Psychological cognition as. Topic: Psychology of cognition Stages of cognition in psychology
on the subject:
"Social Psychology"
"The influence of professional activity on the cognitive abilities of a person from the standpoint of the psychology of social cognition"
Introduction
Chapter I. Socio-psychological approach in the psychology of social cognition
Chapter II. Cognitive correspondence theories in the psychology of social cognition
Chapter III. Study of the dependence of changes in cognitive capabilities on the specifics of professional activity
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction.
The psychology of social cognition relatively recently declared itself as an independent field of psychological science, although a person's cognition of the world around him is one of the cross-cutting problems of culture. It can easily be seen a variety of aspects, which are correlated with the two most important spheres of human existence: with the sphere awareness him of the reality of which he is a part, of understanding the connections of both the external world and his connections with this world and, of course, with its sphere activities in a world unthinkable without such awareness. ...
One of the first definitions of the psychology of social cognition focused on the study of how people comprehend their position in the real world and their relationships with other people. In other words, from the very beginning of the existence of this field of knowledge, such an important feature of the social-cognitive process as obtaining knowledge about the world and comprehending his.
Social cognition is always a two-way process: the perceived person at the same moment perceives the “perceiver”, which is excluded when perceiving, for example, a table or some other object. The perceived person or any social action is changeable, which also distinguishes the object of perception from the physical object.
The process of social cognition is therefore much more complicated, and the possibilities of real comprehension of the social world are to a greater extent associated with the active action of the subject of cognition. The search for the meaning of the surrounding social world can be carried out by a person only in the process of actively assimilating this world and subject to the "ability" to draw a picture of this world, which is difficult, is associated with many mistakes, but, as D. Myers rightly notes , "An exquisite analysis of the imperfection of our thinking is in itself a tribute to human wisdom."
It is hardly necessary to talk about the enormous practical significance of this kind of research, especially in today's complex world. Psychology, if it really wants to help a person navigate the system of social ties, contradictions, must describe and explain those features that are characteristic of a person in comprehending the diversity of his relations with other people, social institutions, and a complex mosaic of social phenomena. To identify the psychological and social factors that make a person's adaptation in the modern world successful or, on the contrary, unsuccessful, to help him “cope” with circumstances means to provide him with substantial practical help to navigate in an unstable world, in conditions of radical social transformations.
In European social psychology, the development of this problem area is primarily associated with the names A. Tashfela and S. Moskovisi. Already in work A. Tashfela and K. Fraser"Introduction to Social Psychology", published in 1978, the main problems of the psychology of social cognition were identified in a specific way. Anticipating later criticism of the "American" approach that emphasizes learning individual mechanisms of social cognition, in the work of Tashfel and Fraser were especially investigated social determinants of this process. The development of the ideas proposed here is contained in the fundamental work edited by M. Houston, W. Strebe, J. Stephenson"Introduction to Social Psychology", which is today the main European textbook on social psychology. Considerable attention is paid to the problems of the psychology of social cognition in sociological work P. Berger and T. Lukmana"Social construction of reality". This issue holds a firm place in all recent international and European congresses on psychology and social psychology.
At the same time, in the traditions of Russian general psychology, not only fundamental approaches to the problems of social cognition have long been presented, but also numerous experimental studies have been carried out. Unfortunately, they are still not brought together and are often simply not spelled out in the terms currently accepted in the field under study, although in terms of the depth of analysis they are not only not inferior to modern research, but sometimes surpass them. The time has come for the organizational formation "of this branch of psychology in our country, which is especially important in the period of radical social transformations.
We conducted a study of 15 middle-aged people, aim which was the study of the dependence of the level of cognitive capabilities in middle-aged people on the predominance of mental labor in professional activity.
A group of employees of a commercial enterprise, aged 40 to 55 years, was studied, which included 9 men and 21 women. The employees were divided into two groups of 15 people each: in the first group A, the professional activity of the subjects required intense mental work, in the second group B, professional activity did not require special mental stress. In group A, employees have at least a vocational secondary education, in group B, the educational level is different, but does not exceed specialized secondary.
Object our research has become the psyche of middle-aged people.
Subject of study - cognitive processes in middle-aged people.
To determine the level of development of some cognitive processes, psychodiagnostic method, for data processing - method of mathematical data processing .
Methodology that we used:
1. Methodology "Schulte tables" to determine the stability of attention and dynamics of performance;
2. Method "Memory for numbers" for determining short-term visual memory, its volume and accuracy;
3. Methodology "Quantitative relations" to determine logical thinking;
4. Methodology "Intellectual lability" for the diagnosis of lability, ie. the ability to switch intellectual attention, the ability to quickly switch from solving some problems to performing others (without making mistakes).
The empirical data we obtained as a result of the study were intended to confirm or deny one of the hypotheses put forward by us:
H 0- in middle-aged people, there is no relationship between the predominance of mental labor in professional activity and the level of cognitive capabilities.
H 1 - among middle-aged people, there is a direct relationship between the predominance of mental labor in professional activity and an increased level of cognitive capabilities.
Chapter I
Socio-psychological approach in the psychology of social cognition
Naturally, the psychology of social cognition grew in the most direct way from the depths of psychological science. The entire section of general psychology devoted to the analysis of cognitive processes is a prerequisite for the formation of the subject itself and the entire problematics of the psychology of social cognition.
One of the first to express the idea of the connection between knowledge and society was William James. From his point of view, human thought "cognizes" since it deals with objects that are independent of it. Moreover, cognition is not a passive adaptation to the external world: “the psyche is not a mirror, even if it is crooked,” cognition presupposes interest. For James, "the correct or reasonable mental action is to establish, according to external relations, such internal relations that would favor the survival of the thinker, or at least his physical well-being." It is easy to see that the emphasis on the functions of cognition brings us close to the conclusion about its role for human existence in the social world.
Of particular importance in this respect is the tradition gestaltpsuxologuu. Established at the beginning of the twentieth century. this concept opposed the then dominant behaviorism with its "atomistic" approach to psychology. Considering perception as a holistic image of an object, identifying the dynamics of this image - the possibility of alternately centering on the figure and against the background, as well as the idea of "good" figures in perception - all this presupposed the presence of a rather complex cognitive structure of the individual and his activity in the cognitive process. Although all this is correlated with any perception, the very idea of the connection between the subject and the object of perception turned out to be very productive for understanding the characteristics of social perception.
In psychosemantics, developed on the basis of the principle of activity, the problems of the psychology of social cognition are revealed in the context of the relationship between meaning and meaning, considered in the works A. N Leontyeva, A. R. Luria and their followers. The role of needs in the perception of the world, revealed by Leont'ev already in animals, is developed in humans: in order to “emancipate” an object, it is necessary to “express” it in some way, and this method is a sign, a verbal meaning. Therefore, Luria spoke about the "double world" of a person due to the possession of a word: on the one hand, this is the immediate objective world, and on the other, the world denoted by words. The word has a fixed content due to social convention- consent regarding his
values. Therefore, the idea of the world is always given within the framework of a certain cultural-historical system of meanings - a certain social environment, community, culture. Psychosemantics and has as its subject, according to A. G. Shmeleva,"Selective assimilation and transformation of meaning in the individual consciousness in the process of individual activity." In this it differs from linguistic and logical semantics, which also explore meanings, but in a different way. In the psychological analysis of meaning, it is important to take into account the entire totality of the individual's reactions to any meaningful stimulus, i.e. including the emotional-evaluative reaction.
A huge gain for a person with a developed language is that the world doubles. With the help of a language that denotes objects, he can deal with objects that are not directly perceived and that are not part of his own experience. “Man has a double world, into which he enters, and the world of directly reflected objects, and the world of images, objects, relationships and qualities, which are designated by words.” As VF Petrenko rightly notes, the meaning expressed by a word enriches it with "cumulative social experience." Thus, the psychosemantics developed within the framework of the theory of activity reinforces the idea of social determination of the cognitive process.
The socio-psychological "cut" of the problem of social cognition means at least two focuses in its study. First, equal attention to both analysis social conditioning l ness the process of cognition, and the analysis of the learning process social objects (ie, how a person “works” with social information).
Secondly, and this is the other side of the socio-psychological approach, attention is paid to how the ordinary person learns the social world. For the latter, it becomes especially relevant, according to the thought P. Berger and T. Lukman, knowledge of daily life. The term used by these sociologists means that ordinary knowledge is knowledge of a special kind: the authors call it pre-theoretical knowledge. It includes a set of rules of conduct, moral principles and prescriptions, proverbs and sayings, values and beliefs, and the like, for the theoretical integration of which considerable intellectual effort is needed. In other words, it is the sum of what everyone knows about the social world, and the “recipes” of behavior based on such knowledge are passed down from generation to generation. Knowledge of everyday life has two important characteristics.
First, a person inevitably finds himself, as it were, in front of two realities: “Ordinary members of society, in their subjective understanding of behavior, not only take the world of everyday life for granted as a reality. This is the world that is created in their thoughts and actions, which is experienced by them in quality real. The specifics of the ordinary person's cognition of this real world should be specially investigated.
Secondly, if we are talking about something that “everyone knows”, it is obvious that such knowledge must be mandatory divided by: not only each subject possesses it, but others are also capable of adopting a certain general structure of reflections, ideas, considerations about the objects and processes of the reality of everyday life.
