Psychology has come a long way of development, the understanding of the object, subject and goals of psychology has changed. Let us note the main stages in the development of psychology as a science.

Stage I - psychology as the science of the soul. This definition of psychology was given more than two thousand years ago. The presence of the soul tried to explain all the incomprehensible phenomena in human life.
Stage II - psychology as a science of consciousness. It arises in the 17th century in connection with the development of the natural sciences. The ability to think, feel, desire is called consciousness. The main method of study was the observation of a person for himself and the description of the facts.
Stage III - psychology as a science of behavior. Arises in the 20th century. The task of psychology is to set up experiments and observe what can be directly seen, namely, behavior, actions, reactions of a person (the motives that cause actions were not taken into account).

Psychology is a science that studies the objective patterns, manifestations and mechanisms of the psyche.

In order to more clearly represent the path of development of psychology as a science, we briefly consider its main stages and directions.

1. The first ideas about the psyche were associated with animism (from Latin anima - spirit,) - the most ancient views, according to which everything that exists in the world has a soul. The soul was understood as an entity independent of the body, controlling all living and inanimate objects.

2. Later, in the philosophical teachings of antiquity, psychological aspects were touched upon, which were solved in terms of idealism or in terms of materialism. Thus, the materialistic philosophers of antiquity Democritus, Lucretius, Epicurus understood the human soul as a kind of matter, as a bodily formation, consisting of spherical, small and most mobile atoms.

3. According to the ancient Greek idealist philosopher Plato (427-347 BC), who was a student and follower of Socrates, the soul is something divine, different from the body, and the human soul exists before it enters in connection with the body. It is the image and outflow of the world soul. The soul is an invisible, sublime, divine, eternal principle. Soul and body are in complex relationship with each other. According to its divine origin, the soul is called upon to control the body, to direct the life of a person. However, sometimes the body takes the soul into its fetters. The body is torn apart by various desires and passions, it takes care of food, is subject to illnesses, fears, temptations. Mental phenomena are divided by Plato into reason, courage (in the modern sense -) and lust ().

Reason is located in the head, courage - in the chest, lust - in the abdominal cavity. The harmonious unity of the rational principle, noble aspirations and desires gives integrity to the spiritual life of a person. The soul lives in the human body and guides him throughout his life, and after death leaves him and enters the divine "world of ideas." Since the soul is the highest thing in a person, he should take care of its health more than the health of the body. Depending on what kind of lifestyle a person led, after his death, a different fate awaits his soul: it will either wander near the earth, burdened with bodily elements, or fly off the earth into an ideal world, into a world of ideas that exists outside of matter and outside of the individual. consciousness. "Aren't people ashamed to take care of money, fame and honors, but not to take care of their mind, truth and their soul and not think that it should be better?" - ask Socrates and Plato.

4. The great philosopher Aristotle in his treatise "On the Soul" singled out psychology as a kind of field of knowledge and for the first time put forward the idea of ​​the inseparability of the soul and the living body. Aristotle rejected the view of the soul as a substance. At the same time, he did not consider it possible to consider the soul in isolation from matter (living bodies). The soul, according to Aristotle, is incorporeal, it is the form of a living body, the cause and purpose of all its vital functions. Aristotle put forward the concept of the soul as a function of the body, and not some external phenomenon in relation to it. The soul, or "psyche", is the engine that allows a living being to realize itself. If the eye were a living being, then its soul would be sight. So the human soul is the essence of a living body, it is the realization of its being, - Aristotle believed. The main function of the soul, according to Aristotle, is the realization of the biological existence of the organism. The center, "psyche", is in the heart, where the impressions from the sense organs come. These impressions form the source of ideas, which, combined with each other as a result of rational thinking, subordinate behavior to themselves. The driving force of human behavior is the desire (internal activity of the body), associated with a feeling of pleasure or displeasure. Sense perceptions constitute the beginning of knowledge. The preservation and reproduction of sensations gives memory. Thinking is characterized by the compilation of general concepts, judgments and conclusions. A special form is the nous (mind), brought in from outside in the form of the divine mind. Thus, the soul manifests itself in various abilities for activity: nourishing, feeling, rational. Higher abilities arise from the lower ones and on their basis. The primary cognitive faculty of man is sensation; it takes the form of sensually perceived objects without their matter, just as "wax takes the impression of a seal without iron." Sensations leave a trace in the form of representations - images of those objects that previously acted on the senses. Aristotle showed that these images are connected in three directions: by similarity, by contiguity and contrast, thereby indicating the main types of connections - associations of mental phenomena. Aristotle believed that knowledge of man is possible only through knowledge of the universe and the order existing in it. Thus, at the first stage, psychology acted as the science of the soul.

5. In the era of the Middle Ages, the idea was established that the soul is a divine, supernatural principle, and therefore the study of mental life should be subordinated to the tasks of theology.

Only the outer side of the soul, which faces the material world, can yield to human judgment. The greatest mysteries of the soul are accessible only in religious (mystical) experience.

6. From the 17th century. a new era begins in the development of psychological knowledge. In connection with the development of the natural sciences, with the help of experimental methods, they began to study the laws of human consciousness. The ability to think and feel is called consciousness. Psychology began to develop as a science of consciousness. It is characterized by attempts to comprehend the spiritual world of a person mainly from general philosophical, speculative positions, without the necessary experimental base. R. Descartes (1596-1650) comes to the conclusion about the difference between the human soul and his body: "The body by its nature is always divisible, while the spirit is indivisible." However, the soul is capable of producing movements in the body. This contradictory dualistic doctrine gave rise to a problem called psychophysical: how are bodily (physiological) and mental (mental) processes in a person related? Descartes created a theory to explain behavior based on a mechanistic model. According to this model, the information delivered by the senses is sent along the sensory nerves to the holes in the brain, which these nerves expand, which allows the "animal souls" located in the brain to flow through the thinnest tubes - the motor nerves - into the muscles, which inflate, which leads to withdrawal of the irritated limb, or causes one or another action to be performed. Thus, there was no need to resort to the soul to explain how simple behavioral acts arise. Descartes laid the foundations for the deterministic (causal) concept of behavior with its central idea as a natural motor response of the organism to external physical stimulation. This is Cartesian dualism - a body that acts mechanically, and a "reasonable soul" that controls it, localized in the brain. Thus, the concept of "Soul" began to turn into the concept of "Mind", and later - into the concept of "Consciousness". The famous Cartesian phrase "I think, therefore I am" became the basis of the postulate that the first thing a person discovers in himself is his own. The existence of consciousness is the main and unconditional fact, and the main task of psychology is to analyze the state and content of consciousness. On the basis of this postulate, psychology began to develop - it made consciousness its subject.

7. An attempt to reunite the body and soul of man, separated by the teachings of Descartes, was made by the Dutch philosopher Spinoza (1632-1677). There is no special spiritual principle, it is always one of the manifestations of an extended substance (matter).

