General idea of ​​the psyche. Psychic reflection. Deciphering the concept of mental reflection

Features of mental reflection. Reflection is inherent in all matter. The interaction of any material bodies leads to their mutual changes. This phenomenon can be observed in the field of mechanics, in all manifestations of electrical energy, in optics, etc. The fact that the psyche is a kind of reflection once again emphasizes its inseparable connection, unity with matter. However, mental reflection is qualitatively different, it has a number of special properties.

What characterizes the psyche as a reflection? The mental consciousness of a person is considered as a result of the reflective activity of the human brain, as a subjective reflection of the objective world. A comprehensive disclosure of the essence of the psyche as a reflection is given in the works of VI Lenin, and above all in his work "Materialism and Empirio-Criticism". “Our sensations, our consciousness,” according to V. I. Lenin, “are only image outside world..." 1 .

The psyche is not a dead, mirror reflection, but an active process. V. I. Lenin wrote: "Reflection nature in human thought must be understood not "deadly", not "abstractly", not without movementnot without controversy , but in the eternal process movement, the emergence of contradictions and their resolution 2 . Lenin's theory of reflection is the philosophical basis of scientific psychology, as it gives a correct materialistic understanding of the psyche as a process of subjective reflection of reality. If in inanimate nature the object reflecting the impact is passive and only undergoes one or another change, then living beings have "independent reaction force" 3 , i.e. any impact becomes interactions, which even at the lowest levels of mental development is expressed in adaptation (adaptation) to external influences and in one or another selectivity of responses.

The psyche is such a reflection in which any external influence (ie the influence of objective reality) is always refracted through the mental state that a particular living being has at the moment. Therefore, the same external influence can be reflected differently by different people and even by the same person at different times and under different conditions. We constantly encounter this phenomenon in life, in particular in the process of teaching and raising children. So, all students in the class listen to the same explanation of the teacher, and the educational material is learned in different ways; the same requirements are imposed on all schoolchildren, and students perceive and fulfill them differently.

The refraction of external influences through the internal characteristics of a person depends on many circumstances: age, the level of knowledge achieved, the previously established attitude to this type of influence, the degree of activity and, most importantly, on the worldview that has been formed.

Thus, the content of the psyche is images of real objects, phenomena, and events that exist independently of us and outside of us (i.e., images of the objective world). But these images arise in each person in a peculiar way, depending on his past experience, interests, feelings, worldview, etc. That is why reflection is subjective. All this gives the right to say that psyche - subjective reflection of the objective world.

This feature of the psyche underlies such an important pedagogical principle as the need to take into account the age and individual characteristics of children in the process of their education and upbringing. Without taking into account these features, it is impossible to know how each child reflects the measures of pedagogical influence.

Psychic reflection - this is the right reflection. The emerging images are snapshots, casts, copies of existing objects, phenomena, events. The subjectivity of mental reflection in no way denies the objective possibility of a correct reflection of the real world.

Recognition of the correctness of mental reflection is of fundamental importance. It is this property that makes it possible for a person to cognize the world, establish objective laws in it and then use them in the theoretical and practical activities of people.

The correctness of the reflection is checked by socio-historical practice humanity. “For a materialist,” V. I. Lenin pointed out, “the “success” of human practice proves the correspondence of our ideas with the objective nature of the things that we perceive” 1 . If we can predict in advance when a solar or lunar eclipse will occur, if we can calculate in advance the flight orbit of an artificial Earth satellite or the carrying capacity of a ship, and subsequent practice will confirm the calculations made; if, having studied the child, we outline certain measures of pedagogical influence and, applying them, we obtain the desired result, then all this means that we have correctly cognized the corresponding laws of cosmic mechanics, hydrodynamics, and the development of the child.

An important feature of mental reflection is the fact that it is leading character("leading reflection" - P. K. Anokhin;"anticipatory reaction" - N. A. Bernstein).

The anticipatory nature of mental reflection is the result of the accumulation and consolidation of experience. It is in the process of repeated reflection of certain situations that a model of a future reaction is gradually formed. As soon as a living being falls into a similar position, the very first influences cause the entire system of response.

So, mental reflection is an active, multi-act process, during which external influences are refracted through the internal characteristics of the one who reflects, and therefore the psyche is a subjective reflection of the objective world.

The psyche is a correct, true reflection of the world, verified and confirmed by socio-historical practice. Psychic reflection has a leading character.

All these features of mental reflection lead to the fact that the psyche acts as behavior regulator living organisms.

The listed features of mental reflection are to some extent inherent in all living beings, while the highest level of development of the psyche - consciousness is characteristic only for humans. In order to understand how human consciousness arose, what are its main features, one should consider the development of the psyche in the process of evolution of animals.

