The ancient Greeks are revered as the wise masters of philosophy. They also noticed that a person is “soldered” from two parts: an 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, in fact, is not as difficult as it seems.

Functions of the psyche

In modern psychology, more precise definition helping to understand the phenomenon itself.

The mind is a mirror. Subjective reflection of the objective world and reaction to it. The basis of the work of the psyche is a set of many “sensually” and “reactionally” directed connections.

Certain areas of the brain are responsible for certain 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 responses 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 all future life. L. S. Vygotsky believed that the mental development of a person occurs according to historical laws, and not according to biological ones.

A person's abilities are directly related to the level of his development.

The level of development of the psyche determines the quality professional activity, manifestations and orientation of the will and norms of behavior. The biochemistry of the brain, and consequently behavior, is regulated by three departments: the pineal gland, the hypothalamus, and the pituitary gland. If the glands, which are directed by the listed departments, malfunction, 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. Much the same as the functions.

Regulatory

The other side of the perception of the external. Develop the principles of a system of behavior. Will, motivation, goal setting.

cognitive

Comprehension of a specific situation from all possible angles and the ability to act according to one's idealistic ideas. These include perception, memory and imagination.

Communicative

The need to join forces with people to achieve a certain goal prompted primitive man to invent conscious communication.

states

This is a characteristic of an individual picture of the world and norms of behavior, fixed over a relatively long period of time. Characteristics of mental states can be predicted.

1. emotional. Experienced feelings.
2. Activation. An indicator of the activity or passivity of a person.
3. Temporary. The duration of the state.
4. tonic. They are similar to activation ones, only here a specific moment is meant - whether a person is vigorous, whether he is oppressed.

Properties of the psyche

The main distinguishing features of the psyche are flexibility and learning. The well-known scientist Tatiana Chernigovskaya says that the brain cannot do one thing - not to learn.

The cardinal difference between people and animals is the ability and willingness to influence circumstances in some cases. This is what is called will.

The ability to act on the basis of accumulated experience, and the ability to choose the way of their behavior. In general, properties are relatively stable formations that determine the character of an individual. They are divided into three categories:

1. Life position. Beliefs, ideal self-image, etc.
2. Character and temperament. Congenital psycho-physical properties of the personality and the chosen manner of behavior.
3. Capabilities. Development of will, intellect and predisposition to creativity.

Psychic Phenomena

Psychology studies the foundation, consisting of processes, properties and states of the psyche. However, not all processes are realized by a person. According to scientists, self-consciousness cannot exist separately from the unconscious, superconscious, preconscious and subconscious. Unconscious processes that 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 load 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.

Psyche(from other Greek ψῡχικός "mental, spiritual, vital") is a complex concept in philosophy, psychology and medicine.

• The totality of mental processes and phenomena (sensations, perceptions, emotions, memory, etc.); a specific aspect of the life of animals and humans in their interaction with the environment.
• “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 systemic property of highly organized matter, which consists in the active reflection of the objective world by the subject and self-regulation on this basis of his behavior and activity.

The psyche of animals is the subjective world of an animal, covering the whole complex of subjectively experienced processes and states: perception, memory, thinking, intentions, dreams, etc.

The psyche is characterized by such qualities as integrity, activity, development, self-regulation, communication, adaptation, etc.; associated with somatic (bodily) processes. Appears at a certain stage of biological evolution. Man has the highest form of the psyche - consciousness. Psychology is the study of the psyche.

Questions of the origin and development of the psyche

In the history of science, various points of view on the place of the psyche in nature have been expressed. Thus, according to panpsychism, all nature is animated. Biopsychism attributed a psyche to all living organisms, including plants. The theory of neuropsychism recognized the presence of a psyche only in beings with a nervous system. From the point of view of anthropopsychism, only humans have a psyche, and animals are a kind of automata.

In more modern hypotheses, one or another ability of a living organism (for example, the ability to search behavior) is taken as a criterion for the presence of a psyche. Among the many such hypotheses, special recognition was given to the hypothesis of A. N. Leontiev, who proposed to consider the ability of the body to respond to biologically neutral influences as an objective criterion for the presence of the psyche [ clarify]. This ability is called sensitivity; according to Leontiev, it has objective and subjective aspects. Objectively, it manifests itself in a reaction, primarily motor, to a given agent. Subjectively - in the inner experience, sensation of this agent. Reaction to biologically neutral influences is found in almost all animals, so there is reason to believe that animals have a psyche. This ability to respond is already in the simplest unicellular organisms, for example, in ciliates.

In plants, science knows reactions only to biologically significant impacts. For example, the roots of plants, when in contact with a solution of nutrients in the soil, begin to absorb them. The ability to respond to biologically significant influences is called irritability. Unlike sensitivity, irritability does not have a subjective aspect.

In the evolution of the forms of the psyche, A. N. Leontiev identified three stages:

1. the stage of elementary sensory psyche;
2. stage of the perceptual psyche;
3. stage of intelligence.

K. E. Fabry left only the first two stages, having “dissolved” the stage of the intellect into the stage of the perceptual psyche.

At the stage of the elementary sensory psyche, animals are able to reflect only certain properties of external influences. At the stage of the perceptual psyche, living beings reflect the external world in the form of not individual sensations, but integral images of things.

1.2. The Specific Character of Psychological Phenomena

As mentioned above, the complexity of mastering the system of psychological concepts is determined by the specifics of the subject of psychology. This specificity lies in the fact that each person, when getting acquainted with the data of psychology, being a bearer of the psyche and having the opportunity to observe the phenomena under discussion "from the inside", can, it seems, act as an "expert" in verifying the stated provisions. This verification is not always successful, and the results are convincing due to the fact that in order to obtain an unambiguous result in psychology, it is very often necessary to observe and take into account a large number of conditions. Practically any psychological phenomenon, any psychological effect is the result of many objective and subjective factors, and therefore their reproduction requires careful organization. When reading psychological literature, there is often a temptation to argue, because it is enough to change one of the conditions, and the result can be just the opposite. In this regard, I would like to emphasize: in psychology, almost any statement is true only in the context of the conditions described in this case. Everything that is said should be taken into account.

