Mental reflection is the most developed. Forms of psychic reflection

Psyche - this is the essence where the diversity of nature gathers to its unity, this is a virtual compression of nature, this is a reflection of the objective world in its connections and relationships.

Psychic reflection It is not a mirror, mechanically passive copying of the world (like a mirror or a camera), it is associated with a search, a choice, in the psychic reflection the incoming information is subjected to specific processing, that is, psychic reflection is an active reflection of the world in connection with some kind of necessity, with needs, this is a subjective selective reflection of the objective world, because it always belongs to the subject, does not exist outside the subject, depends on subjective characteristics. The psyche is a “subjective image of the objective world”.

Objective reality exists independently of a person and can be reflected through the psyche into subjective psychic reality. This mental reflection, belonging to a specific subject, depends on his interests, emotions, characteristics of the sense organs and the level of thinking (one and the same objective information from objective reality different people can perceive in their own way, completely from different angles, and each of them usually thinks that it is his perception that is the most correct), thus subjective mental reflection, subjective reality can differ partially or significantly from objective reality.

But it would be wrong to completely identify the psyche as a reflection of the external world: the psyche is capable of reflecting not only what is, but also what can be (forecasting), and what seems possible, although this is not so in reality. The psyche, on the one hand, is a reflection of reality, but, on the other hand, it is sometimes “inventing” something that is not in reality, sometimes it is illusions, mistakes, reflection of one's desires as real, wishful thinking. Therefore, we can say that the psyche is a reflection not only of the external, but also of its internal psychological world.

Thus, the psyche is “ subjective image of the objective world”Is a set of subjective experiences and elements of the subject's inner experience.

The psyche cannot be reduced simply to nervous system... Indeed, the nervous system is an organ (at least one of the organs) of the psyche. When the activity of the nervous system is disturbed, it suffers, the human psyche is disturbed.

But just as a machine cannot be understood through the study of its parts, organs, so the psyche cannot be understood through the study of only the nervous system.

Mental properties are the result of the neurophysiological activity of the brain, however, they contain the characteristics of external objects, and not internal physiological processes with the help of which the mental arises.

Signals that are transformed in the brain are perceived by a person as events playing out outside him, in external space and the world.

Mechanical Identity Theory states that mental processes are essentially physiological processes, that is, the brain secretes the psyche, thought, just like the liver secretes bile. The disadvantage of this theory is that the psyche is identified with nervous processes, they do not see the qualitative differences between them.

Unity theory states that mental and physiological processes occur simultaneously, but they are qualitatively different.

Mental phenomena are not correlated with a separate neurophysiological process, but with organized aggregates of such processes, that is, the psyche is a systemic quality of the brain, realized through multilevel functional systems of the brain, which are formed in a person in the process of life and his mastery of historically formed forms of activity and experience humanity through their own vigorous activity. Thus, specific human qualities (consciousness, speech, work, etc.), the human psyche are formed in a person only during his lifetime in the process of assimilating the culture created by previous generations. Thus, the human psyche includes at least 3 components: external world (nature, its reflection); full brain activity; interaction with people, active transfer to new generations of human culture, human abilities.

Mental reflection is characterized by a number of features;

• it makes it possible to correctly reflect the surrounding reality, and the correctness of the reflection is confirmed by practice;
• the mental image itself is formed in the process of more active human activity;
• mental reflection deepens and improves;
• ensures the appropriateness of behavior and activities;
• refracted through the individuality of a person;
• is forward-looking.

Functions of the psyche: reflection of the surrounding world and regulation of the behavior and activities of a living creature in order to ensure its survival.

Subject and tasks of psychology.

Psychology is the science of the laws of development and functioning of the psyche. The object of psychology is the psyche. The subject of study of psychology is, first of all, the psyche of humans and animals, which includes many phenomena. With the help of such phenomena as sensation and perception, attention and memory, imagination, thinking and speech, a person learns the world. Therefore, they are often called cognitive processes.

Other phenomena regulate his communication with people, directly control actions and deeds. They are called mental properties and states of personality (they include needs, motives, goals, interests, will, feelings and emotions, inclinations and abilities, knowledge and consciousness).

