The psyche is a characteristic of the human condition, a special descriptive feature that includes many different aspects, questions and problems. In this article we will try to answer some questions related to it. In particular, the definition of the psyche, its characteristics, functions, properties, structure and much more will be considered.
Introduction
Psyche is a complex term that exists in such areas of human knowledge and activity as philosophy, psychology and medicine. This concept can be interpreted in different ways:
- The total number of phenomena and processes of a mental nature (for example, sensation, perception, emotion).
- A specific feature exhibited by animals, including humans, and associated with the surrounding reality.
- Active display by the subject of the objective components of reality. It arises in the course of interaction between highly organized living beings and the external environment. Fulfillment expresses itself in behavior.
- Psyche is a property characteristic ofmatter with high organization. Its essence lies in the active form of display by the subject of the surrounding objective world. Based on self-regulation of individual behavior and activity of the subject.
Psyche is a definition that is characterized by the concepts of activity, development, self-regulation, communication, adaptation, etc. It is closely related to the whole variety of bodily (somatic) processes. Its appearance is tracked at a certain biological stage of the evolution of the individual. Man has the highest form of the psyche - consciousness. Psychology studies this phenomenon.
Mental he alth is a well-being condition that allows a person to realize individual potential, solve problems arising from the influence of stress, carry out fruitful and productive work, and also bring something (both positive and negative components of activity) into the life of society - habitat. It is important to know that the semantic content of the term "psyche" is not limited to the criteria of medicine and psychology, but also reflects the social and group list of norms that regulate human life.
The concept of the psyche is closely connected with self-consciousness, which is a subjective perception of the objective world around you. This is a great form of analysis of all objects around, which, in one way or another, is different from any other person. It is formed with the accumulation and comprehension of experience. Self-consciousness determines for the individual a set of needs that are vital, for example, the need for thought, feeling, motive,experience, action.
Origin and development
The history of science has tried in different ways to define the concept of the psyche in the natural environment of nature. Change of point of view has changed in the course of the development of human knowledge.
Panpsychism claims that nature as a whole is animate. Biopsychism believes that this property is characteristic of any living organism, including plants (we exclude cells). Neuropsychological views tell us that only beings with a nervous system have a psyche. Supporters of anthropopsychism believe that this phenomenon is inherent only in humans, and animals are “automatons”.
More modern hypotheses define the properties of the psyche and its presence in accordance with a set of criteria that depend on the abilities of certain living organisms (for example, search behavior). One of these hypotheses, which has received recognition from many scientists, is the statement of A. N. Leontiev. He suggested that the objective criterion of the psyche is the ability of the body to show a response to the impact of a biologically neutral stimulus. This property is called sensitivity. According to Leontiev, it includes a number of aspects, both subjective and objective.
According to Leontiev, the evolution of mental forms is divided into 3 stages, among which:
- Elementary sensory pad.
- Perceptive p-ka.
- Psyche of intelligence.
K. Of the three above-mentioned stages of the psyche, Fabry left only the first two. A stage of analysishe “dissolves” the intellect into the concept of the perceptual psyche.
At the first stage, it is assumed that an animal can reflect only a certain number of properties that are associated with external influences. The second stage displays the state of the external world in the form of integral images in relation to objects and subjects.
Behavior
Mind and behavior are terms that are closely interrelated.
Behavior means a certain form of interaction with the outside world. It is formed during life and owes much to the "interception" of experience from other subjects. Behavior can change in accordance with the change in the internal and external number of factors that influence the subject. This is a characteristic of the animal level of organization.
Behavior plays an important role in evolutionary development, as it has an adaptive value that allows an animal to avoid any factors that can negatively affect it. This feature is characteristic of unicellular and multicellular living organisms, however, in the latter, the behavior is regulated by the nervous system.
A person's behavior can be observed and analyzed directly. Currently, many disciplines are engaged in this, for example: psychology, ethology, animal psychology, etc. It is much more difficult to perform such operations with the psyche.
Another important concept related to the psyche is the term "soul".
