Higher mental functions structure. What are the higher mental functions of a person

Characteristics of mental functions

Definition 1

The most widespread teaching about the higher mental activity of a person is the teaching of A.R. Luria. It has the highest mental functions are defined as self-regulating complex reflexes, social in origin, mediated in structure, conscious and arbitrary in terms of implementation methods.

Higher mental functions have special characteristics:

reflex,
self-regulation,
mediation,
consciousness and volition
sociality.

reflex character mental functions is determined by the fact that any human activity is reflex, as it is carried out on the basis of a reflection of reality. Moreover, they depend on the result of evolution. human psyche. It is important in evolution that the reflected reality is observed by a person not just in the form of natural stimuli, like animals, but also in the form of a man-made world - a civilization created by him. Operating with objects of civilization qualitatively distinguishes the human psyche from the psyche of other biospecies. Thus, all signs of higher mental functions follow from the biological nature of the psyche and its sociality.

Self-regulating nature higher mental functions is based on the spontaneous maturation of brain structures that carry out higher mental activity, and their subsequent subordination to the objective laws of implementation, biologically embedded in the human nervous system.

Mediation The WPF emphasizes that in order to implement higher mental activity, it is required to operate with two categories:

phenomena and objects of the surrounding world;
sign and communication systems.

It should be noted that sign systems are initially external, that is, exteriorized, and over time, part of the signs, as they are assimilated, seem to go inside, that is, they are internalized.

Consciousness and arbitrariness higher mental activity lies in the fact that a person is able to realize himself as separate phenomena of reality and feel his own "I". A person can evaluate his knowledge and change the content of acquired skills arbitrarily. Awareness and, as a result, the arbitrariness of activity is possessed only by a person.

Higher mental functions are social in nature. This is proved by the fact that children who grow up outside of society do not acquire mental functions at all in their human version.

Higher mental functions and neuropsychology

The doctrine of higher mental functions as a whole is cornerstone neuropsychology. It led to a differentiated study of the functions of various brain areas - the doctrine of localization.

Of scientific interest for neuropsychology is the cerebral cortex, in particular, its higher levels and the specialization of individual zones. In this sense, the war turned out to be a unique, spontaneous experiment, which provided a huge material of cranial wounds in young people. healthy people. This made it possible to see the site of brain damage and fix the functions that were missing. The most important result of these studies was reliable information about the localization of higher mental functions, which are carried out not at the expense of the entire brain, but only of a certain area of it.

Physical functions - the basis of higher mental functions

Higher mental functions, which have the sign of sociality, are acquired on the basis of elementary functions given to people from birth. In relation to the higher mental functions, the basic ones are:

unconditioned reflex activity, such as the movement of the legs, arms, grasping reflex, and others;
sensations obtained with the help of analyzers: visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, olfactory.

The analyzer consists of the following components:

receptor or peripheral part of the analyzer;
a nerve pathway or neuron that conducts perceived information from the receptor to the required area of the cerebral cortex;
the neurosensory part of the analyzer is the area of the brain where the nerve path that comes from the receptor ends - the area of localization of sensations.

Above the sensations provided by the analyzers, more complex activities are built on.

Definition 2

The set of activities, the basis of which is the analyzer is called modality.

An elementary type of mental reaction to the influence of the external environment is sensation, and the child must go through a period marked by the dominance of this elementary mental function. Otherwise modalities will not be formed.

Most of the types of higher mental activity are polymodal and require the joint participation of different modalities interconnected. Therefore, for the full development of a child, it is necessary to provide a variety of stimuli that cause sensations and more complex reactions derivatives from them. The importance of olfactory, auditory, gustatory, visual sensations cannot be underestimated. They play a starting role in the development of more complex functions that form the corresponding modality and enrich it.

Higher mental functions (HMF)- specifically human mental processes. They arise on the basis of natural mental functions due to their mediation by psychological tools. The sign acts as a psychological tool. VPF include:, speech. They are social in origin, mediated in structure and arbitrary in the nature of regulation. Introduced by L. S. Vygotsky, developed by A. N. Leontiev, A. V. Zaporozhets, D. B. Elkonin,
P. Ya. Galperin. Four main features of the HMF were singled out - mediation, arbitrariness, systemicity; are formed by internalization.

Such a definition does not apply to either idealistic or “positive” biological theories and allows you to better understand how memory, thinking, speech, perception are located in the human and with high accuracy made it possible to determine the location of local lesions. nervous tissue and even recreate them in some way.

Structure

Higher mental functions are a specifically human acquisition. However, they can be decomposed into their constituent natural processes.

With natural memorization, a simple associative link is formed between two points. Such is the memory of animals. This is a kind of imprint, an imprint of information.

A –> X –> B

Human memory has a fundamentally different structure. As can be seen from the diagram, instead of one simple or reflex connection, two others arise between elements A and B: AX and BX. Ultimately, this leads to the same result, but in a different way. The need to use such a "workaround" arose in the process of phylogenesis, when natural forms became unsuitable for solving the problems facing man. At the same time, Vygotsky pointed out that there are no such cultural techniques that would be impossible to completely decompose into its constituent natural processes. Thus, it is precisely the structure of mental processes that is specifically human.

Development

As mentioned above, the formation of higher mental functions is a process fundamentally different from the natural one. organic development. The main difference is that the raising of the psyche to the highest level lies precisely in its functional development, (ie the development of the technique itself), and not organic. Development is influenced by 2 factors:

Biological: for the development of the human psyche, it is necessary that it has the greatest plasticity; biological development is only a condition for cultural development, because the structure of this process is set from outside;

Social: the development of the human psyche is impossible without the presence of a cultural environment in which the child learns specific mental techniques.

Interiorization

Initially, any higher mental function is a form of interaction between people, between a child and an adult, thus it is an interpsychic process. At this stage of formation, higher mental functions represent an expanded form of objective activity, which is based on relatively simple sensory and motor processes. Later, in the process of internalization, the external means mediating this interaction pass into internal ones, thus the external process becomes internal, that is, intrapsychic. Outer actions collapse, becoming automated mental actions.

Experimental studies

Experimental development of memory problems was also carried out by Leontiev already within the framework of the activity approach. The main result of these studies was the development of a parallelogram of development.

brain organization

The psychophysiological correlate of the formation of higher mental functions are complex functional systems that have a vertical (cortical-subcortical) and horizontal (cortical-cortical) organization. But each higher mental function is not rigidly tied to any one brain center, but is the result of the systemic activity of the brain, in which various brain structures make a more or less specific contribution to the construction of this function.