In addition, psychology studies human communication and behavior

Psychology tasks:

1. Qualitative study of all mental phenomena.

2. Analysis of all mental phenomena.

3. Study of the psychological mechanisms of mental phenomena.

4. The introduction of psychological knowledge in the life and activities of people.

The relationship of psychology with other sciences. Branches of psychology.

It is impossible to understand the human psyche and behavior without knowing its natural and social essence. Therefore, the study of psychology is associated with human biology, the structure and functioning of the central nervous system.

Psychology is also closely related to the history of society and its culture, since the main historical achievements - tools and sign systems - played a major role in the formation of human mental functions.

Man is a biosocial being; his psyche is formed only within the framework of society. Accordingly, the specificity of the society in which a person resides determines the characteristics of his psyche, behavior, perception of the world, social interactions with other people. In this regard, psychology is also associated with sociology.

Consciousness, thinking and many other mental phenomena are not given to a person from birth, but are formed in the process of individual development, in the process of upbringing and education. Therefore, psychology is also associated with pedagogy.

The following branches of psychology are distinguished:

1) General psychology - studies cognitive and practical activities.

2) Social psychology - studies the interaction of personality and society

3) Developmental psychology - examines the development of the psyche from the conception of a person to his death. It has a number of branches: child psychology, adolescent psychology, adolescence, adulthood and gerontology. Educational psychology has as its subject the psyche (of a student and a teacher) in the context of the educational process (training and education).

4) Labor psychology - examines the psyche in conditions labor activity.

5) Psycholinguistics - deals with the study of speech as a type of psyche.

6) Special psychology: oligophrenopsychology, deaf psychology, typhlopsychology.

7) Differential psychology - explores all kinds of differences in the psyche of people: individual, typological, ethnic, etc. 8) Psychometry - comprehends the issues of mathematical modeling of the psyche, measurement problems in psychology, methods of quantitative analysis of the results of psychological research.

9) Psychophysiology - studies the relationship between the biological and mental, physiology of higher nervous activity and psychology.

Psychology methods.

The main methods of psychology, like most other sciences, are observation and experiment. Complementary are self-observation, conversation, questioning, and the biographical method. Recently, psychological testing has become increasingly popular.

Self-observation is one of the first psychological methods. This is the choice of a method for the study of mental phenomena, the advantage of which is the ability to directly, directly observe the thoughts, experiences, aspirations of a person. The disadvantage of this method is its subjectivity. It is difficult to verify the data obtained and repeat the result.

Most objective method - experiment. There are laboratory and natural types of experiment. The advantage of the method: high accuracy, the ability to study facts that are not accessible to the eye of the observer, using special devices.

Questionnaires are used in psychology to obtain data from a large group of subjects. There are open and closed types of profiles. IN open type the answer to the question is formed by the subject himself; in the closed questionnaires, the subjects must choose one of the options of the proposed answers.

The interview (or conversation) is conducted with each subject separately, therefore it does not provide an opportunity to obtain detailed information as quickly as when using questionnaires. But these conversations allow us to record emotional condition person, his attitude, opinion on some issues.

There are also various tests. In addition to tests intellectual development and creativity, there are tests aimed at studying the individual characteristics of a person, the structure of his personality.

4. The concept of the psyche and its functions.

The psyche is general concept, denoting the totality of all mental phenomena studied by psychology.

There are 3 main functions of the psyche:

Reflection of the influences of the surrounding world

A person's awareness of his place in the world around him

This function of the psyche, on the one hand, ensures the correct adaptation of a person in the world. On the other hand, with the help of the psyche, a person realizes himself as a person endowed with certain characteristics, as a representative of a particular society, social group, which is different from other people and is in a relationship with them. A person's correct awareness of his personal characteristics helps him adapt to other people, build communication and interaction with them correctly, achieve common goals in joint activities, and maintain harmony in society as a whole.

Regulation of behavior and activity

Thanks to this function, a person not only adequately reflects the surrounding objective world, but has the ability to transform it.

5. The structure of the psyche (mental processes, conditions, properties and neoplasms).

The psyche is a general concept that denotes the totality of all mental phenomena studied by psychology

Usually in the structure of the psyche, the following main components are distinguished: mental processes; mental neoplasms; mental states; mental properties.

Mental processes are a component of the human psyche that arises and develops in the interaction of living beings with the surrounding world. Mental processes are caused both by external influences of the natural and social environment, and by various desires and various needs.

