1. Definition of psychology as a science.

2. Main branches of psychology.

3. Research methods in psychology.

1. Psychology is a science that occupies an ambivalent position among other scientific disciplines. As a system of scientific knowledge, it is familiar only to a narrow circle of specialists, but at the same time, almost every person with sensations, speech, emotions, images of memory, thinking and imagination, etc. knows about it.

The origins of psychological theories can be found in proverbs, sayings, fairy tales of the world and even ditties. For example, they say about personality “There are devils in still waters” (a warning to those who are inclined to judge character by appearance). Similar everyday psychological descriptions and observations can be found among all peoples. The same proverb among the French goes like this: “Don’t plunge your hand, or even your finger, into a quiet stream.”

Psychology- a unique science. Man's acquisition of knowledge has occurred since ancient times. However, for a long time psychology developed within the framework of philosophy, reaching a high level in the works of Aristotle (the treatise “On the Soul”), so many consider him the founder of psychology. Despite such an ancient history, psychology as an independent experimental science was formed relatively recently, only from the middle of the 19th century.

The term “psychology” first appeared in the scientific world in the 16th century. The word “psychology” comes from the Greek words “syhe” - “soul” and “logos” - “science”. Thus, verbatim psychology is the science of the soul.

Later, in the 17th–19th centuries, psychology significantly expanded the scope of its research and began to study human activity and unconscious processes, while retaining its previous name. Let us take a closer look at what is the subject of study of modern psychology.

R.S . Nemov offers the following scheme.

Scheme 1Basic phenomena studied by modern psychology

As can be seen from the diagram, the psyche includes many phenomena. With the help of some, knowledge of the surrounding reality occurs - this cognitive processes, which consist of sensation and perception, attention and memory, thinking, imagination and speech. Other mental phenomena are necessary in order to control a person’s actions and actions, regulate the process of communication - these are mental states(a special characteristic of mental activity over a certain period of time) and mental properties(the most stable and significant mental qualities of a person, his characteristics).

The above division is quite arbitrary, since a transition from one category to another is possible. For example, if a process continues for a long time, then it already enters the state of the organism. Such processes-states can be attention, perception, imagination, activity, passivity, etc.

For a better understanding of the subject of psychology, we present a table of examples of mental phenomena and concepts presented in the works of R. S. Nemov (1995).

Table 1Examples of mental phenomena and conceptsContinuation of the table. 1

So, psychology is a science that studies mental phenomena.

2. Modern psychology is a fairly extensive complex of sciences that continues to develop at a very fast pace (every 4–5 years a new direction emerges).

Nevertheless, it is possible to distinguish between fundamental and special branches of psychological science.

Fundamental The (basic) branches of psychological science are equally important for the analysis of the psychology and behavior of all people.

This versatility allows them to sometimes be combined under the name “general psychology.”

Special(applied) branches of psychological knowledge study any narrow groups of phenomena, i.e., the psychology and behavior of people engaged in any narrow branch of activity.

Let us turn to the classification presented by R. S. Nemov (1995).

General psychology

1. Psychology of cognitive processes and states.

2. Personality psychology.

3. Psychology of individual differences.

4. Developmental psychology.

5. Social psychology.

6. Animal psychology.

7. Psychophysiology.

Some special branches of psychological research

1. Educational psychology.

2. Medical psychology.

3. Military psychology.

4. Legal psychology.

5. Cosmic psychology.

6. Engineering psychology.

7. Economic psychology.

8. Psychology of management.

Thus, psychology is an extensive network of sciences that continues to actively develop.

3. Scientific Research Methods– these are techniques and means for scientists to obtain reliable information, which is then used to build scientific theories and develop recommendations for practical activities.

In order for the information received to be reliable, it is necessary to comply with the requirements of validity and reliability.

Validity- this is the quality of a method that indicates its compliance with what it was originally created to study.

Reliability– evidence that repeated application of the method will produce comparable results.

There are various classifications of psychology methods. Let's consider one of them, according to which methods are divided into basic and auxiliary.

Basic methods: observation and experiment; auxiliary - surveys, analysis of the process and products of activity, tests, twin method.

Observation is a method by which individual characteristics of the psyche are learned through the study of human behavior. Can be external and internal (self-observation).

Features of external surveillance

1. Planned and systematic implementation.

2. Purposeful nature.

3. Duration of observation.

4. Recording data using technical means, coding, etc.

Types of external surveillance

1. Structured (there is a detailed step-by-step observation program) – unstructured (there is only a simple listing of the data to be observed).

2. Continuous (all reactions of the observed are recorded) – selective (only individual reactions are recorded).

3. Included (the researcher acts as a member of the group in which the observation is carried out) - not included (the researcher acts as an outside observer).

Experiment– a method of scientific research, during which an artificial situation is created where the property being studied is manifested and assessed best.

Types of experiment

1. Laboratory– carried out in specially equipped rooms, often using special equipment.

It is distinguished by the rigor and accuracy of data recording, which allows you to obtain interesting scientific material.

Difficulties of the laboratory experiment:

1) the unusualness of the situation, due to which the reactions of the subjects may be distorted;

2) the figure of the experimenter is capable of causing either a desire to please, or, conversely, to do something out of spite: both distort the results;

3) not all mental phenomena can yet be simulated under experimental conditions.

2. Natural experiment– an artificial situation is created in natural conditions. First proposed A. F. Lazursky . For example, you can study the memory characteristics of preschoolers by playing with children in a store, where they will have to “shop” and thereby reproduce a given series of words.

Polls– auxiliary research methods containing questions. Questions must meet the following requirements.

Before the survey, it is necessary to conduct a brief briefing with the subjects and create a friendly atmosphere; If you can get information from other sources, then you should not ask about it.

The following survey methods are distinguished: conversation, questionnaire, interview, sociometry.

Conversation– a survey method in which both the researcher and the subject are in equal positions.

Can be used at various stages of research.

Questionnaire– a method through which you can quickly obtain a large amount of data recorded in written form.

Types of questionnaires:

1) individual – collective;

2) face-to-face (there is personal contact between the researcher and the person being surveyed) – correspondence;

3) open (questionees formulate their own answers) – closed (a list of ready-made answers is presented, from which the most appropriate one must be selected for the respondent).

Interview– a method carried out in the process of direct communication, answers are given orally.

Types of interviews:

1) standardized - all questions are formulated in advance;

2) non-standardized – questions are formulated during the interview;

3) semi-standardized - some questions are formulated in advance, and some arise during the interview.

When composing questions, remember that the first questions must be supplemented by subsequent ones.

Along with direct questions, it is necessary to use indirect ones.

Sociometry- a method through which social relationships in groups are studied. Allows you to determine a person’s position in a group and involves choosing a partner for joint activities.

Analysis of the process and products of activity– the products of human activity are studied, on the basis of which conclusions are drawn about the mental characteristics of a person.

Drawings, crafts, essays, poems, etc. can be studied.

Twin method used in developmental genetic psychology.

The essence of the method is to compare the mental development of identical twins, brought up by force of circumstances in different living conditions.

Tests– a standardized psychological technique, the purpose of which is to provide a quantitative assessment of the psychological quality being studied.

Classification of tests

1. Test questionnaire – test task.

2. Analytical (they study one mental phenomenon, for example, arbitrariness of attention) - synthetic (they study the totality of mental phenomena, for example, the Cattell test allows you to give a conclusion about 16 personality qualities).

3. Depending on the content, tests are divided into:

1) intellectual (study the characteristics of intelligence, the so-called IQ);

2) aptitude tests (examine the level of professional compliance);

3) personality tests (verbal; projective, when a person’s qualities are judged by how he perceives and evaluates the situation offered to him).

So, the methods of psychology are varied and their choice is determined by the objectives of the study, the characteristics of the subject and the situation.

2. The formation of psychology as a science

1. The development of psychology from ancient times to the middle of the 19th century.

2. The formation of psychology as an independent science.

3. Modern psychological concepts.

1. Interest in problems that are classified as psychological arose in man in ancient times.

The philosophers of ancient Greece in their treatises tried to penetrate the secrets of existence and the inner world of man.

Ancient philosophers explained the psyche based on the four elements on which, in their opinion, the world was based: earth, water, fire and air.

The soul, like everything in this world, consisted of these principles.

The ancients believed that the soul is located where there is heat and movement, that is, all nature is endowed with a soul.

Subsequently, the doctrine that spiritualizes the whole world received the name “animism” (from the Latin “anima” - “spirit”, “soul”).

Animism was replaced by a new philosophical doctrine - atomistic.

A prominent representative of this trend was Aristotle . He believed that world - this is a collection of the smallest indivisible particles - atoms, which differ from each other in different mobility and size, and the material carriers of the soul are the smallest and most mobile.

Based on this mobility of atoms, Aristotle explained the mechanisms and laws of functioning of many mental phenomena: thinking, memory, perception, dreaming, etc.

Aristotle's treatise “On the Soul” is considered by many scientists as the first major scientific study in psychology.

According to Aristotle, a person has three souls: vegetable, animal and rational.

The mind depends on the size of the brain, emotions - on the heart.

The representative of materialistic views was Democritus . He believed that everything in the world consists of atoms.

Atoms exist in time and space, in which everything moves along a given path. In infinite space, indivisible and impenetrable particles move according to certain laws; the soul is formed by light, spherical particles of fire.

The soul is a fiery principle in the body, and death occurs as a result of the disintegration of the atoms of the soul and body. Both body and soul are mortal.

