Preparing to address the meeting, or planning to write a book or just talking to our friend about something important, we are considering the purpose of the action and how to achieve it. A conceived plan or desire for the desired is called intention. It can be expressed consciously, or it can lie hidden in the depths of the unconscious, manifesting itself in an attraction to a specific area.
The birth of a concept
Intention incorporated the main theses from scholasticism, which shared the mental (intentional) existence of the subject and the real. In the Middle Ages it was believed that there can be no cognition of an object without interference in it. Thomas Aquinas talked about the nature of intention. He talked about the formation of intention by the mind with respect to the understood subject. In the XIX century, with the light hand of the psychologist F. Brentano, the concept found a new life. He believed that consciousness is intentional, that is, aimed at something that is outside of itself. In other words, the concept brings meaning to consciousness. Scientists A. Meinong and
E. Husserl developed various approaches to the definition of intention in their scientific works, which later had a significant impact on a number of areas in psychology (gestalt psychology, personalism, and so on). Another philosopher - M. Heidegger - combined care and intentionality, believing that there was an internal connection between them. He argued that "a man in his being is a being who cares about being." If a person fails in his "being", then he loses his abilities.
Intention is what?
There are several meanings of the term "intention". The first explains it as "the orientation of consciousness on the subject." Cognitive, emotional, motivational and other mental processes can be attributed to intentional, since the attitude and feelings to the subject can be different. The object of intention can really exist, or it can be invented, meaningful or absurd. The second interpretation of the concept of “intention” is represented as “focus on the goal” or the target design of the action.
Intention in Psychology
In this science, the term refers to the internal orientation of consciousness to a real or fictional subject, as well as a structure that gives meaning to experiences. Intention is the ability of a person to have intentions, the ability to participate in the events of the day, changing himself. One of the sides of a concept is the ability to perceive an object from different angles, depending on the underlying meaning. For example, considering real estate as a summer vacation destination for a family, a person will carefully examine such issues as comfort, equipment, leisure in the territory. If the same property is bought by the same person, then he will first of all pay attention to the ratio of price to quality of housing. Intension is the birth of a close relationship with the outside world. In difficult to understand situations, a person has learned to weaken the relationship until he is ready to understand the situation.
Psychotherapeutic reception of V. Frankl
Intention in psychology is represented by a method, the essence of which is a person playing his fear or neurosis in a critical situation. The reception was developed by psychologist W. Frankl in 1927 and is still successfully used in practice. The method is called a paradoxical intention. An example is the life of spouses, who often sort things out. The therapist suggests that they quarrel as loud and emotional as possible, thereby making the unpleasant situation controlled. Another example: a student is afraid to make a report and trembling. In the framework of this method, he is invited to begin to tremble greatly, thereby relieving the stress that has arisen. The paradoxical intention method can lead to two results: the action or situation ceases to be painful and uncontrollable, or due to the shift of attention to the arbitrary reproduction of experiences weakens their negative impact.
The essence of the psychotherapeutic method
Paradoxical intention considers the process of self-elimination as a mechanism of action, which allows a person to get out of an unpleasant situation. The reception is based on the desire of the person himself to implement or for someone to accomplish (with a phobia) what he fears. The paradoxical intention method is actively used in psychotherapy. It is especially effective in merging with humor. Fear is a biological reaction of an organism to dangerous situations, and if a person searches for them and can act in spite of fear, then negative feelings will soon disappear.
Desire to speak out
In linguistics, intention is the initial stage of the birth of a statement, followed by a motive, internal pronunciation and speech. Concerned communicative meanings, which are expressed in the process of communication, are associated with the concept under consideration. Speech intention (in the broad sense) is a fusion of need, goal and motive together, which is formed into a message through the use of communicative means. In a narrower sense, the term is regarded as an effective purpose and merges with the concept of an illocutionary act. Doctor of Philology N. I. Formanovskaya considers intention as an intention to build speech in a certain way, form, style.
The difficulty in the study of this term lies in the uniqueness of the object of the experiment, with often blurred communicative intentions. Speech messages are always connected with various extra-linguistic events, therefore any, even simple, utterance is multidimensional. Performances are volitional and affect the addressee. There is the concept of speech intentional disapproval, which is an integral part of communication. This is a negative manifestation that can translate the conversation into a conflict channel.
The meaning of speech messages. Types of Intent
It is necessary to identify the purpose of the addressee's statement taking into account the interrelations of the interlocutors. There are various typologies of illocutionary goals. For example, Professor E. A. Krasina developed the following provisions:
- The assertive goal is expressed in the urge to "say how things are." The most commonly used statements are “reporting,” “recognizing,” and others.
- The commissive carries with it the task of “obliging the speaker to do something.” In this case, “I promise,” “I guarantee,” and so on, are often pronounced.
- The policy goal involves trying to "get someone else to do something." This type includes the statements “I ask,” “I recommend,” “I order,” and others.
- The declarative carries the task of "changing the world." Often used statements of recognition, condemnation, forgiveness, naming.
- The expressive goal seeks to “express feelings or attitudes about the state of affairs.” In this case, the verbs “sorry”, “sorry”, “welcome” and so on are used.
Some psychologists and philologists distinguish between two types of intentions. The first personifies the orientation of human consciousness to the surrounding reality in order to accept, know, explain. This kind of phenomenon is called cognitive. Communicative intention is the orientation of consciousness toward the achievement of a conceived goal, for the sake of which a person enters into a conversation or leaves it.
Text and Intention
When writing books or articles, the writer relies on a general concept that he himself has defined. The idea of the work is called "author's intention." The combination of speech and author’s intentions expresses the writer's worldview. For its designation, such concepts as a picture and a model of the world, a concept, a point of view, an image of an author, text modality, etc. For example, the image of the writer is formed from his opinion about certain areas of life, the image of the narrator and characters, as well as from the compositional and linguistic structure of the text. The author’s attitude to objects, his perception of surrounding people and events form a “model of the world”, which does not contain a reflection of objective events. Therefore, we can conclude that the view of the writer remains unchanged and considers actions in the work from only one side. The reader also has his own opinion on the work of the author.
Generalizing knowledge
A holistic personality is characterized by an individual attitude to the world, the initial components of which are the experience of one’s position, the reflection of emotions that have arisen in the corresponding images, as well as the birth of a program aimed at preserving and developing a person. For the successful implementation of a personal plan, you need a desire, the intention of the individual. Focus on the result, analysis of the necessary actions are the main steps in achieving the desired. And the opportunity to reformulate your attitude to a problem situation opens the door to a calm and successful life.