All mental processes are subdivided into cognitive. which include sensations, ideas, attention, memory; emotional, which can be associated with positive or negative experiences, volitional, which ensure the adoption of decisions and their implementation.

The result of mental processes is the formation of mental formations in the structure of the personality.

Mental neoplasms are acquired by a person during his life, including in the hall of learning, certain knowledge, abilities and skills.

Mental states are phenomena of cheerfulness or depression, efficiency or fatigue. calmness or irritability, etc. Mental states arise due to various factors, such as health, working conditions, relationships with people around.

Based on mental processes and mental states personality traits (qualities) are gradually formed.

Characteristics of mental reflection.

Psychic reflection is right, right reflection.

Features of mental reflection:

It makes it possible to correctly reflect the surrounding reality;

Psychic reflection deepens and improves;

Provides appropriate behavior and activities;

Is forward-looking

Different for every person

Mental reflection has a number of properties:

- Activity. Mental reflection is an active process.

Subjectivity. This is expressed in the fact that we see one world, but it appears for each of us in a different way.

Objectivity. Only through correct reflection is it possible for a person to cognize the world around him.

Dynamism. That is, the psychic reflection tends to change.

Leading character. This allows you to make decisions ahead of the future.

The psyche (from the Greek psychikos - mental) is a form of active reflection by the subject of objective reality, arising in the process of interaction of highly organized living beings with the outside world and performing a regulatory function in their behavior (activity). The central category in this definition is the active display or reflection of reality.

Mental reflection is not a mirror, mechanically passive copying of the world (like a mirror or a camera), it is associated with a search, a choice, in a mental reflection the incoming information is subjected to specific processing, i.e. mental reflection is an active display of the world in connection with some need, with needs. This is a subjective, selective reflection of the objective world, since it always belongs to the subject, does not exist outside the subject and depends on subjective characteristics. You can define the psyche as a "subjective image of the objective world" - this is our idea or picture of the world, according to which we feel, make decisions and act.

The fundamental property of the psyche - subjectivity - defined introspection as the main method of its study from ancient times until the appearance of the first research centers at the end of the 19th century. Introspection is self-observation organized according to special rules.

In Russian psychology, in general, a rationalistic method of cognition based on logic and experience is adopted, which connects the psyche with the activity of the brain, the development of which is due to the evolution of living nature. However, the psyche cannot be reduced simply to the nervous system. Mental properties are the result of the neurophysiological activity of the brain, however, they contain the characteristics of external objects, and not internal physiological processes by which the mental arises. Signal transformations occurring in the brain are perceived by a person as events that are played out outside him - in external space and the world.

Mental phenomena do not correspond to a separate neurophysiological process, but to organized aggregates of such processes, i.e. psyche is a systemic quality of the brain, realized through the multilevel functional systems of the brain, which are formed in a person in the process of life and mastery of historically established forms of activity and experience of mankind through vigorous activity. Thus, specifically human qualities (consciousness, speech, work, etc.) are formed in a person only during his lifetime, in the process of assimilating the culture created by previous generations. Consequently, the human psyche includes at least three components, as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. The structure of mental display by the subject of the external and internal world.

Functions of the psyche.

The definition and concept of the psyche, analyzed above, gives an idea of \u200b\u200bthe functions of the psyche or answers the question - why does the subject need a psyche.

Even W. Jams, the founder of the functional approach in psychology (the forerunner of behaviorism - the science of behavior) believed that the psyche serves the purposes of adaptation of the individual in the surrounding world and therefore reflects it. Accordingly, the functions of the psyche include: 1) reflection, 2) adaptation necessary for survival and interaction with the environment - biological, physical, social. From the definition of the psyche it is clear that it also performs 3) a regulatory function, that is, it directs and regulates the activity of the subject and controls behavior. In order to regulate behavior adequately to the conditions of the external and internal environment, that is, adaptively, it is necessary to navigate in this environment. Therefore, it is logical to single out and 4) the orientational function of the psyche.

The above mental functions 5) ensure the integrity of the organism, which is necessary not only for survival, but also for maintaining the physical and mental health of the subject.