The soul means many different properties of a person. For example, religious and philosophical assumptions define it as an immortal substance oran intangible essence, which expresses the divine nature, giving new beginnings for life in the broadest sense. The soul is closely connected with such concepts as thinking, consciousness, feelings, will, the ability to feel, and even life itself. A more rational and objective description of the soul defines it as the specifics and set of features of the inner, mental world of a person.
Properties
Properties of the psyche - special functions that it performs. Among them, there are several main ones:
- Reflection is the main mental property, which is the basis for the concepts of reproduction, objectification, disobjectification, introversion and extroversion.
- The concepts of objectification and de-objectification are the ability of the energy possessed by the psyche to change and pass into other forms. For example, a poet objectifies his energy resources from objects and phenomena into the form of a work that the reader will study. The last subject to comprehend the information will be disobjectification.
- Intro- and extroversion are connected with the orientation of the psyche. However, the latter should also show such aspects of the term under study as its openness to understanding and analyzing new information.
- Reproductiveness in psychology is a feature of the subject, through the use of which he can resume previous mental states.
The property of the psyche is reflection, as mentioned earlier, its main feature. If we consider specifically reflection, and not the ensuingFrom its function, we can say that this is the ability to perceive the world, transfer events around to oneself, and also subject certain information to comprehension. This concept underlies the adaptation of a person to the conditions of a new environment or a change in an old one.
Functions
Functions of the psyche are a set of performed tasks that reflect the impact of the surrounding reality on the subject. They also regulate the characteristics of behavioral reactions, human activities and awareness of his personal place in the world around.
Reflection of the impact of the environment in which the individual is placed is one of the main functions of the term under study. This task has a number of features, including:
- Constant progress, development and improvement of various human characteristics that occur through overcoming internal contradictions.
- Constant refraction of external influence through the prism of previously established features of perception of information through the psyche.
- Correct interpretation and reflection of the realities of the surrounding world. Here it is important to understand that subjective assessment, comprehension and transformation of information about objective reality do not deny the existence of reality as such. In other words, regardless of the opinion of an individual, for example, about a red and ripe apple, it will remain so, regardless of other forms of interpretation of data about this object.
With the help of the psyche, a person creates a general picture of the real world around. This is made possible through the collection of information through varioussense organs such as sight, hearing, touch. It is also important to consider the ability of a person to use the resource of imagination.
Another important function of the psyche is the regulation of behavior and its activities. These two components of a living being are mediated precisely by p-coy. The basis for such a statement is that the collection of information, the awareness of motives and needs, as well as the setting of tasks and goals are developed in the course of individual perception.
The psyche is also a feature of a living being, which includes the function of a person's awareness of an individual place in the world. This task allows us to adapt and navigate in objective reality.
Processes
The structure of the psyche is a complex system. It includes another rather important concept - "mental processes".
They represent a group of special phenomena that can be conditionally distinguished from the integral structure of the psyche. The separation of such component units is a generalized division without any special categorical differences. In other words, it is purely conditional. They appeared due to the existence of influence from mechanistic ideas about the structure of the psyche from the point of view of psychologists and psychiatrists.
Psychic phenomena are distinguished by duration and divided into three groups: n-th processes, states and properties.
Psychic processes stand out among all the fact that they are very fast and short-lived. This is a certain actual response to what is happening around.
Modern statements of science say that n-th processes, in all their diversity, merging, form the structure of what a person calls the psyche. The division according to psychological processes is hypothetical, therefore, it does not yet have weighty arguments. Today, the world is developing integrative approaches to the psyche. They try to classify all processes into two types: pedagogical and propaedeutic. These two paths should be within the framework of the development of science.
Wecker singled out 2 levels of organization of mental processes. He associated the first with a number of nervous processes that are organized by neural connections. They stand out only sometimes in the consciousness of the individual, since everything happens at the subconscious level, so it is difficult to determine them. The second level is linking subconscious processes with conscious ones, analyzing them and establishing relationships to create a whole picture.