The merit of Democritus is that he initiated the development of the theory of knowledge, especially visual sensations. He developed recommendations for memorization, dividing the methods of preserving material into material and mental.

We can’t help but mention the views Plato .

According to his views, a person is a prisoner in a cave, and reality is his shadow.

Man has two souls: mortal and immortal.

The mortal solves specific problems, and the immortal, whose life continues after death, is the very core of the psyche, the highest form endowed with reason.

Only the immortal soul gives true knowledge obtained as a result of insight.

There are eternal ideas, and the world is a weak reflection of ideas. In the process of life, the soul remembers those immortal ideas that it encountered before entering the body.

Plato's views regarding the functioning of human memory are interesting.

Memory- This is a wax tablet. People have different memories and it depends on the quality of the wax.

We retain memories as long as they are preserved on a wax plate.

The doctrine of the soul in the early Middle Ages became part of the theological worldview and was completely transferred to religion, which continued until the 17th century. in the era.

During the Renaissance, all sciences and art began to actively develop again.

Natural sciences, medical sciences, biological sciences, various types of art, one way or another, touched upon the doctrine of the soul.

French, English and other European philosophers of that time, based on the mechanistic picture of the world, began to interpret many manifestations of the psyche from the standpoint of biomechanics and reflex, while addressing the internal manifestations of the psyche, the soul remained outside the scope of their consideration.

However, internal phenomena really existed and required an explanation of their role in human life. As a result, a new philosophical direction began to form - dualism, which argued that there are two independent principles in man: matter and spirit.

The science of that time was unable to explain the relationship and interdependence of these two principles, so it abandoned the study of behavior and focused on the subjective experience of a person (XVII-XVIII centuries).

These positions were held R. Descartes And J. Locke .

The psyche was considered only as a manifestation of consciousness, the world of matter was excluded from the subject of psychology.

The main research method was the method of introspection (introspection), and natural scientific methods were considered unacceptable for studying the phenomena of the soul.

Simultaneously with such views, an atomistic understanding of the structure of the world developed. Simple manifestations of the psyche began to be considered as atoms.

This atomistic psychology developed over two centuries, until the end of the 19th century.

Thus, from ancient times until the middle of the 19th century. Psychology developed within the framework of other sciences, most often philosophy, medicine, and biology.

2. In the middle of the 19th century, profound changes occurred in the scientific worldview.

This also concerned the relationship between soul and body, material and mental manifestations.

Advances in medicine, in particular psychiatry, have undoubtedly proven that there is a close connection between brain disorders and mental disorders, which refutes the postulate of dualism about their separate existence.

There is a need to take a fresh look at the role of mental phenomena in human life and behavior.

The mechanistic understanding was good at explaining monotonous movements, but it became inadequate at understanding intelligent behavior.

The provisions of atomistic psychology also did not fit into the new scientific facts and required revision.

Thus, in the second half of the 19th century. psychological science was on the verge of a crisis, due to the following reasons:

1) understanding of mental phenomena has become impossible from the standpoint of exact natural knowledge;

2) the relationship between the mental and the physical defied reasonable explanation;

3) psychologists were unable to explain complex forms of human behavior that go beyond reflexes.

The emerging crisis led to the collapse of dualism and introspection as the only reliable source of obtaining psychological knowledge. In search of overcoming the crisis, three directions of psychological teaching arose: behaviorism, Gestalt psychology and psychoanalysis (Freudianism).

Let's take a closer look at them.

Behaviorism. Its founder is an American scientist D. Watson , who proposed to consider behavior (from the English behavior) as a subject of psychology, and to consider mental phenomena unknowable using natural scientific methods.

To understand behavior, it is enough to describe the behavior itself, find out and describe the external and internal forces acting on the body, and study the laws according to which the interaction of stimuli and behavior occurs.

Behaviorists believed that the difference between animal behavior and human behavior lies only in the complexity and variety of reactions.

Nevertheless, Watson could not help but recognize the existence of purely human mental phenomena.

He interpreted mental states as functions that play an active role in the organism’s adaptation to the world, while admitting that he was unable to understand the meaning of this role.

Scientists of this direction denied the possibility of studying consciousness.

As Watson wrote, the behaviorist "observes nothing that he can call consciousness, feeling, sensation, imagination, will, to the extent that he no longer believes that these terms indicate genuine phenomena of psychology."

However, already in the 30s. In the twentieth century, such extreme views of D. Watson were softened by neobehaviorists, primarily E. Tolman And K. Hallom . Thus, E. Tolman introduced the concept of reasonableness and expediency of behavior.

Target– this is the final result achieved as a result of performing behavioral acts.

The most important psychological phenomena, according to Tolman, are goal, expectation, hypothesis, cognitive picture of the world, sign and its meaning.

K. Hull developed a model of behavior based on reactions to a variety of stimuli.

The body responds to stimuli using innate and acquired ways that are associated with a system of “intermediate variables” that mediate this interaction.

Thus, behaviorism does not study the human mind, believing that psychology should explain behavior by examining the stimuli entering the body and the behavioral responses outgoing.

From this thesis comes the theory of learning, which is based on the use of all kinds of punishments and reinforcements when it is necessary to form appropriate reactions, due to which the theory is still popular, primarily among American psychologists (B. F. Skinner).

Gestalt psychology originated in Germany and spread throughout almost all of Europe, including Russia, especially in the pre-war years.

This direction was influenced by such sciences as physics and mathematics.

Prominent representatives are K. Levin , M. Wertheimer , V. Koehler and etc.

The essence of this direction was formulated by M. Wertheimer, who wrote: “... there are connections in which what happens as a whole is not derived from elements that supposedly exist in the form of separate pieces, then linked together, but, on the contrary, what manifests itself in a separate parts of this whole is determined by the internal structural law of this whole.”

That is, Gestalt psychology studies not phenomena, but the structure of connections, which is why it is sometimes called structural psychology (translated into Russian, the word “Gestalt” means “structure”).

K. Lewin is known for his work in the field of personality and interpersonal relationships.

He believed that the behavior of an individual can only be understood based on the holistic situation in which this individual finds himself.

The environment is determined by the subjective perception of the people operating in it.

The merit of Gestalt psychology is that it found modern approaches to the study of psychological problems, but the problems that caused the crisis were never fully resolved.

Psychoanalysis was developed by an Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist Z. Freud, hence sometimes called "Freudianism".

Founding a scientific theoretical direction in psychology, Freud proceeded from the analysis of his rich psychotherapeutic practice, thereby, as it were, returning psychology to its original subject: insight into the essence of the human soul.

The fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis are consciousness And unconscious.

It is the unconscious (the main of which is sexual attraction - libido) that plays a significant role in regulating human activity and behavior.

Censorship from the side of consciousness suppresses unconscious drives, but they “break through” in the form of slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, forgetting unpleasant things, dreams, and neurotic manifestations.

Psychoanalysis has become widespread not only in Europe, but also in the USA, where it is still popular to this day.

In the first years of Soviet power, this direction was also in demand in our country, but in the 30s. Against the general background of restrictions on psychological research (the resolution “On pedological perversions in the Narkompros system”), Freud’s teachings were also subjected to repression.

Up until the 60s. psychoanalysis was studied only from a critical perspective.

Only since the second half of the twentieth century has interest in psychoanalysis increased again, not only in Russia, but throughout the world.

So, none of the newly emerging psychological trends has completely resolved the contradictions that led to the crisis of psychology as a science.

Let's consider some modern psychological concepts that began to actively develop starting from the second half of the twentieth century.

Cognitive psychology arose on the basis of the development of computer science and cybernetics.

Representatives of the cognitive school - J. Piaget , W. Naiser, J. Bruner, R. Atkinson and etc.

For a cognitive scientist, human cognitive processes are an analogue of a computer.

The main thing is to understand how a person learns about the world around him, and to do this, one should study the methods of forming knowledge, how cognitive processes arise and develop, what is the role of knowledge in human behavior, how this knowledge is organized in memory, how the intellect functions, how words and images are related in human memory and thinking.

The basic concept of cognitive psychology is the concept of “scheme”, which is a plan for collecting and processing information, perceived by the senses and stored in the human head.

The main conclusion reached by representatives of this direction is that in many life situations a person makes decisions mediated by the peculiarities of thinking.

Neo-Freudianism emerged from Freud's psychoanalysis.

Its representatives are A. Adler, K. Jung, K. Horney, E. Fromm and etc.

What all these views have in common is the recognition of the significance of the unconscious in people’s lives and the desire to explain by this many human complexes.

Thus, A. Adler believed that a person is controlled by an inferiority complex, which he receives from the moment of birth, being a helpless creature.

In an effort to overcome this complex, a person acts intelligently, actively and expediently.

Goals are determined by the person himself, and based on this, cognitive processes, personality traits, and worldview are formed.

K. Jung's concept is also called analytical psychology.

He viewed the human psyche through the prism of macro-processes of culture, through the spiritual history of mankind.

There are two types of the unconscious: personal And collective.

Personal the unconscious is acquired through the accumulation of life experience, collective– is inherited and contains the experience accumulated by humanity.

Jung described the collective unconscious as archetypes that most often appear in myths and fairy tales, primitive forms of thinking, and images passed down from generation to generation.

The personal unconscious is close to a person, it is part of him; the collective is often perceived as something hostile, and therefore causing negative experiences, and sometimes neuroses.

Jung is credited with identifying such personality types as introverts and extroverts.