1. The fundamental property of the psyche is its active character. The psychic is generated in activity, on the other hand, activity itself is controlled by psychic reflection. Psychic reflection is of an advanced nature: the mode of action, performing a regulatory function, is ahead of the action itself. Indeed, before doing something, a person does it in his mind, he builds an image of the future action.

2. The main way of existence of the mental, from the point of view of S.L. Rubinshtein, is its existence as a process. Mental phenomena arise and exist only in the process of continuous interaction of the individual with the world around him, the incessant influence of the external world on the individual and his response actions. However, the mental exists not only as a process, but as a result, a product of this process. The result of the mental process is a mental image that is fixed in the word, that is, it is signified. Images and concepts are means of cognition of the world; knowledge about the world is fixed in them. But they reflect not only knowledge about objects and phenomena, but also the attitude of the subject to them, they also reflect their significance for a person, for his life and activity. Therefore, the image and the concept is always emotionally colored. Any act of reflection is the introduction into action of new determinants of behavior, the emergence of new motives. Objects and phenomena, reflected in images and concepts, encourage a person to continuous interaction with the world.

It can be argued that the integral act of reflecting the object by the subject is the unity of such opposite sides as processivity and effectiveness, knowledge and attitude, intellectual component (images and meanings) and emotional and motivational.

3. Mental reflection has such a characteristic as partiality, it is always subjective, that is, mediated by the experience of the subject, his motives, knowledge, emotions, etc. All this constitutes the internal conditions that characterize the activity of the subject, the spontaneity of his mental activity. The mediation of external influences by internal conditions in the process of mental reflection is called the principle of determinism, formulated by S.L. Rubinshtein: external causes act through internal conditions. This important point was missed by the bnhevnornsts, in their stimulus-response formula, there is precisely no central link, that is, human consciousness, which determines the nature of human reactions to external influences.

Numerous theoretical and experimental studies of cognitive processes make it possible to distinguish three main levels of mental reflection: sensory-perceptual, representations, verbal-logical.

Sensory-perceptual level. In the figurative reflection system, this level is basic. Being formed at the very initial stages of the individual's mental development, it does not lose its significance throughout his life. Of course, during the transition from one age level to another, it changes, enriches and transforms.

Sensation and perception as the initial forms of figurative reflection arise from the direct impact of objects and phenomena of objective reality on the sense organs. It is in these forms, as V. I. Lenin noted, that the transformation of the energy of external irritation into a fact of consciousness is carried out. The main characteristic of sensory-perceptual reflection lies in the fact that it arises under the conditions of the direct impact of objects and their properties on the human senses and unfolds in real time. A person perceives an object in the place where it is located, and at the moment when it acts on the senses. The emerging sensory-perceptual image acts as "imposed on our mind from the outside" (Sechenov). This manifests the "immediacy of reality" of sensory reflection, on which confidence in the testimony of the senses is based.

In the process of evolution, a branched system of specialized apparatuses (sense organs) has been formed in humans, each of which provides a reflection of certain properties of surrounding objects (sensations of different modalities): visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, kinesthetic, etc. The sensory-perceptual sphere is really the richest set of various sensations. However, they do not appear as some motley mosaic of unrelated elementary images.

In the process of individual development, a certain sensory-perceptual organization (according to Ananiev) is formed in a person, uniting the totality of the sense organs into an integral system. This complex system includes diverse fixed and variable connections between sensory modalities. On their basis, original functional organs are formed (according to Ukhtomsky), providing various types of sensory-perceptual orientation of a person in the environment.

Among the most important is that system of connections between different sense organs, which provides spatial orientation. The leading role in it belongs to the visual analyzer, the labyrinth apparatus of the statokinesthetic analyzer and kinesthesia, but it also includes other analyzers.

The basis of the perception of space can be considered the orientation of a person relative to the vertical direction, which coincides with the action of the force of gravity. The direction of gravity is the main axis of the reference system, relative to which all the characteristics of the surrounding space are estimated in one way or another.

Since, under normal conditions of human movement on the surface of the earth, gravity is constant in strength and direction, the entire system of analyzers adjusts to this constant; thanks to analyzers connections with those that provide reflection of gravity, all of them are "grounded". Rather rigid unambiguous connections are formed - stereotypes, due to which, under normal conditions, orientation in space does not require special purposeful consciously controlled actions; it is carried out at an unconscious level, automatically. However, in those cases when there are discrepancies between the signals from different analyzers (sensations of different modalities) relative to the prevailing stereotype, this inevitably leads to a distortion of the spatial image. The consequences of such a mismatch are, for example, well-known in flight practice and described in detail the illusions of roll, counter-rotation, pitching, diving, attitude, level flight. All these and other similar illusions arise naturally under certain conditions: as a consequence of the discrepancy between the existing stereotype of spatial orientation and the current afferentation. To overcome them, a special purposeful activity is required, conscious control of emerging images, the formation of a new functional organ (stereotype) in the process of learning and training.