Modern domestic psychologists expand the list of traditionally considered functions of the psyche. Thus, V. Allakhverdov in his works pays great attention 6) to the cognitive or cognitive function of the psyche and considers the psyche as an ideal cognitive system. One of the well-known Russian methodologists B. Lomov, proceeding from a systematic approach, distinguishes 7) the communicative function of the psyche, since the psyche of the subject arises and develops in interaction with others, that is, it is included as a component in other systems (an individual within a group, etc.) ).

Y. Ponomarev drew attention to the fact that human behavior can be maladaptive (for example, creative behavior - where a person, when realizing his ideas, sometimes acts contrary to common sense and the instinct of self-preservation). Accordingly, he added 8) the function of creative activity, which leads a person to create a new reality that goes beyond the already existing one.

It seems that this is an incomplete list of functions of the psyche, that is, why and for what it is needed by an individual, personality and subject of activity. Psychological science is awaiting new discoveries on the way to the study of mental phenomena.

2. Reflection characteristics

3. Mental Reflection Levels

1. The concept of mental reflection . Categoryreflections is a fundamental philosophical concept, it is understood as a universal property of matter, which consists in reproducing the characteristics, properties and relations of the reflected object. This is a form of interaction of phenomena in which one of them -reflected , - while maintaining its qualitative definition, creates in the second -reflective specific product:reflected
The ability to reflect, as well as the nature of its manifestation, depend on the level of organization of matter. In quality different forms reflection appears in inanimate nature, in the world of plants, animals and, finally, in humans.(Based on the book by LEONTIEV “ Activity. Consciousness. Personality " )

In inanimate nature, the interaction of various material systems results inmutual relationship , which appears as a simple mechanical deformation.

An integral property of a living organismis irritability - reflection of the influences of the external and internal environment in the form of excitement and selective response. As a pre-psychic form of reflection, it acts as a regulator of adaptive behavior.

A further stage in the development of reflection is associated with the emergence of a new property in higher species of living organisms -sensitivity, that is, the ability to have sensations, which is the initial form of the psyche.

The formation of the sense organs and the mutual coordination of their actions led to the formation of the ability to reflect things in a certain set of their properties - the ability to perceive the surrounding reality in a certain integrity, in the formsubjective image this reality.

The formation of a person and human society in the process of work and communication with the help of speech led to the emergence of a specifically human, social in its essence form of reflection in the formconsciousness andself-awareness. For a reflection inherent in man, it is characteristic that it is a creative process, social in nature. It presupposes not only the impact on the subject from the outside, but also the active action of the subject himself, his creative activity, which manifests itself in the selectivity and purposefulness of perception.

2. Reflection characteristics . Features of the process Mental reflection is accompanied by a number of characteristic conditions that are its specific manifestations:- Activity. Mental reflection is not mirrored, not passive, it is associated with the search and selection of methods of action adequate to the conditions, it isactive process.

- Subjectivity. Another feature of mental reflection is itssubjectivity: it is mediated by the person's past experience and personality. This is expressed primarily in the fact that we see one world, but it appears for each of us in a different way.

- Objectivity ... At the same time, mental reflection makes it possible to build an "internal picture of the world" adequate to objective reality, and here it is necessary to note one more property of the mental - itsobjectivity. Only through correct reflection is it possible for a person to cognize the world around him. The criterion for correctness is practical activity, in which mental reflection is constantly deepening, improving and developing.

- Dynamism. The process called psychic reflection tends to undergo significant changes over time. The conditions in which the individual acts are changing, the very approaches to transformations are changing. Uniqueness It should not be forgotten that each personality has bright individual characteristics, by their own desires, needs and desire for development.

- Leading character . Another important feature of mental reflection is itsanticipatory character, it makes possible anticipation in human activity and behavior, which allows decisions to be made with a certain temporal-spatial advance in relation to the future.

The most important function of the psyche isregulation of behavior and activity, due to which a person not only adequately reflects the surrounding objective world, but has the ability to transform it in the process of purposeful activity. The adequacy of human movements and actions to the conditions, tools and object of activity is possible only if they are correctly reflected by the subject.