The psyche is a very subtle instrument of adaptation to environment. Its mechanisms work smoothly, harmoniously and mostly imperceptibly for the subject. Figuratively speaking, it is important for the psyche to give the subject a reliable result, without diverting his attention to the procedure and process of obtaining this result. The accuracy and efficiency of a person's practical activity is precisely ensured by the "transparency" of mental processes, the direct givenness of their results. In everyday life, we "do not see" many mental phenomena, just as we do not see well-polished glasses when reading. The psyche in the context under consideration can be likened to a well-oiled technical device, the details of which and their purpose you pay attention to only when they start to work poorly or completely fail. Moreover, in the human psyche there are special mechanisms that actively prevent the subject from realizing some of the processes taking place in his “internal economy”. In this regard, all the more so, not everything that is affirmed in psychology can be immediately perceived, realized and understood by comparing these statements with the experience gained as a result of observing oneself and analyzing one's experiences. By the way, experiences in psychology mean not only emotions about some event, but also any event that is directly represented in the mind of the subject at the moment.

1.3. Definition of the psyche

the term individual. Revisiting the problem of the relationship between a word and its meaning is not at all a trick or an attempt to divert the reader's attention away from the conversation on the merits. The point is precisely that, as will be shown below, a person as a conscious being really lives in a symbolic environment, i.e. in a world defined by his ability to categorize perceived phenomena, and this ability, in turn, is largely determined by the peculiarities of his word usage.

If we turn to the etymology of the word "psyche", then we can find the complete identity of the meanings of the words "psyche" and "soul", since the word "psyche" is derived from the Greek words psyche(soul) and mentality(spiritual). However, the emergence of new words to denote homogeneous phenomena is not accidental. The new word also emphasizes a new aspect in their understanding. In those historical times, when the phenomena of the inner world of man were perceived rather as an indivisible whole and the experience of isolating the multitude of its constituent elements and their designations had not yet been accumulated, all this inner world and was denoted by the general term (word) soul. In everyday consciousness, this is also happening at the present time, when, for example, they say about the emotional experience of uncertainty “the soul is not in place”, but about the emotional discharge that accompanies the satisfaction of some need - “the soul has become easier”. With the accumulation of experience in observing the facts of mental life and designating individual phenomena with specific terms, ideas about the soul became more complicated, and the term “psyche” was gradually established to designate the entire complex of these phenomena, mainly in a professional environment. Thus, the term "psyche" in psychology denotes all the phenomena of the inner, spiritual, mental life that reveal themselves in the consciousness or behavior of a person. This is consciousness itself, and the unconscious, manifested in involuntarily arising mental images and elements of human behavior, and mental images themselves, and needs, and motives, and will, and emotions, and the very personality of a person as a way of organizing all mental phenomena. The term "psyche" also refers to some hypothetical "mental", "internal" mechanisms that control influence on the behavior of animals.

To give a scientific definition of a concept means to show its most important connections with other concepts and categories, to attribute the phenomenon reflected in this concept to some previously defined category, while listing its specific features that distinguish it from phenomena of the same order. Since exhaustive definitions are rather an unattainable ideal, broader comments are usually given to each of them, revealing the content of the concepts included in it. We will do the same.

So, the psyche is a systemic property of highly organized matter, which consists in the active reflection of the objective world by the subject, in the construction by him of a picture of the world inalienable from him and self-regulation on this basis of his behavior and activity (Psychology, 1990).

object as such! It is pointless to ask, for example, whether lead is soluble at all, since the indicated property - solubility - appears when it is placed in nitric acid, but when placed in water, it does not show such a property. Consequently, the psyche as a property of matter is not some kind of emanation coming from this matter, but a certain quality that manifests itself in the specific nature of its interaction with other objects (entities).

Second, the psyche systemic property highly organized matter. High organization, complexity, is primarily due to the complexity of the life processes that make up the essence of the element of this alive matter, cells - this is one level of its complexity. It is also determined by the complexity of the organization of elements into a whole of a higher level - the nervous system is the second level, which includes the first. The psyche of an individual person in the form in which we observe it under normal conditions is a consequence of the third, supraorganismal (social) level of organization of the same living matter. Here it is necessary to emphasize procedural character the organization of the material basis within which mental phenomena unfold. Extremely simplifying the picture, we can say that the psyche is possible only in process the vital activity of living organisms. The psyche is not only the result of this process, not just some kind of epiphenomenon, its side effect, it is a process in itself, and an active process.

What is the specific property of this matter organized in a certain system? The answer is this: its main property lies in the active reflection of the surrounding reality, i.e. in active build image the surrounding world. For what? In order, having it available, to build the behavior of the whole organism in this reality (environment) surrounding it in such a way as to satisfy its constantly arising needs and at the same time ensure its safety.

The relationship between the material basis of the image and the ideal image itself, which is formed by means of this material basis, can be demonstrated in an extremely simplified way using the example of a melody recorded on a plate. No matter how much we examine the record, no matter how we analyze the picture we see, we will not see the melody there. All we can see are grooves of various configurations. We can get a melody only by creating certain conditions for the flow process, at which the melody is carried out: a certain speed of rotation of the plate, the placement of the needle in the groove, the amplification of the oscillations that arise in this case. Here it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that when playing a melody, it is not the material that is used, but structure, those. a system of relations between oscillatory movements imprinted on a plate. It can then be reproduced in unchanged in structure electric potentials on a magnetic tape or in the structure of blackouts on a celluloid film, or in the structure of oscillations of the air medium ( sound waves), fluctuations eardrum and, finally, in the structure of nerve impulses. The important thing here is that the melody is a process. If the record is stopped or if the apparatus for playing it is damaged, the melody will disappear maybe forever. If, with certain reservations, the psyche is figuratively likened to a melody, and the living nervous system is likened to a player, then we will get the simplest model of the relationship between the nervous system (material carrier) and mental phenomena. Roughly speaking, the psyche exists, is accomplished at the time and as long as the "record" is spinning.