It is important to note that the new stereotype does not necessarily require breaking the old one. They may well coexist and usually coexist: in some conditions one stereotype "works", in others - another.

The second level of reflection is presentation level. Representation as sensation and perception is a phenomenon of figurative reflection. But if the sensation and perception of any object or its properties arise only with its direct impact on the sense organ, then the representation arises without such direct impact. In this sense, it is a secondary image of the subject.

The level of representations includes a wide range of mental processes, the most important of which are figurative memory and imagination. Figurative memory is the fixation and subsequent reproduction of images that have arisen during perception; imagination is a creative process, the creation of new images through transformations and combinations of those that have been preserved in memory. In terms of its content, the image-representation, as well as the sensory-perceptual image, is objective. But unlike sensation and perception, which are "imposed on our mind from the outside" and, because of this, are presented to consciousness as rigidly and unambiguously related to objective reality, the image-representation has, as it were, an independent existence as a phenomenon of "purely" mental activity. It has much less clarity and brightness than the sensory-perceptual image, less stability and completeness.

But at the same time, the formation of representation is a new step in the progressive line of development of cognitive processes. Here elementary generalizations and abstractions appear. On the basis of repeated perception of objects of the same category, their features are selected: random features are eliminated, and only characteristic and therefore the most informative ones are fixed. At the level of representations, the object is isolated from the background, and in this regard, it becomes possible to mentally operate with the object regardless of the background.

In the transition from sensation and perception to representation, the structure of the image of the object changes: some of its features are, as it were, emphasized, intensified, others are reduced. In other words, the object image is schematized.

An essential feature of the representation is its panorama, which gives the subject the opportunity, as it were, to go beyond the limits of the current (actual) situation.

In the transition from perception to representation, the successive perceptual process is transformed into a simultaneous image. What a person perceived sequentially is transformed into a simultaneous holistic mental picture. In particular, as shown by N.F. Shemyakin, when forming topographical representations, the "map-path" is transformed into a "map-review".

In the process of mental development, a person also masters special ways of mentally operating with ideas: mental division of objects and combining them (and their details) into one whole, combinations and recombinations, large-scale transformations, mental rotation, etc.

The level of representations is of decisive importance in the formation of images-standards of "cognitive maps", conceptual models, visual diagrams, plans and other "cognitive formations" necessary to perform any activity.

The third level of cognitive processes is verbal-logical thinking, verbal process.

Unlike the first two, which relate to figurative reflection, sensory cognition, this level is the level of conceptual reflection, rational cognition. Solving this or that problem at this level, the subject operates with concepts and logical methods that have developed in the historical development of mankind, in which socio-historical practice is fixed. At the level of conceptual thinking, as it were, the limited framework of individual experience is torn apart, or rather: a huge store of knowledge developed by mankind is included in individual experience. Thanks to this, the individual is, as it were, freed from “slavish submission to the original “here” and “now”” (J. Piaget). The subject area of ​​individual cognition at this level approaches that which is revealed by socio-historical practice, i.e. becomes almost limitless. In the process of conceptual thinking, a person operates with abstractions and generalizations fixed in signs and sign systems. Language is the most developed and universal sign system. But in the process of conceptual thinking, other historically established sign systems are also used: mathematical, graphic and other signs, as well as the rules for their application.

In a certain respect, the figurative and conceptual forms of mental reflection of reality are opposite. They are usually contrasted as sensual and rational in cognition, but in the real cognitive process they are organically interconnected: they constantly pass one into the other.

The image that regulates the conscious purposeful activity of a person includes, one way or another, all three levels of mental reflection. In order for a person to form such an image that would provide him with the opportunity to act effectively in various situations, to find an adequate solution in each specific case, it is not enough only sensory data, i.e. sensory-perceptual information. It is necessary to reveal the meaning of these data, to identify the essential, general, natural. In other words, from the point of view of the requirements of activity, the image becomes only when its "sensual fabric" (the term of A.N. Leontiev) is organically combined with the meaning, i.e. when the sensible and the rational form a single alloy. An image that reflects only what directly affects the senses at a given moment could not ensure the purposefulness of actions; in this case, the environment would completely control the behavior of the subject (such a case can only be imagined theoretically).

But even an image that has a depleted sensory basis cannot provide effective regulation of actions, especially in difficult conditions.

This means that when teaching a person to any type of activity, a certain measure of combination of methods is necessary that forms the sensory and logical components of the image, its "sensory fabric" and its "semantics".

The effectiveness of the image - in terms of its regulatory function in relation to the activity of the subject - is essentially determined by the extent to which it provides anticipation, i.e. leading reflection (according to P.K. Anokhin).