3. Mental Reflection Levels. Psychic reflection serves to create a structured and integral image of the dismembered objects of reality. B.F.Lomov singled out the levels of mental reflection:

1. Sensory-perceptual is the basic level of building mental images, arising in the first place in the development process, but not losing its relevance in subsequent activities. The subject, based on the information received by stimulating the sense organs with real objects, builds his own tactics of behavior. Simply put, a stimulus triggers a reaction: an event occurring in real time affects the subsequent action of the subject, determines it.

2. The level of perception. The image can arise without the direct influence of the object on the subject's sense organs, that is, it is imagination, memory, figurative thinking. Due to the repeated appearance of the object in the subject's perception zone, some of the most important features of the first are remembered, eliminated from the secondary ones, which gives rise to an image independent of the direct presence of the stimulus. The main function of this level of mental reflection: planning, control and correction of actions in the internal plan, drawing up standards.

3. Verbally logical thinking or speech-thinking level. The operations of this level are even less connected with the event series of the current time. The individual operates with logical concepts and techniques that have developed in the course of the cultural and historical development of mankind. Abstracting from his own direct experience, from the imagination and memory of the events that took place in his life, he orients himself and builds activities, relying on the experience of humanity as a whole. Those concepts, definitions and inferences that were not produced by him. This provides an opportunity to plan and regulate events of different orientation and temporal distance, up to planning the life path of an individual. Despite the significant difference between the third and the first, initial level: the processes of sensory and rational regulation of activity incessantly flow from one to another, forming a mental reflection in the variety of its levels and images.

According to the positions of Soviet psychology, already at the level of animals, it is not so much the stimulation itself that initiates acts of reflection and causing subjective impressions of various modality that is psychologically reflected, but the experience of the individual in relation to the perceived situation, revealing how this stimulation can change and by what actions it can be changed ... It is this experience, existing in the form of skills, abilities, expectations, cognitive schemes, etc., and not actualizing external and internal influences, that is the main determinant that determines the content of mentally regulated activity. No matter how rich the individual, as well as the specific, genetically transmitted experience of a biological individual, it can in no way be compared with the continuously accumulating experience of all mankind, which is the source and basis for the development of mental reflection processes in society. The assimilation of this experience by an individual, continuing throughout life, equips him not only with a complex of sensory ideas about the immediate environment and the possibilities of its direct transformation, but with an interconnected and generalized system of knowledge about the whole world, its hidden properties, interactions occurring in it, etc. In Soviet psychological literature, this system of appropriated representations, in which everything reflected is inevitably localized and last years began to be collectively called the "image of the world." The general thesis developed in these works states that

“The main contribution to the process of constructing the image of an object or situation is made not by individual sensory impressions, but by the image of the world as a whole” (Smirnov, 1981, p. 24).

Language plays the most important role in the process of human appropriation of the experience of social origin, which is gradually forming into an increasingly complex “image of the world”. The language itself, its morphology, reflecting the fundamental structure and general forms of objective relationships, a system of interrelated concepts that actually denote a hierarchy of phenomena and relations between them of varying degrees of generalization, etc., is a concentrated product of socio-historical experience that accumulates the most essential and practical application of its elements (see Vygotsky, 1982; Leontiev, 1963; Luria, 1979). The learned language is already an expanded, holistic and ordered "image of the world" in which, with the help of conceptual identification, phenomena and situations directly reflected by the senses are recognized. Of course, language is not the only source for the formation of the human "image of the world", setting only a kind of framework, the skeleton of such an image, which is gradually filled with more differentiated and refined content based on the appropriation of special knowledge (using the same language and other sign systems) , experience embodied in objects created by man and forms of action with them, transmitted by means of art, etc.