Soul and body are determined by the same material causes. Spinoza believed that such an approach makes it possible to consider the phenomena of the psyche with the same accuracy and objectivity as lines and surfaces are considered in geometry.

22. Significant contribution to the development of psychology of the XX century. introduced by our domestic scientists L.S. (1896-1934), A.N. (1903-1979), A.R. Luria (1902-1977) and P.Ya. (1902-1988). L.S. Vygotsky introduced the concept of higher mental functions (thinking in concepts, rational speech, logical memory, voluntary attention) as a specifically human, socially conditioned form of the psyche, and also laid the foundations for the cultural-historical concept of human mental development. These functions initially exist as forms of external activity, and only later - as a completely internal (intrapsychic) ​​process. They come from forms of verbal communication between people and are mediated. The system of signs determines behavior to a greater extent than the surrounding nature, since a sign, a symbol contains a program of behavior in a collapsed form. Higher mental functions develop in the process of learning, i.e. joint activities of a child and an adult.

A.N. Leontiev carried out a series of experimental studies revealing the mechanism of formation of higher mental functions as a process of "growing" (interiorization) of higher forms of tool-sign actions into the subjective structures of the human psyche.

A.R. Luria paid special attention to the problems of cerebral localization and their disorders. He was one of the founders of a new field of psychological science - neuropsychology.

P.Ya. Galperin considered (from perception to thinking inclusive) as an orienting activity of the subject in problem situations. The psyche itself historically arises only in a situation of mobile life for orientation on the basis of an image and is carried out with the help of actions in terms of this image. P.Ya. Galperin is the author of the concept of the phased formation of mental actions (images, concepts). The practical implementation of this concept can significantly increase the effectiveness of training.

Last update: 06/10/2013

Basic Psychology Facts for Beginners

If you decide to study psychology, then at first it will be difficult for you to understand its vast theories. Remember these 10 basics to get started. They will help you better understand what psychology is.

If psychology is something new to you, most likely, it will seem to you too confusing and extensive science. However, knowing some basic truths can help you get started. The article lists only a small part of the most important postulates that you need to know about this entertaining science. When you have dealt with them, be sure that you are prepared for a deeper study of psychology.

Psychology deals with research in the field of human behavior and the psyche. The term "psychology" itself comes from the Greek word "psyche", which means "breath, spirit, soul", and "logia" - "science". It arose on the foundations of philosophy and the natural sciences, in addition, it also comes into contact with other sciences, for example, sociology, medicine, anthropology, and even linguistics.

One of the most popular misconceptions about psychology is that it is not science, but just chatter, talk based on ordinary common sense. However, psychology successfully uses scientific methods to study its problems and draw subsequent conclusions. Psychologists work with a range of different techniques, such as natural observation, experimentation, case studies, and questionnaires.

Problems and situations that require the attention of psychologists can be viewed from different angles. Take, for example, violence. Some will look at the biological factors that influence its use, while others will look at the problem in terms of culture, family relationships, social pressures, and other situations that can provoke violence. Here are some of the main approaches used in psychology:

• Biological approach;
• cognitive approach;
• Behavioral approach;
• Natural science (evolutionary) approach;
• humanistic approach.

4. Psychology has many divisions

There are many different branches in psychology. In introductory lessons, students usually learn the basics of different areas of professional activity. A deeper study of each area, as a rule, depends on the chosen specialization. Clinical, cognitive, social, personality and developmental psychology are just a few of the possible specializations of a psychologist.

When someone says the word "psychology", do you immediately imagine a kind doctor with a notebook and a patient on the couch, broadcasting about childhood memories? Such therapy, of course, is present in psychology, but this is far from all that psychologists work with. In fact, many do not deal with people's mental health at all, since psychology includes other areas, such as counseling, teaching, research ...

Psychologists are needed in a variety of companies and industries, for example:

• In colleges and universities;
• in private companies;
• In elementary and high schools;
• in hospitals;
• In government offices.

6. Psychology around everyone

Psychology is not only an academic discipline that exists only in classrooms, laboratories and psychological reception rooms. We meet the principles of psychology every day in the most ordinary situations. Print advertisements and the advertisements that are shown on TV every day are based on the psychological influence that convinces us to buy the advertised products and use the services. The various web resources that we regularly visit on the web also use this science to understand how people read and interpret information from web pages.

7. Psychology explores both reality and theory

At the very beginning of studying psychology, it may seem to you that some theories are not very applicable to real life. Here it is important not to forget that psychology is both a theoretical and an applied science. Some psychologists are focused only on adding new things to the total knowledge about the psyche and human behavior (this is fundamental research). Whereas they concentrate on the direct solution of problems in the patient's life, applying psychological principles and theories in real situations (applied research).

If you are considering a career in psychology, you may be pleasantly surprised that you can choose one of the many ways to develop it. Options depend on your education and work experience. It is important to know what kind of training is required, what are the requirements for licenses for a particular specialization. Here are just a few options: clinical and forensic psychology, organizational and industrial psychology and health psychology.

Like, originates in the depths of millennia. The term "psychology" (from the Greek. psyche- soul, logos- doctrine, science) means "the doctrine of the soul." Psychological knowledge has historically developed - some ideas were replaced by others.

The study of the history of psychology, of course, cannot be reduced to a simple enumeration of the problems, ideas and ideas of various psychological schools. In order to understand them, it is necessary to understand their internal connection, the single logic of the formation of psychology as a science.

Psychology as the doctrine of the human soul is always conditioned by anthropology, the doctrine of man in its entirety. Studies, hypotheses, conclusions of psychology, no matter how abstract and private they may seem, imply a certain understanding of the essence of a person, they are guided by one or another of his image. In turn, the doctrine of man fits into the general picture of the world, formed on the basis of the synthesis of knowledge, worldview attitudes of the historical era. Therefore, the history of the formation and development of psychological knowledge is seen as a completely logical process associated with a change in the understanding of the essence of man and with the formation on this basis of new approaches to explaining his psyche.

The history of the formation and development of psychology

Mythological ideas about the soul

Humanity started with mythological picture of the world. Psychology owes its name and first definition to Greek mythology, according to which Eros, the immortal god of love, fell in love with the beautiful mortal woman Psyche. The love of Eros and Psyche was so strong that Eros managed to convince Zeus to turn Psyche into a goddess, making her immortal. Thus, the lovers are united forever. For the Greeks, this myth was a classic image of true love as the highest realization of the human soul. Therefore, Psycho - a mortal who has gained immortality - has become a symbol of the soul, looking for its ideal. At the same time, in this beautiful legend about the difficult path of Eros and Psyche towards each other, a deep thought is guessed about the difficulty of a person mastering his spiritual beginning, his mind and feelings.

The ancient Greeks initially understood the close connection of the soul with its physical basis. The same understanding of this connection can be traced in Russian words: “soul”, “spirit” and “breathe”, “air”. Already in ancient times, the concept of the soul combined into a single complex inherent in external nature (air), the body (breath) and an entity independent of the body that controls life processes (the spirit of life).