People live in a common world, and therefore the reality of everyday life inevitably wears intersubjective character. Hence the conclusion about the huge role of language in the knowledge of everyday reality: its elements should be indicated, moreover, so that, despite the subjective origin of the signs, their meanings would be understandable and other participants in real life. The process that can provide such a situation is the process communications, the study of which is one of the most important tasks of social psychology.
Thus, in contrast to the analysis of scientific knowledge of the social world, which is the task of almost all sciences about society, here the question is not about whether how to to get to know the social world around a person, but about how an ordinary person practically it does it in everyday life. Of course, a comparison of scientific and everyday knowledge is also important in this case: such a comparison can be useful to both.
If the assertion of cognitive psychology is true that new knowledge about the world makes a person less susceptible to manipulation and control, allows one to see more alternative possibilities for action, then the even greater usefulness of such knowledge about the social world is obvious. It is clear why, despite the "antiquity" of the problem, the twentieth century. gave a surge of interest in her. The development of mass movements, the rapid pace of social change, the development of the media require from a person not only better adaptation to society, optimization of activities in it, but also a better understanding of how our knowledge of the world relates to changes in it.
The literature discusses the question of what they actually mean when they talk about social cognition. First, the fact of social origin this knowledge: it arises and is supported by social interaction, communication plays a decisive role in it. Second, cognition is social because it deals with social objects. Third, social cognition socially divided those. its results are common to members of a particular society and group, they are "shared" by them, for otherwise no interactions would be possible.
Cognition is social in origin. Knowledge about the social world arises only under the condition of the interaction of people, their communication with each other: even the simplest form of social knowledge - the construction of the image of another person is already possible only with elementary interaction. More complex forms of social cognition - other groups, society as a whole arise only on the condition that a person acts in a variety of social situations. Here again it is appropriate to remember the truth that a person acts in the world in accordance with how he cognizes it, but cognizes the world in accordance with how he acts in it. This means that when cognizing the phenomena of the social world, a social context is always given - a real social situation in which a person lives and acts. The most important condition for adequate knowledge in this case is the relationship between the content of knowledge, changes in it and changes in the world. The emphasis on this side of the issue was made precisely in social psychology. Proof of this is the study of the process of socialization: knowledge about the social world is laid down from childhood and develops as the child acquires social experience, i.e. his actions are all in new and new social situations.
Of great importance in the origin of social cognition is a specific cultural environment, which is perceived by a child in the process of socialization through language acquisition. Language, as a tool for mastering the social world, also acts as one of the proofs of the social origin of social cognition. Consequently, the interaction itself is carried out in the context of society and therefore does not directly determine the process of social cognition. A. Tashfel notes in this regard: it is important to understand how different social systems affect the individual way of seeing the world in which the individual lives and acts. The social origin of social cognition makes it necessary to expand the range of questions to which an answer must be found: the task is not only to understand a person, to understand his interactions with other people, but also to understand peace, in which these interactions take place.
The second "addition" concerns the range of those social phenomena that are objects of social cognition. In studies of social perception, the range of these objects was rather limited: another person, a group, a wider community. Only at the beginning of its existence did the psychology of social cognition accept such a formulation of the problem. With the further development of research, it was established that it was necessary to address a wider range of objects. As soon as social cognition arises in interaction, and the latter is always given in a broader social context, it became necessary to analyze these interactions in various specific social "environments". Here, “environment” can be understood as a variety of fragments of reality. First, there are numerous specific social groups: in modern societies, these are, for example, organizations, various social institutions (which was not specifically mentioned in traditional studies of social perception). Secondly, “environment” is also interpreted in its ecological sense: as a natural and artificial habitat (especially since in modern psychology a relatively new branch - “environmental psychology” or “psychology of the environment” - is more and more definitely asserting itself). Cognition of the "environment" is an important factor in a person's orientation in the social world. Thirdly, “environment” can also be understood as a linguistic environment, which is a symbolic representation of the surrounding world. Fourthly, the “environment” can be understood as the entire area of intergroup relations - their various “sections”, their type.
Such an expansion of the spheres of social cognition brings close to the conclusion that it is necessary to study the process of cognition of the social world as a whole, to analyze the conditions and methods of constructing its image. Hence, in the psychology of social cognition, three series of "expectations" are recorded, which are included in the process of cognition of the social world by each specific subject: a general series of expectations that are generated by a given culture, a given type of society; expectations arising from prior knowledge of a particular group (nation, profession, social class); expectations about the behavior of a particular person who is the object of cognition. It also gives the psychology of social cognition a certain structure and internal logic of the subject.
The third sign of the greater "sociality" of social cognition in comparison with social perception is its separateness other people. This idea of "separability" of social cognition is based on two postulates:
a) in the behavior of all people there is a predictable number of similarities based on ideas about the general human nature that we have acquired in experience;
b) there are also a number of undoubted differences in the behavior of people (both in individual individuals and in some types).
It follows from this that you can never have two identical opinions, even about an individual person, not to mention some more complex phenomena. This is the price of the "objectivity" of knowledge. That is why all knowledge is a mental reconstruction of what actually exists. .
This reconstruction is carried out by the subject based on his experience, needs, intentions. Therefore, there are no two individuals on Earth whose results of cognition would be identical. Naturally, this is especially important for the characterization of social cognition, since in addition to the individual experience of the individual, it also includes the experience of the group to which he belongs, and the entire "experience" of culture. Nevertheless, people must understand each other in a certain way, or at least understand what is at stake. The "separability" of the results of cognition means that, despite individual or group ideas about various social phenomena, people exist in some common cognitive space, they more or less share, perhaps, within certain limits, the meaning of certain objects they perceive.
Communication is a means of generating such shared representations, meanings. Only when it is included in the cognitive process can one answer the sacramental question: how can people know the same thing if everyone constructs its image individually, if in general everyone's knowledge of the world is an absolutely independent process? Social cognition, arising in the course of interaction, presupposes an obligatory communicative process, i.e. a process of constant exchange of information.
The most important conclusion that follows from the characteristics of this third feature of the "sociality" of social cognition is that the condition for its possibility is the process of constant communication between people included in it: the image of the social world is developed jointly.
But at the same time, people are different, and therefore each demonstrates his own individual style of social cognition. Based on the generalization of the experience of numerous studies, five main types of subjects of social cognition (in English terminology - "cognizers") have been identified.
a. Rational person... This is the type that is outlined in cognitive fit theories. For him, the basis of cognition is the search for correspondence, orderliness in his cognitive structures, he is rational, since he is deeply convinced that in cognition one should be guided by arguments, not emotions.
b. " Naive psychologist"- this is an ordinary person, described by F. Haider and S. Asch, who relies on his ideas about a certain cohesion of traits in a person (" all serious people are stubborn "," all funny are frivolous "," all stubborn are pedants "and NS.). Such a person constantly "completes" the image of the perceived, guided by what was later called "implicit theories of personality."
v. " Data Producer"- a person who evaluates another person not in connection with the implicit theories of personality existing in the subject, but solely on the basis of the order in which information about the perceived is presented. At the end of the list of traits to be fixed, attention is believed to wane and the final perceived score is an "algebraic linear integration of weighted rating scores." But the rating of human qualities itself is established by culture (for example, in different cultures the rating of such qualities as "unkempt" or "aggressive", "open" or "business", etc.).
G. " Cognitive miser (curmudgeon)"- a person who makes many mistakes in evaluating another person due to the excessive" frugality "of their judgments. This can be expressed, for example, in the fact that only the more accessible is retained in the memory, it is this that is added to the image of the perceived. Or, like a "naive psychologist", such a miser relies on the most familiar combinations, linkages of signs (for example, "crimes" and "immigrants", etc.). Sometimes such a "miser" relies in his judgments on the apparent proximity of certain objects. The cognitive miser tends to see only the tip of the iceberg.
etc. Cognitive-affective the type, in contrast to the "rational" type, relies much more on emotions in its assessments: it never acts "according to logic", but always according to "psychology." According to R. Zayonts, for such a person, of course, the following statement is acceptable: "Preferences do not need a conclusion." (This coincides with the well-known thought of Pascal: "The heart has its own reason, that it does not know any reasons.")
Naturally, this typology, like any typology, is rather arbitrary: it is unlikely that the types described exist in their pure form. Nevertheless, it is useful, since it allows us to further more specifically consider the question of what mechanisms a person includes in cognizing the social world and how these individual mechanisms manifest themselves in interaction with social factors.
Chapter II
Cognitive correspondence theories in the psychology of social cognition
The next step was taken by the so-called cognitive matching theories. The totality of these theories, born in the 50s. XX century, represents one of the most important orientations in modern social psychology. In its most general form, the essence of the cognitive approach can be characterized as the desire to explain social behavior by describing predominantly cognitive processes characteristic of a person. In direct contrast to behaviorism, cognitivists turn primarily to mental activity, to the structures of mental organization. The main focus of research is on the process of cognition. The general line of communication between this process and social behavior is traced as follows: the individual's impressions of the world are organized into some coherent interpretations, as a result of which various ideas, beliefs, expectations are formed, which act as regulators of social behavior. Thus, this behavior is entirely in the context of some organized systems of images, concepts and other "mentalistic" formations. When combining these formations into a connected structured system, a person inevitably has to make some decision, the first step of which is to assign the perceived object to a certain category.