It is common for introverts to find within themselves all the sources of vital energy and the reasons for what is happening, while extroverts find them in the external environment. In further studies, the identification of these two types was confirmed experimentally and became widely used for diagnostic purposes.

According to the personality typology developed by Jung, the following types are distinguished:

1) thinking (intellectual) – creates formulas, schemes, is prone to power, authoritarianism; mostly characteristic of men;

2) sensitive (sentimental, emotional) – responsiveness, the ability to empathize, a more feminine type predominates;

3) sensory – content with sensations, lacks deep experiences, adapts well to the outside world;

4) intuitive - is in a creative search, new ideas come as a result of insight, but they are not always productive and require improvement.

Each of the listed types can be either intro- or extroverted. K. Jung also introduced the concept of individualization, which means the development of a person as an individual, different from the community. This is the ultimate goal of the educational process, but at the initial stages a person must learn the minimum of collective norms that are necessary for his existence.

Another prominent representative of neo-Freudianism is E. Fromm , who was the founder of humanistic psychoanalysis. E. Fromm believed that the human psyche and behavior are socially determined.

Pathology appears where individual freedom is suppressed. Such pathologies include: masochism, sadism, recluse, conformism, tendency to destruction.

Fromm divides all social systems into those that promote human freedom and those where human freedom is lost.

Genetic psychology. Its founder is a Swiss psychologist J. Piaget, who studied the mental development of a child, mainly his intellect, so in part he can be considered as a representative of cognitive psychology.

There are three periods in the process of cognitive development:

1) sensorimotor (from birth to approximately 1.5 years);

2) stage of specific operations (from 1.5–2 to 11–13 years);

3) stage of formal operations (after 11–13 years).

The onset of these stages can be accelerated or slowed down depending on the nature of learning and the influence of the environment.

Training will only be effective when it is started on time and takes into account the existing level.

J. Piaget wrote: “Whenever we prematurely teach a child something that he could discover for himself over time, we thereby deprive him of this, and therefore deprive him of a full understanding of this subject.

This, of course, does not mean that teachers should not design experimental situations that stimulate students' creativity."

The main determinants of cognitive development are maturation, experience, and social learning.

The modern structure of psychological knowledge is characterized by the following trends:

1) erasing the boundaries between previously existing independent directions in psychological science, for example, many modern scientists use in their theories the knowledge accumulated within various directions;

2) modern psychology is increasingly becoming a popular practice, and this leads to differentiation not by theoretical schools, but by areas of application of knowledge in practical fields of activity;

3) psychological knowledge is enriched by those sciences with which psychology actively cooperates, solving common problems.

So, the area of ​​theoretical and practical application of modern psychology is very wide, and psychology is an actively and dynamically developing science.

Basic concepts and terms on the topic: psychology, psyche, reflection, mental processes, mental states, mental properties, sensitivity, instinct, skill, intellectual behavior, reflection, reflex, imprinting, skill, conscious, unconscious, intuition, insight, self-awareness, self-esteem, Self-image, reflective consciousness .

Topic study plan(list of questions required to study):

1. Subject of psychology. The connection between psychology and other sciences. Branches of psychology.

2. Stages of the formation of psychology as a science.

3.Tasks of modern psychology.

4. The concept of the psyche, the structure of the psyche.

5. Consciousness as a form of mental reflection. Psychological structure of consciousness.

Brief summary of theoretical issues:

Subject, object and methods of psychology.
Psychology translated from Greek is the study, knowledge about the soul (“psyche” - soul, “logos” - doctrine, knowledge). This is the science of the laws of mental life and human activity and various forms of human communities. Psychology as a science studies facts, patterns and mechanisms of the psyche (A.V. Petrovsky). Object Psychology includes not only a concrete and individual person, but also various social groups, masses and other forms of communities of people and other highly organized animals, the characteristics of whose mental life are studied by such a branch of psychology as zoopsychology. However, traditionally the main object of psychology is man. In this case psychology is the science of the patterns of emergence, formation, development, functioning and manifestations of the human psyche in various conditions and at different stages of their lives and activities.
Subject The study of psychology is psyche. In the most general terms psyche - this is the inner spiritual world of a person: his needs and interests, desires and drives, attitudes, value judgments, relationships, experiences, goals, knowledge, skills, skills of behavior and activity, etc. The human psyche is manifested in his statements, emotional states, facial expressions , pantomime, behavior and activity, their results and other externally expressed reactions: for example, redness (blanching) of the face, sweating, changes in heart rhythm, blood pressure, etc. It is important to remember that a person can hide his real thoughts, attitudes, experiences and other mental states.
All variety forms of mental existence usually grouped into the following four groups.
1 . ^ Mental processes human: a) cognitive (attention, sensation, perception, imagination, memory, thinking, speech);
b) emotional (feelings);
c) strong-willed.
2. ^ Psychic formations person (knowledge, abilities, skills, habits, attitudes, views, beliefs, etc.).
3. Mental properties person (direction, character, temperament, personality abilities).
4. Mental states: functional (intellectual-cognitive, emotional and volitional) and general (mobilization, relaxation)
Main task Psychology consists of knowing the origins and characteristics of the human psyche, the patterns of its occurrence, formation, functioning and manifestations, the capabilities of the human psyche, its influence on human behavior and activity. An equally important task of psychology is to develop recommendations for people to increase their stress resistance and psychological reliability when solving professional and other problems in various circumstances of life and activity.
In general, psychology as a science performs two main functions: as fundamental science is called upon to develop psychological theory, to identify patterns of individual and group psyche of people and its individual phenomena; as an applied field of knowledge- formulate recommendations for improving professional activities and everyday life of people.

Psychology methods: observation- purposeful perception of any pedagogical phenomenon, during which the researcher receives specific factual material. Distinguish between observation included, when the researcher becomes a member of the group being observed, and not included -"from the side"; open and hidden (incognito); continuous and selective.
Methods survey- conversation, interview, questionnaire. Conversation - an independent or additional research method used to obtain the necessary information or clarify something that was not clear enough during observation. The conversation is conducted according to a pre-planned plan, highlighting issues that require clarification. It is conducted in free form without recording the interlocutor’s answers. A type of conversation is interviewing, brought into pedagogy from sociology. When interviewing, the researcher adheres to pre-planned questions asked in a certain sequence. During the interview, responses are recorded openly.
Questioning - method of mass collection of material using a questionnaire. Those to whom the questionnaires are addressed provide written answers to the questions. Conversations and interviews are called face-to-face surveys, while questionnaires are called correspondence surveys.
Valuable material can provide study of activity products: written, graphic, creative and test works, drawings, drawings, details, notebooks in individual disciplines, etc. These works can provide the necessary information about the student’s individuality, about the achieved level of skills in a particular area.
Plays a special role in pedagogical research experiment- specially organized testing of a particular method or method of work to identify its pedagogical effectiveness. Distinguish between experiment natural(under the conditions of the normal educational process) and laboratory - creating artificial conditions for testing, for example, one or another teaching method, when individual students are isolated from others. The most commonly used experiment is a natural experiment. It can be long-term or short-term.
The place of psychology in the system of sciences.
Psychology is a field of humanitarian, anthropological knowledge. It is closely related to many sciences. At the same time, two aspects of such relationships appear quite clearly.

• There are sciences that act as a kind of theoretical basis, a basis for psychology: for example, philosophy, physiology of higher nervous activity of a person. Philosophical sciences have primarily theoretical and methodological significance for psychology. They equip a person with an understanding of the most general laws of development of objective reality, the origins of life, the meaning of human existence, form a certain vision of the picture of the world, an understanding of the causes of processes and phenomena occurring in living and inanimate matter and in the minds of people, and explain the essence of real events and facts. Philosophy makes a decisive contribution to the formation of a person’s worldview.
• There are sciences in which psychology is one of the basic theoretical foundations. These sciences primarily include pedagogical, legal, medical, political science and a number of others. The development of their problems by these sciences currently cannot be sufficiently complete and justified without taking into account the human factor, including the human psyche, the psychology of age, ethnic, professional and other groups of people.
• 3. History of the development of psychological knowledge.
  The doctrine of the soul (5th century BC - early 17th century AD)
  The doctrine of the soul developed within the framework of ancient Greek philosophy and medicine. The new ideas about the soul were not religious, but secular, open to everyone, accessible to rational criticism. The purpose of constructing the doctrine of the soul was to identify the properties and laws of its existence.
  The most important directions in the development of ideas about the soul are associated with the teachings of Plato (427-347 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC). Plato drew the line between the material, material, mortal body and the immaterial, immaterial, immortal soul. Individual souls - imperfect images of a single universal world soul - possess a part of the universal spiritual experience, the recollection of which is the essence of the process of individual cognition. This doctrine laid the foundations of the philosophical theory of knowledge and determined the orientation of psychological knowledge towards solving philosophical, ethical, pedagogical and religious problems.

  Basic directions of psychology.
  A person in his physiological and mental formation and development goes through various stages, participates in many spheres of social life, and is engaged in different types of activities. The forms of communities of people are also diverse: small and large social groups, age, professional, educational, ethnic, religious, family, organized and spontaneously emerging groups and other communities of people. In this regard, modern psychological science is a multidisciplinary field of knowledge and includes more than 40 relatively independent branches. General psychology and social psychology act as basic in relation to other branches of psychological knowledge: labor psychology, sports, higher education, religion, mass media (media), art, developmental, pedagogical, engineering, military, medical, legal, political, ethnic, etc.