By somewhat complicating this simple analogy, we can demonstrate how this structure of oscillations (and not the oscillations themselves) have an inverse effect on the material substrate. To do this, it is enough to imagine that this player has a sensitive sensor that reacts only to one musical phrase (i.e. to structure fluctuations in the air) by closing the contacts of the relay, which turns off the power of the player. Here we are faced with a very important point- moment comparisons of all relations “perceived” by this sensor with the sample of these relations that it has. With the utmost simplification, the “ideal” in the entire chain of this sequence arises when they coincide, which causes response actions. This is a very simplified model of the moment when the meaning of an object arises, meaning as the only content of the psyche.

Of course, the above example is a simplified scheme to the limit. In reality, the physiological and psychological processes generated by them, as well as their mutual influences, are immeasurably more complex, but their fundamental basis, as it seems at present, is reflected in it.

Thus, psychology studies ideal mental formations, their mutual influence on each other, as well as their role and participation in the regulation of human life.

The concept of the psyche. Mind and activity

Any research in the field of psychology has as its ultimate goal the determination of the nature of the mental.

The first definition of the soul (psyche - Greek), formulated more like a question, was given by Heraclitus. He taught: everything flows, everything changes, you cannot step into the same river twice. What makes a river a river? Channel? But it also changes. One should look for the unchanging in the changeable, that which gives certainty to this changeable. This immutable is never accessible to sense perception and at the same time gives existence to the world of things. Applied to the human body, this something appears as the soul.

The philosopher who developed this position was Plato. He attributed the eternal and unchanging to the world of being, and the temporary and changeable to the world of existence. The soul is the idea of ​​the body. It unites with matter (hora), and thus man arises. Other names for the idea, as Plato understood it, are morphe, form, in German translation - die Gestalt. Today one could find an equivalent to this concept: a matrix or a program.

Plato's student Aristotle, developing these ideas, gave the final definition of the psyche, which exists even now, despite the differences in the terminological apparatus. Objecting to Plato, Aristotle stated that if the common is common to many objects, then it cannot be a substance, that is, a completely original being. Therefore, only a single being can be a substance. A single being is a combination of form and matter. In terms of being, form is the essence of an object. In terms of cognition, form is the concept of an object. The matter from which man is formed on the basis of form is the substratum. Today we say: the physiological substratum of the mental. For Aristotle, the soul is the form of the body. The full definition sounds like this: the soul (psyche) is a way of organizing a living body. Indeed, from the point of view of modern biology, a person looks more like a waterfall than a stone (recall the Heraclitus River). In the course of plastic exchange, the composition of human atoms changes almost completely in eight years, but at the same time each of the specific people remains himself. For the entire life of a person, an average of 75 tons of water, 17 tons of carbohydrates, 2.5 tons of proteins are spent on continuous completion and renewal of his body. And all this time something, remaining unchanged, "knows" where, in what place to put this or that structural element. Now we know that this something is the psyche. That is why, by influencing the psyche, we can influence the body, and the properties of the psyche and the laws of its functioning cannot be derived from the properties and laws of the functioning of the body. Where does it come from? From outside. From the world of being, which each psychological school interprets differently. For example, for L. S. Vygotsky, this is the world of culture deposited in signs. “Every mental function,” he writes, “appears twice on the stage. Once as interpsychic, the second time as intropsychic. That is, first outside the person, and then inside him. Higher mental functions arise as a result of internalization, i.e., the immersion of the sign and the way it is used in a natural function. Form merges with matter.

So, following Aristotle, we defined the psyche as a way of organizing a living body. Now we should consider the question of the relationship between the psyche and the brain. More broadly, this problem is formulated as the problem of the relationship between the biological and the social in man.

The starting point here may be the position of S. L. Rubinshtein that the brain and the psyche are subject the same reality. What does it mean? Let's take some object, the simplest one, for example a pencil. According to S. L. Rubinshtein, any subject can be considered in different systems of connections and relations. For example, a pencil can be seen as both a writing aid and a pointer. In the first case, we can say that this object leaves a mark on paper or other smooth surface. When he stops writing, he must be sharpened, the written can be erased with an eraser attached at the opposite end from the stylus. In the second case, we will say that this object is pointed at the end, it is light, it is convenient to hold it in the hands, but it is not long enough. If we now re-read these two groups of characteristics, forgetting that they refer to the same subject, it will seem that we are talking about two completely different realities.

So, the brain and the psyche are objectively one and the same reality. Taken from the point of view of biological determination, it acts as a brain, more precisely, as a central nervous system, carrying out higher nervous activity; and taken from the point of view of social determination, more broadly, human interaction with the world - as the psyche. The psyche is all those changes in the structure of the nervous system that have arisen as a result of the interaction of a person with the world, both in onto- and in phylogenesis.

Thus, the psyche is objective, it has its own properties and qualities and is determined by its own laws.

Possessing its own objective existence, the psyche also has its own structure. In the very general plan it has both vertical and horizontal organization. The vertical ones are: consciousness, individual unconscious, collective unconscious. To the horizontal mental processes, properties and states.

The psyche is not given to a person in finished form from the moment of birth and does not develop by itself. Only in the process of interaction, communication of the child with other people, assimilation of the culture created by previous generations, in the process of activity, the psyche is formed and develops.

Activity- a system of processes of active and purposeful interaction of a person with the surrounding objective world, during which he implements certain life relationships to it and satisfies the leading needs.

The relationship between the psyche and activity is dialectical in nature. On the one hand, the psyche is formed in the process of activity. On the other hand, the mental reflection of the properties and qualities of the objects of the surrounding world, the relations between them itself mediates the processes of activity. Thanks to the mental activity of the subject acquires an indirect character. Mental reflection, mediating the interaction of the individual with the outside world, makes possible the anticipatory, purposeful nature of the activity, ensures its orientation to the future result. A subject with a psyche becomes active and selectively reacts to external influences.

With the development of activity, both in phylogenesis and in ontogenesis, the forms of its mediation, the forms of mental reflection, become more complex. The highest of them, inherent only to man, is consciousness.