Views of Vygotsky L.S. on problem higher mental functions human

Introduction

1. The concept of higher mental functions of a person according to L.S. Vygotsky

1.1 The structure of higher mental functions

1.2 Specifics of higher mental functions

2. Laws and stages of development of higher mental functions

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (1896-1934) is one of the outstanding Russian psychologists and philosophers. In the article "Consciousness as a Problem of Behavior" (1925), he outlined a plan for the study of mental functions, based on their role as indispensable regulators of behavior, which in humans includes speech components. The first version of his theoretical generalizations concerning the patterns of development of the psyche in ontogenesis, Vygotsky outlined in the work "The Development of Higher Mental Functions", written in 1931.

The concept of function, developed by the functional direction, changed radically. After all, this direction, having mastered the biological style of thinking, represented the function of consciousness according to the type of body functions. Vygotsky took a decisive step from the world of biology into the world of culture. Following this strategy, he began experimental work to study the changes that a sign produces in traditional psychological objects: attention, memory, thinking. The experiments that were carried out on children, both normal and abnormal, prompted us to interpret the problem of the development of the psyche from a new angle. Vygotsky's innovations were not limited to the idea that the highest function is organized by means of a psychological tool. He believed that it is not a single function that develops (memory or thinking), but complete system functions. At the same time, the ratio of functions changes in different age periods. (For example, for a preschooler, the leading function among others is memory, for a schoolchild it is thinking.) Development higher functions takes place in communication. Taking into account the lessons of Janet, Vygotsky interprets the process of development of consciousness as internalization. Every function arises first between people, and then becomes the "private property" of the child. In this regard, Vygotsky entered into a discussion with Piaget about the so-called egocentric speech.

1. The concept of higher mental functions according to Vygotsky L.S.

L. S. Vygotsky: singled out natural, natural functions (they are involuntary) and mental, inherent only to man. To adapt to the life of society, a person needs to master the socio-cultural experience.

The main properties of the WPF:

Social in essence, not needed by an individual, divided between people (the function of the word).

mediated in nature. People are connected by speech signs. The WPF appears twice: at the level of external funds and as an internal process.

Arbitrary in the process of formation (arbitrariness is the result of mediation, the development of funds).

Systemic in their structure (created on the basis of several natural functions; HMFs are interconnected, do not arise separately).

1.1 HMF specifics

The specificity of the human psyche and behavior is that they are mediated by cultural and historical experience. Elements of socio-historical experience are wedged into naturally occurring mental processes and behavioral functions, thereby transforming them. They become higher mental functions. The natural form of behavior is transformed into a cultural one.

To control your mental functions, you need to be aware of them. If there is no representation in the psyche, then a process of exteriorization is needed, a process of creating external means. biological Feedback- reception of control of natural functions.

Culture creates special forms behavior, it modifies the activity of mental functions, builds new floors in developing system human behavior.

In the process historical development social man changes the ways and methods of his behavior, transforms natural inclinations and functions, develops new ways of behavior - specifically cultural ones.

All HMFs are internalized relations of the social order. Their composition, genetic structure, mode of action - their whole nature is social.

Culture does not create anything, it only modifies natural data in accordance with the goals of man. HMFs come from natural natural functions.

In the process of cultural development, the child replaces some functions with others, laying detours. The basis of cultural forms of behavior is mediated activity, the use of external signs as a means further development behavior.

1.2 The structure of higher mental functions

The higher mental functions of a person from the point of view of modern psychology are complex self-regulating processes, social in their origin, mediated in their structure and conscious, arbitrary in their way of functioning.

Unlike an animal, a person is born and lives in the world of objects created by social labor, and in the world of people with whom he enters into certain relationships. This forms his mental processes from the very beginning. The child's natural reflexes (sucking, grasping reflexes, etc.) are radically rebuilt under the influence of handling objects. New motor schemes are being formed, creating a kind of "cast" of these objects, there is an assimilation of movements to their objective properties. The same must be said of human perception, which is shaped by the direct influence of the objective world of things that are themselves of social origin and are the product of what Marx broadly called "industry."

The most complex systems of reflex connections that reflect the objective world of objects require the joint work of many receptors and require the formation of new functional systems.

The child lives not only in the world of finished objects created by social labor. He always, from the very beginning of his life, enters into the necessary communication with other people, masters the objectively existing system of language, assimilates the experience of generations with its help. All this becomes a decisive factor in his future mental development, decisive condition for the formation of those higher mental functions in which man differs from animals.

L. S. Vygotsky repeatedly pointed out that the development of mental abilities does not follow the type of “evolution along pure lines” (when one or another property is gradually improved on its own), but according to the type of “evolution along mixed lines” 1 , in other words, along the type of creation of new, mediated structures of mental processes and new "interfunctional" relations aimed at the implementation of former tasks in new ways.

Any operation that solves a practical problem with the use of a tool or solves an internal, psychological problem with the help of an auxiliary sign, which is a means for organizing mental processes, can serve as a model or principal model of the mediated structure of higher mental functions. When a person who is faced with the task of remembering something ties a knot on a scarf or makes a note, he performs an operation that, it would seem, has nothing to do with the task before him. However, in this way a person masters his memory: by changing the structure of the process of memorization and giving it a mediated character, he thereby expands its natural possibilities. In the mediation of mental processes, the decisive role belongs to speech.

It would be a mistake to think that the indirect structure of higher mental functions, which are formed with the close participation of speech, is characteristic only of such forms of activity as memorization, voluntary attention, or logical thinking.

Higher mental functions can exist only through the interaction of highly differentiated brain structures, each of which makes its own specific contribution to the dynamic whole and participates in the functional system in its own roles. This position, fundamentally opposed to both "narrow localizationism" and the ideas of diffuse "equipotentiality",

On the early stages In their development, higher mental functions are based on the use of external reference signs and proceed as a series of special expanded operations. Only then they are gradually curtailed, and the whole process turns into an abbreviated action based on external, and then on internal speech.

A change in the structure of higher mental functions at various stages of ontogenetic (and in some cases functional, associated with exercise) development means that their cortical organization does not remain unchanged and that different stages development they are carried out by unequal constellations of cortical zones.

Observations show that the ratio of individual components that make up the higher mental functions does not remain unchanged at successive stages of their development. At the early stages of their formation, relatively simple sensory processes that serve as the foundation for the development of higher mental functions play a decisive role, but at subsequent stages, when higher mental functions are already formed, this leading role passes to more complex systems of connections formed on the basis of speech. which begin to determine the entire structure of higher mental processes. Therefore, a violation of the relatively elementary processes of sensory analysis and synthesis, which is necessary, for example, for the further formation of speech, is of decisive importance in early childhood, causing the underdevelopment of all functional formations, which are built on top of it. On the contrary, the violation of these same forms of direct, sensory analysis and synthesis in adulthood, with already established higher functional systems, can cause a more frequent effect, being compensated by other differentiated systems of connections. This proposition forces us to admit that the character of cortical intercentral relations does not remain the same at different stages of the development of a function, and that the effect of damage to a certain part of the brain at different stages of the development of functions will be different.

