Psychology from the Greek language literally translates as "the science of the soul." Psychology studies such mental processes as memory, thinking, imagination, emotions and feelings.
Using empirical methods, psychologists apply psychological knowledge to collect and interpret data from all kinds of studies in order to better understand a single person and human society in all its manifestations.
The psychology is "different" ...
Not black, white and red, of course. But there are many shades (spectra) for this science. Therefore, modern psychology as a science consists of a large number of subsections, which include:
- general psychology;
- age psychology;
- social psychology;
- developmental psychology;
- personality psychology;
- psychology of religion;
- pathopsychology;
- neuropsychology;
- family psychology;
- sports psychology;
- animal psychology;
- other.
Categorical apparatus in psychology
The category in the literal translation from Greek means "utterance, sign." In general, these are very general concepts that reflect the most important laws of being.
Scientific concepts, being in established communication with each other, are a logical system. Each of them is a part of the system of categories of science.
The main categories of psychology and their characteristics
The development of absolutely every science is influenced by how its conceptual apparatus is formed.
Category - permanent concepts and problems that make up the subject of psychology and content.
In modern psychology, the main categories are distinguished, which are its basis since its entry into the scientific world.
Their list is as follows:
- motive;
- form;
- activity;
- personality
- communication
- experience.
In different psychological schools, these categories may have different meanings. But in any case, all these categories are present in psychological teachings.
Developmental psychology
The problem of development in psychology is one of the main places. All living things develop and go through many stages of improvement. And at some stages, quality neoplasms appear . These neoplasms will subsequently affect future stages in the life of the body.
Development Psychology studies specific periods of a person’s life, their features and patterns. And she also finds out the reasons for the transition from one stage to another.
In psychology, two forms of development are distinguished:
- Evolutionary (quantitative changes of the object).
- Revolutionary (qualitative change).
The main categories of developmental psychology are referred not to individual characteristics, but to development in general. These include:
- height,
- maturation,
- differentiation,
- teaching
- imprinting,
- socialization.
Development Psychology studies human life as a single continuous process of personality change. This section of psychology tracks the patterns of personality formation, helps to overcome the main age crises and find the necessary path for further advancement.
Age-related psychology
Age psychology is also one of the “varieties” of psychology. She studies how the psyche develops, the features of this development in different age periods.
We owe the development of our domestic developmental psychology to Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. It was he who developed the theory of age, as a certain unit of analysis of the development of the child.
Vygotsky wrote:
The development problem is central and fundamental for all areas of reality and for all areas of scientific knowledge.
Age psychology is also customary to divide into some subsections:
- psychology of a preschooler;
- primary school student;
- adolescence;
- adolescence;
- adult psychology;
- gerontopsikhologiya (advanced age).
The main categories of developmental psychology are very similar to the categories of developmental psychology.
The most basic of them are processes:
- Growth.
- Ripening.
- Learning.
- Impressions.
- Socialization.
- Phylogenesis.
- Ontogenesis.
- Anthropogenesis.
- Microgenesis.
- Leading activity.
- Neoplasms.
Social Psychology
Any person living among people is an element of society. Man fulfills his social role in society.
Social psychology is such a science, which is located at the junction of two other sciences: sociology and psychology. Thus, this section studies several subsections at once:
- personality psychology (social);
- group psychology;
- social relations.
Due to the fact that a person is a social creation, the fact that social psychology is separated from the general one can be considered somewhat arbitrary.
The main categories of social psychology are:
- social community;
- features of human behavior in society;
- social group;
- socio-psychological organization of small groups;
- communication
- human behavior in conflict interpersonal situations;
- large social groups.
Psychology of Personality
The human person is a complex piece of social puzzle. Man is the most important link in all social processes.
Psychology of personality - a science that studies the personality and related development processes. This section of science also studies the traits of people, their similarities and differences.
The main categories of personality psychology include the following:
- Temperament.
- Character.
- Motivation.
- Ability.
Basic concepts and categories in psychology
A concept is a word that can reflect the most general patterns and relationships of a group or phenomenon.
A category (statement, attribute) is a very general concept that reflects the most important laws of being.
Absolutely any science in its development determines its conceptual and categorical apparatus. Scientific concepts are divided based on the following principles:
- volume;
- content;
- breadth of generalization.
Modern psychology as a science consists of a large number of subsections, which are given above in the article. Each subsection has both a general psychological categorical apparatus and its own private-scientific one.
As a science, psychology arose at the intersection of natural science and philosophical knowledge. She answers the following questions:
- How do body and soul relate?
- How do consciousness, thought and the brain itself relate?
- How do mental and physiological mechanisms work?
Thus, the categorical apparatus of psychology arose from two channels of different sciences.
Since 1960, Soviet psychologists have been working on refining and grouping the conceptual-categorial apparatus in psychology.
The whole history of science is associated with the formation of its main categories and concepts. For example, initially Yaroshevsky singled out "image", "action", "motive", "communication", "personality" for basic psychological concepts.
Then, over the next twenty years, under the influence of the famous scientists Leontyev, Platonov, Shorokhov, Asmolov and other great Soviet psychologists, they added to them a small group of concepts:
- activity;
- personality
- consciousness;
- psyche;
- communication
- social;
- biological;
- mental phenomena;
- reflection;
- consciousness;
- installation;
- the unconscious;
- communication
- activity and communication;
- operation and installation.
The main conclusion in the course of solving the problems of the categorial apparatus in psychology was the fact that on the basis of a single concept (category) it is impossible to build the entire scientific system of psychology.
Thus, over twenty years (from 1960 to 1980), Soviet psychologists carried out colossal and invaluable work to determine the main categories in psychology. In this regard, psychology secured the status of science in the Soviet Union completely.