In early ideas, the soul was endowed with the ability to go free from the body while a person is sleeping, and live its own life in his dreams. It was believed that at the moment of death of a person, the soul leaves the body forever, flying out through the mouth. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls is one of the most ancient. It was presented not only in ancient India, but also in ancient Greece, especially in the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato.

The mythological picture of the world, where bodies are inhabited by souls (their "doubles" or ghosts), and life depends on the arbitrariness of the gods, has reigned in the public consciousness for centuries.

Psychological knowledge in the ancient period

Psychology as rational knowledge of the human soul originated in antiquity in the depths on the basis of the geocentric picture of the world, placing man at the center of the universe.

Ancient philosophy adopted the concept of the soul from previous mythology. Almost all ancient philosophers tried to express with the help of the concept of the soul the most important essential principle of living nature, considering it as the cause of life and knowledge.

For the first time a man, his inner spiritual world becomes the center of philosophical reflection in Socrates (469-399 BC). Unlike his predecessors, who dealt mainly with the problems of nature, Socrates focused on the inner world of man, his beliefs and values, the ability to act as a rational being. Socrates assigned the main role in the human psyche to mental activity, which was studied in the process of dialogical communication. After his research, the understanding of the soul was filled with such ideas as "good", "justice", "beautiful", etc., which physical nature does not know.

The world of these ideas became the core of the doctrine of the soul of the brilliant student of Socrates - Plato (427-347 BC).

Plato developed the doctrine of immortal soul inhabiting a mortal body, leaving it after death and returning to the eternal supersensible world of ideas. The main thing with Plato is not in the doctrine of immortality and the transmigration of the soul, but in the study of the content of its activities(in modern terminology in the study of mental activity). He showed that the inner activity of souls gives knowledge about realities of supersensible being, the eternal world of ideas. How, then, does the soul, which is in mortal flesh, join the eternal world of ideas? All knowledge, according to Plato, is memory. With appropriate efforts and preparation, the soul can remember what she had a chance to contemplate before her earthly birth. He taught that man is "not an earthly planting, but a heavenly planting."

Plato first identified such a form of mental activity as inner speech: the soul reflects, asks itself, answers, affirms and denies. He was the first to try to reveal the inner structure of the soul, isolating its triple composition: the higher part is the rational principle, the middle part is the volitional principle, and the lower part of the soul is the sensual principle. The rational part of the soul is called upon to coordinate the lower and higher motives and impulses coming from different parts of the soul. Such problems as the conflict of motives were introduced into the sphere of the study of the soul, and the role of the mind in its resolution was considered.

Disciple - (384-322 BC), arguing with his teacher, returned the soul from the supersensible to the sensible world. He introduced the concept of the soul as functions of a living organism rather than some independent entity. The soul, according to Aristotle, is a form, a way of organizing a living body: “The soul is the essence of being and the form is not of such a body as an ax, but of such a natural body, which in itself has the beginning of movement and rest.”

Aristotle singled out different levels of activity abilities in the body. These levels of ability constitute a hierarchy of levels of soul development.

Aristotle distinguishes three types of soul: vegetable, animal and reasonable. Two of them belong to physical psychology, since they cannot exist without matter, the third is metaphysical, i.e. the mind exists separately and independently from the physical body as the divine mind.

Aristotle was the first to introduce into psychology the idea of ​​development from the lower levels of the soul to the highest forms. At the same time, each person, in the process of turning from an infant into an adult being, passes through the steps from the plant to the animal, and from it to the rational soul. According to Aristotle, the soul or "psyche" is engine allowing the organism to realize itself. The center of the "psyche" is in the heart, where the impressions transmitted from the senses come.

When characterizing a person, Aristotle put forward in the first place knowledge, thinking and wisdom. This setting in the views of man, inherent not only to Aristotle, but also to antiquity as a whole, was largely revised within the framework of medieval psychology.

Psychology in the Middle Ages

When studying the development of psychological knowledge in the Middle Ages, a number of circumstances must be taken into account.

Psychology as an independent field of research did not exist during the Middle Ages. Psychological knowledge was included in religious anthropology (the doctrine of man).

The psychological knowledge of the Middle Ages was based on religious anthropology, which was especially deeply developed by Christianity, especially by such "fathers of the church" as John Chrysostom (347-407), Augustine Aurelius (354-430), Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and others.

Christian anthropology comes from theocentric picture world and the main principle of Christian dogma - the principle of creationism, i.e. creation of the world by the divine mind.

It is very difficult for modern scientifically oriented thinking to understand the teachings of the holy fathers, which are predominantly symbolic character.

Man in the teachings of the Holy Fathers appears as central creature in the universe the highest step in the hierarchical ladder of the theater, those. created by God peace.

Man is the center of the universe. This idea was also known to ancient philosophy, which considered man as a "microcosm", a small world, embracing the entire universe.

Christian anthropology has not abandoned the idea of ​​a "microcosm", but the holy fathers have significantly changed its meaning and content.

The "Church Fathers" believed that human nature is connected with all the main spheres of being. Man is connected with the earth with his body: “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul,” the Bible says. Through feelings, a person is connected with the material world, the soul - with the spiritual world, the rational part of which is capable of ascending to the Creator Himself.

Man, the holy fathers teach, is dual in nature: one of his components is external, bodily, and the other is internal, spiritual. The human soul, nourishing the body with which it was created together, is everywhere in the body, and is not concentrated in one place. The Holy Fathers introduce a distinction between "inner" and "outer" man: "God created inner man and blinded external; the flesh is molded, but the soul is created. In modern language, the outer man is a natural phenomenon, and the inner man is a supernatural phenomenon, something mysterious, unknowable, divine.

Unlike the intuitive-symbolic, spiritual-experimental way of knowing a person in Eastern Christianity, Western Christianity followed the path rational comprehension of God, the world and man, having developed such a specific type of thinking as scholasticism(of course, along with scholasticism in Western Christianity, there were also irrational mystical teachings, but they did not determine the spiritual climate of the era). The appeal to rationality ultimately led to the transition of Western civilization in modern times from a theocentric to an anthropocentric picture of the world.

Psychological thought of the Renaissance and Modern times

Humanist movement that originated in Italy in the 15th century. and spread in Europe in the 16th century, was called "Renaissance". Reviving the ancient humanistic culture, this era contributed to the liberation of all sciences and arts from the dogmas and restrictions imposed on them by medieval religious ideas. As a result, the natural, biological and medical sciences began to develop quite actively and made a significant step forward. A movement began in the direction of forming psychological knowledge into an independent science.

A huge influence on the psychological thought of the XVII-XVIII centuries. provided by mechanics, which became the leader of the natural sciences. Mechanical picture of nature led to a new era in the development of European psychology.