Introduction.

The inner world of a person, i.e., his mental life, is images, thoughts, feelings, aspirations, needs, etc., the totality of a person’s mental reflection of reality, the world around him.

The psyche, representing the inner world of man, arose at the highest stage of development of the material world. The psyche is absent in plants and inanimate objects. The psyche reflects the surrounding reality, thanks to the mental reflection of reality, a person cognizes it and in one way or another it affects the world around.

Psyche- this is a special property of highly organized matter, which consists in reflecting the objective world.

Psyche - general concept, which unites many subjective phenomena studied by psychology as a science. There are two different philosophical understandings of nature and the manifestation of the psyche: materialistic and idealistic. According to the first understanding, mental phenomena are a property of highly organized living matter, self-management by development and self-knowledge (reflection).

The dependence of mental processes on the personality as an individuality is expressed in:

1. individual differences;

2. depending on general development personality;

3. transformation into consciously regulated actions or operations.

Studying the problems of personality development, L.S. Vygotsky singled out the mental functions of a person, which are formed in specific conditions of socialization and have some special features. He defined these functions as the highest, considering them at the level of idea, concept, concept and theory. In general, he defined two levels of mental processes: natural and higher. If natural functions are given to an individual as a natural being and are realized in spontaneous response, then higher mental functions (HMF) can be developed only in the process of ontogenesis in social interaction.

1. Higher mental functions.

1.1. Theory of WPF.

The concept was developed Vygotsky and his school Leontiev, Luria etc.) in the 20-30s. 20th century One of the first publications was the article "The problem of the cultural development of the child" in the journal "Pedology" in 1928.

Following the idea of the socio-historical nature of the psyche, Vygotsky makes a transition to the interpretation of the social environment not as a "factor", but as a "source" personality development. In the development of the child, he notes, there are, as it were, two intertwined lines. The first follows the path of natural maturation. The second is the mastery of cultures, ways behavior and thinking. Auxiliary means Organizations of behavior and thinking that humanity has created in the process of its historical development are systems of signs-symbols (for example, language, writing, number system, etc.).

The child's mastery of the connection between sign to value, the use of speech in the use of tools marks the emergence of new psychological functions, systems underlying higher mental processes that fundamentally distinguish human behavior from animal behavior. The mediation of the development of the human psyche by "psychological tools" is also characterized by the fact that the operation of using a sign, which is at the beginning of the development of each of the higher mental functions, at first always has the form of external activity, i.e., it turns from interpsychic into intrapsychic.

This transformation goes through several stages. The initial one is related to the fact that a person (adult) with the help of a certain means controls the behavior of the child, directing the implementation of his any "natural", involuntary function. In the second stage, the child himself already becomes subject and, using this psychological tool, directs the behavior of another (assuming it to be an object). At the next stage, the child begins to apply to himself (as an object) those methods of controlling behavior that others applied to him, and he - to them. Thus, writes Vygotsky, each mental function appears twice on the stage - first as a collective function, social activity and then as the child's inner way of thinking. Between these two "outputs" lies the process of internalization, "rotation" of the function inside.

Being internalized, "natural" mental functions are transformed and "collapsed", acquire automation, awareness and arbitrariness. Then, thanks to the developed algorithms of internal transformations, the reverse process of internalization becomes possible - the process of exteriorization - bringing the results outside mental activity carried out first as a plan in the inner plan.

The advancement of the principle "external through internal" in the Cultural-historical theory expands the understanding of the leading role of the subject in various types activity- especially in the course of training and self-study. The learning process is interpreted as a collective activity, and the development of the internal individual properties of the child's personality has the closest source of his cooperation (in the broadest sense) with other people. Vygotsky's ingenious guess about the significance of the zone of proximal development in a child's life made it possible to conclude the dispute about the priorities of education or development: only that education is good, which forestalls development.

In the light of the systemic and semantic structure consciousness dialogue is the main characteristic of consciousness. Even turning into internal mental processes, higher mental functions retain their social nature - "a person, and alone with himself, retains the functions communication". According to Vygotsky, the word is related to consciousness as the small world is to the big one, as living cell to the body, as an atom to the cosmos. "A meaningful word is a microcosm of human consciousness."

In the views of Vygotsky personality is a social concept, it represents the supranatural, historical in man. It does not cover all features. individuality, but puts an equal sign between the personal child and his cultural development. Personality "is not innate, but arises as a result of cultures, development" and "in this sense, the correlate of personality will be the ratio of primitive and higher reactions." Developing, a person masters his own behavior. However, a necessary prerequisite for this process is the formation of a personality, because "the development of a particular function is always derived from the development of the personality as a whole and is conditioned by it."

In its development, a person goes through a series of changes that have a stage nature. More or less stable development processes due to the lytic accumulation of new potentialities, the destruction of one social situations development and the emergence of others are replaced by critical periods in the life of the individual, during which there is a rapid formation of psychological neoplasms. Crises are characterized by the unity of negative (destructive) and positive (constructive) sides and play the role of steps in the progressive movement along the path of the child's further development. The apparent behavioral dysfunction of a child in a critical age period is not a pattern, but rather evidence of an unfavorable course of the crisis, the absence of changes in the inflexible pedagogical system, which does not keep up with the rapid change in the child's personality.

Neoplasms that have arisen in a given period qualitatively change the psychological functioning of the individual. For example, appearance of reflection in an adolescent, it completely restructures his mental activity. This new formation is the third level of self-organization: "Along with the primary conditions of the individual, the personality's make-up (inclinations, heredity) and the secondary conditions of its formation (environment, acquired characteristics), here (at the time of puberty) tertiary conditions (reflection, self-formation) come into play." Tertiary functions form the basis self-awareness. Ultimately, they, too, are personal psychological relations that were once relationships between people. However, the connection between the socio-cultural environment and self-consciousness is more complicated and consists not only in the influence of the environment on the pace of development of self-consciousness, but also in determining the very type of self-consciousness, the nature of its development.

1.2. Essence and components of VPF.

The development of the psyche at the human level, according to the materialistic point of view, is mainly due to memory, speech, thinking and consciousness due to the complication of activity and the improvement of tools that act as a means of studying the world around us, the invention and widespread use of sign systems. In humans, along with lower levels organization of mental processes that are given to him by nature, higher ones also arise.