Anticipatory processes are characteristic of all the levels of reflection listed above. However, the range of anticipation at different levels is significantly different. At the sensory-perceptual level, it is limited by the actual current action. At the level of representations, the possibility of anticipation also arises in relation to potential actions. At the level of verbal-logical thinking, anticipation reaches its fullest manifestation, its range is practically unlimited. Anticipation of this level ensures the planning of activities as a whole. At the same time, in the verbal-logical plan, a person can quite easily and freely move from the present to the future and past, from the initial moment of activity to the final and from the final to the initial, etc.

Due to the multilevel nature of the image, the object (object) reflected in it is presented to a person in the variety of its properties and relationships. This, in turn, provides an opportunity to use one thing, then another, then a third, and so on in the course of activity. property of an object or its relation to other objects; the possibility of such transitions is the most important condition for creative solutions.

At each moment of activity, a person is aware of only a small part of the subject content that is presented in the image. During the transition from one action to another (and even from one element to another within the action), the conscious part of the content also changes. A complete image from the point of view of regulation of activity is like an iceberg - only a small part of it is visible on the surface at any given moment.

A.A. Oboznov distinguishes two levels of the content of the mental image that regulates the objective action:

1) relevant and

2) potentially significant.

They have different degrees of awareness, and they play different roles in the regulation of specific actions. This study also showed that the way the action is performed and its meaning depends only on the actual meaningful content. The most fully realized, of course, is the actual part of the objective content of the image.

The problem of the conscious and the unconscious in mental reflection is one of the most complex and, unfortunately, poorly developed. Without going into an analysis of the state of this problem and approaches to its solution, we only note that the leading role in the formation of conscious reflection belongs to verbal-logical processes: first of all, what is included in their sphere is realized. In the course of real activity, depending on the specific conditions, the relationships between different levels of reflection change, and, accordingly, the degree of awareness of different components of the subject content of the image also changes.

It was noted above that a person in the process of his development forms certain functional organs that combine different analyzers into a single system: these systems consist of rigid, unambiguous connections - stereotypes. The components of the image, which are formed according to the laws of the work of stereotyped links, are usually not recognized. However, they can become conscious with a special orientation of cognitive activity, as well as unusual (perverted from the point of view of conformity to the stereotype) afferentation created experimentally or arising in some specific conditions of activity.

It is this last circumstance that prompted us to pay special attention to the problem of the multilevel structure of the image. The fact is that in their practical activities a human operator is sometimes forced to work under conditions of perversion of the reception of external influences, more precisely, its inconsistency with established stereotypes. In particular, such conditions are common for a pilot: optical distortions (an unusual angle of vision of objects located on the ground, a great distance from visible landmarks, reduced visibility in fog, at dusk, etc.), as well as the effect of a "non-gravitational vertical"; under these conditions, the preservation of the subject content of the image is a special task for a person.

Practically important is the question of how a person can solve this problem, in particular, whether he can ensure the preservation of the content of the image with the help of conscious control of sensory-perceptual processes and volitional effort.

Another, no less important, circumstance is that the human operator often does not have the ability to perceive the real object that he controls. Information about the object is transmitted using instrumental signals in the form of an information model. The image of this model that arises during its perception does not, of course, coincide with the image of a real object. In this case, contradictions may arise between the representation and the concept, on the one hand, and the sensory-perceptual image, on the other. A special state arises for a human operator: alienation from the control object, a sense of the reality of the physical object that he controls is lost. The control process itself is perceived by him as a "zeroing" of abstract signals. A person does not control the machine (airplane), but only "reduces arrows", not imagining what real evolutions the plane makes, what processes occur in the car. This is due to the fact that the perception of the operator is presented not with a real object in all the variety of its sensory properties, but with an abstract model of the object, embodied in a generalized, but sensually depleted form. Alienation from the object of control, the loss of immediacy in the perception and evaluation of its real properties can lead to a decrease in the personal significance of the actions performed and, hence, to a dulling of responsibility, interest, etc., and ultimately to a decrease in reliability.

One of the ways to eliminate the negative impact of alienation is the formation of such a bright, clear and differentiated image in the operator - a representation that would allow him to mentally see real changes in the controlled object behind the instrument readings.

In conditions of alienation, violations of the habitual, stereotypical connections between different sensory modalities are especially dangerous.

It has already been noted above that the stereotyped sensory-perceptual components of the image, as a rule, are not recognized. However, they immediately become the subject of consciousness as soon as there is a violation or distortion of the reception of external influences. At the same time, a person is able to differentiate the real object reflected in concepts and the specific state of the sensory-perceptual sphere. The impact on human behavior of the mismatch of these components of the image was studied in special psychological experiments. The possibility of adaptation to the distortion of visual signals (pseudoscopic perception and inversion of the retinal display) was revealed, and it was shown that adaptation consists in restoring the subject content of the visual image against the background of an altered "sensory tissue", and it occurs in the form of acquiring some new perceptual neoplasms, but not instead of old ones, and along with them.

