General notion of psychology as science.

Університет Російської Академії Освіти

Реферат з англійської мови

Москва

2006

Psychology is assigned to a special part in the system of sciences.

First, it is assumed that the psychology studies the most complicated fieldof science known to the man kind, since psychics is the virture of a highlyintegral matter.

Aristotelian also considered that the priority should be given to the studyof the human soul among researches "in the other fields of knowledge" .Since it is the knowledge about the high elevation and amazement of the humansouls.

"About the soul" is the name of his treatise.

Second, the science of Psychology occupies a special place since it mergesthe subject and the object.

Example. A person is born. First he is small and does not remember himself.But his development goes fast. His physical and mental abilities are formed.He learns to go, see, understand, and speak. By means of these abilities helearns the world. It starts to operate in him. But a person has questions: «Who am I? »,« What am I? ». And later «what for am I»? Mental abilities andfunctions are for a child an agent for studying an external world. Then he learnshimself.

The same process can be seen in scale of all mankind. In an ancient societypeople struggled for existence. They extracted fire, hunted, were at war, studiedthe nature.

Opportunities of mankind grew gradually. People have framed material and spiritualculture. There was writing, art, sciences. And a person asked himself a question: what enables him to create and investigate? How is his intellect arranged?

This moment was a birth of a self-consciousness of mankind. This moment wasa birth of psychological knowledge.

Before the human reflection was preoccupied with the cognition of the universebut now it is reversed to the inner world of the human being. The human beingwith the help of the cognition begins to study the reflections of souls.

Third, besides, there is a special feature, in the psychology which presentsunique practical means of application.

To learn how to control your own psycho effects, functions, and abilities isthe task which is more grandiosity than the grandiosity in the space. It isnoted that while the human being is studying his soul, the human being willbe transforming his own being.

The science of psychology is not only the science which studies the humanbeing, but it also participates in construction and creation of the mentalityof human beings.

Psychology is rather young science.

Psychology as science became established more than 100 years ego.

In 1879 the German psychologist Mister Wundt opened the first laboratory ofexperimental psychology in Leipzig. The psychology has arisen on crossing oftwo areas of knowledge: natural sciences and philosophy.

Any science has some everyday experience as the basis. For example, physicsleans on knowledge of movement and falling of bodies, of light and a sound, heat and many other things. We collide with it every day.

The mathematics too starts with representations about numbers, forms. Theystart to be formed already at preschool age.

But it is quiet different with psychology. Everyday psychological knowledgeis concrete. They are adhered to concrete situations, concrete people, and specifictargets.

The scientific psychology aspires to generalizations. For this purpose it usesscientific concepts.

The scientific psychology searches and finds generalizing concepts. These conceptsenable to understand tendencies and laws of development of a person and hisspecific features.

Everyday psychological knowledge has intuitive character. It is acquired practice.

Such way is especially precisely visible among children. They have got goodpsychological intuition. It is reached by daily and hourly tests. Children subjectadults to these tests. And adults not always guess about it.

Everyday psychology differs from scientific one by the fact that scientificpsychological knowledge is rational and realized.

The following difference of everyday psychology from scientific one consistsin ways of transfer of knowledge. As a rule the everyday psychology is hardlytransferred from the senior generation to younger. Children can not and do notwish at all to adopt experience of fathers. Each new generation, each youngman should get new experience himself.

In scientific psychology knowledge is transferred with big efficiency. Accumulationand transfer of scientific knowledge occurs in scientific concepts and laws.They are fixed in scientific literature and transferred by means of speech andlanguage.

The following difference of everyday psychology from scientific one consistsin methods of acquiring knowledge. Observation and reflection serves in everydaypsychology as a method. In scientific psychology experiment is added to thesemethods.

The main thing in an experimental method is that the researcher does not waitfor the phenomenon he is interested in. The researcher frames special conditionsfor reception of the given phenomenon. After that the researcher defines law.When an experimental method was introduced into psychology, it was issued inan independent science.

Advantage of scientific psychology consists in an extensive, various and uniquematerial. Such material is inaccessible in all volume to any carrier of everydaypsychology. This material is accumulated and comprehended in special branchesof a psychological science. For example: age psychology, pedagogical psychology, pathological psychology, a neuropsychology, labour psychology and engineeringpsychology, social psychology, a zoo psychology, comparative psychology, clinicalpsychology, pathological psychology of children`s age, psychopathology and others.In these areas various stages and levels of mental development of animals andpeople are surveyed. Also we get acquainted with defects and illnesses of mentality, with unusual working conditions, conditions of stress, information overloadsor information famine. The psychologist dilates a circle of research problems, but also collides with the new phenomena.

Development of special branches of psychology is a method of the general psychology.Such method is not present in everyday psychology.

Development of science reminds of the movement about a complex labyrinth. Ina labyrinth there is a set of deadlock courses. In order to choose correct wayit is necessary to have good intuition. And good intuition arises only at closecontact to life. A scientific psychologist should be simultaneously a good everydaypsychologist. The word "psychology" in translation means «scienceabout soul». Presently instead of concept of "soul" the concept "mentality" is shown, finds out the properties and consequently can be studied through them.