The beginning of a mechanical approach to explaining mental phenomena and reducing them to physiology was laid by the French philosopher, mathematician and naturalist R. Descartes (1596-1650), who was the first to develop a model of an organism as an automaton or a system that works like artificial mechanisms in accordance with the laws of mechanics. Thus, a living organism, which was previously considered as animated, i.e. gifted and controlled by the soul, freed from its defining influence and interference.

R. Descartes introduced the concept reflex which later became fundamental for physiology and psychology. In accordance with the Cartesian scheme of the reflex, an external impulse was transmitted to the brain, from where a response occurred, setting the muscles in motion. They gave an explanation of behavior as a purely reflex phenomenon without referring to the soul as the force that moves the body. Descartes hoped that over time, not only simple movements - such as the defensive reaction of the pupil to light or hands to fire - but also the most complex behavioral acts could be explained by the physiological mechanics he had discovered.

Before Descartes, it was believed for centuries that all activity in the perception and processing of mental material is carried out by the soul. He also argued that the bodily device and without it is able to successfully cope with this task. What are the functions of the soul?

R. Descartes considered the soul as a substance, i.e. an entity independent of anything else. The soul was defined by him according to a single sign - the direct awareness of its phenomena. Its purpose was to knowledge of the subject about his own acts and states, invisible to anyone else. Thus, there was a turn in the concept of "soul", which became the reference for the next stage in the history of the construction of the subject of psychology. From now on, this subject becomes consciousness.

Descartes, on the basis of a mechanistic approach, raised a theoretical question about the interaction of "soul and body", which later became the subject of discussion for many scientists.

Another attempt to build a psychological doctrine of man as an integral being was made by one of the first opponents of R. Descartes - the Dutch thinker B. Spinoza (1632-1677), who considered the whole variety of human feelings (affects) as motivating forces of human behavior. He substantiated the general scientific principle of determinism, which is important for the understanding of psychic phenomena—universal causation and natural scientific explainability of any phenomena. He entered science in the form of the following statement: "The order and connection of ideas are the same as the order and connection of things."

Nevertheless, a contemporary of Spinoza, the German philosopher and mathematician G.V. Leibniz (1646-1716) considered the correlation of spiritual and bodily phenomena on the basis of psychophysiological parallelism, i.e. their independent and parallel coexistence. He considered the dependence of mental phenomena on bodily phenomena an illusion. The soul and body act independently, but between them there is a pre-established harmony based on the Divine mind. The doctrine of psychophysiological parallelism found many supporters during the formative years of psychology as a science, but at the present time belongs to history.

Another idea of ​​G.V. Leibniz that each of the countless monads (from the Greek. monos- one) of which the world consists, "mental" and endowed with the ability to perceive everything that happens in the Universe, has found unexpected empirical confirmation in some modern concepts of consciousness.

It should also be noted that G. W. Leibniz introduced the concept "unconscious" into the psychological thought of the New Age, designating unconscious perceptions as “small perceptions”. Awareness of perceptions becomes possible due to the fact that a special mental act is added to a simple perception (perception) - apperception, which includes memory and attention. Leibniz's ideas significantly changed and expanded the concept of the mental. His concepts of the unconscious psyche, small perceptions and apperceptions have become firmly established in scientific psychological knowledge.

Another direction in the formation of new European psychology is associated with the English thinker T. Hobbes (1588-1679), who completely rejected the soul as a special entity and believed that there is nothing in the world but material bodies moving according to the laws of mechanics. Psychic phenomena were brought under the action of mechanical laws. T. Hobbes believed that sensations are a direct result of the impact of material objects on the body. According to the law of inertia, discovered by G. Galileo, representations appear from sensations in the form of their weakened trace. They form a sequence of thoughts in the same order in which the sensations were replaced. This connection was later called associations. T. Hobbes proclaimed reason to be the product of association, which has as its source the direct influence of the material world on the sense organs.

Before Hobbes, rationalism reigned in psychological teachings (from lat. pacationalis- reasonable). Starting with it, experience was taken as the basis of knowledge. Rationalism T. Hobbes opposed empiricism (from the Greek. empeiria- experience), from which arose empirical psychology.

In the development of this direction, a prominent role belonged to the compatriot of T. Hobbes - J. Locke (1632-1704), who in the experiment itself identified two sources: sensation and reflection, by which he understood the internal perception of the activity of our mind. concept reflections firmly established in psychology. The name of Locke is associated with such a method of psychological knowledge as introspection, i.e. internal self-observation of ideas, images, representations, feelings, as they are to the “internal gaze” of the subject observing him.

Starting with J. Locke, phenomena become the subject of psychology consciousness, which generate two experiences - external emanating from the sense organs, and interior accumulated by the individual's own mind. Under the sign of this picture of consciousness, the psychological concepts of subsequent decades were formed.

The birth of psychology as a science

At the beginning of the XIX century. new approaches to the psyche began to be developed, based not on mechanics, but on physiology, which turned the organism into an object experimental study. Physiology translated the speculative views of the previous era into the language of experience and investigated the dependence of mental functions on the structure of the sense organs and the brain.

The discovery of differences between sensory (sensory) and motor (motor) nerve pathways leading to the spinal cord made it possible to explain the mechanism of nerve communication as "reflex arc" the excitation of one shoulder of which naturally and irreversibly activates the other shoulder, generating a muscular reaction. This discovery proved the dependence of the functions of the organism, concerning its behavior in the external environment, on the bodily substrate, which was perceived as refutation of the doctrine of the soul as a special incorporeal entity.

Studying the effect of stimuli on the nerve endings of the sense organs, the German physiologist G.E. Müller (1850-1934) formulated the position that the nervous tissue does not possess any other energy than the known physics. This position was elevated to the rank of law, as a result of which mental processes moved in the same row as the nervous tissue visible under a microscope and dissected with a scalpel, which generates them. True, the main thing remained unclear - how the miracle of the generation of psychic phenomena is accomplished.

German physiologist E.G. Weber (1795-1878) identified the relationship between a continuum of sensations and a continuum of physical stimuli that elicited them. In the course of experiments, it was found that there is a quite definite (different for different sense organs) relationship between the initial stimulus and the subsequent one, in which the subject begins to notice that the sensation has become different.

The foundations of psychophysics as a scientific discipline were laid by the German scientist G. Fechner (1801-1887). Psychophysics, without touching upon the issue of the causes of mental phenomena and their material substratum, revealed empirical dependencies on the basis of the introduction of experiment and quantitative research methods.

The work of physiologists on the study of the sense organs and movements prepared a new psychology, different from traditional psychology, which is closely connected with philosophy. The ground was created for the separation of psychology from both physiology and philosophy as a separate scientific discipline.

At the end of the XIX century. Almost simultaneously, several programs for the construction of psychology as an independent discipline took shape.

The greatest success fell to the share of W. Wundt (1832-1920), a German scientist who came to psychology from physiology and was the first to collect and combine into a new discipline created by various researchers. Calling this discipline physiological psychology, Wundt began to study problems borrowed from physiologists - the study of sensations, reaction times, associations, psychophysics.

