Here you will find information on what mentality is in a broad sense. The meaning of the word, various compound terms and much more - in this article.
The meaning of the term
Now we’ll talk about what the term “mental” means. The meaning of the word is rather blurry. This is the way an individual perceives the world around him. Mentality is a form of thinking, its image and embodiment in a formulated point of view, a certain spiritual attitude of a subject or group.
Despite the fact that this concept has a rather broad meaning, at the same time it is more “foggy”, less clear. A clear characteristic is perhaps the person’s ability to act in a mental type corresponding to a certain predisposition.
How do sciences formulate such a characteristic of man as mental? The meaning of the word in physiology can be interpreted as the relation to the individual’s mind in all forms of functional aspects, these are ways of perceiving the world, characteristic of memory, demanded desires, breadth of imagination, various feelings, etc. But in addition to these aspects, mentality affects points of content of consciousness, intellect .
Mentality also affects many aspects of the life position of the subject and can have a different definition. A mental person is a characteristic of an individual that includes both the conscious and the unconscious. This concept can be defined as the composition of the mind, intellect, or it can be defined as a set of psychological and social attitudes, ways of analyzing and perceiving information obtained in the process of reflection or sensation.
Analysis of the concept of "mental"
The meaning of a word in a broad sense should be taken as a complex concept that affects many aspects of a person’s spiritual life; the term itself is quite difficult to determine. This is due to the fact that the term not only refers to historical and anthropological sciences, but is also inextricably linked with philosophy. What does it mean "mentally" - you can take apart incredibly long. Much depends on what sources of information you refer to, but wherever you turn, there are provisions common to all that characterize this term.
The idea of mentality has been actively developed in the spiritual sphere, and for this very reason its characteristic feature is the rejection and departure from centralization of historical development in European culture as a whole. Instead, attention is focused on the stability of the inner self of a person, which leads the individual to a desire to unite in historical and social communities. On the basis of this, the concept of “mental” can be interpreted differently. The meaning of the word can now be taken as a means intended for the analysis and interpretation of humanitarian knowledge.
Opposition of mentality
What does it mean “mentally” from the point of view of various oppositional ways of perceiving the world, and what are they like? When answering this question, it is first necessary to understand that the methods of defending one's own interests of a mental nature, namely, opposing cultural and natural, emotionally colored and rationalized, characteristic of a group and bearing an individual character, disappear when it comes to the mental. The very structure of this term simply dissolves all internal and external contradictions between these methods of understanding the world in itself. When discussing this concept, it is important to know that in this case it does not matter through which of the aforementioned oppositions the data about the world is perceived.
Logical, prelogical and collective type mentality
What does the logical mean logically and logically? These two constituent parts of the term were introduced by Levi-Bruhl in his work “Primitive Thinking”. The most logical and prelogical are the types of ways to emphasize the difference in the ways of thinking of the tribes of Africa and Australia, based on laws of a participatory nature, including the laws of logical contradiction and the way of rational thinking in Europe, along with its traditions.
Another component is the concept of collective mentality, introduced by J. Lefebvre. Adding this term to the meaning of mentality was based on the need to explain actions of a certain nature inherent in entire groups of people. The definition was formulated on the basis of the study of the phenomenon of panic in a large mass of people.
Mental space
When analyzing a term, it is important to remember one more of its components - mental space. It represents a resource that guarantees the process of “humanization” of the subject in the process of self-creation. This concept was introduced into mentality by M. B. Turovsky.
The main reason for the emergence of mental space was the ability to create humanity based on the activity of an objective nature, which was formed under conditions limited by various traditions, for example, Marxist. During the formation of man as part of history, he creates himself on the basis of the content of individuality. According to Turovsky, the mental space is permeated with integral directives of a supra-individual nature, which dictate to humanity its attitude to everything that surrounds the subject.