Memory.

The presence of ideas in a person suggests that our perceptions leave some traces in the cerebral cortex that persist for some time. The same must be said about our thoughts and feelings. The memorization, preservation and subsequent reproduction or recognition of what was in our past experience is called memory .

In the process of memorization, a connection of one object or phenomenon with other objects or phenomena is usually established.

Through the connection between past states of the psyche, the present and the processes of preparing future states, memory communicates coherence and stability to a person's life experience, ensures the continuity of the existence of the human "I" and thus acts as one of the prerequisites for the formation of individuality and personality.

Speech.

Speech is the main means of human communication. Without it, a person would not be able to receive and transmit a large number of information, in particular, one that carries a large semantic load or captures for itself what cannot be perceived with the help of the senses (abstract concepts, not directly perceived phenomena, laws, rules, etc.). Without written language, a person would be deprived of the opportunity to find out how people of previous generations lived, thought and did. He would not have had the opportunity to communicate his thoughts and feelings to others. Thanks to speech as a means of communication, the individual consciousness of a person, not limited to personal experience, is enriched by the experience of other people, and to a much greater extent than observation and other processes of non-verbal, direct cognition carried out through the senses: perception, attention, imagination, memory and thinking can allow. . Through speech, the psychology and experience of one person become available to other people, enrich them, and contribute to their development.

Introduction.

The inner world of a person, i.e., his mental life, is images, thoughts, feelings, aspirations, needs, etc., the totality of a person’s mental reflection of reality, the world around him.

Psyche- this is a special property of highly organized matter, which consists in reflecting the objective world.

The psyche is a general concept that unites many subjective phenomena studied by psychology as a science. There are two different philosophical understandings of nature and the manifestation of the psyche: materialistic and idealistic. According to the first understanding, mental phenomena are a property of highly organized living matter, self-management by development and self-knowledge (reflection).

The dependence of mental processes on the personality as an individuality is expressed in:

1. individual differences;

2. depending on the overall development of the personality;

3. transformation into consciously regulated actions or operations.

1. Higher mental functions.

1.1. Theory of WPF.

Following the idea of the socio-historical nature of the psyche, Vygotsky makes a transition to the interpretation of the social environment not as a "factor", but as a "source" personality development. In the development of the child, he notes, there are, as it were, two intertwined lines. The first follows the path of natural maturation. The second is the mastery of cultures, ways behavior and thinking. Auxiliary means of organizing behavior and thinking that mankind has created in the process of its historical development are systems of signs-symbols (for example, language, writing, number system, etc.).

This transformation goes through several stages. The initial one is related to the fact that a person (adult) with the help of a certain means controls the behavior of the child, directing the implementation of his any "natural", involuntary function. In the second stage, the child himself already becomes subject and, using this psychological tool, directs the behavior of another (assuming it to be an object). At the next stage, the child begins to apply to himself (as an object) those methods of controlling behavior that others applied to him, and he - to them. Thus, Vygotsky writes, each mental function appears on the stage twice - first as a collective, social activity, and then as the child's internal way of thinking. Between these two "outputs" lies the process of internalization, "rotation" of the function inside.

Being internalized, "natural" mental functions are transformed and "collapsed", acquire automation, awareness and arbitrariness. Then, thanks to the developed algorithms of internal transformations, the reverse process of internalization becomes possible - the process of exteriorization - bringing out the results of mental activity, carried out first as a plan in the internal plan.

The advancement of the principle "external through internal" in the cultural-historical theory expands the understanding of the leading role of the subject in various forms. activity- especially in the course of training and self-study. The learning process is interpreted as a collective activity, and the development of the internal individual properties of the child's personality has the closest source of his cooperation (in the broadest sense) with other people. Vygotsky's ingenious guess about the significance of the zone of proximal development in a child's life made it possible to conclude the dispute about the priorities of education or development: only that education is good, which forestalls development.

In the light of the systemic and semantic structure consciousness dialogue is the main characteristic of consciousness. Even turning into internal mental processes, higher mental functions retain their social nature - "a person, and alone with himself, retains the functions communication". According to Vygotsky, the word is related to consciousness as a small world is to a large one, as a living cell is to an organism, as an atom is to the cosmos. "A meaningful word is a microcosm of human consciousness."

1.2. Essence and components of VPF.

The development of the psyche at the human level, according to the materialistic point of view, is mainly due to memory, speech, thinking and consciousness due to the complication of activity and the improvement of tools that act as a means of studying the world around us, the invention and widespread use of sign systems. In a person, along with the lower levels of organization of mental processes that are given to him by nature, higher ones also arise.

Memory.

In the process of memorization, a connection of one object or phenomenon with other objects or phenomena is usually established.

Speech.

Speech is the main means of human communication. Without it, a person would not be able to receive and transmit a large amount of information, in particular, one that carries a large semantic load or fixes for itself something that cannot be perceived with the help of the senses (abstract concepts, not directly perceived phenomena, laws, rules, etc.). P.). Without written language, a person would be deprived of the opportunity to find out how people of previous generations lived, thought and did. He would not have had the opportunity to communicate his thoughts and feelings to others. Thanks to speech as a means of communication, the individual consciousness of a person, not limited to personal experience, is enriched by the experience of other people, and to a much greater extent than observation and other processes of non-verbal, direct cognition carried out through the senses: perception, attention, imagination, memory and thinking can allow. . Through speech, the psychology and experience of one person become available to other people, enrich them, and contribute to their development.

In terms of its vital significance, speech has a gtoli-functional character. It is not only a means of communication, but also a means of thinking, a carrier of consciousness, memory, information (written texts), a means of controlling the behavior of other people and regulating a person’s own behavior. According to its many functions, speech is polymorphic activity, i.e., in its various functional purposes, it is presented in different forms: external, internal, monologue, dialogue, written, oral, etc. Although all these forms of speech are interconnected, their vital purpose is not the same. External speech, for example, plays mainly the role of a means of communication, internal - a means of thinking. Written speech most often acts as a way of memorizing information. The monologue serves the process of one-way, and the dialogue serves the two-way exchange of information.

Thinking.

First of all, thinking is the highest cognitive process. It is the creation of new knowledge active form creative reflection and human transformation of reality. Thinking generates such a result, which does not exist in any reality, nor in the subject at a given moment of time. Thinking (in elementary forms it is also found in animals) can also be understood as the acquisition of new knowledge, the creative transformation of existing ideas.