The human psyche interconnects, for example, such processes as memory, attention, thinking, perception. There are many similar abilities of our brain. Among them are: cognitive (sensations, ideas, memory, thinking, perception, attention resources, speech and imagination), emotional (feelings, emotions, stability and perception of stress, affects) and volitional (struggle between motives, goal setting and the ability to make decisions).).
Structure
The structure of the psyche is a rather complex system formed by separate subsystems. The elements of this concept are organized hierarchically and can change frequently. Main propertypsyche is a holistic form and consistency.
The development of this science made it possible to create a certain organization in it, which distinguishes such concepts as mental processes, states and properties in the general structure. Let's take a look at the processes below.
Psychic processes occur in the human brain and reflect a dynamically changing "picture" of the phenomenon. They are divided into cognitive (the phenomenon of reflection and transformation of information), regulatory (responsible for the direction and intensity of the temporal organization of behavior) and communicative (provide the phenomenon of communication between subjects, as well as the manifestation and perception of feelings and thoughts).
The concept of consciousness
The levels of the psyche include several basic classification "units": subconscious, preconscious, conscious, superconscious.
The subconscious is a set of desires, aspirations and ideas that came out of consciousness or were perceived by the psyche as a signal, but could not penetrate into the sphere of perception of consciousness.
Preconsciousness is an intermediate link between the concept of the unconscious and the conscious. It exists in the form of a "stream of consciousness" - a random movement of thoughts, their comprehension, the presence of images and associations. This level also represents emotions.
Consciousness is a component that includes every higher n-th function (thinking, memory resources, imagination, the ability to imagine and also will).
The evolutionary development of the human psyche allowed him to create a definition for the highest level of reflection of reality on this planet. This is a materialistic position that characterizes onefrom the forms of the human mental "beginning". However, the history of psychology shows that the problem of consciousness has been the most difficult and least understood. And even today this question has not been fully studied, and many psychologists are scratching their heads over it.
Among the psychological characteristics of consciousness are:
- subjective sensation and self-knowledge;
- the ability to imagine unreal reality through thought processes;
- the ability to take responsibility for one's own mental and behavioral state types;
- the ability to perceive information received from the surrounding reality.
Superconsciousness is a mental series of formations that a person is able to form in himself by purposeful application of efforts.
Domestic psychology interprets consciousness as the highest form of mental reflection of objective reality. It is also the ability to self-regulate. The tautology: “consciousness in the form in which a person possesses it is available only to him” states that the mental development of a person is an order of magnitude higher in comparison with other animals.
Psyche is an ability available to the central nervous system. It can only be used by humans and some species of complexly developed animals. With the help of the psyche, we can reflect the world around us and respond to changing conditions in the environment. The difference between consciousness and the psyche lies in the fact that consciousness has a certain higher level, in contrast to the psyche, its forms anddevice structure.
Consciousness is a kind of continuously changing set of images perceived mentally and sensitively in the inner world of the subject. Here there is a synthesis of visual and sound images with impressions and memories, as well as schemes and ideas.
Children's psyche
The development of the human psyche begins from childhood.
Each innate reflex of the baby is regulated by a number of nerve centers. The cortex of the hemispheres of the baby is not fully formed, and the nerve fiber is not covered by a protective sheath. This explains the rapid and abrupt excitement of newborns. A feature of the processes occurring at this age is that the speed of their development exceeds the development of control over the body. In other words, vision and hearing are formed much faster. This allows the formation of orienting reflexes and conditioned reflex connections.
Up to four years, the process of formation of the psyche is very active. Therefore, it is necessary to pay the most attention to the baby at this time and approach the issue of education very responsibly.
It is important to remember that for the child's psyche the whole world is a game. Therefore, for him, the leading method of learning and personality formation is imitation, which will be adopted from the behavior of adults. It is necessary to realize that the experiences intercepted in infancy and early childhood can take root at the subconscious level in the baby's brain for life. A seven-year-old child already has a pronounced temperament. At this age, it is important to give him the opportunity to spend time with his peers. Alsoit is necessary to determine the inclinations of the child in order to determine the scope of activity that would allow him to achieve success due to his own individuality and inclinations.