Human activity has a public, social character. In the course of his mental development, in the process of socialization, the subject masters the forms, methods and means of activity accumulated in culture, assimilates its tasks and motives.

Depending on the form of implementation, they distinguish between external, proceeding in the external plan (subject-practical), and internal, proceeding in the internal plan (mental), activity. External and internal activities are closely interconnected with each other and are not two different realities, but a single process of activity. Internal activity is formed on the basis of external, in the process of its interiorization, and has the same structure. Process interiorization does not mean “shifting” external activity into the internal plan, but the formation (from the Latin forma - device, structure, system of organizing something) of internal activity in the process of external implementation. The reverse process is also possible - exteriorization - unfolding the internal plan of activity outside.

AT activity structure the activity itself and the separate actions and operations included in it are singled out. Structural elements of activity are correlated with its subject content - motives, goals and conditions. Activity is always subordinated to a motive - an object of need. It consists of individual actions aimed at a consciously set goal. The goal, as a rule, does not coincide with the object of need (motive), but implies a meaningful correlation with it.

In psychology, there are various activities: subject-manipulative, game, educational, labor, etc. The main of them, influencing the formation of a person's personality, was recognized in domestic psychology as labor (subject-practical) activity. This idea goes back to the labor theory of anthropogenesis developed in the 19th century. German philosophers based on the theory of Ch. Darwin.

The psyche is

Fatamorgana

In psychology, the psyche is one of the elements that explain the mechanism of human behavior.

In the typology of life worlds, the psyche is an organ, a tool for orienting a person in a difficult external world.

Consciousness should be distinguished from the psyche - an organ, an instrument for orienting in the values ​​of a complex inner world, and will - that which organizes the life of a creative person in a complex inner and difficult outer world.

Psyche (from "breath, soul") - a special aspect of the life of animals and humans and their interaction with the environment; the ability to actively reflect reality or a set of mental processes and phenomena (perception of information, subjective sensations, emotions, memory). The psyche is in interaction with somatic (bodily) processes. The psyche is evaluated according to a number of parameters: integrity, activity, development, self-regulation, communication, adaptation. The psyche manifests itself at a certain stage of biological evolution. Man has the highest form of the psyche - consciousness. The sciences of psychology, neurophysiology, and psychiatry are mainly engaged in the study of the psyche.

Psyche [gr. psychê - soul] -
1) according to M. G. Yaroshevsky, the highest form of the relationship of living beings with the objective world, expressed in their ability to realize their impulses and act on the basis of information about it. At the level of the human psyche. acquires a qualitatively new character, due to the fact that its biological nature is transformed by sociocultural factors, due to which an internal plan of life activity arises - consciousness, and the individual becomes a personality. Knowledge of the psyche has changed over the centuries, reflecting advances in research on the function of the organism (as its bodily substrate) and in understanding the dependence of a person on the social environment of his activity. This knowledge, comprehended in various ideological contexts, served as the subject heated discussions, since it touched upon fundamental philosophical questions about the place of man in the universe, about the material and spiritual foundations of his being. For many centuries, the psyche was designated by the term "soul", the interpretation of which, in turn, reflected differences in the explanation of the driving forces, the inner plan and the meaning of human behavior. Along with the understanding of the soul ascending to Aristotle as a form of existence of a living body, a direction has developed that represents it in the form of an incorporeal essence, the history and fate of which, according to various religious beliefs, depend on extraterrestrial principles;

http://www.syntone.ru/library/psychology_dict/psihika.php

Psyche (from other Greek (, ψυχή) “breath, soul”) is a complex concept in philosophy, psychology and medicine.

* A special aspect of the life of animals and humans and their interaction with the environment.

* The ability to actively reflect reality or a set of mental processes and phenomena (perception of information, subjective sensations, emotions, memory, etc.).

Guest

See the definition of "psyche" in Wikipedia + additionally:
The psyche is a mirror, reflecting both puddles on the road and palace chambers, at the speed of light of 300,000 km/sec.
Reflects and heaps of shit on the pavement. And this is normal, for a healthy psyche.

Dictionary of medical terms

psyche (Greek psychikos referring to the soul, mental properties; synonymous with mental activity)

a form of active display 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).

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov

psyche

psyche, pl. no, w. (from the Greek psychikos - spiritual) (book). The mental organization of a person (or animal), the totality of his spiritual experiences, states of consciousness, strengths and abilities. Healthy mind, sick mind.

The totality of spiritual inclinations and habits, spiritual world, mental warehouse, characteristic persons of some. profession, some social status, etc. The psyche of the decaying bourgeoisie.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova.

psyche

And, well. The totality of sensations, ideas, feelings, thoughts as a reflection in the mind of objective reality; human mentality. Healthy p.

adj. mental, th, th. Mental activity. Mental illnesses (disorders of brain centers, nervous system). Psychic attack (a type of attack designed to intimidate, suppress the will, the psyche of the defenders; also trans.).

New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

psyche

The property of highly organized matter - the brain - to reflect reality in the form of sensations, perceptions, thoughts, feelings, etc.

Mental warehouse, mental organization of a person.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

psyche

PSYCHE (from the Greek psychikos - mental) the totality of mental processes and phenomena (sensations, perceptions, emotions, memory, etc.); a specific aspect of the life of animals and humans in their interaction with the environment. It is in unity with somatic (bodily) processes and is characterized by activity, integrity, correlation with the world (see Intention), development, self-regulation, communication, adaptation, etc. Appears at a certain stage of biological evolution. The highest form of the psyche, consciousness, is inherent in man. Studied psychology.

Psyche

(from the Greek psychikós ≈ mental), a property of highly organized matter, which is a special form of reflection by the subject of objective reality. The most important feature of mental reflection is its activity. At the same time, it is not only a product of the active activity of the subject, but also, mediating it, performs the function of orientation, management of it. Thus, psychic phenomena constitute a necessary internal aspect of the objective activity of the subject, and the nature of mental activity and its laws can be scientifically explained only in the process of analyzing the structure, types, and forms of activity.

