. As a result, human consciousness is always directed towards some object, object or image, that is, it has the property of intention (direction).

The presence of these properties determines the presence of a number of other characteristics of consciousness (the ability for introspection (reflection), the motivational-value nature of consciousness). The ability to reflect determines a person’s ability to critically observe himself, his feelings, his condition.

These properties of consciousness determine the possibility of forming an individual “I-concept”, which is the totality of a person’s ideas about himself and the surrounding reality. A person evaluates all information about the world around him on the basis of a system of ideas about himself and forms behavior based on the system of his values, ideals and motivational attitudes. Therefore, “I-concentration” is called self-awareness.

A person’s self-awareness as a system of his views is strictly individual. People evaluate current events and their actions differently, and evaluate the same objects of the real world differently. In addition, not all information received about the surrounding reality and one’s own state is realized by a person. A significant part of the information is outside our consciousness. This occurs due to its low significance for a person or the “automatic” reaction of the body in response to a habitual stimulus.

Emergence of consciousness: There is a certain sequence of phenomena that determined the possibility of the emergence of consciousness in humans: work led to a change in the principles of building relationships between people. This change was expressed in the transition from natural selection to the principles of organizing social life, and also contributed to the development of speech as a means of communication. The emergence of human communities with their moral standards, reflecting the laws of social coexistence, was the basis for the manifestation of critical human thinking. This is how the concepts of “good” and “bad” appeared, the content of which was determined by the level of development of human communities. At the same time, speech development occurred. It acquired new functions. It has acquired properties that make it possible to consider it as a means of regulating human behavior. All these phenomena and patterns determined the possibility of the manifestation and development of consciousness in humans.

Conscious activity and conscious behavior of a person are determined by the anterior frontal and parietal fields of the cerebral cortex.

Self-awareness

Self-awareness- the subject’s consciousness of himself in contrast to others - other subjects and the world in general; This is a person’s awareness of his social status and his vital needs, thoughts, feelings, motives, instincts, experiences, actions.

Self-awareness is not an initial given inherent in man, but a product of development. However, the beginnings of consciousness of identity appear already in the infant, when he begins to distinguish between sensations caused by external objects and sensations caused by own body, consciousness of “I” - from about three years of age, when the child begins to correctly use personal pronouns. They gain awareness of their mental qualities and self-esteem highest value in adolescence and young adulthood. But since all these components are interconnected, the enrichment of one of them inevitably modifies the entire system.

Stages(or stages) of development of self-awareness:

§ The discovery of the “I” occurs at the age of 1 year.

§ By the 2nd 3rd years a person begins to separate the result of his actions from the actions of others and clearly recognizes himself as an actor.

§ By the age of 7, the ability to evaluate oneself (self-esteem) is formed.

§ Adolescence and adolescence is a stage of active self-knowledge, search for oneself, one’s own style. The period of formation of social and moral assessments is coming to an end.

The formation of self-awareness is influenced by:

§ Evaluations of others and status in the peer group.

§ Correlation between “I-real” and “I-ideal”.

§ Assessing the results of your activities.

Components of Self-Awareness

Components of self-awareness according to V. S. Merlin:

§ consciousness of one’s identity;

§ consciousness of one’s own “I” as an active, active principle;

§ awareness of one’s mental properties and qualities;

§ a certain system of social and moral self-esteem.

All these elements are related to each other functionally and genetically, but they are not formed at the same time.

Functions of self-awareness