Revealing the mechanisms of regulation of human actions under conditions of changes in afferentation is of fundamental importance, for example, for designing the activity of a pilot, who has in the structure of the image of spatial position

aircraft, sensory-perceptual components unusual from the point of view of terrestrial conditions are included, which provokes the formation of an inadequate, false image of space, the appearance of illusions of spatial position. In this case, there is a disintegration of the levels of mental reflection. In order to overcome such disintegration, i.e. to bring the sensory-perceptual, "representative" and conceptual components of the image into line again, special conscious efforts are required. At the same time, it is important that the resulting mismatch between the levels of reflection and the corresponding components of the image become the subject of a special subjective analysis. As you know, the sensory-perceptual components of the image are extremely dynamic. They change with changes in illumination (if we are talking about a visual image), the viewing angle, the state of the sense organs, etc. At the same time, the meaning fixing the objective content of the image remains unchanged. This creates an opportunity to preserve an adequate image in case of distortions of its sensory-perceptual components. Under certain conditions, the verbal-logical level of reflection can perform an organizing and regulatory function in the construction of the image and its stabilization. In the process of training operators who are forced to work in conditions that cause unusual sensory-perceptual effects, it is advisable to teach them methods of self-observation, to form a subjective attitude to the awareness of the unusual "sensory tissue" of the image in order to reduce the likelihood of a false image.

But self-observation is only a special case and a specific variant of a more general form of the subject's cognitive activity: purposeful cognition of reality. Its effectiveness in terms of image stabilization significantly depends on how and to what extent the knowledge obtained during introspection correlates with knowledge about the object itself reflected in this image (in the case under consideration, unusual sensory-perceptual effects with the representation of real changes in the controlled object).

In this regard, we emphasize that in any activity a significant role belongs to the processes of cognition. The more fully the subject of activity is known, the more opportunities a person has in relation to the choice of means and methods of action with it. In any particular action, knowledge about its subject is partially realized; the action itself reveals this subject also only partially. Therefore, the improvement of activity should necessarily include cognitive activity. “In addition to the direct functioning of a thing, in an objective action, a conscious attitude towards contemplation is essential, which compensates for the limitations of an objective action in relation to perception,” wrote B. G. Ananiev, emphasizing not only the presence of a cognitive component of an objective action, but also a conscious focus on it. the person performing the action.

In the process of contemplation, or rather purposeful observation, the image that regulates activity develops and enriches. When forming such an image, information about the subject of activity, means, methods and conditions for its implementation is accumulated and, as it were, stored for future use. This information may not be used for a long time, but at some point (for example, in a difficult situation) it will be extremely necessary. One of the most important qualities of the master's personality is professional observation, which allows him to constantly accumulate information about the subject of his activity for the future.

All of the above allows us to conclude that the image that regulates activity has a complex structure. It is multidimensional and includes a number of levels. In the process of its formation, one way or another, sensory data of different (almost all) modalities are synthesized. However, the leading role among them usually belongs to the visual, since it is vision that gives a simultaneous spatial differentiated picture of the environment.

According to B.G. Ananiev and S.L. Rubinshtein, the figurative reflection of reality by a person is predominantly visual in nature. The special role of the visual system in the processes of sensory reflection is determined by the fact that it acts as an integrator and converter of signals of all modalities. As Ananiev noted, "its versatility in terms of integration and reintegration of signals of any modality is amazing." The visual image of a thing, as it were, absorbs, synthesizes, organizes around itself the data of other sense organs. This was experimentally confirmed by V.E. Bushurova.

The visual nature of the image is of great importance in the process of regulating the actions of a human operator: The success of making a decision largely depends on the ability of a person to "visualize a problem situation", visualize it and operate with visual images.

The methodological meaning of the work "image of the world" to a large extent consists in the fact that it supplies the psychologist with knowledge of what he does not know.

In the system-activity approach to the study of mental processes, the transition from the analysis of individual sensory impressions, torn from the real process of life and representing artificial products of laboratory situations, to the development of ideas about the Image of the world that regulates the behavior of individuals in objective reality, is increasingly clearly indicated. Orientation in various branches of the psychology of cognition is shifting in the direction from the psychophysics of pure sensations - to the psychophysics of sensory tasks, from the world of images - to the image of the world. In Russian psychology, the work of A.N. Leontiev “The Image of the World” acquired fundamental importance for changing the general strategy for studying cognitive processes. According to Leontiev, “... In psychology, the problem of perception should be posed as the problem of building a multidimensional image in the mind of an individual, an image of reality ... The psychology of an image ... is concrete scientific knowledge about how, in the process of their activity, individuals build an image of the world - the world in which they live, act, which they themselves remake and partially create; it is knowledge of how the image of the world functions, mediating their activity in the objectively real world.

The main provisions highlighted by Leontiev:

1. The activity, social nature of the image "in the process of their activity, individuals build an image of the world - the world in which they live, act, which they themselves remake and partially create"

2. The idea of ​​the subject's activity in constructing the image of the world (closely related to the previous idea, since activity is considered by A.N. Leontiev as a "specific form of human activity").