  The concept of the psyche. Functions of the psyche.
  Psyche- this is a property of highly organized living matter, which consists in the subject’s active reflection of the objective world, in the subject’s construction of an inalienable picture of this world and the regulation of behavior and activity on this basis.

  Fundamental judgments about the nature and mechanisms of manifestation of the psyche.

psyche is a property only of living matter, only of highly organized living matter (with specific organs that determine the possibility of the existence of psyche);

the psyche has the ability to reflect the objective world (obtaining information about the world around it);

The information about the surrounding world received by a living being serves as the basis for regulating the internal environment of a living organism and shaping its behavior, which generally determines the possibility of a relatively long-term existence of this organism in its habitat.
Functions of the psyche:

• reflection of the influences of the surrounding world;
• a person’s awareness of his place in the world around him;
• regulation of behavior and activity.

^ Development of the psyche in phylogenesis and ontogenesis.
The development of the psyche in phylogenesis is associated with the development of the nervous system. The level of development of the sense organs and nervous system invariably determines the level and forms of mental reflection. At the lowest stage of development (for example, in coelenterates), the nervous system is a nervous network consisting of nerve cells scattered throughout the body with intertwined processes. This is the reticular nervous system. Animals with a reticular nervous system primarily respond with tropisms. Temporary connections are difficult for them to form and are poorly maintained.

At the next stage of development, the nervous system undergoes a number of qualitative changes. Nerve cells are organized not only in networks, but also in nodes (ganglia). The nodal, or ganglionic, nervous system allows you to receive and process the largest number of stimuli, since sensory nerve cells are in close proximity to the stimuli, which changes the quality of the analysis of the received stimuli.
The complication of the nodal nervous system is observed in higher invertebrate animals - insects. In each part of the body, ganglia merge to form nerve centers that are interconnected by nerve pathways. The head center is especially complicated.
The highest type of nervous system is the tubular nervous system. It is a connection of nerve cells organized into a tube (in chordates). During the process of evolution, the spinal cord and brain - the central nervous system - arise and develop in vertebrates. Simultaneously with the development of the nervous system and receptors, the sense organs of animals develop and improve, and the forms of mental reflection become more complex.
Brain development is of particular importance in the evolution of vertebrates. Localized centers representing different functions are formed in the brain.
Thus, the evolution of the psyche is expressed in the improvement of sensory organs that perform receptor functions and the development of the nervous system, as well as in the complication of forms of mental reflection, i.e., signaling activity.

There are four main levels of development of the psyche of living organisms:

• Irritability;
• Sensitivity (sensations);
• Behavior of higher animals (externally determined behavior);
• Human consciousness (externally determined behavior).

Development of the psyche in ontogenesis. Without assimilating the experience of humanity, without communicating with others like oneself, there will be no developed, strictly human feelings, the ability for voluntary attention and memory, the ability for abstract thinking will not develop, and a human personality will not be formed. This is evidenced by cases of human children being raised among animals.
Thus, all the “Mowgli” children showed primitive animal reactions, and it was impossible to detect in them those features that distinguish a person from an animal. While a small monkey, by chance left alone, without a herd, will still manifest itself as a monkey, a person only becomes a person if his development takes place among people.

Structure of the psyche. The relationship between consciousness and the unconscious.
The structure of consciousness and the unconscious in the human psyche. The highest level of the psyche characteristic of man forms consciousness. Consciousness is the highest, integrating form of the psyche, the result of the socio-historical conditions for the formation of a person in labor activity, with constant. communicating (using language) with other people. In this sense, consciousness is a “social product”; consciousness is nothing more than conscious being.

Characteristics of human consciousness:
1) consciousness, i.e., the totality of knowledge about the world around us.
2) a clear distinction between subject and object enshrined in it, i.e., what belongs to a person’s “I” and his “not-I”.
3) ensuring goal-setting human activity.
4) the presence of emotional assessments in interpersonal relationships.
A prerequisite for the formation and manifestation of all the above specific qualities of consciousness is speech and language as a sign system.
The lowest level of the psyche forms the unconscious. Unconscious - This is a set of mental processes, acts and states caused by influences, the influence of which a person is not aware of. Being mental (since the concept of the psyche is broader than the concept of “consciousness”, “conscious”), the unconscious is a form of reflection of reality in which the completeness of orientation in time and place of action is lost, and speech regulation of behavior is disrupted. In the unconscious, unlike consciousness, purposeful control over the actions performed is impossible, and evaluation of their results is also impossible.
The area of ​​the unconscious includes mental phenomena that occur during sleep (dreams); responses that are caused by imperceptible, but actually affecting stimuli (“subsensory” or “subceptive” reactions); movements that were conscious in the past, but through repetition have become automated and therefore become unconscious; some motivations for activity in which there is no consciousness of purpose, etc. Unconscious phenomena also include some pathological phenomena that arise in the psyche of a sick person: delusions, hallucinations, etc.

Functions of consciousness: reflective, generative (creative-creative), regulatory-evaluative, reflexive function - the main function that characterizes the essence of consciousness.
The object of reflection can be: reflection of the world, thinking about it, ways a person regulates his behavior, the processes of reflection themselves, his personal consciousness.

Most of the processes occurring in a person’s inner world are not conscious to him, but in principle, each of them can become conscious. subconscious– those ideas, desires, actions, aspirations that have now left consciousness, but can later come to consciousness;

1. the unconscious itself- such a mental thing that under no circumstances becomes conscious. – sleep, unconscious impulses, automated movements, reaction to unconscious stimuli

The epicenter of consciousness is the consciousness of one’s own “I”. Self-awareness-It is formed through interaction with other people, mainly with those with whom particularly significant contacts arise. The image of “I”, or self-awareness (image of oneself), does not arise in a person immediately, but develops gradually, throughout his life under the influence of social influences

Self-awareness criteria:

1. separating oneself from the environment, consciousness of oneself as a subject, autonomous from the environment (physical environment, social environment);

2. awareness of one’s activity – “I control myself”;

3. awareness of oneself “through another” (“What I see in others, this may be my quality”);

4. moral assessment of oneself, the presence of reflection - awareness of one’s internal experience.

In the structure of self-awareness we can distinguish:

1. awareness of close and distant goals, motives of one’s “I” (“I as an active subject”);

2. awareness of one’s real and desired qualities (“Real Self” and “Ideal Self”);

3. cognitive, cognitive ideas about oneself (“I am as an observed object”);

4. emotional, sensual self-image.

5. Self-esteem – adequate, underestimated, overestimated.

Self concept - self-perception and self-management

1. I am spiritual
2. I am material
3. Self-social
4. I am corporeal

It is worth clarifying that currently more than a dozen sciences are simultaneously combined under this concept. All of them are aimed at studying and resolving questions about the essence of man, his origin, and the laws to which he in a certain way obeys in the process of his development and subsequent functioning.

Psychology, as a science, studies how all basic emotional phenomena change in direct dependence on the state of the body, on the influence of nature and society. It also addresses all issues related to how this or that psychological phenomenon depends on the work and structure of the body.

Cognition of various mental phenomena in psychology is not the only task. There is a task of this science, which is a complete clarification of the connections that usually arise between behavior and the psyche. On this basis, human behavior is studied and explained.

In general psychology, the main subjects for study are different patterns of forms of one or another mental activity - perception, character, temperament, memory, thinking, motivation and emotions. Such factors and forms are considered by science in close connection with human life, various individual characteristics of a particular ethnic group, as well as historical prerequisites.

There is another branch of psychology that studies personality, that is, the development of a person in society, as well as outside it. Certain social characteristics and traits are attributed to him, the formation of which is studied in this section. Here you can also get acquainted with the behavioral factors of an individual in a particular situation, the probable possibilities of its development and limits are considered.

In other words, general psychology studies a large number of different sections, which have recently become almost independent disciplines. This is a voluminous social subject designed to find methods and means to ensure the effective development and functioning of a person in society. Science is the door to the world of complete knowledge of the individual’s mind and soul; it is the science of life. Everyone must have minimal knowledge of this area in order to consider themselves a full-fledged person.

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Psychology as a science. Subject and tasks , O branches of psychology

Psychology is both a very old and a very young science. Having a thousand-year past, it is nevertheless still entirely in the future. Its existence as an independent scientific discipline barely lasts a century, but it is safe to say that the main problems have occupied human thought since the very time when man began to think about the secrets of the world around him and to understand them.

Famous psychologist of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. G. Ebbinghaus was able to say about psychology very succinctly and precisely: psychology has a huge background and a very short history. By history we mean that period in the study of the psyche, which was marked by a departure from philosophy, a rapprochement with the natural sciences and the organization of its own experimental method. This happened in the last quarter of the 19th century, but the origins of psychology are lost in the mists of time.

The very name of the subject, translated from ancient Greek, means “psyche” - soul, “logos” - science, teaching, that is, “science of the soul”. According to a very common idea, the first psychological views are associated with religious ideas. In reality, as the true history of science testifies, the early ideas of ancient Greek philosophers arise in the process of practical knowledge of man, in close connection with the accumulation of first knowledge, and develop in the struggle of nascent scientific thought against religion with its mythological ideas about the world in general, about the soul in particular . The study and explanation of the soul is the first stage in the development of the subject of psychology.