It is easy to see that the main lines of the cognitive approach in social psychology have as their source some ideas of classical gestalt psychology, as well as K. Lewin's field theory. One of the prominent theorists of cognitivism in social psychology R. Abelson later he expressed a kind of program of the approach: "My version of each person makes us consider him more as a Thinker than as a Doer."
Appeal to gestalt psychology is carried out along several lines: the idea of the image as a holistic formation is accepted, the idea of isomorphism is transformed here into the idea of the similarity of various aspects of interpersonal relations. The idea of the immanent dynamics of gestalt also receives a specific interpretation: the transformation of the cognitive structures of the subject ("reorganization", "regrouping") is understood as the establishment of such balanced structures of the individual, which are subjectively experienced by him as psychological comfort. When establishing such a balance, the principle of Gestalt psychology about the dominance of "good figures" is used. Thus, the entire traditional set of ideas of Gestalt psychology is presented in the works of social psychologists of a cognitive orientation. They often contain direct references to classical works of gestaltists, in particular to the book V. Kehler"Gestalt psychology"; many of the authors working in this orientation call themselves students of the school of Gestalt psychology.
Naturally, the ideas of classical Gestalt psychology are not taken literally. First, because the very specificity of socio-psychological research requires a certain modification. Secondly, because modern cognitivists in social psychology are separated from classical gestalt psychology by a rather long period of time, during which many ideas were either updated or discarded. Thirdly, because against the background of general eclecticism in modern social psychology, the boundaries between orientations are significantly softened and, thus, ideas from other theoretical orientations often penetrate into the fabric of cognitive ideas.
However, the general tonality of Gestalt psychology is inevitably present in the works of cognitivists: the call to rely on direct life experience as the first step in creating a "respectable" science, the admissibility, along with experiment, of the data of "naive" observation and, of course, a general orientation towards cognitive processes as the starting point of psychological analysis.
Another theoretical source of cognitive orientation is K. Levin's field theory. Despite the similarity of Levin's ideas to gestalt psychology, his concept contains such accents that are especially significant for social psychology. Unlike gestalt psychologists, Levin does not focus on cognitive processes, but proposes principles of research personally sti and, therefore, along with the use of such a key concept as "image", develops the concept of "motive". This contains a high attractiveness for cognitivists - social psychologists, since the use of only the information (knowledge) factor to explain social behavior is insufficient. And although the problem of the connection between cognitive and motivational processes has not yet been completely solved, the very formulation of it is possible under the condition of a synthesis of classical gestalt psychology and field theory.
For social psychology, such provisions of field theory as the idea of interaction between the individual and the environment (environment), which has been transformed into the idea of interaction between the individual and the group, turned out to be especially significant, which gives reason to consider not only the perceptual structure of the individual, but also the structure of his real behavior. Cognitive scientists tend to assimilate the double meaning of the concept of "field". As rightly notes M G. Yaroshevskiy,“For gestaltists, a“ field ”is a perceptual structure, it is that which is perceived as directly given to consciousness. For Levin, the “field” is the structure in which behavior occurs. It covers the imprecision of the motivational aspirations (intentions) of the individual and the objects of his aspirations existing outside the individual. " Another Lewin's idea, directly used in social psychology, is the idea of valence: many constructions of cognitivists regarding the representation in the phenomenal field of the subject of his relations to other people exploit the idea of positive or negative valence.
Just as it happened with the ideas of classical Gestalt psychology, Lewin's theory is not used "literally". Rather, here, too, the influence manifested itself to a greater extent on the general orientation of research - on the need to study the individual in interaction with the environment, emphasis on "central" mental processes, respect for experiment, including in such a complex area as personality research.
The core of cognitive orientation is cognitive fit theory... All of them are based on the basic premise that the cognitive structure of a person cannot be unbalanced, disharmonious, and if this is the case, then there is an immediate tendency to change this state. This idea is presented in different ways in different theories, but the very fact that many researchers simultaneously addressed it is very remarkable. The followers of these theories themselves, in a kind of credo set forth in the book The Theories of Cognitive Correspondence, note that the history of their emergence is an illustration of a phenomenon that is often encountered in science, when at a certain period of time there are several similar theories created by authors who do not have direct scientific contacts. In the late 50s. this is exactly what happened with the theories of cognitive fit, which arose under different names: balance, congruence, symmetry, dissonance . What they all had in common from the outset was the recognition that a person behaves in such a way as to maximize the internal conformity of his cognitive system, and, moreover, groups behave in such a way as to maximize the internal conformity of their interpersonal relationships. The feeling of inconsistency causes psychological discomfort, which gives rise to a reorganization of the cognitive structure in order to restore compliance.
Although these theories did not emerge until the late 1950s, the words G. Ebbinghaus, related to psychology in general: these theories have a "long past, but a short history." The followers of these theories themselves see their connection with the medieval concept of a logical person or with the concept of a rational person, an economic person of philosophical concepts of later times. The generality of the approach is emphasized at the point where an attempt is made to correlate the logical and illogical, rational and irrational in human behavior. The fact that these theses were returned to in the 1950s obviously has its own explanation: the long-term dominance of the behaviorist orientation avoided this problem, while the complication of the forms of social life dictated the requirement for rational forms of behavior. Cognitive fit theories have answered this demand in a specific form.
K. Levin's ideas about the nature of the conflict and the collective work under the leadership of T. Adorno "Authoritarian Personality" are considered the direct sources of theories of correspondence. Levin identified three types of psychological conflicts, which were later recorded in the experiment by Miller: "approach - approach", "approach - avoidance", "avoidance - avoidance". In each situation, the individual has an alternative choice of behavior. So, in the situation "approach - approach" characterizes the state of the individual who has to choose between two equally attractive alternatives, each of which requires a different type of action. A classic everyday example of this type of conflict is the situation of Buridan's donkey, who does not dare to choose one or another bundle of hay that is attractive to him. The "approach - avoidance" situation characterizes this type of conflict when one and the same goal appears to the individual both attractive and repulsive at the same time (in everyday language this is called "I want to and pricks"). Finally, the third type of conflict "avoidance - avoidance" depicts a situation where one has to choose between two equally unattractive alternatives ("if you go to the left, you will disappear, if you go to the right, you will also disappear").
The interpretation of the choice made is well carried out using the theories of cognitive correspondence, which, as it were, logically continue Levin's reasoning: a person chooses the alternative with which he quickly restores his cognitive correspondence.
As for the work of Adorno and co-authors, among the many important psychological developments contained in it (in particular, the problems of authoritarianism and related issues), cognitivists noted one important circumstance. In the section of the book, entitled "The Cognitive Organization of the Personality", the concept of "tolerance for ambiguity" was discussed, which is considered as a prototype of the idea of tolerance for inconsistency, i.e. such a psychological state of the individual, in which his sensitivity to the inconsistency that has arisen in the cognitive structure is minimal.
Based on these prototypes of the idea of cognitive correspondence, the authors turned to the development of various theories themselves. Of these, the most famous are: the theory of structural balance by F. Haider, the theory of communicative acts by T. Newcomb, the theory of cognitive dissonance by L. Festinger and the theory of congruence by C. Osgood and P. Tannenbaum. The theory of psychology developed by R. Abelson and M. Rosenberg stands somewhat apart.
V theories of balanced and unbalanced structures F. Haider, which is rightly considered one of the founders of the cognitive orientation, the perceptual field of a cognizing subject is considered, in which there are: he himself, another subject to which the perceiver has a certain relation, and the third is an object about which both the perceiver and the “other” have what -that judgment. The cognitive structure of the perceiving subject will be balanced if it obeys the ordinary everyday “rule”: “we love what our friends love”, “we love what our friends dislike”, etc. According to Haider, these maxims express the ideas of naive psychology about the essence of a person's striving for a balanced cognitive structure. Haider scrupulously builds all possible models of balanced and unbalanced structures of the individual, collected together in his P-O-X scheme, where P is the perceiving subject, O is the "other" and X is the object perceived by both the "perceiving subject" and the "other" ... With the help of this diagram, it is determined which type of relationship between the three designated elements of the diagram gives a stable, balanced structure and which one causes a situation of discomfort for P (for example: “I really liked the book I read, and my best friend subjected it to crushing criticism”).
In general, balance is present, according to Haider, in the cognitive system of P if P perceives the whole situation as harmony, without stress, i.e. if the relationship between P and the “other” (O) corresponds to the relationship of the “other” (O) to the object. Likewise, an imbalance occurs when P's relation to the “other” is at odds with the relation of this “other” to the “object”. Thus, the P-O-X model provides a diagnosis of the cognitive structure, in which the subject of perception develops either psychological comfort or psychological discomfort. So far, nothing has been said about how to overcome the discomfort situation.
The answer to this question is given by theory of communication acts T. Newcome. Here again we consider a system of three elements: the perceiving subject (now called "A"), "other" (B) and "object" (X). The scheme was named A-B-X. All reasoning is carried out in the same way as it is done in Haider's scheme: A perceives as a consonance (analogue of balance) the similarity, its relationship to X and the relationship of B to X. The similarity of these relationships will give rise to attachment between A and B and, on the contrary, the divergence of these relationships will generate hostility between A and B. To bring the system into a situation of consonance (balance, according to Haider), it is necessary to develop communication between A and B , to conduct "negotiations", the purpose of which is to bring the positions of A and B in relation to X closer together. Communication can lead to the return of the system to a balanced state. However, three options are possible: 1) A changes its relation to X in order to make it similar to B's relation to X; 2) B changes his attitude towards X to make it similar to the attitude of A to X; 3) neither A. nor B manages to change their attitude towards X (each remains at his own opinion), in this case the balance can be achieved only if the attitude of A to B. changes.
