Mental activity is all activities that are carried out with the participation of various forms of consciousness. It largely influences a person's behavior in everyday life, and also forms behavioral clichés and affects the character and personal qualities of a person. Features of mental activity have been the subject of study by many psychologists and scientists since ancient times, because people have always been curious about how and why a person acts in certain situations. The answer lies in the deep spheres of the human psyche, which has a great influence on the external behavior of a person and his attitudes in life.
Definition
Mental human activity includes all activities that are carried out with the participation of various forms of consciousness. All mental activity is based on the mechanism of satisfaction of human needs of various kinds, ranging from the most basic level of physiological needs to spiritual ones. Mental activity is an extremely complex process,which includes many stages, types and levels. In this process, the psychology of each individual, as well as the person as a whole, is formed.
The process of mental activity
Mental activity is a complex and multifaceted process that includes several main stages:
- Receipt of information and its further evaluation.
- Choosing the desired goal to be achieved as a result of the activity.
- Planning: choosing the means and methods by which the goal will be achieved.
- Actual activity using selected methods.
- Performance evaluation.
If at the last stage a person is not satisfied, he proceeds to review all stages, analyzing exactly where something went wrong: at the stage of choosing the desired goal, choosing methods, etc.
Thus, through the process of cognition, personal experience is formed - the mental activity of the individual becomes more mature and effective. A person learns to draw the right conclusions, begins to take responsibility for his actions, makes a deeper analysis of his actions and, in general, acquires many other useful mental and psychological skills that make him more developed psycho-emotionally.
Levels
Psychic activity and mental processes are studied by the science of psychology. Philosophers and scientists began to express theories about mental activity in ancient times. Earlier people saidonly about the connection of behavior with mental activity. Although this statement also has the right to be, nevertheless, this process is much deeper and more complex than previously thought. Mental activity is a system functioning simultaneously at three levels, the elements of which are closely related to each other.
Unconscious
The unconscious level is an instinctive-reflex activity with which every person is born. Behavior and mental activity in this case is regulated by unconscious biological mechanisms, which are mainly aimed at satisfying the simplest biological needs - self-preservation of the body.
But the genetic program of human behavior is also under the control of more complex brain structures. Only in extremely critical situations in the human psyche can this protective mechanism work: the body will go into the mode of autonomous self-regulation. A vivid example of this is the state of passion.
Subconscious
The subconscious level includes generalized and automatic stereotypes of behavior - habits, skills, intuition, etc. The subconscious is a kind of behavioral core of the individual, which is formed already at the earliest stages of its development. This category also includes the impulsive-emotional sphere, which is structurally localized in the subcortex of the brain. All sorts of unconscious aspirations of the individual are formed here - desires, addictions, inclinations. This issuch an involuntary sphere of the individual's personality, which is also called the "second nature" of a person, the center of behavior and behavioral stamps.
At the same time, the subconscious itself has its own multi-level structure, which includes a lower level with complexes and automatisms and a higher level with intuition.
Automatisms are called complexes of stereotyped actions in typical situations. Dynamic stereotypes in this case are a sequence of reactions in a familiar situation (for example, the manner of interacting with familiar objects, controlling familiar equipment, speech and facial cliches, etc.). A set of ready-made behavioral blocks unloads consciousness for more complex work - in this way automatisms free consciousness from regular repetitive solutions to standard tasks.
Also, various complexes fall into the subconscious, which are essentially unfulfilled desires, suppressed aspirations or anxieties, high expectations. Complexes tend to overcompensate: drawing a large amount of energy from the subconscious, they create a stable subconscious form of personality behavior.
The highest degree of the subconscious is intuition, which is also sometimes called the superconscious. Intuition is instantaneous insights, unexpectedly emerging solutions to various situations, unconscious prediction of events based on spontaneous generalization and analysis of previous experience. But intuition does not always arise precisely in the subconscious, often it simply satisfies the request of consciousness for a certain block earlier.received information.
The brightest subconscious dominants can influence the conscious activity of a person, creating for him various psychological barriers and almost irresistible attractions. The subconscious is very stable and immobile, to a large extent typifies the behavior of each individual.
Conscious
The conscious program of behavior is the dominant behavioral system for a socially adapted person. Although other areas of mental activity always play a background role in the behavior of the individual, being a kind of basis, nevertheless, conscious actions are the main active program in a person's life.
Human consciousness is a mechanism for the conceptual regulation of his behavior and activities. Human activity differs from animal behavior in creative productivity and structural differentiation, which in essence is the awareness of the goals and motives of one's actions, as well as the use of tools and methods created in the course of cultural and historical development, as well as the application of knowledge and skills acquired in the process of socialization and adaptation.
Thus, the mental self-organization of a person, as well as his adaptation to the world around him, occurs through the following autonomous programs:
- Unconsciously-instinctive program due to evolutionary development.
- Subconscious program that includes subjective-emotional processes.