Psychology as a science has special qualities that distinguish it from other scientific disciplines. Few people know psychology as a system of proven knowledge, mainly only those who specifically study it, solving scientific and practical problems. At the same time, as a system of life phenomena, psychology is familiar to every person. It is presented to him in the form of his own sensations, images, ideas, phenomena of memory, thinking, speech, will, imagination, interests, motives, needs, emotions, feelings and much more. We can directly detect basic mental phenomena in ourselves and indirectly observe them in other people.

Subject of study psychology is, first of all, the psyche of humans and animals, which includes many subjective phenomena. With the help of some, such as sensations and perception, attention and memory, imagination, thinking and speech, a person understands the world. Therefore, they are often called cognitive processes. Other phenomena regulate his communication with people and directly control his actions and actions. They are called mental properties and states of the individual (these include needs, motives, goals, interests, will, feelings and emotions, inclinations and abilities, knowledge and consciousness). In addition, psychology studies human communication and behavior, their dependence on mental phenomena and, in turn, the dependence of the formation and development of mental phenomena on them.

Man does not simply penetrate the world through his cognitive processes. He lives and acts in this world, creating it for himself in order to satisfy his material, spiritual and other needs, and performs certain actions. In order to understand and explain human actions, we turn to such a concept as personality.

In turn, mental processes, states and properties of a person, especially in their highest manifestations, can hardly be fully comprehended if they are not considered depending on the conditions of a person’s life, on how his interaction with nature and society is organized (activities and communication). Communication and activity are also therefore the subject of modern psychological research.

Mental processes, properties and states of a person, his communication and activity are separated and studied separately, although in reality they are closely related to each other and form a single whole, called human life.

Currently, psychology is a very extensive system of sciences. It identifies many industries that represent relatively independently developing areas of scientific research. They, in turn, can be divided into fundamental and applied, general and special. Let's name just some of the branches of psychology: general, social, pedagogical, medical, developmental, legal, genetic, military, engineering, differential, psychophysiology, psychodiagnostics, pathopsychology, psychotherapy, management psychology, occupational psychology, etc.

Due to the specifics of our course and this textbook, we will dwell in more detail only on some branches of psychology - general, social, management psychology and psychodiagnostics.

General psychology explores the individual, highlighting two main directions - the psychology of cognitive processes and the psychology of personality. Cognitive processes include sensation, perception, attention, memory, imagination, thinking and speech. With the help of these processes, a person receives and processes information about the world, and they also participate in the formation and transformation of knowledge. Personality has properties that determine a person’s deeds and actions. These are emotions, abilities, dispositions, attitudes, motivation, temperament, character and will.

The study of psychological sciences begins with general psychology, since without a sufficiently deep knowledge of the basic concepts introduced in the course of general psychology, it will be impossible to understand the material contained in the special sections of the proposed course. After all, it is probably difficult to imagine a schoolchild trying to comprehend the basics of higher mathematics, but who has not yet studied the multiplication table, who has not learned to add and subtract numbers.

Particular attention in our course will be paid to social psychology, and this is no coincidence. Social Psychology- a branch of psychological knowledge that has a short but rich history of its development. As an independent branch of psychological science, it has existed for less than 100 years. Officially, the year of birth of social psychology is considered to be 1908, when two books with the same title were published simultaneously, declaring themselves to be the first textbooks on the new humanitarian discipline. It is interesting to note that one textbook was published in America, another in Europe, one was written by a sociologist, the other by a psychologist.

The very combination of the words “social psychology” indicates the specific place that this discipline occupies in the system of scientific knowledge. Having emerged at the intersection of the sciences - psychology and sociology, social psychology still retains its special status, which leads to the fact that each of the “parent” disciplines quite willingly includes it as an integral part. This ambiguity in the position of the scientific discipline has many reasons. The main one is the objective existence of such a class of facts of social life, which in itself can only be studied with the help of the combined efforts of two sciences: psychology and sociology.

On the one hand, any social phenomenon has its own “psychological” aspect, since social laws manifest themselves only through the activities of people, and people act, being endowed with consciousness and will.

On the other hand, in situations of joint activity of people, completely special types of connections arise between them, connections of communication and interaction, and their analysis is impossible outside the system of psychological knowledge.

Another reason for the dual position of social psychology is the very history of the formation of this discipline, which matured in the depths of both psychological and sociological knowledge and, in the full sense of the word, was born “at the crossroads” of these two sciences. All this creates considerable difficulties both in defining the subject of social psychology and in identifying the range of its problems.

At the same time, the needs of the practice of social development dictate the need to study such boundary problems, and one can hardly “expect” a final solution to the question of the subject of social psychology. Requests for social and psychological research in the current stage of social development come from literally everywhere, today especially due to the fact that radical changes are taking place in all spheres of public life.

In the process of development, social psychology has gone through a difficult path of searching for its subject of research. If at the beginning of the century the interest of researchers was mainly concentrated on the study of social psychology, mass social phenomena (crowds, infection among the masses, the nation and its mental make-up, etc.), then in the middle of the century all attention was given to the study of small groups, social attitudes of people, ways to influence the microclimate of the group and relationships between different people.

Currently, social psychology faces the acute problem of constructing a general theory of human social behavior. There is no such theory yet, since human behavior in society is extremely complex both in terms of study and in terms of prediction. Exactly how a person or group will behave in a given situation is determined by a large number of different factors, which are very difficult to take into account.

Since psychological science in our country, in defining its subject, is based on the principle of activity, we can conditionally define the specifics of social psychology as the study of patterns of behavior and activity of people determined by their inclusion in social groups, as well as the psychological characteristics of these groups themselves.

Many of the phenomena discovered in traditional social psychology take place in any type of society: interpersonal relationships, communication processes, leadership, cohesion - all these are phenomena inherent in any type of social organization. However, in stating this fact, two circumstances must be kept in mind.

Firstly, even these phenomena described in traditional social psychology sometimes acquire completely different content in different social conditions. Formally, the processes remain the same: people communicate with each other, they form certain social attitudes, etc., but what is the content of the various forms of their interaction, what kind of attitudes arise in relation to certain social phenomena - all this is determined by the content of specific social relations . This means that the analysis of all traditional problems takes on new dimensions. The methodological principle of including a meaningful consideration of socio-psychological problems is dictated, among other things, by social needs.

Secondly, the new social reality sometimes gives rise to the need for new emphasis in the study of problems traditional for a given society. Thus, the period of radical economic and political transformations taking place in Russia today requires special attention, for example, to the problems of ethnic psychology (especially in connection with the aggravation of interethnic conflicts), the psychology of entrepreneurship (in connection with the formation of new forms of ownership), etc.

If we proceed from the fact that social psychology, first of all, analyzes those patterns of human behavior and activity that are determined by the fact that people are included in real social groups, then the first empirical fact that this science encounters is the fact of communication and interaction between people. According to what laws do these processes develop, what determines their various forms, what is their structure, and finally, what place do they occupy in the entire complex system of human relations?

The main task, which social psychology faces is to reveal the specific mechanism of “weaving” the individual into the fabric of social reality. This is necessary if we want to understand what is the result of the influence of social conditions on the activity of the individual. But the difficulty lies in the fact that this “result” cannot be interpreted to mean that first there is some kind of “non-social” behavior, and then something “social” is superimposed on it. You cannot first study a personality and only then fit it into the system of social connections. The personality itself, on the one hand, is already a “product” of these social connections, and on the other hand, is their creator, an active creator.

The interaction of the individual and the system of social connections (both the macrostructure - society as a whole, and the microstructure - the immediate environment) is not the interaction of two isolated independent entities located one outside the other. The study of personality is always another side of the study of society.

This means that it is important from the very beginning to consider the individual in the general system of social relations, which is society, that is, in some “social context”. This “context” is represented by a system of real relationships between the individual and the outside world. But the whole point is that the content, the level of these relationships between a person and the world are very different: each individual enters into relationships, but entire groups also enter into relationships with each other and, thus, a person turns out to be the subject of numerous and varied relationships.

Social relations are impersonal; their essence is not in the interaction of specific individuals, but rather in the interaction of specific social roles.

A social role is a fixation of a certain position that one or another individual occupies in the system of social relations.

In reality, each individual performs not one, but several social roles: he can be an accountant, wife, mother, trade union member, tennis team player, etc. A number of roles are assigned to a person at birth (for example, to be a woman or a man - but also here today science has stepped forward, so those who are passionate about it can change not only their name, but also their gender), others are acquired during their lifetime.

However, the social role itself does not determine the activity and behavior of each specific bearer in detail: everything depends on how much the individual learns and internalizes the role. The act of internalization is determined by a number of individual psychological characteristics of each specific bearer of a given role. Therefore, social relations, although in essence they are role-based, impersonal relations, in reality, in their concrete manifestation, acquire a certain “personal coloring”.

Remaining individuals in a system of impersonal social relations, people inevitably enter into interaction and communication, where their individual characteristics inevitably appear. Therefore, each social role does not mean an absolute predetermined pattern of behavior; it always leaves a certain “range of possibilities” for its performer, which can be conditionally called a certain “style of playing the role.” It is this range that is the basis for building the second row of relationships within the system of impersonal social relations - interpersonal ones.

Thus, the interest of modern social psychology is focused around the study of problems of human communication in its interpersonal and intergroup forms, the study of the mechanisms of formation and functioning of groups, the formation of socio-psychological properties and personality traits.

Social Psychology- this is general scientific knowledge about the patterns of social behavior of people and entire groups, and methods of empirical research of this behavior, and a set of effective means and technologies of social influence on such behavior.

The next area we will pay close attention to is management psychology. Its main subject is the production of psychological knowledge used in solving problems of management activities.

