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The human psyche remains an unknown mystery to this day. Scientists all over the world are trying to find programs of mental activity that can help predict human reactions to certain influences. And even with the most predictable option, it is impossible to 100% guess the state of the psyche.
The carrier of the psyche is the human nervous system. In fact, the psyche is the property and main function of the brain, which is to reflect reality. At the same time, reflection is subjective (refracted through one’s own emotions and consciousness), and reality is objective.
The reflection is recorded in the form of images that are ideal for a particular person. These images are the basis for building relationships with the environment. Thus, ordinary nerve cells communicate between the central part of the brain and the outside world.
The psyche arose and was actively formed for a long time evolutionary period as the ability of a living organism to interact with the outside world and adapt to the environment.
The mental mechanisms of adaptation to the environment were constantly improved from organism to organism and received their highest degree of development in humans - consciousness. The human psyche is in fact a reflective-regulatory activity that ensures interaction with the environment.
However, the psyche cannot be considered only a system of images of the real world. The inner world of a person has its own rules of functioning. The reflection of reality can be called ideal, since it is based on historically formed ideas. At the same time, the psyche is a personal and individual phenomenon, very subjective, since it is determined by one’s own life experience.
Thus, the psyche is a reflection of reality, existing in the form of images, on the basis of which a person interacts with the environment.
The human psyche is interconnected with neurophysiological processes and social factors. Unlike the human psyche, the psyche of animals is a purely biological phenomenon. The human psyche has the form of consciousness, along with which there are several levels:
- Unconscious – unconscious and uncontrollable thoughts and actions.
- The subconscious is ideas and desires that are not perceived by consciousness.
- Consciousness is a manifestation of higher mental feelings, functions and processes.
- Superconsciousness (supraconsciousness) is stable formations formed in the process of creative or scientific activity (insights, ideas).
Structure of the human psyche
The human psyche has a complex structure, the core of which is consciousness. In addition to consciousness, there are areas: subconscious and superconscious. In the structure of the psyche, it is customary to distinguish several functional components: properties, processes, qualities and states.
Mental properties form a person’s individuality. Certain behavioral characteristics may be a personality trait for one person and an exception for another. Personality characteristics can be inherited and practically do not change during life. Such personal characteristics include the properties of the nervous system:
- force: cell resistance to irritation;
- mobility: speed of transition from inhibition to excitation and vice versa;
- equilibrium: balance of excitation and inhibition processes;
- resistance– ability to resist adverse factors;
- lability– flexibility of the nervous system.
The combination of these properties determines the types of nervous system (higher nervous activity).
- Mental processes
These are stable formations, the formation and development of which is determined by external living conditions. Mental processes are divided into two large groups: cognitive and emotional-motivational.
Cognitive processes:
- Feel– the initial form of the source, the source of primary knowledge about the world around us;
- perception– the process of creating an image of the surrounding reality;
- attention– state of concentration;
- memory– the ability to reflect experience in the process of storing information;
- imagination– the ability to create a non-existent image;
- thinking- the highest process of cognition, the essence of which is the ability to find the essence of things.
Speech is the highest mental function, which consists in the ability to assimilate conventional units, thanks to which the perception and transmission of information becomes possible.
Emotional and motivational processes:
- feelings– the highest manifestation of the human psyche, reflecting the inner world and the ability to perceive other people; the highest feelings are love, friendship, patriotism, etc.;
- emotions– the ability to experience and convey significant situations;
- motivation– the process of managing human activity, inducing action;
- will- an element of consciousness, which consists in the ability to act in accordance with a decision, often contrary to circumstances.
- Mental qualities (personal characteristics)
Personal characteristics are stable formations that arise under the influence of the surrounding reality and a person’s genotype. These include:
- character;
- temperament;
- intelligence.
- Mental condition
Sustainable background of activity: active and passive.
The psyche is a complex substance, the activity of which is determined by properties, processes, qualities and state.