Having organized the first psychological institute in Leipzig in 1875, W. Wundt decided to study the content and structure of consciousness on a scientific basis by isolating the simplest structures in the internal experience, laying the foundation for structuralist approach to consciousness. Consciousness was divided into mental elements(sensations, images), which became the subject of study.

A unique subject of psychology, not studied by any other discipline, was recognized as "direct experience". The main method is introspection, the essence of which was to observe the subject of the processes in his mind.

The method of experimental introspection has significant shortcomings, which very quickly led to the abandonment of the consciousness research program proposed by W. Wundt. The disadvantage of the method of introspection for building scientific psychology is its subjectivity: each subject describes his experiences and sensations, which do not coincide with the feelings of another subject. The main thing is that consciousness is not made up of some frozen elements, but is in the process of development and constant change.

By the end of the XIX century. The enthusiasm that Wundt's program once awakened has dried up, and the understanding of the subject of psychology inherent in it has lost credibility forever. Many of Wundt's students broke with him and took a different path. At present, the contribution of W. Wundt is seen in the fact that he showed which way psychology should not go, since scientific knowledge develops not only by confirming hypotheses and facts, but also by refuting them.

Realizing the failure of the first attempts to build a scientific psychology, the German philosopher W. Dilypey (1833-1911) put forward the idea of ​​"two hesychologies": an experimental one, related in its method to the natural sciences, and another psychology, which, instead of an experimental study of the psyche, deals with the interpretation of the manifestation of the human spirit. He separated the study of the connections of mental phenomena with the bodily life of an organism from their connections with the history of cultural values. He called the first psychology explanatory, second - understanding.

Western psychology in the 20th century

Western psychology of the 20th century. It is customary to distinguish three main schools, or, using the terminology of the American psychologist L. Maslow (1908-1970), three forces: behaviorism, psychoanalysis and humanistic psychology. In recent decades, the fourth direction of Western psychology has been developed very intensively - transpersonal psychology.

Historically the first was behaviorism, which got its name from the understanding of the subject of psychology proclaimed by him - behavior (from the English. behavior - behavior).

The American zoopsychologist J. Watson (1878-1958) is considered the founder of behaviorism in Western psychology, since it was he who, in the article “Psychology as the behaviorist sees it”, published in 1913, called for the creation of a new psychology, stating the fact that for half a century of its existence as an experimental discipline of psychology has failed to take its rightful place among the natural sciences. Watson saw the reason for this in a false understanding of the subject and methods of psychological research. The subject of psychology, according to J. Watson, should be not consciousness, but behavior.

The subjective method of internal self-observation should be replaced accordingly objective methods external observation of behavior.

Ten years after Watson's keynote article, behaviorism came to dominate almost all of American psychology. The fact is that the pragmatic orientation of research into mental activity in the United States was due to requests from the economy, and later from the mass media.

Behaviorism included the teachings of I.P. Pavlov (1849-1936) about the conditioned reflex and began to consider human behavior from the point of view of conditioned reflexes formed under the influence of the social environment.

The original scheme of J. Watson, explaining behavioral acts as a reaction to presented stimuli, was further improved by E. Tolman (1886-1959) by introducing an intermediate link between the stimulus from the environment and the individual's response in the form of the individual's goals, his expectations, hypotheses, cognitive map peace, etc. The introduction of an intermediate link somewhat complicated the scheme, but did not change its essence. The general approach of behaviorism to man as animal,verbal behavior, remained unchanged.

In the work of the American behaviorist B. Skinner (1904-1990) “Beyond Freedom and Dignity”, the concepts of freedom, dignity, responsibility, morality are considered from the standpoint of behaviorism as derivatives of the “system of incentives”, “reinforcement programs” and are evaluated as “a useless shadow in human life."

The most powerful influence on Western culture was psychoanalysis, developed by Z. Freud (1856-1939). Psychoanalysis introduced into Western European and American culture the general concepts of "psychology of the unconscious", ideas about the irrational moments of human activity, conflict and splitting of the inner world of the individual, the "repressiveness" of culture and society, etc. etc. Unlike behaviorists, psychoanalysts began to study consciousness, build hypotheses about the inner world of the individual, introduce new terms that claim to be scientific, but not amenable to empirical verification.

In psychological literature, including educational literature, Z. Freud's merit is seen in his appeal to the deep structures of the psyche, to the unconscious. Pre-Freudian psychology took a normal, physically and mentally healthy person as an object of study and paid the main attention to the phenomenon of consciousness. Freud, having begun to explore, as a psychiatrist, the inner mental world of neurotic personalities, developed a very simplified a model of the psyche, consisting of three parts - conscious, unconscious and superconscious. In this model, 3. Freud did not discover the unconscious, since the phenomenon of the unconscious has been known since antiquity, but swapped consciousness and the unconscious: the unconscious is a central component of the psyche, on which the consciousness is built up. The unconscious itself was interpreted by him as a sphere of instincts and drives, the main of which is the sexual instinct.

The theoretical model of the psyche, developed in relation to the psyche of sick individuals with neurotic reactions, was given the status of a general theoretical model explaining the functioning of the psyche in general.

Despite the obvious difference and, it would seem, even the opposite of approaches, behaviorism and psychoanalysis are similar to each other - both of these areas built psychological ideas without resorting to spiritual realities. Not without reason, representatives of humanistic psychology came to the conclusion that both main schools - behaviorism and psychoanalysis - did not see a person as specifically human, ignored the real problems of human life - the problems of goodness, love, justice, as well as the role of morality, philosophy, religion, and were nothing else, as "slandering a person." All of these real problems are seen as derived from basic instincts or social relationships and communications.

“Western psychology of the 20th century,” as S. Grof writes, “created a very negative image of a person - some kind of biological machine with instinctive impulses of an animal nature.”

Humanistic psychology represented by L. Maslow (1908-1970), K. Rogers (1902-1987). V. Frankl (b. 1905) and others made it their task to introduce real problems into the field of psychological research. Representatives of humanistic psychology considered a healthy creative personality to be the subject of psychological research. The humanistic orientation was expressed in the fact that love, creative growth, higher values, meaning were considered as basic human needs.

The humanistic approach departs furthest from scientific psychology, assigning the main role to the personal experience of a person. According to humanists, the individual is capable of self-esteem and can independently find a way to the flowering of his personality.

Along with the humanistic trend in psychology, dissatisfaction with attempts to build psychology on the worldview basis of natural-scientific materialism is also expressed by transpersonal psychology, which proclaims the need for a transition to a new paradigm of thinking.

The first representative of the transpersonal orientation in psychology is the Swiss psychologist K.G. Jung (1875-1961), although Jung himself called his psychology not transpersonal, but analytical. Attribution to K.G. Jung to the forerunners of transpersonal psychology is held on the basis that he considered it possible for a person to overcome the narrow boundaries of his "I" and personal unconscious, and connect with the higher "I", the higher mind, commensurate with all of humanity and the cosmos.