The personality of an employee as an integral unit of a work collective is studied by a number of branches of psychology, such as general psychology, labor psychology, engineering psychology, etc. The collective (or group), in turn, is the subject of study of social, military, educational psychology, etc.

A distinctive feature of management psychology is that its object is the organized activities of people. Organized activity is understood not simply as the joint activity of people united by common interests or goals, sympathies or values, but as the activity of people united in one organization, subject to the rules and regulations of this organization, performing their assigned joint work in accordance with economic, technological, legal, organizational, corporate and a number of other requirements.

The rules, norms and requirements of the organization presuppose and give rise to special psychological relationships between people that exist only in the organization - such relationships are called managerial.

Socio-psychological relationships act as relationships between people, mediated by the goals, objectives and values ​​of joint activity, that is, its real content.

Managerial relations constitute organized joint activity and make it organized. In other words, these are not relations in connection with activity, but relations that form a joint activity.

In social psychology, an individual worker acts as a part, as an element of the whole, that is, a social group, outside of which his behavior cannot be understood.

In management psychology, both an individual worker, a social group, and a collective act in the context of the organization to which they belong and without which their analysis in terms of management is incomplete.

Studying the personality of an employee in an organization, analyzing the influence of the organization on the socio-psychological structure and development of the team - these are the main questions facing specialists who study the problems of management psychology.

Unlike labor psychology, in management psychology the topical issue, for example, is not the problem of an employee’s suitability for his profession, not the problem of professional selection and career guidance, but the problem of an employee’s suitability for a specific organization, the problem of selecting people for this organization and their orientation in relation to the peculiarities of the activities of this organization .

The object of management psychology is people included in independent organizations whose activities are focused on corporate-useful goals.

Approaches to understanding the subject of management psychology are diverse, which to a certain extent indicates the complexity of this phenomenon. It is customary to identify the following management problems characteristic of the subject of this branch of psychology:

Social and psychological issues of production groups and teams;

Psychology of leader activity;

Psychology of the personality of a leader;

Psychological problems of selection of management personnel;

Psychological and pedagogical problems of training and retraining of management personnel;

Functional-structural analysis of management activities;

Social and psychological analysis of production and management teams and the relationships of people in them;

Psychological problems of relationships between the manager and subordinates, etc.

Experts in the field of management psychology, among the variety of psychological problems today, highlight a number of the most relevant ones for organizations:

Increasing the professional competence of managers at all levels, that is, improving management styles, interpersonal communication, decision making, strategic planning and marketing, overcoming stress, etc.;

Increasing the efficiency of training and retraining methods for management personnel;

Search and activation of human resources of the organization;

Assessment and selection (selection) of management specialists for the needs of the organization;

Assessing and improving the socio-psychological climate, rallying staff around the goals of the organization.

It is no coincidence that management psychology is given an entire section in this textbook, since the study of its problems and issues is intended to provide psychological training for managers and managers at various levels, to form or develop their psychological management culture, to create the necessary prerequisites for the theoretical understanding and practical application of the most important problems in the field of management, which should include:

Understanding the nature of management processes;

Knowledge of the basics of organizational structure;

A clear understanding of the basic principles and styles of management and leadership, as well as ways to improve management effectiveness;

Knowledge of information technology and communication tools necessary for personnel management;

Knowledge of heuristic methods for solving creative problems;

Ability to express thoughts orally and in writing;

Competence in people management, selection and appropriate training of specialists, in optimizing formal and informal relationships among employees of the organization;

The ability to evaluate one’s own activities, draw adequate conclusions and improve skills based on the requirements of the current day and predicted changes;

A clear understanding of the structural features of the organization, motives and mechanisms of behavior.

Psychodiagnostics is a branch of psychological science and at the same time the most important form of psychological practice, which is associated with the development and use of various methods for recognizing individual psychological characteristics of a person. The term “diagnosis” itself is derived from the well-known Greek roots (“dia” and “gnosis”) and is literally interpreted as “discriminating knowledge.”

The term “diagnostics” is currently actively used not only in psychology and pedagogy, but also in medicine, technology, and other areas of science and social practice. According to modern general scientific understanding, the term “diagnostics” means recognition of the state of a certain object or system by quickly recording its essential parameters and subsequent assignment to a certain diagnostic category in order to predict its behavior and make a decision about the possibilities of influencing this behavior in the desired direction. Accordingly, we talk about psychodiagnostics when we are talking about a special kind of objects of diagnostic knowledge - about specific people endowed with the psyche.

Methods of psychology

Scientific research methods are those techniques and means by which scientists obtain reliable information, which is then used to build scientific theories and develop practical recommendations. The strength of science largely depends on the perfection of research methods, on how valid and reliable they are, how quickly and effectively this branch of knowledge is able to perceive and use all the newest, most advanced that appears in the methods of other sciences.

Method- this is a way, a path to study objective reality, to know the truth. Translated from Greek, "methodos" means "path". According to the fair remark of I. P. Pavlov: “...method is the very first, basic thing. The whole seriousness of the research depends on the method, on the method of action. It’s all about a good method. With a good method, even a not very talented person can do a lot. And with a bad method, even a brilliant person will work in vain and will not receive valuable, accurate data."

Depending on who uses psychological methods and for what purposes, it is advisable to distinguish between methods of scientific research proper and methods directly used in practice. Methods can be more general and more specific. In all cases, the methods of psychology, like the methods of other sciences, explicitly or implicitly reflect the general philosophical positions from which the research is conducted.

The study of mental phenomena is possible only on the basis of the only scientific dialectical-materialist method of cognition, based on objective laws that exist independently of the consciousness and will of people.

Psychology methods aim not only to record facts, but also to explain and reveal their essence. And this is quite natural. After all, the form of objects and phenomena does not coincide with their content. But this requirement cannot always be met using one method, and therefore, when studying mental phenomena, various methods are usually used, complementary to each other. For example, an employee’s manifestation of confusion when performing a certain task, repeatedly noted by observation, has to be clarified by conversation, and sometimes verified by a natural experiment, using targeted tests.

The uniqueness of mental phenomena lies in the fact that they, as such, are inaccessible to direct observation. For example, sensation and thought cannot be seen. Therefore, we have to observe them indirectly. At the same time, the key to understanding a person is given by his practical deeds and actions.

Generalization of information obtained from the study of one personality in various types of activities will reveal the psychological essence of this personality. This reveals one of the basic principles of psychology - the unity of personality and activity.

Since human consciousness is a historical category, and personality is a product of the society in which it was formed, methods of psychological research should also be aimed at identifying social influences on the human psyche. It is impossible, for example, to understand the personality traits of an employee without comparing them with the social conditions of formation. This reveals the second basic principle of psychology - the social conditioning of the human psyche.

Methods of psychology are aimed at studying mental phenomena in development and change. At the same time, the development and changes in the psyche are studied in the history of the animal world, in the history of mankind, with age-related characteristics, under the influence of exercise, training and education, as a result of unfavorable influences of the external environment, as a result of diseases.

Each of these aspects of the study of the psyche relies on its own particular methods. It is extremely important that one or another method used is subordinate to the issue being solved and is adequate to it. First of all, the task that has arisen, the question to be studied, the goal that must be achieved are clarified, and then, in accordance with this, a specific and accessible method is selected. Therefore, not all methods used in scientific and psychological research are required for the practical work of a manager. However, in order to competently use the psychological methods he needs, the manager must be fairly well oriented in the issue of psychological methods.

The main methods of psychology, like most other sciences, are observation and experiment. I. P. Pavlov pointed out their differences back in 1899: “... observation collects what nature offers it, while experience takes from nature what it wants.”

The main and most common method of psychology is the observation method.

Observation- this is a method in which phenomena are studied directly in the conditions under which they occur in real life.

Based on observation, conclusions are drawn about certain mental processes. There are two types of observation - continuous and selective. Continuous observation is when all the features and manifestations of a person’s mental activity are recorded during a certain period. In contrast, with selective observation, attention is paid only to those facts in human behavior that are directly or indirectly related to the issue being studied.

The results of observations carried out for research purposes are usually recorded in special protocols. And although detailed records are not usually kept in everyday activities, it is sometimes useful for a manager to write down the results of his observations. It is good when the observation is carried out not by one person, but by several, and then the data obtained is compared and generalized (by the method of generalizing independent observations).

When using the observation method, the following requirements must be observed as fully as possible:

1. Preliminarily outline an observation program, highlighting the most important objects and stages of observation.

2. The observations made should not affect the natural course of the phenomenon being studied.

3. It is advisable to observe the same mental phenomenon on different faces. Even if the object of study is a specific person, he can be known better and more deeply by comparing him with others.

4. Observation must be repeated, and when studying personality - systematic. It is important that it be consistent, that is, repeated observations take into account information obtained from previous observations.

These requirements for observation as a method of psychology are important not only in the process of scientific research work. They must be taken into account in the practical activities of a modern leader.

Observation can be direct, carried out by the manager himself, or indirect, in which he summarizes a number of information received by him from other persons (deputies, heads of departments and services, etc.)

Special attention should be paid to the so-called method of self-observation. Self-observation method or introspection, for a number of centuries, idealist psychologists considered it as the main and even the only method of psychology. But he did not and could not give answers to the questions facing psychology as a science. Materialistic psychology cannot be limited to what a person says about himself based on his experiences. THEM. Sechenov wrote: “A person does not have any special mental tools for cognizing mental facts, such as internal feeling or mental vision, which, merging with the knowable, would cognize the products of consciousness directly, in essence.”