3. The mediation of the image of the world - by objective meanings. This provision is implemented through the introduction of the “fifth quasi-dimension” category, i.e. “filling the picture of the world with meanings”. The very fact of the inclusion of meaning as the "fifth quasi-dimension" of the image of the world indicates the possibility of extending this concept to the field of knowledge. “The fifth quasi-dimension is the transition through sensibility beyond the boundaries of sensibility, through sensory modalities to the amodal world” and hence the transition from perception to cognition. The role of meanings is also emphasized in relation to the process of categorization, which is “the most general way of working with social information.” Meaning is an important, but not the only unit that characterizes the deep structures of the Image of the World. The point is that if, at relatively early stages of a person’s life path, the operational characteristics of activity associated with meanings determine the construction of the Image of the World, in particular, the motives and goals of a particular activity determine what will be remembered, then subsequently the relationship between the person and activity changes; the personality itself, its motivational and semantic orientations for the future become the basis for choosing the motives and goals of a particular activity in which the further construction of the Image of the World takes place.

4. Amodal character of the Image of the world (A.N.Leontiev). The image of the world is just as imodal, indecomposable into auditory, visual, tactile and other sensory modalities, as well as the objective world depicted in this image. Any available stimulation fits into the amodal Image of the world as a whole and, only being included in the Image of the world, provides an orientation of the subject's behavior in objective reality. Asmolov has everything about memory, and in his opinion, the contribution of memory to the Image of the World is primarily associated with orientation in time (physical, biological, social, psychological time).

Further study and development of the concept of "image of the world" in general psychology was mainly characterized by going beyond the limits of perception, emphasizing the social and activity nature of the image, as well as including such areas as emotions, motivations, etc. in the image of the world.

In works S. D. Smirnova the image of the world is understood as “a certain set or ordered system of a person’s knowledge about the world, about himself, about other people, which mediates, refracts through itself any external influence” [Smirnov, 1985 p. 142]. Smirnov paid special attention to the differences between the "world of images", the world of individual sensory impressions and the holistic image of the world in which we live and act (which determined the direct exit of this approach beyond the limits of perception).

Due to this division (the image of the world and the world of images), he singled out two structures in the image of the world: superficial and nuclear.

1. Surface structure(representations of the world) are processes of direct perception of objects in various modalities. This is what Leontiev called the sensory fabric (or field of perception), which has the following functions at this level: 1) direct connection of a person with the outside world, giving reality to images; 2) It serves as the material in which the second generatrix of human consciousness is expressed - the meanings “the sensual fabric of the image can be represented in consciousness in two ways: either as something in which the subject content exists for the subject, or by itself” [Leontiev, 1975, p. 137].

V.V. Petukhov, when describing surface structures, makes some additions and claims that “the surface structures of the image of the world can be formed not only sensually, but also rationally” [Petukhov, 1984, p. 15]. These structures are connected with the knowledge of the world “as a special purpose” (ibid., p. 15), with the construction of one or another idea about it (more or less deep). If we correlate this idea with the psychology of social cognition, in particular with the theory of S. Moscovici, then it is at the superficial level that the construction of the image of the social world as a set of social representations takes place.

2. Nuclear structure(representation of the world) is a reflection of the deeper, essential characteristics of the world (meaning). This level (or levels) of the symbolic sign representation of the world is formed in the individual psyche of the subject on the basis of the assimilation of a system of socially developed meanings fixed in the language, cultural objects, norms and standards of activity. The system of these values ​​forms the reflected space of human activities in the real world, which are built according to the laws of this world, and not arbitrarily constructed by the subject [Smirnov, 1985, p. 149]. Here it is appropriate to recall the statement of A. N. Leontiev that meaning appears “not as something that lies in front of things, but as something that lies behind the appearance of things - in the cognized objective connections of the objective world, in which they only exist, only reveal their properties” [Leontiev, 1983, p. 254]. Thus, at the nuclear level, there is no direct construction of the social world, although this level undoubtedly affects how representations are built at the surface level. [Petukhov, 1984, p. 15]. This thesis is also confirmed by Smirnov, who says that "the unit of studying the image of the world is the unity of nuclear and surface structures in which it manifests itself and is psychologically fixed" [Smirnov, 1985, p. 147].

Following A. N. Leontiev, S. D. Smirnov draws attention to the active, social nature of the image of the world “The primary formation of a motive for goals and goals in the means of activity is impossible without orientation in terms of the image<…>once started, activity always has a reverse effect on the image of the world, enriching and modifying it. Therefore, in terms of the development of the image of the world, activity always acts as the primary and leading principle” (ibid., p. 146).

