Mental phenomena allow a person not only to navigate in the surrounding world, but also to conduct active cognitive activity. All that has already been achieved today would be impossible if our psyche could not freely receive and process information received from the outside world.
All psychological phenomena are most directly related to each other. The connection is obvious: without one there would be no other, but how our psyche is arranged is determined precisely by their combination. Differences in them are still there. The traditional classification of mental phenomena distinguishes three large groups. These are mental processes, mental properties of personality and, of course, mental states.
Mental processes are basic phenomena, and mental properties and states of personality should be understood as a typological and temporary modification of processes occurring in the psyche. All types of mental phenomena - one stream of reflective and regulatory activity. Let's consider them separately.
Classification of mental phenomena
Mental processes are nothing more than acts of reflective and regulatory activity. These acts are separate and integral. The object of reflection is present in each individual process of the psyche. Also, all processes have their own laws and specifics of regulation.
The classification of psychological phenomena gives them the first place in the list, since they represent something like the original group. In other words, they are the basis for the formation of psychological images.
They represent the interaction of the object and the subject of reflection, a kind of system of specific actions that are aimed at the interaction and cognition of these subjects and objects.
These processes can be cognitive (they include perception, sensation, imagination, as well as memory and thinking), emotional and volitional. Mental activity is the totality of all these processes.
Next come the mental states. The originality of mental activity is temporary. It is determined by the attitude of a person to what is happening. Otherwise, we can say that this is the current modification of the human psyche. Mental states represent the integration (relatively stable) of all manifestations of the human psyche at the time of a certain interaction with reality.
Their manifestation depends on the direction of human activity, as well as on his personal attitude to it.
Mental states can be divided into motivational ones, which are based on the desire to achieve something; on the state of organized consciousness, manifested in those moments when it becomes necessary to concentrate on something; emotional as well as volitional.
In psychology, some borderline states are also distinguished. We are talking about accentuations of character, psychopathy, neurosis. This also includes mental retardation.
The classification of mental phenomena distinguishes the third group - it is nothing but the mental properties of a person. This includes the direction of the person, temperament, character, as well as human abilities. They are increasingly individual and largely depend on how a person lives, develops. Also, his life priorities are important here.
The classification of phenomena described in this article was developed by I. Kant. It is on it that traditional psychology is based. We should not just forget that this classification of mental phenomena artificially separates mental processes from mental states, as well as from very important typological properties of a person.