Thinking different from others psychological processes It also consists in the fact that it is almost always associated with the presence of a problematic situation, a task that needs to be solved, and an active change in the conditions in which this task is set. Thinking, unlike perception, goes beyond the limits of the sensually given, expands the boundaries of knowledge. In thinking, certain theoretical and practical conclusions are made on the basis of sensory information. It reflects being not only in the form of individual things, phenomena and their properties, but also determines the connections that exist between them, which are most often not given directly, in the very perception of a person. The properties of things and phenomena, the connections between them are reflected in thinking in a generalized form, in the form of laws, entities.

In practice, thinking as a separate mental process does not exist, it is invisibly present in all other cognitive processes: in perception, attention, imagination, memory, speech. The higher forms of these processes are necessarily associated with thinking, and the degree of its participation in these cognitive processes also determines the level of development.

Thinking is the movement of ideas, revealing the essence of things. Its result is not an image, but some thought, an idea. A specific result of thinking can be concept - generalized reflection of a class of objects in their most general and essential features features.

Thinking is a special kind of theoretical and practical activity, which involves a system of actions and operations included in it of an orienting-research, transformative and cognitive nature.

Attention.

Attention in human life and activity performs many different functions. It activates the necessary and inhibits the unnecessary this moment psychological and physiological processes, promotes an organized and purposeful selection of information entering the body in accordance with its actual needs, provides selective and long-term concentration mental activity on the same object or activity.

Directivity and selectivity of cognitive processes are connected with attention. Their setting directly depends on what at a given time seems to be the most important for the body, for the realization of the interests of the individual. Attention determines the accuracy and detail of perception, the strength and selectivity of memory, the direction and productivity of mental activity - in a word, the quality and results of the functioning of all cognitive activity.

For perceptual processes, attention is a kind of amplifier that allows you to distinguish the details of images. For human memory, attention acts as a factor capable of retaining the necessary information in short-term and operational memory, as a prerequisite for transferring memorized material into long-term memory storage. For thinking, attention acts as a mandatory factor for correct understanding and solving a problem. In the system of interpersonal relations, attention contributes to better mutual understanding, adaptation of people to each other .

Perception.

Perception is a sensual reflection of an object or phenomenon of objective reality that affects our senses. Human perception - not only a sensual image, but also the awareness of an object that stands out from the environment and opposes the subject. Awareness of a sensuously given object is the main, most essential distinguishing feature of perception. The possibility of perception implies the ability of the subject not only to respond to a sensory stimulus, but also to realize, accordingly, a sensory quality as a property of a particular object. To do this, the object must stand out as a relatively stable source of influences emanating from it on the subject and as a possible object of the actions of the subject directed at it. The perception of an object therefore presupposes on the part of the subject not only the presence of an image, but also a certain effective attitude, arising only as a result of a rather highly developed tonic activity (cerebellum and cortex), which regulates motor tone and provides a state of active rest necessary for observation. Perception, therefore, as has already been pointed out, presupposes a fairly high development of not only the sensory, but also the motor apparatus.

Living and acting, resolving in the course of his life the practical tasks that confront him, a person perceives the environment. The perception of objects and people with whom he has to deal, the conditions in which his activity takes place, constitute a necessary prerequisite for meaningful human action. Life practice makes a person move from unintentional perception to a purposeful activity of observation; at this stage, perception is already transformed into a specific "theoretical" activity. The theoretical activity of observation includes analysis and synthesis, comprehension and interpretation of what is perceived. Thus, initially associated as a component or condition with some specific practical activity, perception eventually passes in the form of observation into a more or less complex activity of thinking, in the system of which it acquires new specific features. Developing in a different direction, the perception of reality turns into the creation of an artistic image associated with creative activity and the aesthetic contemplation of the world.

Perceiving, a person is not only sees, but also looks, not only hears, but also listening, and sometimes he not only looks, but considers or peering etsya, not only listening, but also listens, he often actively chooses a setting that will provide an adequate perception of the subject; perceiving, he thus performs a certain activity aimed at bringing the image of perception in line with the object, which is ultimately necessary due to the fact that the object is an object not only of awareness, but also of practical action that controls this awareness.

1.3. HPF signs.

Modern research has significantly expanded and deepened the general ideas about the patterns, essence, structure of the HMF. Vygotsky and his followers singled out four main features of the HMF - complexity, sociality, mediation, and arbitrariness.

Complexity It manifests itself in the fact that HMFs are diverse in terms of the features of formation and development, in terms of the structure and composition of conditionally distinguished parts and the connections between them. In addition, the complexity is determined by the specific relationship of some results of human phylogenetic development (preserved in contemporary culture) with the results of ontogenetic development at the level of mental processes. During the historical development, man has created unique sign systems that allow comprehending, interpreting and comprehending the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world. These systems continue to evolve and improve. Their change in a certain way affects the dynamics of the very mental processes of a person. Thus, the dialectic of mental processes, sign systems, phenomena of the surrounding world is carried out.

sociality HMF is determined by their origin. They can develop only in the process of interaction of people with each other. The main source of occurrence is internalization, i.e. transfer ("rotation") of social forms of behavior into the internal plan. Internalization is carried out during the formation and development of external and internal relations personality. Here the HMF goes through two stages of development. First, as a form of interaction between people (interpsychic stage). Then as an internal phenomenon (intrapsychic stage). Teaching a child to speak and think is a vivid example of the process of internalization.

Mediation HMF is visible in the way they function. The development of the capacity for symbolic activity and mastery of the sign is the main component of mediation. The word, image, number and other possible identification signs of a phenomenon (for example, a hieroglyph as a unity of a word and an image) determine the semantic perspective of comprehending the essence at the level of unity of abstraction and concretization. In this sense, thinking as operating with symbols, behind which there are representations and concepts, or creative imagination as operating with images, are the corresponding examples of the functioning of the HMF. In the process of functioning of the HMF, cognitive and emotional-volitional components of awareness are born: meanings and meanings.

Arbitrary VPF are by way of implementation. Thanks to mediation, a person is able to realize his functions and carry out activities in a certain direction, anticipating possible result, analyzing your experience, correcting behavior and activities. The arbitrariness of HMF is also determined by the fact that the individual is able to act purposefully, overcoming obstacles and making appropriate efforts. A conscious desire for a goal and the application of efforts determines the conscious regulation of activity and behavior. We can say that the idea of the HMF comes from the idea of the formation and development of volitional mechanisms in a person.

In general, modern scientific ideas about the HMF phenomenon contain the foundations for understanding personality development in the following areas. First, the social development of a person as the formation of a system of relations with people and phenomena of the surrounding reality. Secondly, intellectual development as the dynamics of mental neoplasms associated with the assimilation, processing and functioning of various sign systems. Thirdly, creative development as the formation of the ability to create a new, non-standard, original and original. Fourthly, volitional development as the ability to purposeful and productive actions; the possibility of overcoming obstacles on the basis of self-regulation and stability of the individual. At the same time, social development is aimed at successful adaptation; intellectual - to understand the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world; creative - on the transformation of the phenomena of reality and self-actualization of the individual; volitional - to mobilize human and personal resources to achieve the goal.