Jung shared the views of Z. Freud until 1913, when he published a keynote article in which he showed that Freud quite wrongly reduced all human activity to a biologically inherited sexual instinct, while human instincts are not biological, but entirely symbolic in nature. K.G. Jung did not ignore the unconscious, but paying great attention to its dynamics, he gave a new interpretation, the essence of which is that the unconscious is not a psychobiological dump of rejected instinctive tendencies, repressed memories and subconscious prohibitions, but a creative, rational principle that connects a person with all of humanity, with nature and space. Along with the individual unconscious, there is also the collective unconscious, which, being supra-personal, transpersonal in nature, forms the universal basis of the spiritual life of every person. It was this idea of ​​Jung that was developed in transpersonal psychology.

American psychologist, founder of transpersonal psychology S. Grof states that the worldview based on natural-scientific materialism, which has long been outdated and has become an anachronism for theoretical physics of the 20th century, still continues to be considered scientific in psychology, to the detriment of its future development. "Scientific" psychology cannot explain the spiritual practice of healing, clairvoyance, the presence of paranormal abilities in individuals and entire social groups, conscious control of internal states, etc.

The atheistic, mechanistic and materialistic approach to the world and existence, S. Grof believes, reflects a deep alienation from the core of being, the lack of a true understanding of oneself and the psychological suppression of the transpersonal spheres of one's own psyche. This means, according to the views of supporters of transpersonal psychology, that a person identifies himself with only one partial aspect of his nature - with the bodily "I" and chilotropic (ie, associated with the material structure of the brain) consciousness.

Such a truncated attitude towards oneself and one's own existence is ultimately fraught with a sense of the futility of life, alienation from the cosmic process, as well as insatiable needs, competitiveness, vanity, which no achievement can satisfy. On a collective scale, such a human condition leads to alienation from nature, to an orientation towards "limitless growth" and obsession with the objective and quantitative parameters of existence. As experience shows, this way of being in the world is extremely destructive both on a personal and collective level.

Transpersonal psychology considers a person as a cosmic and spiritual being, inextricably linked with all of humanity and the Universe, with the ability to access the global information field.

In the last decade, a lot of work has been published on transpersonal psychology, and in textbooks and manuals this direction is presented as the latest achievement in the development of psychological thought without any analysis of the consequences of the methods used in the study of the psyche. The methods of transpersonal psychology, which claims to cognize the cosmic dimension of man, meanwhile are not connected with the concepts of morality. These methods are aimed at the formation and transformation of special, altered states of a person with the help of dosed use of drugs, various types of hypnosis, hyperventilation of the lungs, etc.

There is no doubt that the research and practice of transpersonal psychology discovered the connection of a person with the cosmos, the exit of human consciousness beyond the usual barriers, overcoming the limitations of space and time during transpersonal experiences, proved the very existence of a spiritual sphere, and much more.

But in general, this way of studying the human psyche seems to be very pernicious and dangerous. The methods of transpersonal psychology are designed to break down the natural defenses and penetrate into the spiritual space of the individual. Transpersonal experiences occur in a state of drug intoxication, hypnosis or increased breathing and do not lead to spiritual purification and spiritual growth.

Formation and development of domestic psychology

I.M. Sechenov (1829-1905), and not the American J. Watson, since the first in 1863 in the treatise "Reflexes of the Brain" came to the conclusion that self-regulation of behavior organism through signals is the subject of psychological research. Later I.M. Sechenov began to define psychology as the science of the origin of mental activity, which included perception, memory, and thinking. He believed that mental activity is built according to the type of reflex and includes, after the perception of the environment and its processing in the brain, the response work of the motor apparatus. In the works of Sechenov, for the first time in the history of psychology, the subject of this science began to cover not only the phenomena and processes of consciousness and the unconscious psyche, but also the entire cycle of interaction of the organism with the world, including its external bodily actions. Therefore, for psychology, according to I.M. Sechenov, the only reliable method is the objective, not the subjective (introspective) method.

Sechenov's ideas had an impact on world science, but they were mainly developed in Russia in the teachings I.P. Pavlova(1849-1936) and V.M. ankylosing spondylitis(1857-1927), whose works approved the priority of the reflexological approach.

In the Soviet period of Russian history, in the first 15-20 years of Soviet power, an inexplicable, at first glance, phenomenon was revealed - an unprecedented rise in a number of scientific fields - physics, mathematics, biology, linguistics, including psychology. For example, in 1929 alone, about 600 titles of books on psychology were published in the country. New directions are emerging: in the field of the psychology of education - pedology, in the field of the psychology of labor activity - psychotechnics, brilliant work was carried out on defectology, forensic psychology, zoopsychology.

In the 30s. Devastating blows were dealt to psychology by the decisions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and almost all basic psychological concepts and psychological research outside the framework of Marxist guidelines were banned. Historically, psychology itself has contributed to this attitude towards research in the field of the psyche. Psychologists - at first in theoretical studies and within the walls of laboratories - as if relegated to the background, and then completely denied a person's right to an immortal soul and spiritual life. Then theoreticians were replaced by practitioners and began to treat people as soulless objects. This arrival was not accidental, but prepared by a previous development in which psychology also played its part.

By the end of the 50s - the beginning of the 60s. a situation arose when psychology was assigned the role of a section in the physiology of higher nervous activity and a complex of psychological knowledge in Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Psychology was understood as a science that studies the psyche, the patterns of its emergence and development. The understanding of the psyche was based on the Leninist theory of reflection. The psyche was defined as the property of highly organized matter - the brain - to reflect reality in the form of mental images. Mental reflection was considered as an ideal form of material existence. Dialectical materialism was the only possible ideological basis for psychology. The reality of the spiritual as an independent entity was not recognized.

Even under these conditions, Soviet psychologists such as S.L. Rubinstein (1889-1960), L.S. Vygotsky (1896-1934), L.N. Leontiev (1903-1979), D.N. Uznadze (1886-1950), A.R. Luria (1902-1977), made a significant contribution to world psychology.

In the post-Soviet era, new opportunities opened up for Russian psychology and new problems arose. The development of domestic psychology in modern conditions no longer corresponded to the rigid dogmas of dialectical materialist philosophy, which, of course, provides freedom for creative search.

Currently, there are several orientations in Russian psychology.

Marxist-oriented psychology. Although this orientation has ceased to be dominant, unique and mandatory, however, for many years it has formed the paradigms of thinking that determine psychological research.

Westernized psychology represents an assimilation, adaptation, imitation of Western trends in psychology, which were rejected by the previous regime. Usually, productive ideas do not arise on the paths of imitation. In addition, the main currents of Western psychology reflect the psyche of a Western European person, and not a Russian, Chinese, Indian, etc. Since there is no universal psyche, the theoretical schemes and models of Western psychology do not possess universality.