So, Newcomb's scheme provides not just a diagnosis of the state of the cognitive structure of the perceiving subject, but also describes some "work" that needs to be done to restore cognitive balance. Therefore, unlike Haider's model, Newcomb's model found its practical application - it was used in the study of the processes of mass communication, namely, in clarifying the conditions for the effectiveness of "persuasive speech influence" on the consumer of information received via radio, television or the press. However, in this practical way of using the scheme, one more of its drawbacks came to light: the scheme allows three ways of bringing the system into a balanced situation, i.e. assumes that one of the paths "works". But it does not say anything about which path will be carried out? At the same time, to ensure the effectiveness of influence through any media, not one of three possible ways is needed, but one, the only one that will ensure a change in the position of the information consumer under the influence of the message (and, for example, not a third way, in which persuasion will not affect the consumer - the recipient of the information, and he will simply turn off the TV to achieve "balance" in his cognitive structure). In other words, Newcomb's scheme cannot predict the direction of change in relations within the "triangle": will A bring its system into conformity by changing the attitude of B to the "object" or changing its attitude to the communicator (ie, to A).
The next logical step in improving the idea of cognitive fit was made in congruence theory C. Osgood and P. Tannenbaum. Unlike the theories of Haider and Newcomb, the theory of Osgood and Tannenbaum makes two assumptions that make it possible to predict the outcomes of unbalanced states: 1. An imbalance in the cognitive structure of P (or A - in Newcomb's) depends not only on the general sign of the ratio of P to O (A to B) and O to X (B to X), but also on the intensity of these relations. So, the attitude can be positive, but of varying degrees (you can “love something” or someone, just “love”, etc.). Different intensities of attitudes can also lead to incongruity. 2. Restoration of balance can be achieved not only by changing the sign of the ratio of P to one of the members of the triad, but by changing both the sign and the intensity, and simultaneously to both members of the triad. Osgood and Tannenbaum use the semantic differential method to measure the "shift" of the ratio of P both in sign and in intensity to X, as well as the ratio of O to X. Formulas are proposed by which it is possible to accurately calculate how much each of the relations will "shift" to coincide at one point and thus contribute to bringing the system into a congruent state. The theory of Osgood and Tannenbaum gives the maximum possible for perfecting the idea of bringing the cognitive structure into a state of conformity.
Falls somewhat out of this general logic cognitive dissonance theory L. Festinger, the most famous and popular of all correspondence theories. Unlike the three theories discussed, Festinger's theory deals with the cognitive structure of one single individual, and therefore does not feature any triad (that is, there is no "other"). "Conflict" is played out in the cognitive structure of one person when there is a discrepancy ("dissonance") between two elements of his cognitive structure. Festinger calls these elements "cognitions" or "knowledge." This can be “knowledge” about oneself: what someone does, feels, wants or desires, what he is, etc. Other elements are knowledge about the world in which someone lives: what and where happens, what leads to what, what gives satisfaction and what hurts, what can be ignored and what is important, etc. There is a well-known example, cited by Festinger himself, of a smoker who knows that smoking is harmful, but still continues to smoke. Festinger names three ways in which one can "get rid" of dissonance or, in extreme cases, reduce it: a) change behavior, i.e. quit smoking; b) change "knowledge" ("cognition", according to Festinger), i.e. convince yourself that there is no danger; c) be careful about any new information about smoking, make its "selection" - accept only the one that neglects the dangers of smoking, and discard "terrible" stories about cancer and other serious consequences.
Festinger names five areas in which the reduction of dissonance plays an important role: 1. Conflict after making a decision, when a person, having made a decision, seeks in every possible way to argue in favor of an accepted alternative, i.e. significantly reduces the objectivity inherent in evaluating an alternative before making a decision. 2. Forced consent, when a person has a dissonance, not because he was forced to make a decision, but he voluntarily allowed himself to be involved in a decision that causes dissonance. In this case, in order to reduce dissonance, a person begins to increase the value of the perfect action and, as it were, “justify” himself. 3. Specific selection of information - the desire not so much to avoid negative information (which increases dissonance), but to select positive information that reduces dissonance. 4. Disagreement with the beliefs of a social group when it is obvious that it is wrong, the recognition of which could lead to a decrease in dissonance. However, often, thanks to the interaction between the members of the group, such disagreement does not arise, but, on the contrary, together with the group, the person finds new and new "confirmation" of her rightness. 5. Unexpected results of actions and their consequences, when the measure of a person's efforts to reduce dissonance depends on how the efforts expended by him and the failure of the result are related: dissonance is stronger when the result of a decision contradicts the person's idea of himself. To reduce dissonance in this case, the person is inclined to change even self-esteem. All this speaks about the importance of the phenomenon of dissonance in the real life of a person.
An important question in the theory of dissonance is the question of its origin. It is also of great interest from the point of view of the further development of the ideas of cognitivism. Festinger offers four possible sources of dissonance: 1) from logical inconsistency, i.e. when a person simply admits the simultaneous existence of two conflicting judgments; Along with a modified example from traditional formal logic ("All people are mortal. I am a human. But I will never die"), Festinger offers another example: a person knows that water freezes at 0 0, but at the same time believes that a glass of ice will not melt at +20 0; 2) from the inconsistency of cognitive elements with cultural patterns, or, in other words, norms: the professor, losing his temper, yells at the student, although he knows that this is an elementary violation of pedagogical norms; at the same time he must experience dissonance; 3) from the inconsistency of the cognitive element with a wider system of ideas: a certain American voter is a democrat and suddenly votes for a republican in the elections; 4) out of inconsistency with past experience: someone went out into the rain and for some reason does not get wet, although in the past, naturally, the rain has always "wet".
In the last three cases, there is no logical inconsistency - the situations do not obey the figures and rules of the syllogism, but dissonance still arises. Since the theories of cognitive correspondence always consider the ordinary person, in so far as he is characterized by a very specific logic. R. Abelson and M. Rosenberg called her "Psychology".
Psychology is designed to ensure the special nature of the relationship that arises between cognitions. In order to formulate the rules of psychology, a classification of all possible elements and relationships that appear in the cognitive field is proposed. These are “elements”: actors (the subject of perception himself, other people, groups), means (actions, institutions, responses), goals (results); “Relationships” that connect these elements (positive, negative, ambivalent, neutral). The two “elements” and the “relation” make up the “proposal”. Taken together, they constitute the structural matrix that deduces the rules of psychology. Here's an example. There are three elements A, B , C and four types of relations: n - positive, n - negative, a - ambivalent, o - neutral. Suppose that there is such a connection between them: AB and BN includes APS, which means that if A is positively related to B , and B has a negative attitude towards C, then A has a positive attitude towards C. "Reasons" of this kind are rejected by logicians (from the point of view of which it should be: if AP and VcS, then ANS), but in reality they exist: this is how people often reason in practice ... Abelson notes that this refers to a "serious, but not too brilliant" thinker "who thinks something like this: if A does action B , and B blocks goal C, then it follows that A is against goal C. But I always thought that A accepts goal C, and now it confuses me. " Confusing is embarrassing, but still an ordinary person thinks in this way, i.e. in this case, it is not a logical contradiction that is recorded, but a contradiction between practical considerations and the rule of logic. It is this kind of practical considerations that make up psychology.
And although it is difficult to disagree with the importance of the emphasis made here, too categorical dissociation of "subjective rationality" from "objective rationality" hardly serves to enrich the theory. At the same time, the emphasis on identifying meaning as a certain core of the cognitive process is undoubtedly one of the most significant achievements of cognitive correspondence theories. In particular, it must be taken into account to a greater extent in the general psychological development of the problem of meaning.
With such a statement of the question, the theory of cognitive correspondence comes close to a broader problem posed later in the concepts of the psychology of social cognition, namely, about working with social information in the name of understanding a certain meaning.
Although all the theories considered are called theories of cognitive correspondence, in all the course of reasoning begins precisely with the perception of some information and then “work” with it takes place. The perception of another person with his opinions, positions, points of view or some other objects is further enriched here, and this is achieved not by simply "building up" any properties of perception, but by its radical, significant "processing". This "processing" is rational in nature, although rationality looks very subjective. Nevertheless, the procedure for cognition of the social world, proposed in the theories of cognitive correspondence, undoubtedly contains many interesting points and findings. Another thing is that the role of the cognitive principle in social behavior is hypertrophied: its emotional component is practically absent. But this is precisely the weakness that is characteristic of cognitivism in its classical form as a whole. The problem of including analysis of human behavior, emotions and motives is barely outlined here.
Thus, the theory of cognitive correspondence, giving really a lot for working out the problems of social cognition, its structure, content, could not come close to answering the question of the relationship between cognitive activity and behavior, human activity. Nevertheless, these theories can be considered as the second component of socio-psychological knowledge, which gave impetus to further research of social cognition.
The cognitive orientation in general also set the problematic for further research in social psychology, associated with an emphasis on the problems of social perception, communication, attitudes, decision-making, etc. In the same way, it stimulated the development of the third component, called the study of attributive processes.