Higher mental functions develop only in the process of education and socialization. They cannot arise in a feral person (feral people, according to K. Linnaeus, are individuals who grew up in isolation from people and were brought up in the community of animals). Such people lack the main qualities of HMF: complexity, sociality, mediation and arbitrariness. Of course, we can find some elements of these qualities in the behavior of animals. For example, the conditionality of actions trained dog can be correlated with the quality of the mediation of functions. However, higher mental functions develop only in connection with the formation internalized sign systems, and not at the level of reflex activity, even if it acquires a conditioned character. Thus, one of essential qualities HMF is mediation associated with the general intellectual development of a person and the possession of numerous sign systems.

The question of the internalization of sign systems is the most complex and poorly developed in modern cognitive psychology. It is in the context of this direction that the main problems intellectual development person in the process of education and upbringing. Following the allocation of structural blocks of cognitive activity, the development of a cognitive theory of personality, the study of experimental study of the particular processes and functions of mental activity, the creation of concepts of the cognitive structure of the personality associated with the development of intelligence in the learning process, critical information appears due to the lack of conceptual unity of numerous theories. Recently, we can find a fair amount of skepticism about research in the cognitive field. There are many reasons for that. One of them, in our opinion, is disappointment in the possibilities of social adaptability. intellectual activity and lack accurate diagnosis her level. The results of intelligence studies have shown that its high level is very weakly associated with a person's success in society. Such conclusions are quite obvious if we proceed from the theory of the WPF. After all, only a sufficiently high level of development of the intellectual sphere of the individual in combination with a no less high level of development of the emotional-volitional sphere allows us to talk about the possibility of social success. At the same time, there must be a certain balance between emotional, volitional and intellectual development. Violation of this balance can lead to the development of deviant behavior and social maladjustment.

Thus, it can be stated that interest in the problems of human intellectual development in the process of training and education is being replaced by interest in the general problems of socialization and adaptation of the individual. Modern cognitive psychology has settled on the study of general mental processes: memory, attention, imagination, perception, thinking, etc. Most successful learning and education is associated with their development. However, it is already quite clear today that only in primary school such close attention to mental processes is fully justified, since it is determined by the age sensitivity of younger schoolchildren. The development of the cognitive sphere in middle and high school students should be associated with the process of understanding the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world, since age is the most sensitive for the formation of social and gender-role identification.

It is very important to turn to the processes of understanding as comprehension of the essence of the surrounding world. If we analyze the majority educational programs in the modern school, it can be seen that their main advantages are associated with the selection of content and the peculiarities of the interpretation of scientific information. Per last years new subjects have appeared in the school, the range of additional educational services has expanded, and new areas of education are being developed. Newly created textbooks and teaching aids amaze us with the possibilities of applying scientific data in the study of certain subjects at school. However, the developing possibilities of the content of the material remain outside the attention of the authors. It is assumed that these opportunities can be implemented at the level of pedagogical methods and technologies. And in the content educational material developmental learning opportunities are simply not used. Students are offered an adapted quintessence of scientific knowledge. But is it possible use the content of educational material for the development of the cognitive sphere of the individual ?

The origins of this idea can be found in the works of the Russian psychologist L.B. Itelson ("Lectures on Modern Problems of the Psychology of Education", Vladimir, 1972), as well as in numerous modern developments in the theory of argumentation by A.A. Ivin. The essence of their idea lies in the fact that during training, the content of information (which turns into knowledge with assimilation) should be selected in such a way that, if possible, all the intellectual functions of a person develop.

The main intellectual functions are identified, which (with a certain degree of conventionality) can be combined into five dichotomous pairs according to the principle of subordination:

analysis - synthesis;

abstraction - concretization;

comparison - comparison;

generalization - classification;

coding - decoding (decoding).

All these functions are interconnected and interdependent. Together, they determine the processes of cognition and comprehension of the essence of phenomena. Obviously, modern education is aimed primarily at the development of such functions as concretization, comparison, coding. Concretization is determined by the ability of a person to abstract from the essence of the phenomenon and focus on particulars. So, for example, working with signs or facts in the study of any phenomena of reality contributes to the development of this function. Comparison as an intellectual function develops in students in almost all subjects at school, since so many tasks and questions on topics are given for comparison. And, finally, coding, which is associated with the development of speech, develops from childhood. Coding includes all intellectual operations that accompany the translation of images and ideas into words, sentences, text. Each person has his own coding features, which manifest themselves in the style, meaning formation of speech and overall structure language as a sign system.

As for analysis, synthesis, abstraction, comparison, generalization, classification and decoding, there are very few tasks for the development of these functions in modern textbooks, and the content of the educational material itself does not contribute to their formation.

Indeed, it is extremely difficult to form many functions due to their essential specificity. So, for example, the possibilities of developing the comparison function are limited, because this function involves the correlation of things not according to an essential feature (as in comparison), but according to the belonging of objects to a different class of phenomena. On the other hand, it is absolutely necessary to prepare children for the analysis of the realities of modern life. Here they will often have to make decisions and make choices based on the correlation of various phenomena. good example selection of content for the development of the comparison function is L. Carroll's fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland". Recently, interesting teaching aids for children have begun to appear, where the possibilities of implementing this approach are presented. However, there are still very few such publications, and many teachers do not quite understand how to use them. At the same time, it is absolutely necessary to deal with the problems of the development of the intellectual functions of children, since a person’s ability to correctly comprehend the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world depends on this.

1.4. VPF localization.

Localization (from lat. localis - local) - assignment higher mental functions to specific brain structures. The problem of HMF localization is being developed neuropsychology, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, etc. The history of the study of HMF localization dates back to antiquity (Hippocrates, Galen and others). Representatives of narrow localizationism considered psychological functions as unified, indecomposable into components “psychic abilities”, carried out by limited areas of the cerebral cortex - the corresponding brain “centers”. It was believed that the defeat of the "center" leads to the loss of the corresponding function. The logical conclusion of the ideas of naive localizationism was the phrenological map of F. Gall and the localization map of K. Kleist, representing the work of the cerebral cortex as a set of functions of various "centers" of mental abilities. Another direction - "antilocalizationism" considered the brain as a single undifferentiated whole, with which all mental functions are equally connected. It followed that damage to any area of the brain leads to general violation functions (for example, to reduce intellect), and the degree of dysfunction does not depend on localization and is determined by the mass of the affected brain. According to the theory of systemic dynamic localization of the HMF, the brain, the substratum of mental functions, works as a single whole, consisting of many highly differentiated parts, each of which performs its own specific role. Directly from brain structures it is necessary to correlate not the entire mental function and not even its individual links, but those physiological processes (factors) that are carried out in the corresponding structures. Violation of these physiological processes leads to the appearance of primary defects that extend to a number of interrelated mental functions.