In his concept, V.V. Petukhov, who claims that the discovery by an individual of the ideas of the world for himself, “occurs mainly in the form of experiences, a feeling of inner uncertainty, self-evidence of something” [Petukhov, 1984, p. 16]. Emotional experiences accompany the presentation of the object to the consciousness of the subject, i.e. are a factor in the construction of the image of the world. V.V. Petukhov also emphasizes the social content of the image of the world “the image (or representation) of the world reflects that specific historical - ecological, social, cultural - background against which (or within which) all human mental activity unfolds."

Our consciousness is a reflection of the outside world. The modern personality is capable of very fully and accurately reflecting the surrounding world, unlike primitive people. With the development of human practice, it increases, which makes it possible to better reflect the surrounding reality.

The brain realizes the mental reflection of the objective world. The latter has the internal and external environment of his life. The first is reflected in human needs, i.e. in a general feeling, and the second - in sensual concepts and images.

• mental images arise in the process of human activity;
• mental reflection allows you to behave logically and engage in activities;
• endowed with a leading character;
• provides an opportunity to correctly reflect reality;
• develops and improves;
• refracted through individuality.

Psychic Reflection Properties:

• mental reflection is able to receive information about the surrounding world;
• it is not a reflection of the world;
• it can't be traced.

Characteristics of mental reflection

Mental processes originate in vigorous activity, but on the other hand they are controlled by mental reflection. Before we take any action, we present it. It turns out that the image of the action is ahead of the action itself.

Mental phenomena exist against the background of human interaction with the outside world, but the psychic is expressed not only as a process, but also as a result, that is, a certain fixed image. Images and concepts reflect the relationship of a person to them, as well as to his life and work. They encourage the individual to continuously interact with the real world.

You already know that mental reflection is always subjective, that is, it is the experience, motive, and knowledge of the subject. These internal conditions characterize the activity of the individual himself, and external causes act through internal conditions. This principle was formed by Rubinstein.

Stages of mental reflection

The main classes of mental phenomena.

a) definition

The defining features of the psyche are: a reflection that gives an image of the objective environment in which living beings operate, their orientation in this environment and satisfaction of the need for contacts with it. These contacts, in turn, control the correctness of the reflection by the feedback principle. Thanks to the feedback, the result of the action is compared with the image, the emergence of which precedes this result, anticipating it as a kind of model of reality.

b) Fundamental properties of the psyche

Psychic Phenomena:

have duration, intensity;

have states of excitation and discharge.

In addition to these properties, the psyche as a whole has a number of fundamental properties:

1. The psyche differs from the non-psyche (other non-psychic phenomena) in that they have common physical characteristics: spatial (three-dimensionality, volume) and energy (mass, weight, temperature, conductivity), while the psyche does not have them. Those. you can not ask "how many mm. constitutes my perception of object A", "how many grams = my idea of ​​kindness". Psychic phenomena do not interact physically and cannot be physically transformed. They can interact only with each other, but only indirectly - by actualizing some phenomena, you can indirectly influence others.

2. The mental image formed in the process of mental reflection differs from other types of reflection - physical, photo, fine arts, physiological (nervous model of the stimulus - light hits the retina and the nature of changes in electrophysiological processes depends on the color characteristics. That is, in this image there is both a representation (image) and the material from which the image is made). Psychic reflection has only the image of the object, without the material of this image. It has only extension in time (but not space).

3. Subjectivity - the psyche is given only to the subject, the bearer of the psyche. We cannot see how others see the same object that we see. We cannot directly observe this and then compare our image with that of another.

4. Localization of the psyche. Penfield's experiments on the open brain. He tried to localize certain mental functions. Where is the psyche located? Some say that this question is not correct, because. the psyche has no spatial characteristics. Leontiev: the psyche sits on the object.

c) Levels of functioning of the psyche

All mental phenomena function on 2 levels: conscious and unconscious. There may be unconscious desires, values, experiences, cognitive phenomena (perception of the 25th frame), thinking (insight), emotions (living in stress). Evidence: dynamic stereotypes (Pavlov), dreams (all mental spheres can participate in it), hypnosis (suggestion at the subconscious level - actions already in the conscious).

d) The connection of the psyche with other phenomena

There are psychic facts (psychic phenomena), and there are psychological (psychic and all phenomena, facts that can say something about psychic phenomena). For example, crying, handwriting, psychosomatics, products of material and spiritual culture.

Consciousness

Consciousness is a reflection of the subjective world, accompanying knowledge, the ability to know what the psyche, consciousness, emotions are. Reflection. We can speak, consciously control, organize. Consciousness is the highest form of the psyche, such a reflection of reality that the subject can give an account of. This is the subject's representation of the surrounding world and himself in it, which is necessary for the reasonable organization of the joint activities of people.

The specificity of mental reflection

The psyche is a systemic property of highly organized matter, which consists in the active reflection of the objective world by the subject, in the construction by the subject of a picture of the world inalienable from him and self-regulation on this basis of his behavior and activity.