Spiritually Oriented Psychology, aimed at restoring the “vertical of the human soul”, is represented by the names of psychologists B.S. Bratusya, B. Nichiporova, F.E. Vasilyuk, V.I. Slobodchikova, V.P. Zinchenko and V.D. Shadrikov. Spiritually oriented psychology relies on traditional spiritual values ​​and the recognition of the reality of spiritual being.

Our whole life is an endless series of events, situations, deeds, meetings, conversations, changes, victories and defeats, hopes and disappointments. In other words, a person's life is a constant interaction of his inner world with the surrounding reality. Every day we wake up, start our day, do different things, communicate with a lot of people, go to work, grow a business or do something else. Human life in the modern world is life in the world of high technologies, an endless flow of information, rapid development and change. And in order to meet all the requirements of the surrounding reality, a person must be internally stable, developed, able to overcome difficulties and have an unbending inner core that will always support and help to remain strong. The modern world is ready to absorb a person in a matter of seconds, make him a part of the gray mass, depersonalize, devastate and throw him to the sidelines. And if a person is not ready for this, then defeat cannot be avoided. But there is a way to emerge victorious in this fight.

One of the most important knowledge for a person in our time is knowledge in the field of psychology, and one of the most important skills is the ability to apply them in practice. To understand people, to be able to find a common language with them and communicate, to be able to instantly adapt to any situation, to always help yourself and others, you need to understand psychology. So that the problems and stress that today are pressing on a person with great force do not break you or your loved ones, and you or they can continue on their way, you need to understand human psychology. To understand others at a deep level, to be able to nurture yourself, raise your children, influence others, you need to know the nuances of people's psychology. To achieve success, achieve new results, conquer new heights, live in prosperity, harmony and well-being, you need to have important knowledge - knowledge about human psychology.

Given the importance of psychological knowledge, as well as the reasons that motivate people to grow and develop, their desire to become better and improve their lives, we have created this course called "Human Psychology". In the lessons of this course, we examine in detail very important things: we reveal the main and key problems of human psychology, the stages and patterns of its development and the formation of its personality, the formation of the characteristics of its behavior and communication with people. This course provides an opportunity to answer questions about how to understand human psychology, how to influence your life, those around you and, most importantly, yourself. The study of psychology and the application of the acquired knowledge in life contributes to personal growth, improving personal life, establishing excellent relationships, achieving success in the professional field and other areas of activity. This course "Human Psychology" is an online training consisting of lessons that contain interesting theoretical information about human psychology, examples (experiments, tests, experiments) are given, and, most importantly, a large number of practical tips are given that you can put into practice already on the first day of acquaintance with the training. At the end of the course there are links to useful materials: books (including audio books), videos, seminar recordings, experiments and quotes about psychology.

Psychology(from the ancient Greek “knowledge of the soul”) is a science that studies structures and processes inaccessible to external observation (sometimes called the “soul”) in order to explain human behavior, as well as the behavior of individuals, groups and collectives.

It is a complex, but important and interesting discipline to study. As it has probably already become clear, human psychology is a very exciting area of ​​​​scientific knowledge and covers many sections that you can get acquainted with if you wish, on your own. You can even say that it is from this moment that your self-development will begin, because. you will already decide on your own what exactly you would like to learn and begin to master new knowledge. Human psychology, in itself, has many properties, one of which is the fear of everything new and incomprehensible. For many people, this is an obstacle to self-development and achieving the desired results. We recommend that you put aside any fears and doubts, and start studying the materials of our site and this course. After a while, you will be proud of yourself, thanks to new skills and results achieved.

Object of psychology- is a person. From this we can conclude that any psychologist (or interested in psychology) is a researcher of himself, due to which a close relationship between the objective and the subjective arises in psychological theories.

Subject of psychology in different historical epochs has always been understood in different ways and from the standpoint of different areas of psychological science:

• Soul. Until the beginning of the 18th century, all researchers adhered to this position.
• Phenomena of consciousness. Direction: English empirical associationist psychology. Main representatives: David Gartley, John Stuart Mill, Alexander Bain, Herbert Spencer.
• The direct experience of the subject. Direction: structuralism. Main representatives: Wilhelm Wundt.
• Adaptability. Direction: functionalism. Chief Representatives: William James.
• Origin of mental activities. Direction: psychophysiology. Main representatives: Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov.
• Behavior. Direction: behaviorism. Main representatives: John Watson.
• Unconscious. Direction: psychoanalysis. Main representatives: Sigmund Freud.
• Information processing processes and their results. Direction: Gestalt psychology. Main representatives: Max Wertheimer.
• Person's personal experience. Direction: humanistic psychology. Main representatives: Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Viktor Frankl, Rollo May.

The main sections of psychology:

• Acmeology
• differential psychology
• gender psychology
• cognitive psychology
• Virtual psychology
• Military psychology
• Applied psychology
• Engineering psychology
• Clinical (medical psychology)
• Neuropsychology
• pathopsychology
• Psychosomatics and psychology of corporality
• Oncopsychology
• Psychotherapy
• Pedagogical psychology
• Psychology of art
• Psychology of parenthood
• Labor psychology
• Sports Psychology
• Psychology of management
• Economic psychology
• Ethnopsychology
• legal psychology
• criminal psychology
• Forensic psychology

As it is easy to see, there are many sections of psychology, and different directions study different aspects of a person's personality and his activities. Which section will be to your liking personally, you can determine by reading each of them yourself. In our course, we consider human psychology in general, without highlighting any areas, types or sections, but making it possible to apply new skills in any area of ​​life.

Application of psychological knowledge

The application of psychological knowledge is necessary and useful in absolutely any field of human activity: family, study, science, work, business, friendship, love, creativity, etc. But it is important to learn how to apply relevant knowledge in different situations. After all, what can work effectively in communication with work colleagues may not work at all in a relationship with a loved one. What is suitable for a family may not be useful in creativity. Although, of course, there are general techniques that are universal and operate almost always and everywhere.

Knowledge of psychology gives a person many advantages: they develop and make them more erudite, educated, interesting, diversified. A person with psychological knowledge is able to understand the true causes of events happening to him (and others), to realize the motives of his behavior and understand the motives of the behavior of others. Knowledge of human psychology is the ability to solve many problems with significantly greater speed and efficiency, increase the ability to withstand adversity and failure, the ability to achieve outstanding results where others cannot. The skill of applying psychological knowledge, provided it is systematically and regularly consolidated, will make you a stronger personality with significant advantages over the rest. The list of all the advantages can be very, very long. But, as they say, it is better to see once than hear a hundred times. And drawing an analogy with this saying, we can say that it is better to apply once than read a hundred times.

It is also worth noting that the knowledge of psychology has long been applied by you in everyday life. But this is only done spontaneously, unconsciously and without understanding what strength, power and potential this knowledge actually carries in itself. And if you really want to get closer to your “best self” and improve your life, this can and should be deliberately learned.

How to learn it?