There is a lot of forms display of mentality. These are the facts of the behaviour, not realized mental processes, the psychosomatic phenomena. It is results ofmaterial and spiritual culture. In these facts the mentality is shown, findsout the properties and consequently can be studied through them.

In the second decade of our century in psychology there was an important event.It was named «revolution in psychology». In a scientific press American psychologistWatson`s article appeared. He declared, that it is necessary to change a subjectof psychology. In his opinion psychology should be engaged not in the phenomenaof consciousness, but behavior. This direction received the name «behaviorism».

From history of occurrence of psychology we shall pass to sections and branchesof psychology.

Children`s psychology is a branch of psychology. Children`s psychology studieslaws of mental development of a child. In development of a child it is possibleto allocate series of age periods. Such as: infantile age, early age, preschoolage, younger school age, teenage age, early youthful age. In mental developmentof children mastering historical experience of mankind matters. This historicalexperience is gradually acquired due to maturing nervous system of a child.Each age period has specific tasks of development.

Age psychology is a section of psychology. In this section development ofmentality at various age stages is studied. Also principles of transition fromone age stage to another are studied. Each age stage has the perception of worldaround and culture. All these problems are solved by means of formation of newkinds of behavior and activity.

The pedagogical psychology is a branch of psychology. It studies assignmentof social experience by an individual. And assignment of social experience shouldoccur in training.

Labour psychology is an area of psychology. It studies laws of formation invarious psychological mechanisms in work. It is possible to allocate the followingdirections: rationalization of work and rest, dynamics of working capacity, formation of professional motivation, and relationship in different communities.

Social psychology is a branch of psychology. It studies laws of behavior andactivity of people which belong to various social groups. And it also studiespsychological characteristics of these social groups.

Neuropsychology is a section of psychology. It studies cerebral mechanismson an example of local lesions of a brain. Bases have been incorporated by A.R.Lurija.He has developed the theory of systemic dynamic localization of mental processes.

Pathopsychology is a branch of psychology. It studies features of mental activityat mental or somatopathies diseases.

Engineering psychology is a branch of psychology. It studies interaction ofa person and technical devices. The directions of engineering psychology areas follows:

1. Studying of structure of activity and the activity of a person-operator,
2. Engineering-psychological projection,
3. Psychological maintenance of professional activities

Zoopsychology is a section of psychology. It is devoted to displays and lawsof evolution of mentality of animals. It also studies preconditions of occurrenceof human consciousness.

The comparative psychology is a section of psychology. It analyzes evolutionof mentality. Here there is an integration of the data received in a zoopsychology, historical and ethnic psychology. As a result of the analysis the conclusionsabout similar properties of mental processes of animals and a person are done.Qualitative differences which have led to development of labor activity, publiclife, speech and consciousness of a person are allocated.

Historical psychology - studies a parentage and development of consciousness, a person, interpersonal attitudes, and features of socialization in differentcultures and economic conditions. The core in this direction is that the psychologistdeal does not with an abstract person, but with the person of the certain countryand an epoch. And this person cooperates with people. Sociogenethis regualitiesare a subject of historical psychology and ethnopsychology.

I choose children`s psychology from all these sections. Many sciences are engagedin studying a child such as: pedagogic, psychology, anatomy, physiology, hygiene, pediatrics. Observation occupies a very important place in science. And thebasic method of studying the mental development of a child is an experiment.

Adults should solve educational problems every day. In this situation parentsare in more favourable position. They can observe the child constantly. Andexperts do not have such an opportunity. Close communication of family withexperts helps to solve many problems correctly. Special interest in educationalprocess is shown with children`s psychology.

For parents it is necessary to have knowledge of methods, receptions of education, psychology of the child. Parents require knowledge how to behave in difficultsituations. How to behave if you were mistaken, were in a hurry or were notright? It is well-known, that happy parents grow happy children. It is possibleto give a child only those things which you possess yourself. The science psychologywill help parents to live with the children in harmony.

The psychological science knows much about laws of training of a child, aboutpeculiarities of his development. During last years scientific representationsabout relationship in family, about laws of dialogue between children and parentswere considerably enriched. But process of education of a person remains complex, inconsistent, but always creative. Till now there is no and there can not bea uniform formula, the uniform approach to our small persons. All of them areindividual, and everyone demands a special approach.

The psychology and pedagogic can not deal only with a person who lives now.

Psychologists and teachers should think of a person who will be and who shouldbe.

Psychologists and teachers do not plan him, do not program. A psychologistand a teacher having special professional view see in each small person thebest, features and his future. If a teacher or psychologists do not see the bestfeatures in a child then they simply have to do nothings.

If a person is subjected to constant blame then life seems very hard. If aperson feels support then creative activity and mutual trust prevail.

Увага, тільки СЬОГОДНІ!