But this does not mean that psychology should completely abandon introspection, as American behavioral psychologists are trying to prove ("behavior" translated from English means "behavior"). They deny consciousness or consider it unknowable and view psychology as the science of behavior only.

Of course, correctly understood self-observation (in the form of self-control) plays a large role in human life and in psychology. A person can establish through self-observation: “I forgot to do this.” But introspection does not give him an answer to the questions: “Why did you forget?”, “What is the essence of memory?” Therefore, self-observation, although it serves as an important subject of psychological research, cannot be an independent and, especially, the main method of understanding the essence of mental phenomena.

A unique form of observation is conversation, oral or written. Its goal is to clarify a limited range of issues that are difficult to directly observe. However, the great practical significance of conversation, along with the breadth of application, allows us to consider it as an independent, although not the main, method of psychology.

The conversation should be conducted in the form of a casual conversation with the person who is the object of the study. The effectiveness of this method of studying people is determined by compliance with a number of basic requirements. It is necessary to determine the content of the conversation in advance and think through a plan for clarifying the intended range of issues. It is very important to ensure good contact with the person before the conversation, to eliminate anything that could cause tension, wariness or insincerity in him. The questions asked must be clear. Along with direct questions, indirect questions can also be asked. So-called leading questions should be asked thoughtfully so that they do not suggest answers. Sometimes unexpected questions are raised in conversation. During the conversation, you need to observe the person’s behavior and compare the results of the observation with the answers received. The content of the conversation should be remembered for subsequent recording and analysis. Taking notes during the conversation itself is not recommended, as this usually deprives the conversation of ease, puts the person on guard and makes his answers artificial and contrived.

The results of the conversation are judged not only by the content and completeness of the answers to the questions, but also by their “subtext”: noticed omissions, slips of the tongue, as well as the person’s entire behavior.

In modern psychology this method is also known as survey. An oral survey allows you to penetrate deeper into a person’s psychology and his inner world than a written survey, but it requires special preparation, training and, as a rule, a lot of time to conduct the research.

Sometimes used for mass filling out, questionnaires are a kind of “correspondence” conversation (or written survey). The resulting materials, so to speak, lose in the depth and reliability of individual answers, but gain in mass distribution and save time.

Interesting psychology material biographical method that is, an analysis of a person’s life path according to the information that he can report about himself from memory. This method is available to every leader and does not require prior preparation on his part. However, we must remember that literary processing of biographies often distorts the most valuable direct statements of the employees themselves for a psychologist.

In addition to passive observations, specially organized experiments (or experiments) are used in psychology.

Psychological experiment is the study of the characteristics of human activity caused by a purposeful change in conditions, tasks or methods of performing this activity.

The experiment can be carried out both in laboratory and in natural conditions. The manager widely uses the natural experiment method in his practice. Knowledge of the essence and rules of a laboratory experiment helps him in this.

Laboratory experiment studies the features of an artificially formed type of activity. It is based on the principle of psychological modeling of this activity, which makes it possible to study in laboratory conditions any isolated part of an integral activity with great accuracy of recording and measurements and with the required degree of depth and, most importantly, repeatedly. However, it is always advisable to additionally verify the results obtained by this method in experimental studies or at least compare them with materials from repeated observations.

The laboratory experiment method can be aimed at studying individual processes (analytical approach) and activities as a whole (synthetic approach). This method can be hardware-free or hardware-based, with or without objective registration, etc.

Recently, a psychological experiment derived from a laboratory experiment has become increasingly popular. testing method.

The term "test" (in English - task, or test) was introduced in 1890 in England. Tests became widespread in child psychology after 1905, when a series of tests were developed in France to determine the giftedness of children, and in the practice of psychodiagnostics after 1910, when a series of tests for professional selection were developed in Germany.

By using tests, it is possible to obtain a relatively accurate quantitative or qualitative characteristic of the phenomenon being studied. Tests differ from other research methods in that they require a clear procedure for collecting and processing primary data, as well as the originality of their subsequent interpretation. With the help of tests, you can study and compare the psychology of different people, give differentiated and comparable assessments.

The most common test options are: questionnaire test, task test, projective test.

The test questionnaire is based on a system of pre-thought-out, carefully selected and tested questions from the point of view of their validity and reliability, the answers to which can be used to judge the psychological qualities of the subjects.

The test task involves assessing a person’s psychology and behavior based on what he does. In tests of this type, the subject is offered a series of special tasks, based on the results of which they judge the presence or absence and degree of development (severity, accentuation) of the quality being studied.

These types of tests are applicable to people of different ages and genders, belonging to different cultures, having different levels of education, any profession and life experience - this is their positive side. But at the same time, there is also a significant drawback, which is that when using tests, the subject can consciously influence the results obtained at his own request, especially if he knows in advance how the test is structured and how his psychology and behavior will be assessed based on the results. In addition, such tests are not applicable in cases where psychological properties and characteristics are to be studied, the existence of which the subject cannot be completely sure of, is not aware of, or does not consciously want to admit their presence in himself. Such characteristics include, for example, many negative personal qualities and motives of behavior.

In these cases, projective tests are usually used. They are based on the mechanism of projection, according to which a person tends to attribute his unconscious qualities, especially shortcomings, to other people. Such tests are designed to study the psychological and behavioral characteristics of people that cause negative attitudes. Using tests of this type, the psychology of the subject is judged on the basis of how he perceives and evaluates situations, psychology and behavior of people, what personal qualities, motives of a positive or negative nature he attributes to them.

Using a projective test, the psychologist uses it to introduce the subject into an imaginary, plot-undefined situation, subject to arbitrary interpretation. Such a situation could be, for example, the search for a certain meaning in a picture that depicts unknown people, who are not clear about what they are doing. Questions need to be answered about who these people are, what they are concerned about, what they are thinking about, and what will happen next. Based on the meaningful interpretation of the answers, the respondents’ own psychology is judged.

Projective type tests place increased demands on the level of education and intellectual maturity of the test takers, and this is the main practical limitation of their applicability. In addition, such tests require quite a lot of special training and high professional qualifications of the psychologist himself.

Another important problem, relating to almost all types of tests without exception, in the process of conducting the testing procedure itself is the formal, superficial interpretation of the experimental results obtained, the researcher’s conscious refusal to know the essence of the phenomenon being studied and replacing it with a random outcome of the task; in the fetishization of mathematical processing of formal “test” results.

This problem is directly related to the erroneous views of metaphysical functional psychology, which considers each “mental function” as something unchangeable, “always equal to itself” and not connected either with the goals and conditions of human activity, or with other mental functions, or with personality characteristics in in general. In accordance with this, the tests are aimed only at taking into account the quantitative change in the “level of development” of each individual function - psychometrics.

The tasks and assignments themselves (tests of various types) can, if used correctly, provide very valuable material for psychological analysis, but a professionally untrained researcher will not be able to give it an adequate assessment and effectively apply the main principle of a practical psychologist “do no harm.”

A very erroneous opinion (and often leading to very sad consequences in practice) is the opinion that any person, having bought a popular book with psychological tests and briefly familiarized himself with its contents, can introduce himself to those around him as a psychologist and engage in testing at a professional level.

Thus, it is not the test itself that is flawed, but its incorrect use.

Natural experiment in psychology it is organized directly in the conditions of real activity. Not so long ago, it was believed that a laboratory experiment, compared to a natural experiment, benefits from the accuracy of recording measurements of the phenomena being studied, the ability to accurately dose and vary the influence of stimuli, eliminate interfering factors and create comparable conditions. Now this opinion cannot be considered true in all cases. Modern technology opens up wide possibilities for transferring the positive aspects of a laboratory experiment into a natural one. At the same time, there is no main and very significant drawback of the laboratory experiment - the artificial nature of the conditions, which introduces sharp changes in the course of mental processes. In a natural experiment, a person works and learns, sometimes without even knowing, and most often forgetting, that he is the object of research.

Natural experiment has many forms and different techniques. In its simplest form, it is widely used in the form of introductory problems. These tasks can be set by the manager orally (“Something happened, what will you do?”) or by introducing deviations in his work unnoticed by the employee. Just one observation of such a natural experiment provides valuable facts and allows one to test one or another researcher’s hypothesis.

Finds wide application in practical psychology formative(teaching or educating) experiment, in which the skills or qualities of an individual are studied in the process of their formation and development.

A unique methodological technique is a purposeful change in the structure of professional activity. The meaning of this technique is that when performing a certain activity, individual analyzers are turned off according to a pre-thought-out plan, the posture or “grip” of the control levers changes, additional stimuli are introduced, the emotional background and motives of the activity change, etc. Accounting for the results of activities in various conditions allows us to assess the role of certain factors in the structure of the activity being studied and the flexibility of the corresponding skills.

Modeling as a method used in situations where the study of a phenomenon of interest by simple observation, survey, test or experiment is difficult or impossible due to complexity or inaccessibility. In this case, they resort to creating an artificial model of the phenomenon being studied, repeating its main parameters and expected properties. This model is used to study this phenomenon in detail and draw conclusions about its nature.

Models can be technical, logical, mathematical, cybernetic. A mathematical model is an expression or formula that includes variables and relationships between them, reproducing elements and relationships in the phenomenon being studied. Technical modeling involves the creation of a device or device that, in its action, resembles what is being studied. Cybernetic modeling is based on the use of concepts from the field of computer science and cybernetics as model elements. Logic modeling is based on the ideas and symbolism used in mathematical logic.