Naturally, knowledge about psychology is not present in us from birth, but is formed during life. Someone, of course, has a predisposition to psychology. Such people often become psychologists, intuitively understand people, look at life a little differently. Others have to specifically study psychological knowledge, put more effort and patience in order to assimilate it. But, in any case, you can learn everything. And to master the skill of applying psychological knowledge - even more so. And, you can do it yourself.

There are two aspects of learning this skill - theoretical and practical.

• Theoretical aspect of psychology- this is the knowledge that is taught in educational institutions, and is also given in the presented course;
• Practical aspect of psychology- this is the application of new knowledge in life, i.e. transition from theory to practice.

But it often happens that a theory remains a theory, because people simply do not know what to do with the information that they now own. Any lessons, courses, trainings, lectures, seminars, etc. should be aimed at the practical application of knowledge in real life.

With this feature in mind, the course, the introduction to which you are now reading, was compiled. The purpose of this course is not only to give you a good theoretical base of psychological knowledge, but also to teach you how to use this knowledge. All lessons of the course have a two-way focus - theory and practice. The theoretical part contains the most important knowledge on the topic of human psychology and represents their quintessence. The practical part, in turn, consists of recommendations, tips, psychological methods and techniques designed for you to use them.

This course "Human Psychology" is:

• Systematized and understandable to any person material, presented in a simple, interesting and accessible form.
• A collection of useful tips and tricks that are easy to put into practice from day one.
• The opportunity to see yourself and your life, as well as other people from a new, previously unknown side.
• The opportunity to increase the level of one's intellect, education and erudition by several levels, which undoubtedly plays a significant role in the life of a modern person.
• The opportunity to find the main motivating force that will encourage you to go only forward and achieve success.
• The opportunity to grow as a person and improve the level and quality of your life.
• The opportunity to learn how to establish contact with any people (from your own children and parents to bosses and hooligans on the street).
• The way to come to harmony and happiness.

Do you want to test your knowledge?

If you want to test your theoretical knowledge on the topic of the course and understand how it suits you, you can take our test. Only 1 option can be correct for each question. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question.

Psychology lessons

Having studied a lot of theoretical materials, choosing the most important and adapting it for practical application, we have created a number of lessons on human psychology. They discuss the most popular sections and areas of psychology, provide data from scientific research and opinions of specialists. But the most important thing is that the emphasis of each lesson is on practical advice and recommendations.

How to take classes?

The information from the lessons of this course is fully adapted for practical use and is suitable for absolutely everyone. The most important thing here, as has been said more than once, is the transition from theory to practice. You can read smart books for years and know a lot of things, but all this will be equal to zero if it remains just a baggage of knowledge.

You can divide the study of all lessons into several stages. For example, set yourself the task of studying 2 lessons a week: 1 day - studying the material, 2 days - testing in practice, 1 day - day off, etc. But you need not just to read, but to study: carefully, consciously, purposefully. The very tips and practical recommendations presented in the lessons are important not just to check or apply once, but to systematically implement them into your daily activities. Develop the habit of always remembering that you are studying human psychology - this will automatically make you want to apply something new in life again and again. The skill of applying psychological knowledge in practice will eventually become honed and automatic, because it is more dependent on experience. And our lessons are just aimed at teaching you how to get this experience and give it the right direction.

Additions and auxiliary materials:

Psychological games and exercises

Games and exercises created specifically to learn the features of the human psyche. There are different types of such games and exercises: for children and for adults, mass and single, for men and women, arbitrary and purposeful, etc. The use of psychological games and exercises helps people understand others and themselves, form some qualities and get rid of others, etc. This includes exercises for the development of various qualities, overcoming stress, increasing self-esteem, role-playing, educational, recreational games and many other games and exercises.

How to become psychologically strong and confident person? Life is a struggle and there is no getting away from it. We cannot hide and run forever, hoping that someone will solve all the problems for us. The following techniques will help you develop self-confidence and become more mentally stable.

Development of psychological strength

Of course, there are people who from an early age show exceptional courage and determination, quickly react to a change in the situation and skillfully cope with their fears, but, unfortunately, there are extremely few such lucky ones.

Most people are constantly faced with their own shyness, doubts, insecurities, they are afraid to take risks, change something, hit back at hooligans or challenge the injustice of their boss.

The wonderful fact is that everyone is afraid. There is no one who is never afraid. When a champion boxer enters the ring, the amount of adrenaline, the hormone of fear, goes through the roof in his blood, even if he is against a newcomer who put on gloves yesterday. After the fight, adrenaline is replaced by the rage hormone, norepinephrine, in both boxers. The body has ceased to be afraid, it is tuned only to continue the action.

6 Exercises to Develop Psychological Strength

Obviously, the fear will never go away. He will always be inside, discouraging us from doing what needs to be done. But it can and should be fought against, and various ways of training psychological stability help in this:

Technique "Cage"

If you feel constrained, insecure, being in a group of people, for example, in line at a clinic or in the subway, making eye contact with strangers - imagine that you are looking at a beast locked in a cage. They are not watching your every move - you came to the zoo! Imagine how you naturally and easily admire a bear - what threatens you when she is in a cage? Repeat the technique whenever possible - this not only dispels uncertainty from someone else's attention, but also helps to relax and become more resistant to external stimuli.

Technique "Guards detachment"

Imagine that behind you are the best fighters of your guard, ready to give their lives for you. Have you ever admired someone's courage? Imagine that he is there! How can you save when your back is covered by those who look fear in the face? The placebo effect works flawlessly here, just try this method on the street, imagining how you walk at the head of the brave, and over time you will become more determined.

Technique "Royal Posture"

Our posture plays an important role in our psychological state. Try to stand in front of a mirror, make a sad face, lower your head and quietly say: “I am the king here, I am in control!”. Believe it? Unlikely. The king is proud and self-confident, his shoulders are straightened, his chest is a wheel, his back is straight, his gait is measured. The gaze of the king is calm, prudent, majestic. The king does not squint to the side - he turns his whole body to where he directs his gaze. Pay special attention to posture - and the result will not keep you waiting.

Technique "Animal look"

You always have a magnificent weapon - your eyes. In the animal kingdom, a direct look is a sign of strength and aggression; a weak individual cannot afford this. Try, looking at the enemy, to imagine how you hate him, put all your anger into your eyes, get angry and look at him with the eyes of an angry beast ready to tear him to pieces! Try, looking at someone you like, put all your love, all warm feelings, all kindness into your eyes - and the person will feel it. It may sound a little strange, but all the techniques given here have been tried many times and brought amazing results.

Technique "First step"

You see a beauty, but you are afraid to approach and get acquainted? Just take one step towards her, start moving, and don't stop! There is a wonderful saying: “The main thing is to get into a fight, and then we'll see!”. The beginning, the first impulse, the breakthrough is what distinguishes a brave man from a coward.

Explosive phrases

Do you have a favorite movie or book character who has shown courage? Use his phrases to remember a moment of courage, to evoke that same sense of determination that you experienced while watching/reading.