Chapter III
The influence of professional activity on the cognitive abilities of a person from the standpoint of the psychology of social cognition
A). Schulte tables technique.
The technique is designed to determine the stability of attention and the dynamics of working capacity when examining people of different ages.
The test subject is offered five tables in turn, on which the numbers from one to 25 are in random order. The test subject finds, shows and names the numbers in ascending order. The trial is repeated with five different tables.
Equipment: number tables, pointer, stopwatch, pencil.
Instructions: The test subject is presented with the first table: "on this table, the numbers from 1 to 25 are not in order." Then the table is closed and continues: "Show and name all the numbers in order from 1 to 25. Try to do this as quickly as possible and without mistakes." Next, the table is opened and, simultaneously with the start of the task, the stopwatch is turned on. The second, third and all subsequent tables are presented without any instructions.
Evaluation of results... The main indicator of the test is the table execution time. Based on the results of the execution of all five tables, a "fatigue curve" can be constructed, reflecting the stability of attention and its performance in dynamics.
Attentional steadiness can be determined by comparing the time spent looking at each table. If this time from the first table to the last changes insignificantly, i.e. the difference in time spent looking at individual tables does not exceed 10 seconds, then attention is considered stable. Otherwise, it is concluded that attention is not sufficiently stable.
Using this test, you can calculate the performance indicator (ER), which was proposed by A.Yu. Kozyreva.
ER = T 1 + T 2 + T 3 + T 4 + T 5/5
T 1 - time of work with the first table,
T 2 - time of work with the second table,
T 3 - time of work with the third table,
T 4 - time of work with the fourth table,
T 5 - time of work with the fifth table.
ER assessment (in seconds) is made taking into account the age of the subject.
ER scoring scale
V group A
5; 5; 5; 4; 4; 5; 5; 5; 4; 4; 5; 4; 5; 4; 3.
V group B the following results were obtained:
4; 4; 5; 5; 5; 4; 3; 4; 4; 5; 4; 5; 4; 4; 4.
B). Method "Memory for numbers".
The technique is designed to determine short-term visual memory for numbers, its volume and accuracy. The task consists in the fact that the surveyed is shown a table with 12 two-digit numbers for 20 seconds, which must be remembered and, after the table is removed, written on the form. The technique is convenient for both individual and group testing, since the procedure does not take much time.
Equipment: table with numbers, answer sheet, pencil, stopwatch, demo poster.
Methodical instructions. After the command to start work, the psychologist opens the tables and at the same time turns on the stopwatch. During the exposure of the tables, it is necessary to ensure that none of the examinees writes down the displayed numbers. When playing, make sure that no one cheats from each other. After 1 minute, the command "Put the pencil down" is given.
Instructions:“Now you will be presented with a table with numbers.
You should try to memorize as many numbers as possible in 20 seconds. After 20 seconds, the table will be removed, and you will have to write down all those numbers that you memorized within 1 minute. Attention, let's start! "
Evaluation of results: By the number of correctly reproduced numbers, the short-term visual memory for numbers is assessed. The norm of an adult is 7 +/- 2. An indicator of 9 units or more is considered high, 8-6 - average, 5-4 - below average, 3 and less - low.
Score scale
V group A the following results were obtained:
5; 5; 5; 4; 5; 4; 5; 3; 3; 5; 5; 4; 4; 4; 5.
V group B the following results were obtained:
5; 4; 4; 5; 4; 3; 3; 4; 4; 4; 4; 5; 4; 4; 4.
V). Methodology "Quantitative relations".
This technique is intended to assess the logical thinking of an adult and adolescents. The examinees are offered to solve 18 logical problems. Each of them contains 2 logical premises, in which the letters are in some numerical relationship with each other. Based on the presented logical premises, it is necessary to decide in what relationship the letters below the line are among themselves. The solution time is 5 minutes.
Instructions: “You are offered 18 logical problems, each of which has two premises. In each problem you need to indicate in what relation the letters below the line are located, and mark this relation using mathematical symbols "<» и «>". The execution time is taken into account and is 5 minutes. "
Evaluation of results... Evaluation is made by the number of correct answers in accordance with the school scores. The norm for an adult is 10 or more correct decisions in 5 minutes.
If the subject finds it difficult to solve such problems, this indicates that his logical thinking in quantitative relations is poorly developed, i.e. he is not able to conclude from two logical premises in what numerical relationships are the objects under consideration.
Score scale
V group A the following results were obtained:
7; 6; 7; 6; 7; 8; 8; 6; 6; 7; 8; 6; 8; 7; 5.
V group B the following results were obtained:
6; 7; 6; 7; 7; 6; 4; 6; 7; 6; 7; 6; 6; 6; 7.
G). Methodology "Intellectual lability".
The technique is recommended to be used to diagnose lability, i.e. the ability to switch intellectual attention, the ability to quickly switch from solving some tasks to performing others (avoiding mistakes), in order to predict success in vocational training, in mastering a new type of activity and assessing the quality of labor practice.
The test is intended for adult subjects, it can be performed both individually and in a group.
The technique consists of a number of simple tasks that are read by the experimenter (it is possible to use an audio recording of the test material). The solution of each task is given from 3 to 5 seconds, which requires a high concentration of attention and speed of action from the subject. The subject's answers are recorded on a special form.
Methodical instructions: It should be noted that the experimenter, before conducting the test, must carefully read the tasks and, during the examination procedure, clearly pronounce the number of the square in which the next task will be performed, because the numbers of tasks and squares on the test subject's form do not match.
Equipment: a special form for answers, given to each subject, pencil or pen, stopwatch.
Instructions : “You are invited to complete 40 simple tasks, the answers to which you will record in a special form. The work time on each task is limited to a few seconds. Be careful. Work fast. The task I read is not repeated. Attention! Begin!".
Evaluation of results produced by the number of errors. An error is considered to be a wrong decision or a missed task.
Score scale
V group A the following results were obtained:
6; 6; 8; 6; 7; 7; 8; 5; 7; 7; 5; 6; 7; 6; 5.
V group B the following results were obtained:
6; 6; 5; 5; 6; 5; 3; 5; 5; 6; 6; 5; 5; 6; 5.
Processing empirical data by mathematical methods.
A). Empirical data processing for group A .
V group A the following results were obtained:
(5+5+7+6); (5+5+6+6); (5+5+7+8); (4+4+6+6); (4+5+7+7); (5+4+8+7); (5+5+8+8); (5+3+6+5); (4+3+6+7); (4+5+7+7); (5+5+8+5); (4+4+6+6); (5+4+8+7); (4+4+7+6); (3+5+5+5).
Let's calculate the total score:
23+22+25+20+23+24+26+19+20+23+23+20+24+21+18=331
a) arithmetic mean ā
ā = (18 * 1 + 19 * 1 + 20 * 3 + 21 * 1 + 22 * 1 + 23 * 4 + 24 * 2 + 25 * 1 + 26 * 1) / 15 = (18 + 19 + 60 + 21 + 22 + 92 + 48 + 25 + 26) / 15 = 331/15 = 22.06
b) variance D
D = (18 2 * 1 + 19 2 * 1 +20 2 * 3 +21 2 * 1 +22 2 * 1 +23 2 * 4 +24 2 * 2 +25 2 * 1 +26 2 * 1) / 15 - 22.06 2 = (324 +361 + 1200 + 441 + 484 + 2116 + 1152 + 625 + 676) / 15 - 486.64 = 7379/15 - 486.64 = 491 - 486.64 = 4.36
δ = √D = √4.36 = 2.09
Average score for group A: 22.06 ± 2.09
S 2 = n / n-1 * D = 15 / 15-1 * 4.36 = 4.67
So, the average score for group A: 22.06 ± 2.16
B). Empirical data processing for group B .
V group B the following results were obtained:
(4+5+6+6); (4+4+7+6); (5+4+6+5); (5+5+7+5); (5+4+7+6); (4+3+6+5); (3+3+4+3); (4+4+6+5); (4+4+7+5); (5+4+6+6); (4+4+7+6); (5+5+6+5); (4+4+6+5); (4+4+6+6); (4+4+7+5).
Let's calculate the total score:
21+21+20+22+22+18+13+19+20+21+21+21+19+20+20=298
The score received by the subjects in the tests will be taken as x, the number of subjects who received such a point as n.
Let's construct a discrete variation series for the feature x:
Let us find the distribution parameters for the feature x:
a) arithmetic mean ā
ā = (13 * 1 + 18 * 1 + 19 * 2 + 20 * 4 + 21 * 5 + 22 * 2) / 15 = (13 + 18 + 38 + 80 + 105 + 44) / 15 = 298/15 = 19.87
b) variance D
D = (13 2 * 1 + 18 2 * 1 + 19 2 * 2 +20 2 * 4 +21 2 * 5 +22 2 * 2) / 15 - 19.87 2 = (169+ 324 +722 + 1600 + 2205 + 968) / 15 - 394.82 = 399.20 - 394.82 = 4.38
c) standard deviation δ
δ = √D = √4.38 = 2.09
Given that our sample is not large enough, we calculate the corrected standard deviation.
S 2 = n / n-1 * D = 15 / 15-1 * 4.38 = 4.69
So, the average score for group B: 19.87 ± 2.17
Conclusion
One of the main features of the period of middle adulthood is the extreme subjectivity of a person in assessing his age. At the same time, this does not mean at all that there are no changes at both the psychological and biological levels. Changes occur and entail changes in the personal sphere.