Mental reflection as a result of mediation by appropriated social experience acquires a number of new qualities. A. N. Leont'ev wrote about this: “Animals, man live in the objective world, which from the very beginning appears as four-dimensional: it exists in three-dimensional space and in time (movement). ... Returning to the person, to the human consciousness, I must introduce “one more concept - the concept of the fifth quasi-dimension, in which the objective world is revealed to the person. This is a “semantic field”, a system of meanings ”. The point is that the phenomena reflected by a person, as a rule, are categorized, named, that is, identified not only by sensory parameters, but also in a system of meanings. This automatically localizes them in the "image of the world", revealing all the multitude of their inherent features: origin, functional qualities, hidden connections, further destiny, etc. Answering the child's questions "Why is a pit placed in every cherry?", "Why snow on the roof? After all, people don't ski or sled on the roof? " (Chukovsky, 1966, p. 124), an adult explains in an expanded form that when perceiving these phenomena, it is immediately revealed to him as a matter of course: where does the snow come from, how does it fall on roofs, etc. A child's "image of the world" does not yet have contains, nevertheless, it already exists, actively manifests itself and endows the perceived phenomena with entertaining qualities for an adult: snow specifically for rolling, cherries for eating, etc. Thus, the mediation of the reflection by the system of appropriated knowledge maximally expands the boundaries of the reflected content, making them independent of the parameters of a really perceived situation and pushing them to the boundaries of universal human knowledge, or rather, to the limits of what a particular person knows from this knowledge. One of the consequences of having " quasi-measurements»Values \u200b\u200blies in the fact that it practically removes restrictions on the reflection of the space-time dimensions of reality. Getting acquainted with history, a person is easily transported in his thoughts through the centuries and to any depicted place, with astronomy through sensually unimaginable periods of time and space.

He is equally free to imagine events that are possible in the most distant future. Such distractions from the present situation, although not so impressive, are also required by everyday affairs, by carrying out which a person usually without noticeable efforts controls both the previous preparations for them and the future more or less distant consequences.

And in this case, the spatio-temporal parameters of the reflected content are determined not by external stimulation, but by “ image of the world", Or rather, that part of it that can be called" the way of one's life. " Along with the change in physical dimensions, the content of the human psyche also expands significantly along the line of reflection of the most varied internal relationships and interactions that are found in the entire range of spatio-temporal extent. " Quasi dimension»Values \u200b\u200bundoubtedly should be represented as multidimensional, conveying fundamentally various characteristics... objective reality: classification, attributive, probabilistic, functional, etc. To understand the changes in the motivational sphere of a person, the qualitative leap that has taken place in the reflection of cause-and-effect relationships is especially important... The main phenomenon here is that any phenomenon reflected by a person, apart from others, more or less general characteristics receives, as a rule, also an interpretation from the point of view of deterministic relations: everything that exists is reflected as a consequence of certain causes, usually a whole ramified complex of them, and in turn as the causes of the expected changes.

The desire to clarify the causality of phenomena is so characteristic of a person that we can talk about his inherent tendency to see everything in the world as necessarily determined. As A.I. Herzen wrote,

This is manifested both in the child's statements that the clouds are made by steam locomotives, the wind by trees, and in the filling of white spots in the cognition of causal relations by adults with such explanatory constructs as fate, witchcraft, cosmic influences, etc. Reflection processes in the presence of ordered ideas about the surrounding reality and their place in it acquire the characteristics of human consciousness, which is the highest form of reflection. One may think that it is precisely the global localization of reflected phenomena in the “image of the world”, which provides an automated reflection by a person of where, when, what and why he can talk about his inherent tendency to see everything in the world as necessarily deterministic. As A.I. Herzen wrote,

"It is so common for people to get to the cause of everything that is done around them that they rather like to invent a absurd reason, when the real one does not know how to leave it alone and not deal with it."

This is manifested both in the child's statements that clouds are made by steam locomotives, wind-trees, and in the filling of white spots in the cognition of causal relationships by adults with such explanatory constructs as fate, witchcraft, cosmic influences, etc. ordered ideas about the surrounding reality and their place in it acquire the characteristics of human consciousness, which is the highest form of reflection.

One can think that it is the global localization of reflected phenomena in the “image of the world”, which provides an automated reflection by a person of where, when, what and why he reflects and does, that constitutes the concrete psychological basis of the conscious nature of mental reflection in a person. To be aware is to reflect the phenomenon "prescribed" in the main system-forming parameters of the "image of the world" and to be able, if necessary, to clarify its more detailed properties and connections. Description and clarification of the above and a number of other features of reflection in the human psyche require designation of the processes of their formation. Let us note the most important provisions in this respect. Knowledge and skills deposited in language and other forms of social and historical experience cannot be directly transmitted to a person; for their appropriation, he must be involved in specially targeted activities, determined by other people or materialized products of this experience and reproducing such methods of transforming the objective world (or its sign equivalents), as a result of which new and increasingly complex properties of it are revealed. It is the activity that comes into practical contact with external reality, the activity of other people and its products that removes in its form and composition the first copy from various constituents of the objective world, which subsequently, as a result of repeated playback, folding and transition to the inner plane, becomes the basis for the mental reflection of these generators.

