Psychology is a field of knowledge about the inner world of animals and humans. There are several stages in the development of psychological science: about the soul, about consciousness, about the psyche, about behavior.
It was isolated into an independent science from philosophy only in the second half of the nineteenth century, thanks to the discovery made in 1879 by W. Wundt, the organizer of the first experimental laboratory of psychology.
A science that studies psychological patterns performs the following tasks:
- understanding of the essence of mental phenomena;
- managing them;
- the application of acquired skills in order to increase the effectiveness of various branches of practice;
- is the theoretical basis for the work of the psychological service
The main methods of psychological science that are currently used:
- collecting information through observations, studying the results of activities (tests, surveys, studying documentation);
- data processing (statistical analysis);
- psychological impact (training, discussion, suggestion, relaxation, persuasion)
The object of psychology is the sum of different carriers of psychological phenomena, the basis of which is the activity, behavior, relationships of people in small and large social groups.
The subject is the laws of functioning and development of the psyche of animals and humans.
Branches of psychology
Currently, psychological sciences include about 40 individual disciplines and areas:
- zoopsychology considers the specifics of the psyche of animals;
- child psychology is associated with the study of the developmental features of the psyche of the child;
- social pedagogy is studying the laws of personality formation in the process of education and training;
- labor psychology analyzes the features of human labor activity, the patterns of formation of labor skills and abilities;
- medical psychology considers the specific behavior of the patient, the work of the doctor, is engaged in the development of psychological methods of psychotherapy and treatment;
- legal psychology considers the features of the behavior of participants in a criminal case, the characteristic features of the behavior of a criminal;
- economic psychology is aimed at analyzing the image, psychology of advertising, management, business communication;
- military psychology considers the behavior of people during hostilities;
- Pathopsychology analyzes deviations in the psyche.
Consciousness and Psyche
A science that studies the psychological laws of training and education is associated with mental phenomena:
- cognitive, emotional, motivational, volitional processes;
- creative enthusiasm, joy, fatigue, sleep, stress;
- temperament, personality orientation, character
From how deeply they are examined, the correctness of the selection of methods and methods of development depends on.
A science that studies the psychological laws of training and education depends on the specifics of the human body, on the functioning of the cerebral cortex. It distinguishes:
- sensory zones that process and receive information from receptors and sense organs;
- motor zones that control human movements;
- associative zones used to process information.
Psychology as a science
A science that studies psychological patterns literally translates as "science of the soul." Her story goes back in time. In the treatise "On the Soul" for the first time Aristotle put forward the idea of the inseparability of a living body and soul. He singled out the unreasonable and rational part of the human soul. He divided the first into vegetative (vegetable) and animal. In a reasonable part, Aristotle noted several levels: memory, sensations, will, reason, concepts.
The term “psychology” was coined by Rudolf Goeklenius in 1590 to refer to the science of the living soul. The term received general recognition only in the XVIII century after the appearance of the works of Christian Wolf "Rational Psychology", "Empirical Psychology".
Stages of the development of science
Consider the main periods of the formation of psychological science. At the first stage, which lasted from the time of the existence of Ancient Greece until the Renaissance, the soul was considered as the subject of discussion by theologians and philosophers. At this stage in the development of psychology, understanding of the soul was the subject of psychological knowledge.
The second stage, which began in the 17th century, considered psychology as a science of consciousness. Gradually, instead of the term “soul,” they began to use “consciousness”. At this time period, the processes of man's knowledge of himself were put forward as the main scientific problem.
In the twentieth century was the third stage. Modern psychological science conducts experiments, observes human behavior and reactions, using objective methods of analysis and recording of external reactions, as well as human actions.
Currently, the fourth stage is undergoing, in which psychology is considered as a science that studies objective manifestations, patterns, mechanisms. Psychological sciences in our days put forward the psyche as a phenomenon of nature, a special case distinguish the psyche of the animal and man.
