During the evolution of living things, the psyche developed as a reflection of reality in the brain. The highest level of its development is inherent in human consciousness.
Psychology explains the emergence of people's consciousness in the social way of life of people and their labor activities, which stimulate the development of consciousness.
Consciousness in psychology is a rather complicated concept. When defining it, many difficulties arise that are associated with different approaches to the study of this issue. The problem of consciousness is one of the most difficult in psychological science.
According to the definition of W. Wundt, consciousness in psychology consists in the fact that we find in ourselves certain mental states. From this position, consciousness is an internal glow, which sometimes is brighter or darker, or can even go out.
W. James defines consciousness as the owner of mental functions, practically identifying it with the subject.
K. Jaspers considers consciousness in psychology to be a special psychic space, a kind of “scene”. Stout writes that consciousness is qualityless, since it is itself a quality of mental processes and phenomena.
Representatives of the French school (Halbwax, Durkheim, etc.) also recognize the low quality of consciousness, but understand it as a plane, which is the basis for projecting concepts on it, which make up the content of public consciousness. They practically unite the concepts of consciousness and knowledge (consciousness is a product of public knowledge).
An interesting view of consciousness in the psychology of L. Vygotsky. By his definition, consciousness is a reflection of a person’s reality, himself and his own activity. Consciousness is not given initially, is not generated by nature, it is a product of the activities of society, which produces it.
B. Ananiev writes about consciousness as a mental activity, a dynamic correlation of logical and sensory knowledge, their system. In his opinion, consciousness is an integral part of the effect of action.
Consciousness is the highest level of self-regulation and mental reflection, which is inherent only to man. It acts as a changing set of images of sensory and mental levels in the inner experience of man, which are able to anticipate his practical activities.
Consciousness is characterized by intentionality (aimed at the subject), activity,
ability to self-observation, reflection, various levels of clarity, motivational-value character.
The consciousness of any person is unique. His study faces serious difficulties. First of all, this is due to the fact that psychological phenomena are presented to a person and realized by him to the extent that he is able to realize them.
Secondly, consciousness is not localized in the external environment and cannot be divided into time. Therefore, it cannot be studied by standard psychological methods (measure, compare).
The structure of consciousness in psychology is divided into three levels of reflection of reality: sensory-emotional (reflection of the object of reality by the senses); rational-discursive (the reflection of an object is mediated, that is, the allocation in it of generalizing essential features and properties); intuitive-volitional (holistic perception of the object, determines self-awareness, leads to the unity of feeling and mind).
Self-consciousness in psychology is defined as the totality of the processes of the psyche through which a person is aware of himself as a subject of reality. Self-awareness does not reflect the personality being . A person’s self-image is not always adequate. A person’s motives do not always reflect his actual motives. Self-knowledge is the result of knowledge, that is, it is not given only in experiences. It is not inherent in man initially, but is a product of development.