2. The concept of the psyche.
Psyche– this is a systemic property of highly organized matter (brain), which consists in the subject’s active reflection of the objective world. Psyche manifests itself in mental phenomena.
All mental phenomena are divided into three groups: 1) mental processes; 2) mental states; 3) mental properties of the individual.
Some authors note that the psyche is brain function. Various sciences study the brain. Its structure is being studied anatomy, and its complex activities are studied from various angles neurophysiology, medicine, biophysics, biochemistry, neurocybernetics.
Psychology studies that property of the brain, which consists in the mental reflection of material reality, as a result of which ideal (mental) images of real reality are formed, necessary for regulating the interaction of the organism with the environment.
Contents of the psyche are ideal images of objectively existing phenomena. But these images arise in different people in their own way. They depend on past experience, knowledge, needs, interests, mental state, etc. In other words, the psyche is a subjective reflection of the objective world. However, the subjective nature of a reflection does not mean that the reflection is incorrect; verification by socio-historical and personal practice provides an objective reflection of the surrounding world.
So, psyche– this is a subjective reflection of objective reality in ideal images, on the basis of which human interaction with the external environment is regulated.
The basic concept of psychology is concept of mental image. A mental image is a holistic, integrative reflection of a relatively independent, discrete part of reality; this is an information model of reality used by higher animals and humans to regulate their life activities.
Mental images ensure the achievement of certain goals, and their content is determined by these goals.
The most common property of mental images is their adequacy of reality, and the universal function – regulation of activities.
A person’s mental reflection of the world is connected with his social nature; it is mediated by socially developed knowledge. Animals also have a psyche as a reflective ability, but the highest form of psyche is human consciousness, which arose in the process of social and labor practice. Consciousness is inextricably linked with language and speech. Thanks to consciousness, a person voluntarily regulates his behavior.
Consciousness does not photographically reflect the phenomena of reality. It reveals objective internal connections between phenomena. Associated with consciousness is the reflexive ability of a person, that is, the readiness of consciousness to know itself and other mental phenomena.
3. The emergence of psychology as a science. History of the development of psychological knowledge.
Psychology– a scientific discipline that studies the patterns of functioning and development of the psyche. It is based on the representation in a person’s self-observation of special experiences that are not attributable to the outside world. Its history as the study of the human soul, his mental world by the method of introspection (introspection) and introspection goes far back into centuries, into philosophical and medical teachings.
The term “psychology” appeared in scientific use only in the middle of the 16th century. The date of the beginning of scientific psychology is considered to be 1879, when in Leipzig V. Wundtom The first psychological laboratory was opened. From the second half of the nineteenth century. There was a separation of psychology from philosophy, which became possible due to the development of objective experimental methods that replaced introspection, and the formation of a special subject of human psychology, the main features of which were activity and the appropriation of socio-historical experience. Psychology as an independent science established itself only at the end of the 19th century, after it received an experimental basis and a natural scientific physiological basis. Subsequently, already at the beginning of the twentieth century, the scope of research by psychologists expanded significantly, incorporating both unconscious mental processes and human activities.
The scientific path to the formation of psychology was laid in the middle of the 19th century, when experimentally substantiated concepts based on data from biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics began to develop. To date, a multidimensional and differentiated area of various branches of psychology has formed. Modern scientific psychology, along with pronounced pluralism, also contains attempts to integrate psychological consciousness. This is due to the use of general systems theory, classical evolutionary theory and ideas of development in nature and society. Psychology as a science is known mainly only to those who specifically study it, or those who need it for work. At the same time, everyone knows psychology as a system of life phenomena in a sense.
Everyday psychology is a diverse set of psychological knowledge and skills that have become the property of a wide range of people. We use this set every day, often without even noticing our qualifications as an everyday psychologist. In addition to the word “everyday”, the terms are also used "everyday psychology", or "ordinary psychology". We discover psychological information and psychological skills literally at every step. Knowledge of everyday psychology is enshrined in folk proverbs and sayings, in works of art. They record the relationships between a person’s character and behavior, indications of desirable behavior, and the dynamics of human aspirations.