P.'s understanding as a reflection makes it possible to overcome the false statement of the problem of the correlation between the psychological and the physiological, which leads either to the separation of P. from the work of the brain, or to the reduction of mental phenomena to physiological ones, or, finally, to a simple statement of the parallelism of their course. Disclosure of psychic reflection as generated by the activity, carrying out the interaction of a material subject with objective reality, excludes the view of psychic phenomena as purely spiritual, isolated from bodily brain processes, because these processes realize the activity in which the reflected reality passes into a psychic reflection. However, the characteristics of the subject's activity cannot be directly derived from the physiological processes that implement it, since it is determined by the properties and relations of the objective world, to which it is subject, and to which, accordingly, the psychic reflection arising in the brain of the subject is also subject. Thus, although mental phenomena exist only as a result of the work of the brain and in this sense represent its function, they cannot be reduced to physiological phenomena or derived from them; they form a special quality that manifests itself only in the system of relations of the subject's activity.

Arising at a certain stage of biological evolution, P. is necessary condition further development of life. Changing and becoming more complex, a person's mental reflection acquires a qualitatively new form - the form of consciousness generated by his life in society, by those social relations that mediate his connections with the world. The need for the emergence of consciousness stems from the special nature of human labor, which is qualitatively different from the instinctive behavior of animals. Labor, as an expedient productive activity, requires that its objective result be presented in a person’s head in such a subjective form that it can be compared with the source material (object of labor), its transformations, and with the achieved result (product of labor). At the same time, the idea that regulates the activity of the subject finds its embodiment in its product, and in this objectified form it appears for a person. The process of comparing the representation that mediates activity with the reflection of its product is the process of awareness. It can be realized only if the object appears for the subject in its form reflected in the language; therefore what is conscious is always also what is verbally signified. In this function, language is not only a means of communication between people, but it is their real consciousness, which exists for the individual only insofar as it exists for other people (see K. Marx, in the book: Marx K. and Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 3, p. 29). Thus, consciousness as a form of the individual psyche is possible only in society. Being the main form of human P., consciousness, however, does not exhaust it; a person also has unconscious mental phenomena and processes, i.e., those in which he cannot give himself an account, which are hidden from his self-observation.

Although the phenomena of conscious reflection are given to the subject in his self-observation, their nature can only be revealed through objective analysis. The study of P. is the subject of psychology.

Lit. see at Art. Psychology.

A. N. Leontiev.

Wikipedia

Psyche

Psyche (from - « mental, spiritual, vital”) is a complex concept in philosophy, psychology and medicine.

• The totality of mental processes and phenomena; a specific aspect of the life of animals and humans in their interaction with the environment.
• “A form of active display by the subject of objective reality, which arises in the process of interaction of highly organized living beings with the outside world and performs a regulatory function in their behavior.”
• The systemic property of highly organized matter, which consists in the active reflection of the objective world by the subject and self-regulation on this basis of his behavior and activity.

The psyche of animals is the subjective world of an animal, covering the whole complex of subjectively experienced processes and states: perception, memory, thinking, intentions, dreams, etc.

The psyche is characterized by such qualities as integrity, activity, development, self-regulation, communication, adaptation; associated with somatic processes. Appears at a certain stage of biological evolution. Man is inherent in the highest form of the psyche - consciousness. Psychology is the study of the psyche.

Examples of the use of the word psyche in the literature.

I still can’t make a final opinion whether he really tried to save the Wolf, hinting to Lyudmila Iosifovna, Jack the Ripper, to click on her daughter in the sense of alimony application to the OVIR, or succumbed to the power of dark, disgusting forces that are undoubtedly present in my psyche, As in psyche every truly Russian person.

Pomerants: What tormented Dostoevsky later received a scientific name: ambivalence psyche, biological aggressiveness.

An animator is hiding behind my moving body, - psyche with deep motivations.

Similarity to the human warehouse psyche and social institutions could be noticed primarily in those areas where it concerned either purely intermission concepts, or, on the contrary, purely material things, characteristic of all forms of organic life in general.

We have no reason to doubt Osho's words, but this raises the question of the relationship between autogenic training, self-hypnosis, autogenic meditation, ideomotor training, reproductive training and other types of self-influence on psyche with oriental meditations?

In any case, people suffering from depression or by their nature from psychological instability, without any doubt, they must regularly engage in one or another system of autogenic training, a system of self-improvement of their psyche.

And without that, two days were killed in order to find out the name of a former basketball player with oddities in psyche.

We, with our paranoid and epileptoid pressures, with hyperthymic shamelessness, should behave more carefully, otherwise psyche the schizoid will be so traumatized that he will not only be unable to participate in brainstorming, but in general will lose the gift of speech along with the creative gift.

Bill Birnbaum, who suffered from a severe disorder psyche, jumped out of the window of his apartment on the thirteenth floor.

When the book came out, his ideas about the inseparability of sex and psyche had not yet taken shape, and in any case Breuer occupied a dominant position, which did not allow Freud to delve into his favorite topic.

Many English biographers have tried to present the tragedy of the Brontë sisters as an accidental phenomenon, as a result of the impact of sad circumstances on a painfully refined psyche writers.

On reflection, Escher came to the conclusion that the victims brought to Earnchester House had to, firstly, be human, since vampires feed not only on blood, but also on the agony of a person, and, secondly, have a very malleable psyche.

You see, we vampires find travel destructive to psyche.

Hell, akasha, alcoholism, Angel, antimatter, antigravity, antiphoton, asthenia, astrology, atom, Armageddon, aura, autogenic training, delirium tremens, insomnia, dispassion, God, divine, divine way, Buddhism, buddhi, future, future of the universe, the future of the solar system, vacuum, the Great vow, substance, virtual, influence on fate, extraterrestrial civilization, the Universe, the Flood, incarnation, time, Higher Intelligence, Higher Knowledge, galaxy, geological periods, Hermes Trismegistus, hyperon, hypnosis, brain, horoscope, gravitational waves, gravity, guna, Tao, double, depersonalization, mass defect, demon, Zen Buddhism, good evil, DNA, Ancient Knowledge, continental drift, Spirit, soul, dhyana, devil, Unified Field Theory, life, diseases psyche, the origin of life, star, earthly life, knowledge of the future, knowledge, zombies, zombification, change of fate, altered states of consciousness, measurement of matter, Emerald Tablet, the immune system, instinct, intellect, intuition, light bending, is

Dr. Gachet, his last attending physician, did not rule out the possibility that on psyche Vincent influenced sunstroke and also that he drank turpentine.