The intensity of the involution of a person's intellectual functions depends on three factors: giftedness, education and "social field", which resist aging, inhibiting the involutionary process, or, on the contrary, contribute to the rapid degradation of the cognitive properties of a person.
Features of a person's intellectual development and indicators of his intellectual capabilities largely depend on the personality of a person, his life attitudes, plans and life values.
So, we examined a number of cognitive capabilities, in particular, the properties of attention, memory and thinking in a sample of 30 middle-aged people (from 40 to 55 years old). The empirical data were converted into a scoring system, and after mathematical processing, we determined the average scores for two groups of 15 people in each of the given sample. People were divided into two groups on the basis of the involvement of intellectual labor in their professional activity and its obvious predominance over physical labor.
At the beginning of the study, we hypothesized that there was a link between mental work and increased cognitive performance. To confirm this hypothesis, we had to obtain data at least different in group A, which included middle-aged people who daily deal with intellectual production problems, and group B, which included middle-aged people whose professional activities did not require the inclusion of intellectual tension.
We confirmed this assumption, since the average score in group A was 22.06 ± 2.16, and the average score in group B is 19.87 ± 2.17.
In addition, we have shown not only the existence of a correlation between mental work and an increased level of cognitive capabilities, but also that this direct connection .
So, based on the empirical data obtained and mathematically processed by us, we we reject the hypothesis Н 0, assuming that in middle-aged people there is no relationship between the predominance of mental labor in professional activity and the level of cognitive capabilities; and we accept hypothesis H 1 that among middle-aged people, there is a direct relationship between the predominance of mental labor in professional activity and an increased level of cognitive capabilities.
Bibliography:
1. Andreeva G.M. Psychology of social cognition: Textbook. - M .: Aspect Press, 2000 .-- 288p.
2. Andreeva G.M. Social Psychology: A Textbook. - M .: Aspect Press, 2002 .-- 364 p.
4. Rogov E.I. Psychology of communication. - M .: Humanit. Ed. Center VLADOS, 2001 .-- 296 p.
5. Shapar, V. B. A Practical Psychologist's Workbook. - M .: AST, 2007 .-- 672s
HISTORY AND THEORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 1
Phoenix Publishing House
Rostov-on-Don
PETROVSKY Artur Vladimirovich (born in 1924), Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Education. Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, since 1992 President of the Russian Academy of Education.
Author of books on the history of psychology, social psychology, personality psychology. Editor and author of textbooks on psychology for universities that have been reprinted many times. His books have been translated into many foreign languages.
YAROSHEVSKY Mikhail Grigorievich (born in 1915), Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Full Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Education. Chief Researcher at the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Artist O. Babkin
Petrovsky A.V., Yaroshevsky M.G.
History and theory of psychology - Rostov-on-Don:
Phoenix Publishing House, 1996. - 416 p.
The paper presents an unconventional approach to the historical development of psychological cognition, which made it possible to trace the evolution of the conceptual structures of psychological science, its explanatory principles and problems from a new angle.
This approach is realized due to the orientation towards the method of categorical analysis, the purpose of which is to reveal the natural and systemic nature of transformations of scientific knowledge about the psyche.
AND 4704010000 - without announcement BBK 65.5
Petrovsky A.V.
Yaroshevsky M.G.
It has long been known that without a retrospective analysis of scientific knowledge its current state is inexplicable. Any of the problems being worked out now has historical roots. Addressing them is necessary in order to explain the origin of the problem, to identify productive solutions tested in the practice of its research, on the one hand, dead-end moves, on the other. Therefore, the historical view is rightly called the self-consciousness of science, just as the self-consciousness of a person is formed through his understanding of his past.
As you know, the historical approach requires a reconstruction of events that would be adequate to their change in historically irreversible time. There is no history without chronology. Accordingly, any method of studying the dynamics of scientific concepts has as its prerequisite a clear delineation of the process of transition from one era in the evolution of knowledge about the psyche to another. The nodal points of this evolution are highlighted in the first part of the book.
The process of "transition" was considered in detail in the previous works of the authors. When characterizing one of the periods, namely the history of Russian psychology in the Soviet era, the authors, taking into account the one-sidedness they had previously admitted, considered it necessary to pay special attention to assessing the deformations that science underwent under the pressure of ideological attitudes and prohibitions.
There is no theory of science without history. But in order for the history of science to serve the theoretical development and effective development of topical problems, history itself should be subjected to a special theoretical consideration. Its subject is not the content of thought in itself (in relation to psychology, various mental processes, functions, manifestations of personality activity, its properties, etc., act as such content), but this scientific thought itself in its dynamics, in the transition from some methods of researching subject content to others.
The transformation of scientific thought occurs naturally. With all the variety of individual hypotheses, models, facts, generalizations that are imprinted by various psychological trends and schools, this polyphony and multicolor presents a constantly sounding "melody". It runs through the entire history of science. This is the logic of its development. It embraces the stable structures of this development, serves as its axis.
The paper presents an unconventional approach to the historical development of psychological cognition, which allows tracing the evolution of the conceptual structures of psychological science, its explanatory principles and problems from a new angle. This approach is realized due to the orientation towards the method of categorical analysis, the purpose of which is to reveal the natural and systemic nature of the transformations of scientific knowledge about the psyche. Thus, the history of psychological science merges with its methodology.
As a result of studying this chapter, the student must:
know
- the specifics of the study of cognition and cognitive processes in psychology;
- types of cognitive processes and the possibility of their classification;
- what is the "image of the world" and to solve what problem this concept was introduced;
- what is a "computer metaphor" and what is its significance for the study of knowledge;
- the main blocks of information processing, described in the multicomponent theory of information processing, and the criteria for their selection;
be able to
- to separate cognitive (specific) and universal ("end-to-end") processes;
- highlight the features of classical and modern approaches to the study of cognition in psychology;
own
Basic concepts that define cognition as a system for acquiring, storing, transforming and using knowledge.
General characteristics of the human cognitive sphere
The field of knowledge has traditionally been considered the subject of philosophical analysis - epistemology and epistemology. However, the scientific study of knowledge from the very beginning was also the subject of interest in experimental psychology. In a broad sense, this term designated the sphere of a person's mental life, which is different from his motivational, emotional, volitional manifestations, individual characteristics of temperament and character. It was positioned as cognitive, or cognitive, determining behavior and consciousness from the point of view of the subject's interaction with the objective world. German philosopher creator of scientific psychology Wilhelm Wundt(1832-1920), for example, characterized the elements of consciousness associated with this sphere of mental life as objective (Wundt, 1912). In modern Russian psychology, this layer of the mental is considered as the sensory fabric and the meaning of the objective image (Leontiev, 1977). In contrast to the cognitive, motivational-volitional sphere sets the partiality of mental reflection. Classical psychology of consciousness defines this side of the psyche as subjective elements of consciousness, calling them feelings (Wundt, 1912), and supporters of the activity direction speak of emotions and personal meanings (Leont'ev, 1977). Both of these areas describe the totality of mental processes. At the same time, there are so-called mental properties, which include abilities, temperament, character, speech.
In procedural terms cognition, thus, can be defined as a set of cognitive processes or functions. Therefore, the psychology of cognition is traditionally designated as the psychology of cognitive processes. Modern approaches to the analysis of mental processes distinguish two types of cognitive processes in the structure of cognition: cognitive processes proper, in another way called specific, and universal, or "through" (Vekker, 1981; Petukhov, 2001; Petukhov, Stolin, 1987).
Actually cognitive, or specific cognitive processes associated with the formation of new knowledge about the world around us. This knowledge can be different depending on what aspects of the world around us are available to us in the process of cognition. Therefore, specific cognitive processes, in turn, are divided into processes of sensory (direct) and rational (mediated) cognition, which reflect various stages, or levels, of cognition.
An example sensory cognition are the processes of sensation, reflecting individual elementary properties of the object of cognition, and perception, fixing the subject of cognition as a whole. It is customary to say that sensation corresponds to the first stage of cognition, which reproduces or, in other words, reflects only individual properties of the object, but not the object itself (Fig. 1.1). Perception- this is the second, higher level of cognition, reflecting the properties of the object in their relationship with each other. Perception is objective, its result is the image of the object, the perception. In another way, the processes of sensation are usually called sensory, and perception - perceptual. Sometimes, due to the extremely high interconnection of sensory and perceptual processes and the resulting complexity of their differentiation, these processes are considered together, in aggregate, and denoted as sensory-perceptual.
Rice. 1.1.
Rational(mediated) cognition is carried out through the processes thinking. In the traditional sense, this is the third, highest level of knowledge. A distinctive feature of this kind of cognition is that at this stage the subject goes beyond the immediate sensory givenness of the object, trying to comprehend its essential characteristics, reflecting its connections with other objects of the surrounding world. The result of such cognition is a generalized image of an object or a vision of an integral situation. This is possible due to the reflection of the relationship between holistic images that are not given in direct experience. For example, with the help of perception, one can comprehend the hardness of a particular object, but thanks to thinking, the subject is able to comprehend hardness in general, and thus hardness will act as a supersensible quality.