Everyday psychological knowledge can help you navigate the behavior of people around you and respond correctly to their actions. But in general they lack depth and evidence.
Antiquity. It was during the heyday of ancient culture that the first attempts were made to understand, recognize, study and describe the human psyche.
One of the first directions was animism, which considered the human psyche largely from the point of view of mythology and the psychology of the gods (as is known, mythology was especially developed in the period of antiquity). Animism looked specifically at the behavior and thinking of the gods, studied their life, style of behavior and attitude to the outside world.
A real revolution in the development of thought was the transition from animism to hylozoism (from the Greek words meaning “matter” and “life”), according to which the whole world, the cosmos, was considered originally alive; no boundaries were drawn between living, nonliving and mental - they were all considered as products of a single living matter.
A completely new side of knowledge of these phenomena was discovered by the activity of the sophist philosophers (from the Greek sophia - “wisdom”). They were not interested in nature, with its laws independent of man, but in man himself, who, as the aphorism of the first sophist Protagoras said, “is the measure of all things.”
In the works of ancient Greek thinkers there are attempts to solve many problems that still guide the development of psychological ideas today. In their explanations of the genesis and structure of the soul, three directions are revealed in the search for those large spheres independent of the individual, in the image and likeness of which the microcosm of the individual—the human soul—was interpreted.
The first direction was the explanation of the psyche, based on the laws of movement and development of the material world, from the idea of the decisive dependence of mental manifestations on the general structure of things, their physical nature.
Only after the arbitrariness of the life of the soul from the physical world, their internal kinship, and thereby the need to study the psyche, was comprehended, psychological thought was able to advance to new frontiers that revealed the originality of its objects.
The second direction of ancient psychology, created by Aristotle, focused primarily on living nature; the starting point for him was the difference between the properties of organic bodies and inorganic ones. Since the psyche is a form of life, bringing the psychobiological problem to the forefront was a major step forward. It made it possible to see in the psyche not a soul living in the body, having spatial parameters and capable of leaving the organism with which it is externally connected, but a way of organizing the behavior of living systems.
The third direction made the mental activity of the individual dependent on forms that are created not by nature, but by human culture, namely, on concepts, ideas, and ethical values.
These forms, which indeed play a huge role in the structure and dynamics of mental processes, were, however, starting from the Pythagoreans and Plato, alienated from the material world, from the real history of culture and society and presented in the form of special spiritual essences, sensually perceived by the body.
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The ancient Greeks are revered as wise masters of philosophy. They also noticed that a person is “fused” of two parts: the external manifestation of mental activity and internal mental properties. There are many differences between people, but the most interesting are the features of the inner world. Understanding mental activity and the very concept of the psyche is, in fact, not as difficult as it seems.
Functions of the psyche
In modern psychology, a more precise definition is given that helps to understand the phenomenon itself.
The psyche is a mirror. Subjective reflection of the objective world and reaction to it. The basis of the work of the psyche is a combination of many “sensually” and “reactionally” oriented connections.
A specific area of the brain is responsible for some functions. But delegation is also characteristic of the main “thinking” organ of a person, therefore the entire cerebral cortex is responsible for some forms of manifestation of certain functions. The human psyche performs the following functions:
Reflective
Emotional
Generating emotional reactions to certain situations.
Strong-willed
Possibility of “free” choice. Disputed by most modern psychologists.
Importance for a person
At the end of the 19th century, scientists believed that innateness determines the rest of life. L. S. Vygotsky believed that human mental development occurs according to historical laws, and not according to biological ones.
A person’s capabilities are directly related to his level of development.
The level of mental development determines the quality of professional activity, the manifestation and direction of will and norms of behavior. The biochemistry of the brain, and consequently behavior, is regulated by three parts: the pineal gland, the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. If the glands that are directed by the listed departments do not work properly, changes are also observed in the mental state of a person.
Processes
The actions taking place in the human mind and the developed emotional reaction to external stimuli. The functions are largely the same.