Psyche

The highest form of the relationship of living beings with the objective world, expressed in their ability to realize their impulses and act on the basis of information about it. At the human level, P. acquires a qualitatively new character, due to the fact that its biological nature is transformed by sociocultural factors, thanks to which an internal plan of life activity arises - and becomes a personality. Knowledge about P. has changed over the centuries, reflecting advances in research on the function of the organism (as its bodily substrate) and in understanding the dependence of a person on the social environment of his activity. This knowledge, comprehended in various ideological contexts, served as the subject of heated discussions, since it touched upon fundamental philosophical questions about the place of man in the universe, about the material and spiritual foundations of his being. For many centuries P. was denoted by the term "", the interpretation of which, in turn, reflected differences in the explanation of the driving forces, the inner plan and the meaning of human behavior. Along with the understanding of the soul ascending to Aristotle as a form of existence of a living body, a direction has developed that represents it in the form of an incorporeal essence, the history and fate of which, according to various religious beliefs, depend on extraterrestrial principles.

Brief psychological dictionary. - Rostov-on-Don: PHOENIX. L.A. Karpenko, A.V. Petrovsky, M. G. Yaroshevsky. 1998 .

Psyche

Existing in various forms property of highly organized living beings and the product of their vital activity, providing their orientation and activity. An essential property of the living. The interaction of living beings with the external world is realized through processes, acts, and mental states that are qualitatively different from physiological, but inseparable from them.

The psyche is a systemic property of highly organized matter, which consists in the active reflection of the objective world by the subject, in the construction of a picture of the world inalienable from it and self-regulation of behavior and activity on its basis. The psyche provides an effective adaptation to the environment.

Reflection of the psychic world is always accomplished in vigorous activity. In the psyche, events of the past, present and possible future are presented and ordered. In man, the events of the past appear in the data of experience, in the representations of memory; the present - in the totality of images, experiences, mental acts; possible future - in motives, intentions, goals, as well as in fantasies, dreams, dreams, etc. The human psyche is both conscious and unconscious; but also unconscious - qualitatively different from the psyche of animals. The main difference between the human psyche and the animal psyche lies precisely in the conscious purposefulness of mental manifestations. Consciousness is its essential characteristic.

Thanks to the active and anticipatory reflection by the sense organs and the brain of external objects in the form of the psyche, it becomes possible to perform actions that are adequate to the properties of these objects, and thereby the survival of the organism, its search and supra-situational activity. So the defining features are:

1 ) a reflection that gives an image of the environment where living beings act;

2 ) their orientation in this environment;

3 ) satisfaction of the need for contacts with her.

And these contacts, on the principle of feedback, control the correctness of the reflection.

In man, the control instance is social practice. Due to the feedback connection, the result of the action is compared with the image, the appearance of which is ahead of this result, anticipating it as a kind of model of reality. Thus, the psyche acts as a single cyclic system that has a history and is reflex in type. Here, reflexivity means the primacy of the objective conditions of the organism's life and the secondary nature of their reproduction in the psyche, the natural transition of the perceiving components of the system to the executive ones, the expediency of motor effects and their "reverse" influence on the image. The activity of the psyche is manifested:

1 ) when displaying reality, because it involves the transformation of physical and chemical stimuli acting on the nervous apparatus into images of objects;

2 ) in the sphere of motives that give energy and swiftness to behavior;

3 ) when executing a behavior program that includes the search and selection of options.

Deepening into the phylogenetic history of the psyche leads to the question of its objective criteria. That is, one that allows you to determine whether a given organism has a psyche. Modern theories do not descend in search of the psyche below the animal world. But the criteria they propose lead to different localization of the "threshold" of the psychic. Here are some of them: the ability to search behavior, the ability to "flexibly" adapt to the environment, the ability to "play" the action in the internal plan, etc. The very variety of theories suggests that they are rather debatable hypotheses than developed theories.

Among these hypotheses, one of the most recognized (in domestic psychology) belongs to A.N. Leontiev. As an objective criterion of the psyche, she proposes the ability of organisms to respond to abiotic (biologically neutral) influences. Responding to them is useful because they are in stable connection with biologically significant objects and, therefore, are their potential signals. The reflection of abiotic properties turns out to be inextricably linked with a qualitatively different form of activity of beings - behavior. Prior to that, life activity was reduced to the assimilation of food, excretion, growth, reproduction, etc. Now there is an activity "inserted" between the actual situation and the vital act - metabolism. The meaning of this activity is to provide a biological result where conditions do not allow it to be realized directly. Two fundamental concepts are associated with the proposed criterion: and . At the same time, sensitivity implies the subjective aspect of reflection; the assumption that it first appears together with the reaction to abiotic stimuli is a very important hypothesis that required experimental verification. According to the psychoanalysis of Z. Freud, the psyche consists of three instances - conscious, preconscious and unconscious - and a system of their interaction. The division of the psyche into the conscious and the unconscious is the basic premise of psychoanalysis, and only it makes it possible to understand and investigate the frequently observed and very important pathological processes in mental life. So, the psyche is wider than consciousness. mental life A person is determined by his drives, the main of which is the sexual drive.

According to R. Assagioli, there are such components of the psyche:

1 ) the highest self - a kind of "inner god";

2 ) conscious self - I am a point of clear awareness;

3 ) field of consciousness - analyzed feelings, thoughts, impulses;

4 ) unconscious higher, or superconsciousness - higher feelings and abilities, intuition, inspiration;

5 ) the unconscious middle-likeness of Freud's preconscious - thoughts and feelings, which can be easily realized;

6 ) the lower unconscious - instinctive urges, passions, primitive desires, etc.