Universal cognitive processes are carried out not by themselves, but only in a system of specific processes. They seem to permeate all levels of knowledge. Therefore, metaphorically, these cognitive processes are designated as "cross-cutting". Universal, or "end-to-end", cognitive processes include processes attention, which are directed to the present and are remarkable, among other things, in that they do not have their own product at all, and also memory and imagination, which, although they have their own product, do not exist separately from perception and thinking, preserving or anticipating their results, thus turning to the past or the future (Fig. 1.2). Indeed, in order to remember something, this something must be perceived and, as a rule, comprehended. Reproductive imagination reproduces images of memory, and productive, or creative, is aimed at resolving the uncertainty of sensory or rational cognition. At the same time, here, too, it is possible to isolate processes that tend to a greater extent to processes of sensory-perceptual properties (as a rule, attention and lower forms of memory), and processes that are rather close in nature to thinking (higher forms of memory and imagination).
The question of cognition in modern foreign psychology is raised in a similar way. Thus, one of the fundamental manuals on cognitive psychology says that it "covers the entire range of psychological processes - from sensations to perception, pattern recognition, attention, learning, memory, concept formation, thinking, imagination, memorization, language, emotions and developmental processes. "(Solso, 1996, p. 28).
Dear psychologists of the House of the Sun! Please give me some advice! After the divorce, the adoptive parent has been keeping my 12-year-old son for half a year. It does not give the opportunity to communicate with him, it seems to me and my parents. There is a court decision to cancel the establishment, but he filed a new application to reinstate the adoption.
Using his official position, he takes my son to different authorities and forces the child to write statements that he does not want to see me, but wants to live only with him.
Maybe there are some ...
The essence of psychological pain is simple: disagreement with what is happening, caused by attachment to certain mental patterns. As a result, an attempt to forcefully maintain the stability of these patterns - which leads to a powerful overstrain of the brain.
If you draw a picture, then an attempt to keep the usual psycho-templates against the background of changes in reality is the same as an attempt to keep a train rushing by, grabbing onto it with a hook.
How everything happens ...
Man lives in images. He creates a certain set ...
In addition to technical and external factors, psychological barriers play an important role in the process of managing your time. Our inner attitude to work and the way we do it emotionally color the entire work process.
These can be both positive and negative emotions. Let's try to understand this in more detail.
You do not know how to refuse and others use it. As a result, you are physically and emotionally overwhelmed. You constantly experience this injustice internally. But if...
In our age of popularization of psychology, secrets that were once hidden from ordinary people are beginning to be massively published and implemented by various psychologists and psychotherapists. Probably almost every adult knows what NLP and psychological manipulation techniques are.
This is taught by a business coach or coaches, as it is fashionable to call it now.
The concept of coaching entered our life not so long ago, more their activity is known as the science of psychological methods of manipulating people's consciousness ...
Why do I feel so bad? This is a question many of us often ask ourselves. We are all living people, experiencing a lot of emotions, which are daily tested for the psyche in the form of various strong stimuli. We worry, worry, cry.
We experience an oppressive sense of helplessness. We suffer, we suffer, we do not sleep at night. It seems to us that the world around us is alien and aggressive towards us.
We are prone to low self-esteem, which makes it difficult to build relationships with the people around us. A loss...
In most cases, a person goes to a psychologist individually. And it is right! Indeed, only with a psychologist will you be able to understand which type of therapy is most suitable for you at this particular time and with the problem that has arisen.
Of course, the client always independently decides not only which specialist he should contact, but also whether he wants to work in a group or individually. Does he want to use additional materials or it will be exclusively verbal communication ...
There is a perception about psychotherapists that in everything that spoils their clients' lives today, they tend to look for psychological trauma in the past.
Does it make sense to reopen these wounds, because the past cannot be changed anyway?
After all, if any event that caused us pain is considered as a psychological trauma, then we all should not crawl out from psychotherapists. And it’s just right to open psychotherapeutic hospitals so that we, so fragile in our recovery, do not have to go home by ...
There are 4 main types of psychological defenses of a person, from which more specific forms of manifestation of these defenses can be derived.
However, there are four types: according to the content of what lies at the heart of protection.
What does "psychological protection" mean?
This is a behavior in which a person does not solve his problems in a conscious way, but moves away from solving them. Or - REACTIVE BEHAVIOR, in which a person is not guided by himself, but he is guided by his reactions.
So the types.
Excitement - or "translation ...
In the development of its ideas about knowledge, philosophy proceeded from the idea of absolute truth as a top and a limit, starting with Plato, to the idea of its relativity or even its absence. However, the concept of truth for scientific knowledge was based on the position developed in Aristotelian philosophy about truth as correspondence of knowledge to their subject or compliance of the subject with its concept. Hence and objectivity as a necessary sign of scientific knowledge.
The striving for objectivity was also at the basis of the development of psychology. The desire to overcome philosophical discrepancies in questions about the nature and essence of thinking, consciousness, emotions, i.e. everything that makes up the elements of a great integrity called "MAN" required a search for new ways of analyzing them. It seemed that this task would soon be solved, and we would find out at the level of a formula what love is, why people rejoice or grieve, etc., and we will begin to produce “pills of happiness,” “pills of anti-anger,” etc. but human mouth turned out to be much more difficult, and sometimes writers (especially such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Albert Camus, etc.) are more productive here than experimental scientists.
The process of attaining knowledge is always self-determined subject, this suggests that an important element in the description of knowledge, its different types and forms will remain item, in other words, knowledge cannot be pointless, it is always knowledge about something.
That is subject of psychological knowledge? As the question posed by Kant, "What is a man?" sounds in psychology? Psychology is trying to get reliable and objective knowledge about a person in order to reveal his eternal secret, just as the mysteries of the material world are gradually revealed: the structure of matter, the laws of interaction of bodies, etc. Psychological knowledge, like other forms of scientific knowledge, tends to objectivity, i.e. bringing them in line with the subject under study. However, as already mentioned, psychology belongs to the sphere Spiritual Sciences and by its very nature, psychological knowledge remains biased in the full sense.
From the more general, philosophical question "What is a person?" psychology moves to a more specific one - "What is psyche?" psychophysical problem(the ratio of soul and body, in the language of philosophy). Academician A. V. Petrovsky defines subject of psychology:
The subject of psychology is the subject's natural connections with the natural world, imprinted in the system of sensory and mental images of this world, motives that induce action, as well as in the actions themselves, experiences of their relations with other people and to oneself, in the properties of the personality as the nucleus of this system.
As already mentioned, today not all schools and areas of psychology recognize their subject psyche, believing it to be too narrow a sphere, the functional basis of the individual's life, while only functional aspects are insufficient to determine the essence of a person. For example, existential psychology does not study the psyche, but existentials, representing the existential integrity of "I". Humanitarian psychology speaks of the need to research spiritual life, in fact directly reviving the category of "soul" within the limits of psychological knowledge. Humanistic psychology prioritizes meeting phenomenon(researcher and researcher), i.e. idea of dialogue, which is one of the most intensively developing ideas in modern philosophy.
So, object the focus of psychological research is human - subject studied and philosophical anthropology. This leaves its imprint on the principles and methods of cognition in psychology, where the process of cognition itself is not built according to the scheme subject-object relations, which forms the basis of the principle of classical rationality (the subject reflects the properties and qualities of the object). More adequate to the subject of psychology is the methodological recognition of the priority subject-subject relationships. Recall that subject - it is the one who cognizes, and the object is what is cognized. This suggests the following.
- 1. An object research: a) has subjective characteristics (actively influences the subject); b) not constant; c) really participates in the formation of a cognitive situation.
- 2. Subject research: a) interacts with the object (dialogue situation); b) selects and forms both the object and the means of cognition, including methodology, technique and initial theoretical premises.
- 3. Result cognition depends on: a) the cognitive situation created by both the subject and the object, including the chosen methods and methods of cognition; b) the level and nature of their interaction; c) emotional and worldview attitudes of both.
The development of cognition according to the principle of subject-subject relations demonstrates the interactive nature of the cognitive process in psychology. For natural science, the requirement objectivity remains a universal epistemological attitude, which retains its significance for psychology, but the weight of the subjective factor makes it different from natural science as a whole. The nature of psychological knowledge can be defined as subjective-objective. Psychology, like natural science, strives for the objectivity of knowledge, and this allows it to fix the objective characteristics of the psyche (as far as they exist), to identify the typical in relation to the unique, the general to the special (take at least the alphabetical typology of human temperaments). However, these characteristics are presented in the results of psychological research in conjunction with worldview, value (metaphysical) meanings, introduced by the general socio-cultural environment, and the subjective characteristics of the researcher and the researched, and accepted philosophical paradigms.
A practicing psychologist will confirm that often the result of seemingly most objective research, for example, testing, depends on the mood, physical condition of the subject, trust, sympathy or antipathy towards the researcher, relationships with other subjects, etc. Therefore, when measuring the same values (for example, intelligence, sociability, etc.), at different times and in different conditions, the same person will show different results. Does this mean that reliable and objective knowledge about a person is impossible? Psychologists believe not. Following FM Dostoevsky, one can repeat many times “Man is a mystery”, and this is one of those mysteries that a person himself will never tire of solving. If the secret does not hide emptiness, then there are many ways and techniques to open the veil of this secret, to look into it, to make it transparent.