Irritability is a property of all living things, the ability to respond to external irritation. Hypothesis about the emergence of sensitivity. The criterion of mental reflection in Leontiev is the presence of sensitivity. Sensitivity - the ability of the subject to respond to biologically neutral (abiotic) properties of the environment, which are objectively associated with biologically significant (biotic) properties and, as it were, point to them (a special case of irritability). The further development of the psyche in Leontiev is associated with the evolution of behavior, the adaptation of organisms to the environment. Development leads activity (if there is no activity, there will be no development). Qualitative changes in behavior lead to qualitative changes in the psyche.

3 stages of behavior development - 3 qualitatively new forms of the psyche (reflections):

Instinct is an elementary sensory psyche, individual properties of the environment, sensory sensations are reflected;

Skill - perceptual psyche, objects or situations as a whole are reflected in the form of images of perception;

Intelligence is a stage of intelligence, there is a generalization of reflections, a reflection of relations in the form of objective situations as a whole.

A specific form of human behavior is labor activity. Constructing a hypothesis about the need for the emergence of consciousness, Leontiev compares the behavior of animals in general with the labor activity of a person. Labor (labor activity) is the transformation of nature (including one's own). Animals do not have a transformation of nature, they have an adaptive activity. It adapts to the conditions of the environment, but does not transform it. Labor is a process that connects man with nature, the process of man's influence on nature. Biologically inappropriate forms appear in human behavior when motives and goals do not coincide. For example, human activity in the conditions of collective labor. Action - a process, the final desired result (motive) and the real goal of which do not coincide. The meaning of action is the relation of the motive to the goal. There is a need for consciousness - awareness, understanding of the meaning, for the sake of which a biologically inappropriate action is performed. A person must be aware of the meaning of his actions:

Consciousness arises due to the separation of actions that take place in labor, the cognitive results of which are abstracted and idealized in the form of linguistic meanings. At the same time, they carry the methods, subject conditions and results of actions. Each person in the course of ontogenesis becomes attached to it through mastering the language, and thanks to this, his individual consciousness is formed.

The main constituents of consciousness are:

Meaning

personal meaning

sensual fabric

Psychic Reflection Features:

a) purely subjective education;

b) has only temporal duration;

c) can be active and passive (involuntary);

d) the psychic is a symbol of reality;

e) mental reflection is more or less correct

Conditions for building an image of the world:

a) interaction with the world;

b) The presence of a reflection body;

c) full contact with society (for a person).

The main classes of mental phenomena

Psyche - a set of mental phenomena that make up the inner world of a person (desires, knowledge, experiences, self-consciousness). He closed his eyes - the psyche (factors of the inner subjective world), but opened - no (except for cases when we see not the object itself, but its image. For example, a person looks at a white screen and sees a certain image of the object).

Mental phenomena are understood as factors of internal subjective experience, which can be attributed to 4 classes of mental phenomena:

Motives (motives, will, values, morality).

Self-awareness (self-knowledge, self-assessment, locus of control).

Experiences, 2 classifications:

a) Based on the relationship with the requirement type:

emotions proper (experiences associated with the satisfaction of basic needs)

feelings (experiences associated with the satisfaction of secondary needs)

b) Based on their intensity and duration:

mood

Cognition

Sensory cognition (at the level of phenomena perceived with the help of the senses; we perceive mental phenomena with the help of reflection / reflection

Mediated cognition / thinking - knowledge about objects, characteristics that we do not observe; they are not phenomena, because we think them (the universe - no one has seen it, but there are theories about it)

Memory is a general mental process, which also exists on an emotional level - memory for images-representations

Imagination - creating images of non-existent objects or with non-existent characteristics

Understanding - decoding meanings given in sign systems

In addition to these general areas, there are also individual features of the functioning of the psyche, combined into certain types:

abilities (cognitive sphere),

character (motivation and self-awareness),

temperament (emotional sphere)

Other classification:

Mental phenomena can manifest themselves at the following levels:

- conscious phenomena

cognitive processes

Actually cognitive processes, their result - knowledge about the world and the idea of ​​the subject himself

Feel

Perception

Thinking

Universal mental processes (+ attention) - the necessary conditions for activity, their result - the distinctive characteristics of the mental (as a process in time, past, present, future)

Imagination

affective processes

Needs

Regulatory processes

Attention

Personality

phenomena of behavior

Reactions are any externally observable changes that occur in the human body under the influence of external stimuli.

Actions are directed and subordinated to a certain goal (walking, writing).

Actions are actions of a higher rank, more significant.

Phenomena of the unconscious

unconscious mechanisms of conscious actions;

a) unconscious automatisms

b) the phenomena of an unconscious attitude;

c) unconscious accompaniments of conscious actions.

unconscious stimuli of conscious actions;

supraconscious processes.