Regulatory
The other side of external perception. Develop principles of a behavioral system. Expression of will, motivation, goal setting.
Cognitive
Understanding a specific situation from all possible angles and the ability to act in accordance with your idealistic ideas. These include perception, memory and imagination.
Communication
The need to join forces with people to achieve a certain goal pushed primitive man to the invention of conscious communication.
States
This is a characteristic of an individual’s picture of the world and norms of behavior, fixed over a relatively long period of time. The characteristics of mental states can be predicted.
- Emotional. Feelings experienced.
- Activation. An indicator of a person’s activity or passivity.
- Temporary. Duration of the condition.
- Tonic. They are similar to activation ones, only here we mean a specific moment - whether the person is cheerful or depressed.
Properties of the psyche
The main distinguishing features of the psyche are flexibility and learning ability. The famous scientist Tatyana Chernigovskaya says that the brain cannot do one thing - not learn.
The fundamental difference between people and animals is the ability and willingness to influence circumstances in some cases. This is called expression of will.
The ability to act based on accumulated experience and the ability to choose the way you behave. In general, properties are relatively stable formations that determine the character of an individual. Divided into three categories:
- Life position. Beliefs, ideal self-image, etc.
- Character and temperament. Innate psycho-physical properties of the individual and chosen behavior.
- Capabilities. Development of will, intelligence and predisposition to creativity.
Psychic phenomena
Psychology studies the foundation consisting of processes, properties and states of the psyche. However, not all processes are consciously realized by humans. According to scientists, self-consciousness cannot exist separately from the unconscious, superconscious, preconscious and subconscious. Unconscious processes, which are the first level of the psyche, such as breathing, reproduction, and often even automatic thinking are not “brought” to the surface so as not to overload the brain.
With their individual unconscious, people form the collective unconscious, that is, the history of the entire human race. It was first pointed out by Jung in his work “The Structure of the Soul.”
The human soul is the most mysterious creation of nature, about which there are the most prejudices. The closest and most everyday things, upon closer examination, turn out to be the most unknown, keeping as many secrets as the entire universe does not contain. At least, the depth of consciousness attracts us more than other mysteries of the world.
Few things have been more controversial than consciousness. The fact that all religions, cults and esoteric theories resemble the search for a black man at night is understandable - here by black we mean the mechanisms of the origin of actions, and by night - the total processes of the psyche. Moreover, everyone talks about the truth, and it’s good if these statements do without bloodshed. Often, like the Crusaders, the search leads to wars that last for decades. So why is it that the most dear thing that we have, something that we should know everything about, because we use it every minute, raises more questions in us than a woman’s logic?
What is the human psyche
The ancient Greeks were the first to need a concept that simultaneously united and distinguished the natural biochemistry of the body and its metaphysical essence. They thought about how thoughts, actions and beliefs arise. This question still haunts scientists and theologians.
Science says that the psyche is a reflection of biological existence through the senses and the central nervous system. Thinking helps the subject perceive reality and navigate it. Without this, the life of a supreme being is not possible. External chaos is ordered, events are ranked and lined up in a chain. The present flows, turning into experience that shapes plans for the future.
Conscious and unconscious functions of the psyche
Conscious thoughts and motives that hiddenly influence life through the subconscious are highlighted. But the functions of the human psyche, regardless of the level of awareness, are radically different from those of animals. The main differences are consciousness and labor activity.
What we are aware of - thoughts, feelings, dreams - is a conscious part of the system, amenable to direct influence and adjustment. But, according to research initiated by Sigmund Freud, a greater influence on the psyche is exerted by motives hidden behind the “threshold” of consciousness, which break through the boundary of awareness in a dream or in moments of catharsis.
Sigmund Freud's theory
Freud's views revolutionized the concept of the soul. In his Puritan era, the theory of sexuality caused a storm of condemnation. Although the point is simply that one cannot discount one of the main forces driving the development of society.