Without going into a detailed discussion of the idea of \u200b\u200bthe activity origin of the human psyche, we emphasize that it follows from the reflex concept of the mental laid down by I.M.Sechenov (1953), which explains the subjective reflection by the internal performance of those actions that have developed in practical activity with reflected objects. Qualitative differences between subhuman and human levels mental reflection are explained not by differences in the fundamental method of forming these levels (since in both cases reflection is a curtailed product of forms of activity that have developed in practice), but by differences between the processes that form these levels - the behavior of animals experiencing the external world with the capabilities of an individual organism, and the activity of a person this world is based on the experience and means accumulated by many generations of people. A number of features of the human psyche are associated with the fact that when they are assigned new experience, there is a constant reduction of the initially developed processes of activity into more and more compressed and automated forms of it.

It is especially important that along with the disappearance from the activity of numerous repetitions, search, trial or clarifying actions, there is a gradual reduction of its external-executive elements, and as a result, the subject gets the opportunity to perform it exclusively in the internal plane, mentally. This is the most intimate in the formation of the mental and in many aspects mysterious phenomenon " spinning"The content of activity in the internal plane was called interiorization:" As you know, the transition is called interiorization, as a result of which processes external in their form with external, material objects are transformed into processes occurring in the mental plane, in the plane of consciousness; at the same time, they undergo a specific transformation - they are generalized, verbalized, reduced and, most importantly, become capable of further developmentthat transcends the boundaries of the possibilities of external activity.

It is the reduction and internalization of the initially developed activity that create the possibility of a person's appropriation of an almost unlimited amount of knowledge. In a more specific description, this is ensured by the fact that something that required at the first stages of mastering full dedication and prolonged efforts of the subject is subsequently reflected easily and fluently in the form of concepts, ideas, skills, understanding and other forms of human reflection, which are characterized by minimal expression of the initial procedural and maximum-productive-meaningful moments. In such a final expression, the newly formed elements of experience can be compared, generalized, and in every possible way "tested" by each other, that is, used in the further activity of appropriation already as its object or means. This creates the possibility of the formation of more complex, generalized and mediated "units" of experience, which also pass (after appropriate working out and interiorization) into the resultant form of spontaneously understood meanings, principles, ideas, which are used in turn to form generalizations even more high level, etc.

A kind of storage device for such multistage transitions from expanded to collapsed, from external to inner shape activity and is an individual "image of the world", which is the final ordered product of man's appropriation of knowledge about objective reality and himself. As noted above, the localization of the reflected phenomena in " image of the world"Is one of the main features of the conscious reflection of reality. Data on the development of the ability of awareness in ontogenesis indicate that initially it also goes through the stage of an expanded process directed by an adult (or then by the person himself) with the help of questions such as: “What does this mean?”, “Why are you saying this?”, “K what can this lead to? " The solution of such questions, contributing to the reflection of phenomena in an ever wider context of reporting on what is happening, like any other actions when repeated in similar conditions, is reduced and automated, and, becoming a kind of operation of recognizing phenomena in the system of "image of the world", provides the emergence of phenomena of the conscious reflections. Thus, the activity interpretation allows us to characterize consciousness from the concrete psychological side as a curtailed form of once mastered actions to localize reflected phenomena in the “image of the world”, as a skill of identifying these phenomena in an ordered system of knowledge. The spontaneity and instantaneous awareness of well-known phenomena create the impression of a complete automation of this process, its independence from the activity of the subject.

However, this is not quite true. As you know, not everything is reflected by a person with the same full development of the content that characterizes the perceived phenomenon. The most detailed and distinctly reflected is what appears in the “fixation point”, the “focus” of the mental image, which is perceived as a “figure” on the “background” that makes up the “periphery” of consciousness, in other words, what the subject's attention is directed to. The ability of attention to improve the quality of the reflected content was often considered its most essential feature and was put into definitions that characterize it as "a state that accompanies a clearer perception of some mental content", "provides our mental work top scores". S. L. Rubinstein wrote on this subject:

“Attention is usually phenomenologically characterized by the selective focus of consciousness on a certain object, which is then realized with particular clarity and distinctness” (1946, p. 442).