The object of this science is a person who is involved in various relationships with the biological, physical, social world, is the subject of knowledge, activity, communication.
Modern psychology
Currently, psychological sciences can be considered as scientific studies of behavior and mental internal processes, the practical use of the knowledge gained.
The main objective of this science is to consider the psyche as a property of the brain, which is expressed in the subjective reflection of the world.
Among the main tasks that are currently being solved by pedagogical and psychological sciences, one can single out:
- study of structural (qualitative) features of the processes of the psyche as reflections of reality;
- analysis of the appearance and improvement of mental phenomena in connection with the objective characteristics of people's lives and activities;
- consideration of the physiological mechanisms that underlie mental processes, since without mastering the mechanisms of higher nervous activity it is impossible to apply and improve them
Pedagogical psychology
The development of psychological science has led to the formation of educational psychology. She is engaged in the study of psychological patterns and characteristics of the processes of education and training of children and adolescents. Its tasks include consideration of the processes of mastering certain knowledge, the formation of skills in accordance with the needs of schooling. In addition, psychological science and education is responsible for the substantiation of techniques, methods, methods of education and training, as well as for issues that are related to the preparation of students for practical activities.
Child psychology considers the specifics of the psyche of children of various ages. Her task is to consider the process of forming the personality of the baby, his mental development, memory, interests, thinking, motives.
There is also a psychology of labor, which sets itself the task of analyzing the psychological characteristics of work to improve production training.
Psychological science and education require a serious study of issues related to the organization of the workplace, the psychological characteristics of labor operations in different types of activities.
Engineering psychology, which is actively developing at the present time, concerns the problem of correlation of human mental capabilities and machine requirements.
The psychology of art, which studies the psychological characteristics of creative work in different types of art (in plastic, painting, music) and the specifics of the perception of works of art, an analysis of their influence on the development of the human person.
Pathopsychology studies mental disorders and disorders in various diseases, as a result of which optimal treatment methods are developed.
The psychology of sports is studying the psychological characteristics of different sports, analyzing memory, perception, emotional processes, and volitional qualities. Socio-psychological sciences have not only theoretical, but also practical significance. This is because they are associated with the tasks of rationalizing different types of human activities.
Problems of psychological science affect all spheres of human activity. Psychology allows you to solve practical problems, improve human life and activity.
Classification of sciences according to Kedrov B. M.
Academician B. M. Kedrov, this science was placed at the center of the "triangle of sciences." At the top, he located the natural sciences, the lower left corner allocated to the social sciences, and the lower right corner to the philosophical branches (logic and epistemology). Between the sciences of nature and the philosophical sciences, the scientist placed mathematics. Psychology Kedrov took a central place, showing that it is able to unite all groups of sciences.
The main psychological sciences are associated with social disciplines that study human behavior. Psychology, social psychology, sociology, political science, economics, ethnography, anthropology are ranked as social sciences.
Psychology is firmly connected with the natural sciences: physics, biology, physiology, mathematics, medicine, biochemistry. At the junction of these sciences, related fields appear: psychophysics, psychophysiology, neuropsychology, bionics, pathopsychology.
The psychological characteristics of science determine its place in the system of sciences. Currently, the historical mission of psychology is to integrate different spheres of human knowledge. It combines social and natural sciences into one concept.
In recent years, the connections of psychology with technical disciplines have been growing, related sciences have appeared: ergonomics, aviation and space psychology, and engineering psychology.
The subject of psychological science connects the applied and theoretical disciplines that develop at the borders with the sciences of man, nature, society.
Such development can be explained by the demands of the practical activities of society. As a result, new areas of psychological science are created and developed: space, engineering, and educational psychology.
The use of physical methods in modern psychology contributed to the emergence of experimental psychophysics, psychology. Currently, there are about a hundred different branches of psychology.
The basis of modern psychology is considered a general psychology that studies the general laws, mechanisms and patterns of the psyche. It includes experimental research and theoretical points.