An important role is also played by the concept of subpersonalities - as if relatively independent, more or less developed "small" personalities within a person; they may correspond to the roles a person plays in life.

Dictionary of practical psychologist. - M.: AST, Harvest. S. Yu. Golovin. 1998 .

Psyche Etymology.

Comes from the Greek. psychikos - sincere.

The form of interaction of an animal organism with the environment, mediated by the active reflection of signs of objective reality.

The activity of reflection is manifested primarily in the search for and testing of future actions in terms of ideal images.

Psychological Dictionary. THEM. Kondakov. 2000 .

PSYCHE

(from Greek. psychikos- spiritual) - a form of active display by the subject of objective reality, arising in the process of interaction of highly organized living beings with the outside world and carrying out in their behavior(activities) regulatory function.

The modern understanding of the essence of the psyche was developed in the works H.BUT.Bernstein,L.FROM.Vygotsky,BUT.H.Leontief,BUT.R.Luria,FROM.L.Rubinstein and others. P. arose at a certain stage in the development of living nature in connection with the formation in living beings of the ability to actively move in space (see. , ). In the process of evolution of animals, P. developed according to biological laws from the simplest to complex forms, which are characteristic, for example, of monkeys (see. , , , ). satisfaction of their needs the animal performs through active movements in the environment, the totality of which characterizes its behavior. Successful behavior relies on a preliminary search for it.

A task movement building in a unique real situation is extraordinary in its complexity. In order to solve it, the individual is forced to somehow comprehend the most complex physics of real space and harmonize it with his own bodily biomechanics. Although the movement takes place in an external geometric space, it also has its own space. Bernstein based on the study of properties motility in its relationship with external space introduced the concept "motor field". The motor field is built by searching, trying movements, probing the space in all directions. Having made a small (elementary) movement, a living organism corrects it, outlining further way. Based on this movement, a generalized situation as a whole, reflecting the connection between the objective characteristics of real space and the characteristics of the biomechanics of a living organism. Having arisen in the course of testing (search) movements, the generalized image of the working space, in turn, becomes an important regulator of the construction of movements, determining the trajectory, strength, and other characteristics of the motor act (see Fig. ).

The main function of P., therefore, is to search, on the basis of the need that has arisen, for certain movements and actions aimed at satisfying it, testing these motor acts, leading to the formation of a generalized image of the real situation, and, finally, in monitoring the implementation of movements and actions carried out in terms of an already formed image of reality (cf. ). The search and testing of future actions is carried out by a person in terms of ideal images (see. ), which are built on the basis of verbal communication with the help of such mental processes, , , , , . Processes attention and will control the adequate implementation of the found and tested actions that meet certain conditions.

As shown by Leontiev, as the most important element, human P. creates a representation in the activities of one person of the socio-historical experience of the entire human race. For language values hidden in the process historical development human society modes of activity. They present a folded in the "matter" of the language perfect shape existence properties,connections and relations of the objective world, revealed by social practice.

At the heart of the development of human P. lies the mastery of the historically formed social needs by the individual and abilities necessary for him to be included in the labor and public life(cm. ). At the initial stage of mental development (in infancy) the child, with the help of adults, actively learns the need and a certain skill communication with them. Track. stage of development of P. child ( ) is associated with mastering the basics of object-manipulative activity, which allows him to master the socially developed ways of using the simplest objects (see. , ). At the same time, the child develops the ability to universal hand movements, to solve simple motor problems (the beginning of thinking) and the ability to take their own position within relationships with adults and peers (the emergence of the “I myself” attitude in the child). On the trail. stage in the process of playing activity in a child aged 3 to 6-7 years, the ability to imagination and the use of various symbols. At school age, the child is based on learning activities attached to these forms. culture like science, art, ethics, law. mental development child during this period is associated with the formation of the foundations of logical thinking, the need for work and skills labor activity. At all stages, the development of P. of the human individual obeys the law formulated by Vygotsky: “Any higher mental function in the development of a child appears on the stage twice: first as a collective, social activity ... the second time as an individual activity, as the child’s internal way of thinking.”

P. in all forms is, according to the expression BUT.BUT.Ukhtomsky, peculiar functional body man and animals, which builds their behavior and activities. At relatively early evolutionary stages of development, a specialized carrier of this functional organ stood out in the body of animals - n. With. and .

basis contemporary ideas on the physiological mechanisms of mental activity are works And.M.Sechenov, who proved that "all acts of conscious and unconscious life according to the mode of origin the essence of reflexes". Sechenov laid the foundation for the doctrine of higher nervous activity, to the development of which a significant contribution was made by the works And.P.Pavlova,AT.M.ankylosing spondylitis, N. E. Vvedensky (see. ), A. A. Ukhtomsky and other physiologists and psychologists.

According to Pavlov, the formation of human P. was associated with a restructuring of the physiological mechanisms of brain activity, which consisted in the occurrence second signal system. Ukhtomsky proved that great importance in the implementation of P.'s functions has a physiological .P.To.Anokhin interpreted the dynamics of the nervous processes of inhibition and excitation as a complex hierarchical functional system, introduced the concept of a mechanism that ensures the expedient behavior of organisms based on advanced display.

Added ed.: P. - the subject of study of modern psychology, as well as psychology itself, has practically nothing to do with the etymology of the word "P." The phrase attributed to the historian V. O. Klyuchevsky has become a textbook: “Earlier, psychology was the science of soul and has now become the science of its absence.” Indeed, psychology cannot boast of success in the study of the soul. About 150 years ago, psychologists began to dissect the soul, to single out in it not so much spiritual forces as individual functions, processes, abilities, acts, actions and activities in order to study them objectively. The word P. has become a collective name for them, including , , , , , , etc. Psychologists continue this fascinating activity to this day. Attempts to collect the soul from the functions torn out of the life context, purified from it, isolated and studied in detail by P. are rare and unsuccessful.