Thus, although the reflection of the material that has been repeatedly and versatile played and as a result of this firmly mastered material is largely automated and does not require the expressed efforts of the subject, he must detect some minimal activity (in the form of a direction of attention). Naturally, in cases where the degree of mastery of knowledge is not high enough, the subject must make special efforts to update them: finding out what is reflected by a professional immediately (for example, the possibility of troubleshooting a technical system) may require many hours of intensive mental work from a beginner ...

Due to the varying degrees of assimilation, the experience of social origin in the individual psyche is presented inhomogeneously and along with the knowledge that is actualized automatically when attention is directed to some content, there is less mastered knowledge obtained as a result of the subject's voluntary attempts to “remember” something, to check whether the case is etc. This means that the content that is actually reflected at a certain moment by a person depends not only on the experience he has mastered concerning this content, but also on the specifics of the task before him, which determines which aspect of this experience will be active for him retrieved and reflected.

The ability of a person to arbitrarily control the processes of reflection, to actualize and view those aspects " image of the world», Which are necessary from the point of view of the tasks facing him, is the most important feature of the socially developed psyche, thanks to which he gets the opportunity to completely distract from the really perceived situation and reflect any necessary elements and components of the appropriated experience. Manifesting in internal activity, the ability of voluntary regulation significantly changes the course of "natural" mental processes, making up one of the most characteristic features so-called higher mental functions. Thinking as a kind of consolidated product of the development of these functions, as an "integrator of intelligence" is carried out with the help, in particular, of the higher (voluntary) forms of attention, memory, imagination and consists in the process of voluntary search, actualization and playing in the internal plane of the experience necessary to solve the tasks facing the person.

The emergence of the ability to voluntary regulation is due to the fact that not only the content, but also the form of human activity is determined by its social origin - the fact that it is carried out either under the direct or mediated (for example, written text) guidance of other people, or in cooperation with them with the inevitable consideration of their interests and capabilities, the results of their work, etc. Communication as one of the most characteristic forms of human activity permeates almost every kind of human activity, serving not only to satisfy the corresponding need, but also as a universal means of catalyzing the formation of mental neoplasms. Therefore, an adult transfers his experience to a child, not by the type of one-sided pumping through activity into his "image of the world". new information, but rather in a mode of dialogue with this image with constant exteriorization from it into the activity of already acquired knowledge and their use for the formation of more complex new formations. It is clear that the consistency and continuity necessary for this between individual acts of formative activity, its entire organization can be set only in communication with other people who offer the child in a language understandable to him and in a certain order to do something, compare, repeat, “think”, etc. As a result, interconnectedness and consistency acquires the “image of the world” that is formed in the activity.

External, laid down by other people ways of organizing activity are gradually mastered by the person himself and, as a result of interiorization, become internal means of its regulation, endowing the mental reflection that is forming in it with new qualities. Especially in this respect, the consequences of the gap between motivation and action, which is formed when performing activities under the guidance of an adult, are important due to the fact that actions are directed not by motives arising in the situation, but by adults, to whom the motivation (cooperation with him, play, cognitive) seems to convey this function. Mastering the skills that allow you to act independently of immediate motives becomes the basis for a person's ability to arbitrarily regulate internal and external activities. This is evidenced by special studies that have shown that the ability to voluntarily regulate activity in ontogenesis is formed gradually: first, as the child's ability to act, obeying the speech commands of an adult, then executing his own detailed commands, and, finally, according to reduced orders to himself at the level of inner speech ... Note that the formation of this feature of the human psyche is also mediated by language - it is speech that serves as a universal means by which a person masters his own mental processes and behavior.

Arming the human psyche with the "image of the world" and especially the ability to arbitrarily actualize the content reflected in it contributed to the modification and development of a special internal structural entity-subject. This formation is an ontologically elusive, but functionally distinctly manifested regulatory instance, which in the image reveals, on the one hand, motivation in the form of motives for goals, on the other hand, the conditions for achieving these goals, including one's own possibilities of action, and the most general assigned to which consists in organizing their achievement. We are talking about the instance, which W. James called "I" as "the cognizing element in the personality" (1911 p. 164), 3. Freud - "I", or "this".