Mental disorders
Mental disorder is a problem affecting all levels of its structure (consciousness, subconsciousness, preconsciousness and superconsciousness). In a broad sense, this is a state that differs from "normal". There are more comprehensive definitions that are used in specific areas of human activity (jurisprudence, psychiatry and psychology). Mental disorders are not negative personality traits.
The opposite state of disorder is mental he alth. Subjects who are able to adapt to living conditions and solve various problems, as a rule, are he althy. The presence of difficulties in such areas of life as establishing connections with people, resolving family or work issues may indicate one or another mental disorder.
A disease of this nature leads to a change and disruption of the processes of feeling feelings, thinking and behavioral reactions. There is also an opinion that mental problems cause certain somatic dysfunctions of the body. It is possible to create medical and psychological means of eliminating mental problems only with the close assistance of such fields of activity as medicine and psychology. We must also not forget about the importance of considering the object of psychology - the psyche - from different points of view.
Mental processes are disturbed in every fourth or fifth person on the planet. WHO has this data. The cause of the presence of behavioral or mental disorders can be various phenomena. The origin of the disease itself is not clear. Psychologists have created many ways to deal with them and define them. If the subject has certain symptoms, he should contact specialists.
Currently there is an active criticism of the identification of the concepts of mental disorder and illness. This is due to the presence in psychiatry of a complex set of criteria for determining the nature of the disease (biological - bodily pathology, medical - the quality of the living conditions and the threat to life, social - problems in the social sphere of functioning). The most common suggestion is that a mental disorder is due to a problem in the bodily functioning of a part of the brain. Based on this, experts at the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases approved that instead of 2 terms (“n-th disease” and “n-th disease”), the concept of “mental disorder” can be used.
The state of the psyche (psychiatric and mental disorders, as well as those treated by psychiatrists) is often singled out as a convention that bears a conventional, non-medical type of description of a person. For example, some types of disorders are only figuratively related to pathological practice. Such reactions, which are atypical for everyday life, become pathologies. However, they can turn out to be saving and manifest themselvesso under certain extreme situations.
Forms of the psyche can be distinguished from each other by the type of disorder. From this point of view they classify:
- Syndromological principle, which is based on the existing concept of the presence of a "single psychosis.
- Nosological p-p is based on the division of diseases according to their etiological commonality, and is also associated with issues of pathogenesis and similarity of clinical pictures.
- Pragmatic p-p is a consequence of establishing a development link between national and international he alth organizations.
Such features of the psyche as its disorders allow us to divide them into various structural units that form a single and whole department of science. It is described in the fifth section of the international classifier of diseases of the tenth revision and was developed by WHO (in the Russian Federation it was adopted in 1997). Section provisions highlight:
- F00 - F09 - an organic type of disease, including symptomatic p-kie disorders.
- F10 - F19 - a mental type of disorder, common to behavior associated with the use of psychoactive drugs and substances.
- F20 - F29 - schizophrenic, schizotypal and delusional disorders.
- F30 - F39 - mood disorder (affective p-in).
- F40 - F49 - neuropathic r-in associated with stress and somatoform disorders.
- F50 - F59 - a behavioral series of syndromes associated with physiological problems that have arisenbased on physical factors.
- F60 - F69 - R-in personality and behavioral responses in adulthood.
- F70 - F79 - mental retardation of the subject.
- F80 - F89 - r-in mental "growth".
- F90 - F98 - emotional and behavioral waves that began at the age of a teenager or child.
- F99 - mental r-in without an additional series of clarifications.
Different diseases have a number of descriptive characteristics that distinguish certain phenomena into specific groups. For example, schizophrenia is characterized by the breakdown of thought and emotional processes. Such disorders are characterized by the fact that they allow the consciousness of the subject to perceive something "atypical" for the majority as the norm. This applies primarily to dangerous manifestations of aggression and cruelty. Schizophrenia often includes auditory or visual hallucinations. Mild forms of such a disease are inherent in a fairly large part of the world's population, but in this form they are practically impossible to detect without proper knowledge. However, people with mild schizophrenia are often creative and have some distinctive traits.