Experimentally, he proved the existence of several layers of consciousness. The deepest, darkest and most uninfluenced layer is called the unconscious. It contains everything forgotten, unconscious, all complexes that, with the proper influence, can be “dragged” through the threshold of consciousness and made accessible to understanding. All of this can influence thoughtful decisions. And if these are neglected complexes, life can become completely joyless. For example, a mother's complex can make a person a homosexual, and a father's complex can make a person a criminal.
Carl Jung's theory
The scientific revolution lowered the authority of the church, which Freud largely contributed to. Therefore, a virgin, untouched territory was opened to new researchers of consciousness - the human soul. The next person who came to psychology after Freud and made an equally significant contribution to the development of this science was the son of a Swiss pastor, Carl Gustav Jung.
In his youth, Jung admired Freud, the revolutionary nature of his ideas and the boldness of his research methods. However, at some point, the paths of outstanding scientists diverged. Jung was disgusted by the fact that according to Freud, the psyche is nothing more than a differently interpreted theory of sexuality. He considered it too one-sided and leaving no room for the human spirit.
Jung always reiterated the invaluable contribution of his opponents, but criticized the deliberate “dogmatism” of their views, which was used to suppress the religious instinct. A significant part of his works is devoted to myths, legends and the views of medieval alchemists. This flexibility of views allowed the scientist to create analytical psychology, including dreams, insights and premonitions. His method sometimes resembles magic when he talks about the connection of all things and the transmission of thoughts at a distance.
Young's analytical method
In his research, Jung used an integrated approach, in which, in addition to the then accepted blotographic and other tests, he used the word association method. He noticed that some words caused an unusual reaction - a pause, repetition or forgetting.
He managed to prove the existence of hidden ideas and feelings, called complexes, which influence the life of an individual. These spikes from traumatic experiences are active, hiding from consciousness. And since these constellations can cause discomfort to the individual, Jung developed a treatment in which the complexes are identified and reduced to nothing through reflection.
Basic ideas of Jung's theory
There are two personality types, characterized by a desire for extraversion (the psyche’s focus on the outside world) and introversion (a tendency toward introspection). And also the four components of consciousness - sensation, intuition, thinking and feeling.
Each person is endowed with a personal and collective unconscious. The first consists of the experience, history and experiences of a particular subject. The second includes ancestral memory, all the images and archetypes that have developed throughout evolution. People are able to perceive collective images in dreams or in the process of reading tales, myths and legends.
We all have an inherent desire for perfection - Jung called this process individuation. This desire to find harmony with the unconscious comes in the second half of life and manifests itself as a midlife crisis with the subsequent formation of a more holistic personality.
Dreams are born in the “comprehensive depths” in order to point out gaps in life, weak points and call us to overcome. This is how the personality gains stability (by eliminating the complexes indicated by dreams).
Psychology of peoples
The study of myths prompted Jung to think about the connection between folk art and the collective unconscious. He spent many years among African aborigines and South American Indians.
One of the described phenomena is the restructuring of consciousness depending on the environment. In Africa they called it “going black.” Well-mannered, educated Europeans, after prolonged contact with the indigenous population, adopted their behavior model. They began to sincerely believe in local customs, even to the point of participating in bloody witchcraft rituals. And the weaker a person’s psyche was, the faster and more irreversibly he changed into a loincloth.
It can be assumed that in modern America the opposite process is happening, when the black population forgets its roots, acquiring a European gloss. But, as can be seen from Hollywood films, this is a double-edged sword: the manner of speech, facial expressions and plastic movements of American Caucasians are thoroughly imbued with the influence of Africa.
Psychology of groups according to Wundt
W. Wundt (1832-1920) is known for his work “Psychology of Nations”. In it, the human psyche, its aspects and their influence on the formation of the nation’s self-awareness are examined from a historical and cultural position. The scientist put forward a theory that thinking directly depends on the cultural, climatic and technological conditions of society.
He objected to the identification of personal and national consciousness. Wundt insisted that the synthesis of thinking individuals could lead to the emergence of a new reality, a superconsciousness filled with transpersonal myths and morality.