Both psychological and philosophical knowledge is aimed at comprehending the essence of a person, but the paradox is that it is not always objective, therefore M. Heidegger urges us not to describe being, but to "feel" into it in order to know it. The hermeneutic tradition proclaims understanding the main way of comprehending reality. Based on this, we can say that the path of psychology to its subject is the path mutual understanding researcher and researched, the way dialogue, which is actively analyzed in modern philosophy. Itself idea of dialogue in being and cognition is not new, it is still present in the famous method of Socrates, but only in the XX century. being developed and gaining momentum philosophy of dialogue, which is associated with the name of M. Buber, and his book "I and You", published in 1922, can be considered a kind of manifesto. In Russian philosophy, the topic of dialogue is actively heard in the works of M. M. Bakhtin and other authors.
Modern psychology is heterogeneous, its subject is divided into many small (private) special subjects, forming a more or less unified structure, interacting with equally diverse sections of philosophical knowledge and various areas of practice. In the structure of psychological science, the following sections are traditionally distinguished: general (or theoretical) psychology, labor psychology, educational psychology, medical psychology, legal psychology, military psychology, sports psychology, psychology of trade (nowadays the psychology of advertising is already distinguished as a separate sub-branch), engineering psychology , psychology of art, political psychology, developmental psychology, psychology of abnormal development, comparative psychology, social psychology, etc.
It is advisable to talk today about development methodology of psychology as a special branch of psychological knowledge, directly adjacent to the general methodology of the spider, developed in philosophy. The general methodology of psychology is a meta-level of psychological research, at which the general principles of psychological cognition are developed, its results are recorded, and prospects are determined. The development of the domestic methodology of psychology is associated with the works of A.N. Leontyev, B.F. Lomov, V.P. Zinchenko, and others.
Of all the listed branches of psychological knowledge, if presented in the form of a pyramid, one can single out as the basis general psychology, and as its general outline - methodology. These are precisely the branches of psychological knowledge that gravitate or directly merge with philosophy in such a way that the provisions developed in them will be equally valuable for both philosophy and psychology, they will be organically woven into the structure of both philosophical and psychological knowledge. Other psychological disciplines that study a special subject are more empirical, dependent on experience; the exception, perhaps, is social Psychology, the development of which today is unthinkable without close interaction with social philosophy, sociology, cultural studies, etc.
At the first stages of the development of psychology, a significant quantitative increase in knowledge about mental, obtained on the basis of experiments and observations, carried out, as a rule, by analogy or within the framework of physiological studies. For example, the famous theory of reflexes by I.M.Sechenov made it possible to explain mental through the full cycle of interaction between the body and the environment. Borrowing the methods of physiology, the German psychologist G. Ebbinghaus was the first to begin the experimental study of memory, experiments were carried out to study thinking (the famous intelligence quotient (IQ) of W. Stern appeared). The subjects were adults, children, mentally ill people, etc., psychology intensively accumulated empirical material, which seemed to bring our knowledge about ourselves closer to the cherished line of objectivity, reliability and general significance.
However, the desired universality was not achieved, and this allowed the researchers to talk about the crisis of psychology, which is attributed to the 1910-1930s. Some authors see the reason for the crisis in the absence of a general psychological theory, the role of which is proposed to be Marxism. However, the question arises: perhaps the reason should be considered the very specifics of psychological knowledge, which was discussed above? What is psychological knowledge in comparison with philosophical knowledge?
As already mentioned, psychology necessarily has an empirical basis in its structure, over which theories are built. Any psychological research involves the choice of a conceptual framework within which primary hypotheses are formed; selection or creation of methods for conducting empirical research (experiment, observation); the choice of rational-logical principles of the transition from experience to theory. Thus, the purpose of psychological research can be considered the creation of psychological theory, capable of explaining its subject with varying degrees of reliability. The psychological theories themselves can be created as more or less general, or as private or general scientific.
Under private scientific theories understand the rational-logical constructions that exist and operate within the framework of a separate scientific discipline. General scientific name theories that go beyond the framework of a single science and are important for other branches of knowledge; we can say that general scientific theories are in essence very close to philosophical concepts due to the desire for maximum generalization. In psychology, there are both. Some directly grow out of experience and represent its rational understanding, acting within the framework of psychology itself. These include, for example, "field theory" (K. Levin), which developed in the course of the experimental study of the dynamics of motives, etc.
Other theories outgrow the framework of psychology, turning into philosophical. The most striking example is Freudianism: formulating the provisions of his theory on the basis of clinical practice, Freud creates a theory that becomes a universal worldview and methodological basis for other specific sciences due to the extremely general provisions explaining consciousness, mental, human. Many concepts developed in the concept of psychoanalysis acquired the status of philosophical categories: "It", "unconscious", "I" (although, it should be noted that Freud borrows this category from German classical philosophy). Freudianism is recognized and studied by philosophers as one of the leading philosophical concepts.
Thus, the living interaction of philosophy and psychology can be traced not only in the fact that psychology grows out of philosophy, is based on philosophical ideas and principles, but also in the fact that philosophy draws from psychology and new ways of argumentation, and new horizons of research, new objects and new theories. However, with all the obvious closeness of the starting positions, psychological knowledge is different from philosophical:
- a) the presence of an obligatory empirical base (modern psychological research is based on empirical data obtained by the researcher himself);
- b) the level of abstraction (philosophy is always abstract, and psychology moves from the concrete to the abstract; for example, when discussing love, a philosopher can talk about love as such; a psychologist will talk about the specifics of love based on the generalization of its manifestations in different people);
- c) focusing on a specific object (fact, situation, etc.; for example, a philosopher can talk about what a person is, identify its specific features, etc., a psychologist can also talk about a person, but only on the basis of research personality traits of specific people);
- d) the presence of special methods (technologies);
- e) direct access to practice (while philosophy affects practice indirectly).
Philosophy and psychology are characterized by and general subject area, and even commonality of categories. For example, in philosophy and psychology, such categories as thinking, sensation, perception, feelings, emotions, activity, personality, etc. appear. However, despite the fact that the cognitive efforts of researchers are aimed at the same object, their approaches to understanding it are different : if philosophical analysis tends to a generalized image of the subject, then the psychological one details and concretizes. In other words, psychology is interested in the man Ivan, the man Peter, the man Socrates, and it seeks to generalize their specific qualities into a property or characteristic of all. Philosophy is interested in PERSON in general. Philosophy is looking for an answer to the question "What is a man?" At the moment when psychology puts before its conclusions the word "everything": all people have consciousness, all people strive for happiness, all people suffer, etc., it passes into the rank of philosophy.
Speaking about the difference between psychological and philosophical approaches to the analysis of the same phenomena, we can figuratively imagine two artists. One (the philosopher) paints a picture with broad strokes, where the general image of the subject, perspective are visible. Another (psychologist) takes a thin brush and writes out the details, which is why the picture painted by the first comes to life, is filled with many new meanings and shades, but loses perspective.
While exploring the same subject, philosophy and psychology offer different ways and contexts of understanding it. Philosophy creates metalevel analysis of the studied subject. So, philosophy of the game, philosophy of intelligence, philosophy of emotions etc. will be meta-level with respect to game psychology, psychology of intelligence, psychology of emotions etc., giving an extremely general and abstract epistemological image of the listed phenomena. Once again, switching to the language of allegories, one can imagine the psychologist in the role of a gardener, carefully and carefully cultivating his garden, growing a flower; to understand how the flowers are alike, he needs to plant and grow at least a few of them. The philosopher, like a butterfly or a bee, seems to soar over gardens and flower beds grown by different gardeners, and from the height of his flight he sees the similarities and differences of flowers and other plants, he sits on some of them to feed himself with life-giving nectar. By the way, the image of a bee has become quite traditional for describing a fruitful inductive research; it was used by F. Bacon.
Concluding the conversation about the similarities and differences between psychological and philosophical knowledge, it is advisable to recall personal knowledge concept developed by Michael Polanyi (1891 - 1976), who proceeded from the fact that personal knowledge there is not just a set of statements and experiences of the individual, but he lives in him as in a garment from his own skin. According to Polanyi, a person has two types of knowledge: explicit(articulated, verbalized, expressed, etc.) and implicit(an implicit layer of human experience that does not lend itself to complete verbalization and full reflection). Both of them are manifested and involved in personal knowledge, which is why a person, living, feeling, aimed at something, is a bearer of knowledge, including scientific knowledge. Science is done by individuals, and its results depend on their focus, intellectual dedication, etc. It is important to say that personal knowledge concept, one of the most influential conceptual schemes of science in modern philosophy, is to the maximum extent adequate to the processes of development of psychology described above in interaction with philosophy.
Thus, psychological and philosophical knowledge are formed in close interaction with each other, complementing and mutually enriching each other. In every psychological study, there is a fundamental philosophical foundation, which is expressed in the choice of methodological attitudes, ideological guidelines, problem sections by the researcher. Philosophical knowledge generalizes and conceptualizes the data of psychology, absorbing new ideas, principles, etc., developed by psychology. This allows us to draw a conclusion about the heuristic value of these branches of knowledge for each other.
- Introduction to psychology / under total. ed. A. V. Petrovsky. M .: Academy, 1996.S. 73.
- See, for example: Bakhtin M. M. Author and hero. To the philosophical foundations of the humanities. SPb. : Academy, 2000; Bibler V.S. On the Faces of the Logic of Culture. Book of selected sketches. Moscow: RFO Publishing House, 1997; and etc.
- See: M. Polani, Personal knowledge. Towards Post-Critical Philosophy. Moscow: Progress, 1983.