The human psyche is the subject of some industries:
- in genetic psychology, hereditary mechanisms of behavior and the psyche are considered, their relationship with the genotype;
- in differential psychology, they analyze the individual differences in the psyche of different people, the features of their appearance, the formation algorithm;
- in age psychology, the laws of the formation of the psyche of a healthy person, as well as the characteristics of the psyche of each age period are considered;
- in child psychology, the change in consciousness, mental processes of a growing child, as well as the conditions for accelerating these processes are considered;
- In pedagogical psychology, the patterns of the formation of a child’s personality in the process of upbringing, training are analyzed.
Modern psychology is characterized by differentiation, which generates its division into various branches. They can differ significantly from each other, despite a similar subject of study.
Important aspects
Psychological counseling on a variety of problems (relationships in the classroom team, turmoil in the family, difficulties in learning) is the direct task of the school psychologist. Also among the areas of practical psychology, psychotherapy and correction will be distinguished, aimed at providing specific assistance to a person to remove the causes of his disorders, deviation in behavior.
Everyday psychology
It is not a science, it represents a worldview, views, beliefs, ideas about the psyche. Everyday psychology is based on a generalization of the everyday experience of people, a specific person. It is an antagonism to scientific psychology, but, despite this, there are mutual relations between them. For example, they are expressed in the following points:
- study the personality of one person;
- everyday information often becomes the starting point, the basis for the formation of scientific ideas and concepts;
- scientific knowledge contributes to the solution of various psychological life problems.
The significance of observations in educational psychology
They represent a purposeful and systematic fixation of specific psychological facts in ordinary conditions of everyday life. There are certain requirements for conducting and organizing scientific observation of a child:
- drawing up a sequence of actions;
- recording results in the observation diary;
- summarizing.
The most important requirement for the organization of observation is the provision of conditions in which the child does not know that he has become the object of study of a psychologist.
In this case, the specialist will have the opportunity to collect facts without distortion, which will be a condition for obtaining an objective picture of the study.
The disadvantages of this technique is the passive role of the school psychologist: minimal responsiveness, low repeatability, inaccuracy, the complexity of the analysis and selection of the necessary psychological facts.
In modern psychology, the relevance of self-observation is not negated, but this method is assigned a secondary role. For example, it can become a source of additional information for subsequent changes in experimental methods. Self-observation is not a separate technique, since no one can refute or confirm the results presented by a person (schoolchild, adult). The information obtained in such a case is scientific.
In modern psychology, two types of experiment are distinguished: natural and laboratory. The advantages of the second method are in the active position of the researcher, which gives such an experiment positive characteristics:
The researcher does not need to wait for the manifestation of the necessary facts; he himself creates a situation that causes the analyzed psychological process. The use of modern measuring instruments gives laboratory psychological research accuracy and reliability.
This type of observation has its own negative features. For example, a child knows that he has become an object of study, so the naturalness of his behavior disappears. The results of such studies must be checked in vivo to confirm the results.
A natural experiment is similar to observation, but it has an active researcher position. The school psychologist organizes the activity for the subject so that the necessary psychological qualities and characteristics arise. A psychological and pedagogical experiment is a kind of natural experiment; it allows educators to solve educational and training tasks.
Conclusion
In his work, a school psychologist tries to apply a variety of research methods for schoolchildren: tests, questionnaires, conversations. The most common method in educational psychology is questioning. To obtain an objective picture, the psychologist must choose questionnaires, questions in which are clear to students.
Otherwise, the results will be completely crossed out, they will not give an objective picture. Given their age characteristics, children can be offered two options for questionnaires: closing and open. The first types are convenient for analysis, but they will not give the researcher new information. An open questionnaire allows the psychologist to receive a significant amount of useful information, but it takes considerable time to process the questionnaire.
The conversation is used during the initial acquaintance with the child in order to establish contact, clarify some information necessary for subsequent diagnosis.