Ward's mass psychology
The American L. F. Ward (1843-1913) called the flowering of culture the highest evolutionary symbiosis of all cosmological and anthropogenetic forces. It endows a culture with a sense of purpose and a sense of purpose.
Having satisfied the basic needs in the form of hunger, thirst and sexual passion, a person acquires new desires, full of lofty goals and complex intellectual capabilities. These aspirations move society towards improvement. This also includes the phenomenon of seeking happiness - freedom from suffering.
W. Sumner
According to the work of W. Sumner (1840-1910) “Folk Customs”, the life of the masses is influenced by a number of factors, which he called customs. They appear when people try to survive in difficult climatic conditions or under threat of destruction by another group. This is how patterns of behavior are formed and improved, which are accepted by people and passed on to future generations.
Customs are also influenced by personal interests - hunger, thirst, sex, ambition. According to Sumner, the psyche is either “we are the group,” where relationships are based on support and mutual understanding, or “they are the group,” where hostility is established between communities.
So, having studied the culture of a people, their myths, morality and worldview, we can speak with great certainty about both the psyche of an individual and an entire people.
The Greeks are the pioneers of the soul
It is not surprising that it was the Greeks who were the first to talk about the existence of an inner world that lives according to its own laws. Living in unprecedented freedom, without boundaries and restrictions, they had a laboratory for the study of the spirit, which would no longer be possible to recreate. Homer's contemporaries had not yet received an inoculation of constant gnawing guilt. They did not know regret about the sinfulness of their nature, which poisoned the Christian period of history.
With childish naivety, they believed in the justice of revenge and were convinced that sympathy for someone else’s grief humiliates not only the one who experiences it, but also the object for whom it is intended. The Hellenes imprinted all the features of the psyche in the Olympians, who led the same free and immoral, by today’s standards, lifestyle. Each people, era or party has its own morals and mentality, and everyone claims exclusivity. As a result, it turns out that there is no morality - there is an evolutionary necessity.
Psychology of the Christian era
After the Greek and Roman revelry, a period came when the development of the psyche required the introduction of strict moral standards in order to avoid the degeneration of civilization. And since this happened unconsciously, it was not possible to avoid excesses. The first apostles adhered to extremely strict abstinence - their faith was supposed to reverse the usual course of things and convince the planet of their holiness.
And they achieved their goal. Imagine a saint: he is in rags, he is dying of hunger and covered in scabs. But his eyes glow with unshakable confidence in his words, and his voice rings like metal with an unshakable will - it is impossible to live like this if you are truly not initiated into the secrets of the universe. And the world bought it: for hundreds of years people imposed upon themselves the burden of undeserved sin. We know what this led to - wars, intolerance and the fires of the Inquisition.
But losses are inevitable. After all, in this game the goal was to curb the bestial temper and begin to live in relative peace. The commandments taught us to perceive the evil caused as damage to ourselves. Sympathy for your neighbor prevents you from destroying people, because it is experienced as a personal grief. “What if everything turns out to be the wrath of the Lord?” - this question has prevented many wars.
Psychology of modern times
We are lucky to live in extraordinary times. In some ways, those who call some cities the new Rome are right - the same eternal holiday reigns there, not overshadowed by the bonds of morality. The modern psyche is a free territory that, thanks to science, God has abandoned, and the new rules that form the basis of the soul are still very fragile and unreliable.
And we are looking for support again. Now in science. As if, if this notorious theory of the universal field is confirmed, wars will disappear and people will love each other. How does the modern search for new elements differ from the research of the alchemists with their philosopher's stone, which represented a model of the soul?
It’s scary to imagine what the child’s psyche is going through: violence pouring like a river from the screen, the Internet with pornography and social networks... The unprecedented pressure that we are experiencing sets the stage for the most unpredictable consequences. Once again the man found himself at a crossroads without clues or helpers. What this evolutionary round will lead to is known only to God, whom we have overthrown. Maybe we'll break through and new world will be illuminated by the birth of a previously unprecedented structure of the psyche?
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