2. The social nature of the HMF.

2.1. Development of HMF in humans.

Three main achievements of mankind contributed to the accelerated mental development of people: the invention of tools, the production of objects of material and spiritual culture, and the emergence knowledge of language and speech . With the help of tools, man received the opportunity to influence nature and to know it more deeply. The first such tools - an ax, a knife, a hammer - simultaneously served as both goals. Human made household items everyday life and studied the properties of the world, not given directly to the senses.

Improvement of tools and performed With with their help, labor operations led, in turn, to the transformation and improvement functions of the hand, thanks to which it turned over time into the thinnest and most accurate of all tools labor activity. On the example of the hand, he learned to cognize the reality of the human eye, it also contributed to the development of thinking and created the main creations of the human spirit. With the expansion of knowledge about the world, human capabilities increased, he acquired the ability to be independent of nature and change his own nature by reason (meaning human behavior and psyche).

The objects of material and spiritual culture created by people of many generations did not disappear without a trace, but were passed on and reproduced from generation to generation, improving. There was no need for a new generation of people to reinvent them, it was enough to learn how to use them with the help of other people who already knew how to do it.

The mechanism of transmission of abilities, knowledge, skills and abilities by inheritance has changed. Now it was not necessary to change the genetic apparatus, anatomy and physiology of the organism in order to rise to a new stage of psychological and behavioral development. It was enough, having a flexible brain from birth, a suitable anatomical and physiological apparatus, to learn how to humanly use the objects of material and spiritual culture created by previous generations. In the tools of labor, in the objects of human culture, people began to inherit their abilities and assimilate them to the next generations without changing the genotype, anatomy and physiology of the body. Man has gone beyond his biological limitations and has opened for himself the path to almost limitless improvement.

Thanks to the invention, improvement and widespread use of tools, sign systems, mankind has received a unique opportunity to preserve and accumulate experience in the form of various texts, products of creative work, to pass it on from generation to generation with the help of a well-thought-out system of teaching and educating children. The next generations assimilated the knowledge, skills and habits developed by the previous ones, and thus also became civilized people. Moreover, since this process of humanization begins from the first days of life and gives its visible results quite early (from the materials presented in the second book of the textbook, we will see that already three year old not a biological being, but a small, completely civilized person), the individual retained the opportunity to make his own, personal contribution to the treasury of civilization and thereby multiply the achievements of mankind.

Thus, gradually, accelerating, from century to century, the creative abilities of people improved, their knowledge of the world expanded and deepened, raising man higher and higher above the rest of the animal world. Over time, man invented and improved many things that have no analogues in nature. They began to serve him to satisfy his own material and spiritual needs and at the same time acted as a source for the development of human abilities.

If for a moment we imagine that a worldwide catastrophe occurred, as a result of which people with appropriate abilities died, the world of material and spiritual culture was destroyed and only small children survived, then in its development humanity would be thrown back tens of thousands of years ago, since there is no one and there would be nothing to teach children to become people. But perhaps the most significant invention of mankind, which had an incomparable impact on the development of people, was sign systems. They gave impetus to the development of mathematics, engineering, science, art, and other areas of human activity. The appearance of alphabetic symbols led to the possibility of recording, storing and reproducing information. There was no need to keep it in the head of an individual, the danger of irretrievable loss due to memory loss or the departure of the information keeper from life disappeared.

Particularly outstanding achievements in improving the methods of recording, storing and reproducing information that occurred in the last decades of this century have led to a new scientific and technological revolution, which is actively continuing in our time. This is the invention of magnetic, laser and other forms of information recording. Obviously, we are now on the threshold of a transition to a new, qualitatively higher stage of human mental and behavioral development, the first signs of which can already be seen. These include the availability to a single person of almost any information, if somewhere and sometime it was written by someone in an understandable language. This can also include the development of means of communication, the liberation of people from routine work that does not contribute much to their development and the transfer of it to the machine, the emergence and improvement of methods of influencing nature not so much with the aim of using it for their own needs, but to preserve and improve nature itself. Perhaps soon people will be able to learn how to influence their nature in a similar way.

Sign systems, especially speech, from the very beginning of their use by people became effective means influence of a person on himself, control of his perception, attention, memory, and other cognitive processes. Along with the first signal system given to man by nature (I. P. Pavlov), which was the sense organs, a person received a second signal system expressed in the word. Possessing meanings known to people, words began to have the same effect on their psychology and behavior as the objects they replace, and sometimes even more if they denoted phenomena and objects that are difficult to imagine (abstract concepts). The second signal system became powerful tool self-management and self-regulation of a person. Perception has acquired such qualities as objectivity, constancy, meaning, structure, attention became arbitrary, memory became logical, thinking became verbal and abstract. Practically all human mental processes, as a result of the use of speech to control them, went beyond their natural limitations, got the opportunity for further, potentially unlimited improvement.

The word has become the main regulator of human actions, the bearer of moral and cultural values, the means and source of human civilization, its intellectual and moral improvement. It also acted as main factor education and training. Thanks to the word, the individual man became a person-person. Speech as a means of communication played a special role in the development of people. Its development contributed to the mutual intellectual and cultural enrichment of people living in different parts of the world and speaking different languages.

2.2. Biological and social.

In addition to inherited and spontaneously acquired experience, a person also has a consciously regulated, purposeful process of mental and behavioral development associated with training and education. If, studying a person and comparing him with animals, we find that in the presence of the same anatomical and physiological inclinations, a person in his psychology and behavior reaches a higher level of development than an animal, then this is the result of learning, which can be consciously controlled through training and education . In this way, comparator new psychological-behavioral study of human and animal postures allows more correct, scientifically sound determination of the content and methods of teaching and educating children.

Both man and animals have common innate elementary abilities of a cognitive nature, which allow them to perceive the world in the form of elementary sensations (in highly developed animals - in the form of images), to remember information. All the main types of sensations: sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, skin sensitivity, etc. - are present in humans and animals from birth. Their functioning is ensured by the presence of appropriate analyzers, the structure of which was discussed in detail in the second chapter.

But the perception and memory of a developed person differ from similar functions in animals and newborn babies. These differences run along several lines at once.