In addition to the listed methods intended for collecting primary information, psychology widely uses various methods and techniques for processing this data, their logical and mathematical analysis to obtain secondary results, that is, facts and conclusions arising from the interpretation of processed primary information. For this purpose, in particular, various methods of mathematical statistics, without which it is often impossible to obtain reliable information about the phenomena being studied, as well as methods of qualitative analysis.

Not all psychological methods are needed by a manager in his work with staff and subordinates. He selects those that are most justified in specific conditions. Using the methods of psychological science, a number of important practical problems can be solved. At the same time, it is necessary to approach the selection and use of methods creatively, taking into account the specifics of the activity.

Modern psychology: its tasks and place in the system of sciences

In recent years, there has been a rapid development of psychological science, due to the variety of theoretical and practical problems facing it. In our country, interest in psychology is especially indicative - it is finally beginning to be given the attention it deserves, and in almost all sectors of modern education and business.

The main task of psychology is the study of the laws of mental activity in its development. Over the past decades, the range and directions of psychological research have expanded significantly, and new scientific disciplines have emerged. The conceptual apparatus of psychological science has changed, new hypotheses and concepts are put forward, psychology is continuously enriched with new empirical data. So, B.F. Lomov in his book “Methodological and Theoretical Problems of Psychology,” characterizing the current state of science, noted that at present “the need for further (and deeper) development of methodological problems of psychological science and its general theory is sharply increasing.”

The area of ​​phenomena studied by psychology is enormous. It covers processes, states and properties of a person that have varying degrees of complexity - from the elementary discrimination of individual characteristics of an object that affects the senses, to the struggle of personal motives. Some of these phenomena have already been studied quite well, while the description of others comes down to simply recording observations. Many people believe that a generalized and abstract description of the phenomena being studied and their connections is already a theory. However, it should be rightly noted that theoretical work is not limited to this alone; it also includes the comparison and integration of accumulated knowledge, its systematization and much more. Its ultimate goal is to reveal the essence of the phenomena being studied. In this regard, a number of methodological problems arise. If theoretical research is based on an unclear methodological (philosophical) position, then there is a danger of replacing theoretical knowledge with empirical knowledge.

In understanding the essence of mental phenomena, the most important role belongs to the categories of dialectical materialism. B.F. Lomov, in the book already mentioned above, identified the basic categories of psychological science, showed their systemic interconnection, the universality of each of them and at the same time their irreducibility to each other. He identified the following basic categories of psychology: the category of reflection, the category of activity, the category of personality, the category of communication, as well as concepts that, in terms of their level of universality, can be equated to categories - these are the concepts of “social” and “biological.” Identifying objective connections between social and natural properties of a person in development is one of the most difficult tasks of science.

As is known, for many decades psychology was predominantly a theoretical (worldview) discipline. Currently, its role in public life has changed significantly. It is increasingly becoming an area of ​​special professional practical activity in the education system, industry, public administration, medicine, culture, sports, etc. The inclusion of psychological science in solving practical problems significantly changes the conditions for the development of its theory. Problems, the solution of which requires psychological competence, arise in one form or another in all spheres of social life, determined by the increasing role of the so-called human factor. The “human factor” refers to a wide range of socio-psychological, psychological and psychophysiological properties that people possess and which, one way or another, manifest themselves in their specific activities.

This course of lectures is short enough to list and dwell in detail on all the tasks currently posed to psychology by social practice (their number is enormous, because wherever there are people, there are also tasks whose solution involves taking into account the “human factor”). Problems addressed to psychology arise at all levels of the system of higher and secondary specialized education. The study of almost the entire system of mental phenomena - from elementary sensations to the mental properties of the individual - aimed at revealing the objective laws to which they obey, is of paramount importance for creating a scientific base, solving social problems, and improving the organization of training and education.

Society's awareness of the role of applied problems solved by psychological science led to the idea of ​​​​creating an extensive psychological service in the educational system. Currently, such a service is at the stage of its design and development and is intended to become a link between science and the practical application of its results. Almost all educational institutions have introduced a compulsory course in psychology.

The understanding of the possibilities of using psychological data in other sciences largely depends on what place psychology is given in the system of sciences. The place given to psychology in the system of sciences in a given historical period clearly indicated both the level of development of psychological knowledge and the general philosophical orientation of the classification scheme itself. It should be noted that in the history of the spiritual development of society, no branch of knowledge has changed its place in the system of sciences as often as psychology. Currently, the nonlinear classification proposed by Academician B. M. Kedrov is considered the most generally accepted. It reflects the diversity of connections between sciences, due to their subject proximity. The proposed diagram has the shape of a triangle, the vertices of which represent the natural, social and philosophical sciences. This situation is due to the real proximity of the subject and method of each of these main groups of sciences with the subject and method of psychology, oriented, depending on the task at hand, towards one of the vertices of the triangle.

The most important function of psychology in the general system of scientific knowledge is that, synthesizing in a certain respect the achievements of a number of other areas of scientific knowledge, it is, in the words of B. F. Lomov, an integrator of all (at least most) scientific disciplines, the object of research is Human. Famous Russian psychologist B.G. Ananyev developed this issue most fully, showing that psychology is designed to integrate data about a person at the level of specific scientific knowledge.

Let us dwell in more detail on the description of the substantive characteristics of the connection between psychology and the aforementioned triangle of sciences. The main task of psychology is the study of the laws of mental activity in its development. These laws reveal how the objective world is reflected by a person, how, due to this, his actions are regulated, mental activity develops and the mental properties of the individual are formed. The psyche, as is known, is a reflection of objective reality, and therefore the study of psychological laws means, first of all, the establishment of the dependence of mental phenomena on the objective conditions of human life and activity.

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Recently, the study of human psychology has become very popular. In the West, the consulting practice of specialists in this field has existed for quite some time. In Russia, this is a relatively new direction. What is psychology? What are its main functions? What methods and programs do psychologists use to help people in difficult situations?

Psychology concept

Psychology is the study of the mechanisms of functioning of the human psyche. She examines the patterns in various situations, the thoughts, feelings and experiences that arise.

Psychology is what helps us understand our problems and their causes more deeply, realize our shortcomings and strengths. Its study contributes to the development of moral qualities and ethics in a person. Psychology is an important step on the path to self-improvement.

Object and subject of psychology

The object of psychology should be certain carriers of the phenomena and processes studied by this science. A person could be considered such, but by all standards he is a subject of knowledge. That is why the object of psychology is considered to be the activities of people, their interaction with each other, and behavior in various situations.

The subject of psychology has constantly changed over time in the process of developing and improving its methods. Initially, the human soul was considered as it. Then the subject of psychology became the consciousness and behavior of people, as well as their unconscious beginnings. Currently, there are two views on what is the subject of this science. From the point of view of the first, these are mental processes, states and personality traits. According to the second, its subject is the mechanisms of mental activity, psychological facts and laws.

Basic functions of psychology

One of the most important is the study of the characteristics of people’s consciousness, the formation of general principles and patterns according to which the individual acts. This science reveals the hidden capabilities of the human psyche, the reasons and factors influencing people's behavior. All of the above are theoretical functions of psychology.

However, like any other, it has practical applications. Its significance lies in helping a person, developing recommendations and strategies for action in various situations. In all areas where people have to interact with each other, the role of psychology is invaluable. It allows a person to properly build relationships with others, avoid conflicts, learn to respect the interests of other people and take them into account.

Processes in psychology

The human psyche is a single whole. All processes occurring in it are closely interconnected and cannot exist one without the other. That is why dividing them into groups is very arbitrary.

It is customary to distinguish the following processes in human psychology: cognitive, emotional and volitional. The first of these include memory, thinking, perception, attention and sensations. Their main feature is that it is thanks to them that it reacts and responds to influences from the outside world.

They form a person’s attitude towards certain events and allow them to evaluate themselves and those around them. These include feelings, emotions, and mood of people.

Volitional mental processes are represented directly by will and motivation, as well as proactivity. They allow a person to control his actions and actions, manage his behavior and emotions. In addition, volitional mental processes are responsible for the ability to achieve set goals and achieve desired heights in certain areas.

Types of psychology

In modern practice, there are several classifications of types of psychology. The most common is its division into everyday and scientific. The first type is based primarily on people's personal experience. Everyday psychology is intuitive in nature. Most often it is very specific and subjective. Scientific psychology is a science based on rational data obtained through experiments or professional observations. All of its provisions are thought out and precise.

Depending on the scope of application, theoretical and practical types of psychology are distinguished. The first of them studies the patterns and characteristics of the human psyche. Practical psychology sets as its main task providing people with help and support, improving their condition and increasing productivity.

Methods of psychology

To achieve the goals of science in psychology, various methods are used to study consciousness and human behavior. First of all, this includes experimentation. It is a simulation of a particular situation that provokes a certain human behavior. At the same time, scientists record the data obtained and identify the dynamics and dependence of the results on various factors.

Very often in psychology the observation method is used. With its help, various phenomena and processes occurring in the human psyche can be explained.

Recently, survey and testing methods have been widely used. In this case, people are asked to answer certain questions in a limited amount of time. Based on the analysis of the data obtained, conclusions are drawn about the results of the study and certain programs in psychology are drawn up.

To identify problems and their sources in a particular person, it is used. It is based on a comparison and analysis of various events in an individual’s life, key moments in his development, identifying crisis stages and defining stages of development.