- Conscious programs thatare arbitrary.
Interaction of levels
Processes originating in the unconscious phase can easily pass into consciousness. The reverse situation also happens when the conscious is forced into the subconscious.
The interaction of the conscious and the extraconscious can occur in concert or inconsistently, manifesting itself in various logically incompatible actions of a person, which are based on an intrapersonal conflict.
The presence of consciousness, subconsciousness, and the unconscious in a person determines the relative independence of various human reactions:
- Innate, unconsciously instinctive.
- Automated actions.
- Consciously-volitional.
Views
The most primitive example of a type of mental activity is a stereotypical activity that works at the level of reflexes. These are habitual actions that are repeated at regular intervals, working as a reaction to certain stimuli - these can be any habits or simple labor skills.
The most difficult type of such activity can be called creativity, since it is distinguished by originality and unique originality, and, in addition, carries a socio-historical meaning. As a result of such activities, a fundamentally new product is created - an invention, a work of art, etc.
Mostly mental activity is divided into the following types:
- feeling;
- perception;
- presentation;
- thinking.
Functions
Human activity and mental processes occurring inside each individual have a close causal relationship. A person as a psycho-emotional being reacts to various kinds of changes in the outside world not only physically, but also at all levels of his consciousness - the human psyche reacts to every event, which cannot but affect his mental activity.
Psychic activity tends to become more complex and self-improve over the course of life, thanks to the process of cognition inherent in man. By mastering knowledge about himself and the world around him, a person more successfully adapts to various kinds of changes in the external environment.
Thus, among the functions of mental activity is the function of adapting a person to the world around him, ultimately striving for the goal of a more effective existence in the world and society. Mental activity is aimed at adapting the personality to constantly changing environmental conditions.
Structure
Activity is called not only external, but also internal activity of a person. This is a complex category that includes many aspects of human interaction with the world. Activities include simple and complex activities.
Simple, as a rule, include three structural elements:
- target selection;
- performance;
- assessment of results.
Complex actions consist of a series of simple ones that acquire the status of sequential operations.
Activity begins with a motive - an inner motivation. A motive is an argument in favor of performing an action, an awareness of its personal meaning. All motives can be divided into two broad categories:
- Conscious - inherent in mature personalities. Direct activities over long periods of a person's life.
- Unconscious - manifested, as a rule, in the form of emotions.
Motives may change depending on the situation.
Mental activity in children
Each age has its own attitude to social reality. Children's mental development and the activity of the child are closely related to each other. In the process of growing up, the human psyche changes, and with it, his worldview and way of knowing the world changes. Activity in the mental development of the child is crucial. A significant role in this case is played by the so-called leading activity - the activity that will form the main psychological neoplasms in the child at a certain stage of growing up.
Mental activity is not only physical activity as such. It implies a deeper concept that affects not only the sphere of consciousness, but also the subconscious and the unconscious. Leading activity is characterized by the following features:
- New activities stand out within the leading activity.
- In the course of leading activity, particular mental processes are formed and reshaped.
- From leading activitiesall age-related psychological changes in personality depend.
Each stage of development is characterized by a certain type of leading activity. Among the types of leading mental activity of the child are:
- Emotional contact between a child and an adult. This type of leading activity is inherent in children from the first days of life up to a year. The individual during this period is focused on establishing social contacts.
- Object-manipulative activity. Such cognitive mental activity is typical for the age from 1 to 3 years. The child is in the process of learning the world around at a primitive level of studying surrounding objects.
- Role-playing game inherent in children under 6 years old. At this age, children understand that the people around them have different professions and speci alties, and are also involved in complex relationships with each other.
- Educational activity - up to about 10 years. Educational activity is a special program for mastering the basic theoretical forms of thinking. Children master the skill of learning, as well as the ability to operate with theoretical knowledge.
- Communication of teenagers under 15 in various fields of activity, whether it be educational, labor, creative or any other group. In the process of such activity, the role of the child changes - he gets from the family to another social sphere with other social roles. A person at this stage learns to look for his place in life and society in the process of contact with the outside world and society.
- At the age of 15-17, the leading activity again becomes educational activity,but now an important feature is the combination of training with industrial work, which is of great importance in the future. Here the choice of a profession plays a role, with which value orientations will also be developed. The main psychological neoplasm of this period of life is the ability to make life plans, to seek funds for their implementation.
In the process of development of the child's psyche in the process of changing the leading types of activity, there are regularities. The named leading types consist in a genetically successive connection, the formation of which can occur only in a certain order. The psychodevelopment of a child should be understood as a single process.
Mental human activity is a multifaceted and complex process inherent in every person. There is an inextricable link between the consciousness of man and his practical activity. There are a lot of activities, but it is important to understand that the psyche of each individual is occupied with its own mental activity, which has a great influence on behavioral stereotypes of behavior, as well as on the value orientations of the individual and on many other areas of human life.