With this approach, P.'s functions were deprived of psychological content. Rather, it remained, but only in the sense of the terms in which mentality is described. Experimental psychologists, as it were, implicitly (or explicitly!) proceeded from the fact that mentality as a material, as an objectively existing object, can also be studied as non-psychological. A similar approach to P. and the search for its physiological mechanisms was reproduced, for example, by Pavlov and his school.

That., already at its inception, it parted with the soul, with its semantic image given in antiquity, including knowledge, feeling, will, indicating the formative role of the soul and spirit not only in relation to the body, but also to life.

The above considerations about the discrepancy between the soul and P. are a statement of the current state of affairs. They should not be taken as criticism of science. Psychology has indeed fulfilled its task. By studying P. (in its new sense) by non-psychological methods, it has become an objective science. Today, her methodological awareness and sophistication in the study of P. processes and functions are quite comparable with many sections of physiology, biophysics, biomechanics, genetics, computer science, and other sciences with which she closely cooperates. The mathematical apparatus used is just as developed. Psychologists have long lost about the subjectivity (subjectivism) of their science. The reproaches addressed to her about the old "spiritual aquaticism" also disappeared. Despite the relatively young age of psychology, it has accumulated a solid baggage that has become the foundation for many of its branches and practical applications.

Through the efforts of many remarkable scientists built ontology P., for which a hefty price was paid. Psychologists have de-objectified or, more precisely, “souled” the soul, received and studied P. But now there is “matter”, “physics”, which is subject to objectification and animation. If the first part of the work, the work of analysis, had not been done, there would be nothing to animate. Now there are grounds for a breakthrough to the ontology of the soul. To do this, one must be able to look at the experience accumulated by experimental psychology with the eyes of others, which is extremely difficult. In search of the integrity of P., a feasible contribution to the construction of the ontology of the soul (voluntarily or involuntarily) is made by (Vygotsky), , , psychological physiology (Ukhtomsky, Bernstein). (V.P. Zinchenko.)

Big psychological dictionary. - M.: Prime-EVROZNAK. Ed. B.G. Meshcheryakova, acad. V.P. Zinchenko. 2003 .

DEFINITION OF PSYCHE. THE CONCEPT OF MENTAL REFLECTION

Psychodiagnostics

legal psychology

pathopsychology

medical psychology

Pedagogical psychology

Social Psychology

Age-related psychology

differential psychology

Psychophysiology (neuropsychology)

genetic psychology

Psychotherapy.

Psychology as a scientific system of knowledge began to take shape from the middle of the 19th century. In the course of its development, scientific ideas about the essence of mental phenomena have repeatedly changed. Some of the main stages of change in ideas about the psyche can be represented in the form of definitions of the psyche, which were given (or implied) in various pre-scientific directions and scientific "schools" of psychology.

The psyche is a soul that does not have material foundations (a pre-scientific period in the development of ideas about the essence of the mental).

The psyche is the consciousness of a person, about which it is possible to get ideas on the basis of reflection, self-observation (R. Descartes).

The psyche is a system of associations (connections) that are formed in the human mind: as one gets acquainted with phenomena and events in the human mind, connections are established between one’s own behavior and perceived (represented) objects, as well as their properties in terms of similarity, contrast, spatio-temporal contiguity (associative psychology).

The psyche is a system of associative links and relationships between the structural elements of consciousness: there are some initial elements of mental phenomena (elementary sensations and experiences), on the basis of which more and more complex forms of mental phenomena are built during life (structural psychology of W. Wundt and E. Titchener) .

The psyche is a set of functions that have developed in the process of evolution, which provide the most important forms of adaptation of the organism to environmental conditions (pragmatism and functionalism of D. Dewey and W. James).

The psyche is a system of relationships and connections between external stimulation and behavior (behaviorism) that are formed through learning.

The psyche is a special structurally organized phenomenal field that obeys its own laws of restructuring, isomorphic to real life situations in the physical field and the dynamics of neurophysiological processes in the brain (Gestalt psychology).

The psyche is a system of processes and mechanisms in the central nervous system, which provide processing of information coming from the external environment, as well as from the internal environment of the body (cognitive psychology) (8).

Psyche is the property of the brain to reflect the surrounding reality and adapt to it.

Psyche is a property of highly organized matter.

Psyche is a property of the brain, its specific function. This function is of the nature reflections; the correctness of the reflection is confirmed by practice.

2 meanings of the word psyche - the first psyche as substance and the second - the psyche as substrate.

Psyche how substance represents a reflection of the objective world in its connections and relations, in which the externality and diversity of nature gathers to its unity (this is a virtual compression of nature). This definition can be displayed as the following system: (Reflected (the whole world) → Reflective system (psyche) → Reflected (psychic phenomena)

Psyche as a substrate a problem arises: the psyche is simply a property of the nervous system, a specific reflection of its work, or the psyche has its own substrate, i.e. what does it consist of? To date, there is no definitive answer to this question!

The psyche cannot be reduced to the nervous system, since it is only a part of the psyche. (5)

Psyche- reflective-regulatory mechanism of adaptive behavior of living organisms, on the basis of which their active interaction with the environment is carried out. The psyche performs the function of orientation and regulation of activity, provides selective contacts of living organisms with reality, depending on the system of their needs and recognition in the environment of what satisfies these needs; external signs phenomena serve as a signal of their meaning and meaning.

Human psyche- reflective-regulatory activity, which ensures its active interaction with the outside world on the basis of the appropriation of universal human experience. human psyche is a system of subjective images of reality, the inner world of a person, which has its own laws of formation and functioning.

The human psyche acquires special form- a form of consciousness generated by the social way of its existence. However, consciousness does not exhaust the entire essence of the psyche. Along with it, a person has biologically formed mental structures (the sphere of his innately unconscious activity), and a vast sphere of automatisms acquired in vivo (the sphere of the subconscious) (1).

highly organized living matter(Not every living matter has this property. The forms of living matter differ from each other in terms of the level of development of mental properties), having a psyche, has the ability to obtain information about the world around; this information serves as the basis for the regulation of the internal environment of a living organism and the formation of its behavior, i.e. able to respond to changes in the external environment or to the impact of environmental objects. environment. .(2)