First, in humans, compared with animals, the corresponding cognitive processes have special qualities: perception - objectivity, constancy, meaningfulness, and memory - arbitrariness and mediation (the use by a person of special, culturally developed means of remembering, storing and reproducing information). It is these qualities that a person acquires during life and develops further through training.

Secondly, the memory of animals compared to humans is limited. They can use in their lives only the information that they themselves acquire. They pass on to the next generations of their own kind beings only what is somehow fixed hereditarily and reflected in the genotype. The rest of the acquired experience when the animal passes away turns out to be irretrievably lost for future generations.

Otherwise it is the case with man. His memory is practically unlimited. He can memorize, store and reproduce a theoretically infinite amount of information due to the fact that he himself does not need to constantly remember and keep all this information in his head. To do this, people invented sign systems and means for recording information. They can not only record and store it, but also pass it on from generation to generation through objects of material and spiritual culture, learning to use the appropriate sign systems and means.

No less important differences are found in the thinking of man and animals. Both of these types of living beings almost from birth have the potential ability to solve elementary practical problems in in a visual and actionable way. However, already at the next two stages of the development of intellect - in visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking - there are striking differences between them.

Only higher animals, probably, can operate with images, and this is still controversial in science. In humans, this ability manifests itself from the age of two and three. As for verbal-logical thinking, animals do not have even the slightest signs of this type of intelligence, since neither logic nor the meanings of words (concepts) are available to them.

More difficult is the question of comparing the manifestation of emotions in animals and humans. The difficulty in solving it is that primary emotions, available in humans and animals are innate. Both types of living beings, apparently, feel them in the same way, behave in the same way in the corresponding situations. Higher animals - anthropoids - and humans have much in common and in external ways expressions of emotions. They also have something similar to a person's moods, his affects and stresses.

However, a person has the highest moral feelings, which animals do not have. They, unlike elementary emotions, are brought up and changed under the influence of social conditions.

Scientists spent a lot of effort and time trying to understand the issue of commonality and differences in behavior motivation people and animals. Both, no doubt, have many common, purely organic needs, and in this respect it is difficult to detect any noticeable motivational differences between animals and humans.

There are also a number of needs in relation to which the question of the fundamental differences between man and animals seems to be unambiguously and definitely unsolvable, that is, controversial. It - communication needs(contacts with their own kind and other living beings), altruism, dominance (motive power), aggressiveness. Their elementary signs can be observed in animals, and it is still not completely known whether they are inherited by a person or acquired by him as a result of socialization.

Humans also have specific social needs, close analogues of which cannot be found in any of the animals. These are spiritual needs, needs that have a moral and value basis, creative needs, the need for self-improvement, aesthetic and a number of other needs.

One of the main problems of psychology is the clarification of the question of which of the needs of a person are leading in the determination of behavior, which are subordinate.

So, man in his psychological qualities and forms of behavior appears to be a social and natural being, partly similar, partly different from animals. In life, its natural and social principles coexist, combine, sometimes compete with each other. In understanding the true determination of human behavior, it is probably necessary to take both into account.

Until now, in our political, economic, psychological and pedagogical ideas about a person, we have mainly taken into account the social principle, and a person, as life practice has shown, even in a relatively quiet times history has not ceased to be partly an animal, that is, a biological being, not only in the sense of organic needs, but also in its behavior. The main scientific mistake of the Marxist-Leninist teaching in understanding the nature of man was probably that in the social plans for the reorganization of society, only the highest, spirituality in man and ignored his animal origin.

Introduction of the concept functional organs allows you to transfer the problem of biological and social in mental processes man on the basis of exact laboratory facts. The systematic study of the formation of these organs and the abilities corresponding to them that has already begun allows us to draw some important general conclusions.

The main one is that a person's biologically inherited properties do not determine his mental abilities. A person's abilities are not contained virtually in his brain. Virtually, the brain contains not certain specific human abilities, but only the ability to form these abilities.

In other words, biologically inherited properties in a person constitute only one of the conditions for the formation of his mental functions and abilities, a condition that, of course, plays an important role. Thus, although these systems are not defined biological properties, they still depend on the latter.

Another condition is surrounding a person the world of objects and phenomena, created by countless generations of people and their labor and struggle. This world brings to man what is truly human. So, if in the higher mental processes of a person we distinguish, on the one hand, their form, i.e. purely dynamic features depending on their morphological "texture", and on the other hand, their content, i.e. the function they perform and their structure , then we can say that the first is determined biologically, the second - socially.

Conclusion.

The emergence of Vygotsky's Cultural-Historical Theory symbolized a new stage in the development of personality psychology, which gained real support in substantiating its social origin, proving the existence of primary affective-semantic formations of human consciousness before and outside of each developing individual in ideal and material forms culture to which the person comes after birth .

Man in his psychological qualities and forms of behavior appears to be a social and natural being, partly similar, partly different from animals.

Conclusion.

The process of mastering the world of objects and phenomena created by people in the process of the historical development of society is the process in which the formation of specifically human abilities and functions takes place in the individual. It would, however, be a huge mistake to imagine this process as the result of the activity of consciousness or the operation of "intentionality" in the sense of Husserl and others.

The process of mastery is carried out in the course of the development of the real relations of the subject to the world. These relations do not depend on the subject, not on his consciousness; but are determined by the concrete historical, social conditions in which he lives, and by how his life develops under these conditions.

That is why the problem of the prospects for the mental development of man and mankind is, first of all, the problem of a just and reasonable arrangement of the life of human society - the problem of such a structure that gives each person practical opportunity master the achievements of historical progress and creatively participate in the multiplication of these achievements.

List of used literature:

1. Vygodsky L.S. Psychology / M .: EKSMO - Press 2000.

2. Gippenreiter Yu.B. Introduction to general psychology. Course of lectures M., 1988

3. Gonobolin F.N. Psychology Moscow 1986.

4. Kuzin V.S. Psychology / ed. B.F. Lomova. Textbook. M .: Higher. school, 1982.

5. Bow. A.N. Emotions and personality M.; 1982

6. Luria A.R. Attention and memory. Materials for the course of lectures on general psychology. Moscow State University 1975

7. Nemov R.S. Psychology Textbook for students. Book. 1 General foundations of psychology. - M.: Enlightenment 1994.

8. Rozanov S.I. "Memory in psychology" from "Big

a. Russian Encyclopedia" 2001

9. Rubinstein S.P. Fundamentals of General Psychology. - St. Petersburg ed. "Peter" 1999.

10. Vygodsky L.S. Psychology / M .: EKSMO - Press 2000.

11. Feigenberg I.M. Memory and learning. TSOLITOW,

Nemov R. S. Psychology, 1994.

R. Atkinson.

J. Kelly.