The structure of consciousness in philosophy is a brief diagram. Structure of consciousness: components and levels

Consciousness as the inner world of a person has its own structure. To consider it, you should first of all pay attention to the following circumstance. Often the concept of “consciousness” is identified with the concept of “human psyche”. This is a mistake. Psyche - more complex education(diagram 6.6), which includes two spheres of reflection - consciousness and unconsciousness.

Scheme 6.6. Structure of the human psyche

The concept of the unconscious was first formed by a German philosopher of the 17th-18th centuries. G. Leibniz. In his work "Monadology" he characterized the unconscious as lower form spiritual activity. Later, the English thinker of the 18th century. D. Hartley connected the unconscious with activity nervous system person. A. Schopenhauer tried to explain the unconscious from the position of irrationalism. But Z. Freud paid special attention to this problem. He believed that unconscious - totality psychic phenomena, states and actions that are outside the sphere of reason. The unconscious is primarily referred to as instincts- a set of innate acts of human behavior that are created as a result of long evolution and are aimed at ensuring vital functions, the very existence of each creature.

The structure of the unconscious is also considered intuition And automatisms, which can originate in the sphere of consciousness and over time penetrate into the sphere of the unconscious. Intuition is knowledge that arises without awareness of the ways and conditions for its acquisition through direct sensory contemplation or speculation. Automatisms - complex actions human beings, which, initially appearing under the control of consciousness, as a result of long-term training and repeated repetition acquire the character of unconsciousness. Dreams, hypnotic states, somnambulism, states of insanity, etc. are also unconscious. Thanks to the connection of the unconscious to mental activity the load on consciousness decreases, and this, in turn, expands the field of human creative possibilities. Modern science also operates with the concept of the subconscious. The subconscious is a special layer, or level, of the unconscious. It includes mental phenomena associated with the transition of activity operations from the level of consciousness to the level of automatism.

The unconscious and the conscious are two relatively independent sides of a single mental reality of a person; quite often contradictions and sometimes conflicts arise between them, but they are interconnected, interact with each other and are capable of achieving harmonious unity. The unconscious contains ample opportunities for the rationalization of human life, especially creative activity subject. This circumstance serves as the basis for the formation of irrationalistic philosophical teachings. In them, the significant or even determining force of human behavior is considered different shapes unconscious: instincts, intuition, etc. Well-known representatives irrationalism are Arthur Schopenhauer (Germany), Søren Kierkegaard(Denmark), Friedrich Nietzsche(Germany), Eduard Hartman(Germany), Henri Bergson(France), Sigmund Freud(Austria), Martin Heidegger(Germany). 3. Freud, in particular, built his model of human behavior on the idea of ​​the dominance in the human psyche of sexual desires, which come into conflict with consciousness and, as a result, subjugate it to themselves. However, most schools of thought take a different position. They believe that the leading principle in the human psyche is consciousness, which, “nourishing” and largely shaping the unconscious, is generally able to control it, as well as determine the general strategy of human behavior.

Structure of consciousness. What structure does consciousness itself have? The structure of consciousness is largely conditional. The fact is that the elements of consciousness are closely interconnected. However, despite all the conventions, the following elements can be distinguished in consciousness.

The first element is knowledge. This is the main component, the core of consciousness, the means of its existence. Knowledge is a person’s understanding of reality, its reflection in the form of conscious sensory and abstract logical images. Thanks to knowledge, a person can “embrace” and comprehend everything that surrounds him and constitutes the subject of knowledge. Knowledge predetermines such properties of consciousness as the ability to purposefully “create the world” through objective activity, foresee the course of events, and demonstrate creative activity. In other words, consciousness is an attitude to reality in the form of knowledge, taking into account human needs.

The second important element of the structure of consciousness is emotions. Man learns the world around us not with the cold indifference of an automaton, but with a feeling of satisfaction, hatred or sympathy, enthusiasm or indignation. He experiences what he reflects. Emotions either stimulate or inhibit an individual’s awareness of real phenomena of reality. What pleases the eye is more easily remembered. But sometimes a “rainbow” perception of the world can blind, give rise to illusions, and wishful thinking. Some especially negative emotions have a negative impact on mental clarity. The feeling of fear, for example, becomes an obstacle to a person’s understanding of what is happening. Highest level emotions are spiritual feelings (for example, a feeling of love), which are formed as a result of awareness of the individual’s connections with the most significant social and existential values. Feelings are characterized by objective content, constancy, and independence from the real situation. Emotional sphere significantly influences all manifestations of human consciousness and serves as the basis of his activity.

The third structural element of consciousness is will is a person’s conscious, purposeful regulation of his activities. This is a person’s ability to mobilize and direct his mental and physical strength to solve problems that arise in his activities and require conscious overcoming of subjective and objective difficulties and obstacles. Man making tools is the first and most important school formation of will.

Will and purpose complement each other. Without will you cannot achieve your goal; without purposeful activity there is no will. Will is a conscious desire and urge to action. However, unconscious impulses are also characteristic of humans. Sometimes it happens that a person strives somewhere, but he himself does not know where and why. Such subconscious regulation has remained in humans from animals.

In the structure of consciousness, such an element as thinking should also be mentioned. Thinking is a process of cognitive activity of an individual, which is characterized by a generalized and indirect reflection of reality. This process ends with the creation abstract concepts, judgments that are a reflection of the essential, natural relationships of things based on the known, tangible, heard, etc. Through mental activity we penetrate into the invisible, into that which cannot be perceived by touch and which cannot be felt. Thinking gives us knowledge about essential properties, connections and relationships. With the help of thinking, we make the transition from external to internal, from phenomena to the essence of things and processes.

The structure of consciousness also includes attention and memory. Attention is a form of human mental activity, which manifests itself in direction and concentration on certain objects. Memory is a mental process that consists of consolidating, preserving and reproducing past experiences in the individual’s brain. The basic elements of memory are remembering, storing, recalling and forgetting. Physiological basis memorization is the formation and consolidation of temporary nerve connections in the cerebral cortex. The subsequent revitalization of neural connections results in the reproduction of memorized material, and the inhibition of these connections leads to forgetting.

In the subjective reality of a person, there is such an important substructure as self-awareness. Self-awareness is a person’s awareness of himself as an individual, awareness of his ability to accept independent decisions and enter on this basis into conscious relationships with people and nature, bear responsibility for decisions made and actions. In other words, this is a holistic assessment of oneself, one’s moral character, one’s own knowledge, thoughts, interests, ideals, motives of behavior, actions, etc.; With the help of self-awareness, a person realizes his attitude towards himself, realizes his self-esteem as a thinking being capable of feeling. In this case, the subject makes himself and his consciousness the object of knowledge. So, a person is a self-evaluating being who, without this characteristic action, would not be able to decide and find his place in life.

The appeal of philosophers to self-consciousness as a special sphere of the subjective world began with Socrates, with his maxim “Know thyself.” In the process of the formation of philosophy as specific knowledge about the world and man, a view was formed on the active, restless nature of the soul, the dialogical and critical nature of the mind regarding itself. By Plato, the activity of the soul is internal work, which has the character of a conversation with oneself. When thinking, the soul constantly talks to itself, asks, answers, affirms and objects.

Thus, self-awareness is important condition constant self-improvement of a person. The following elements can be distinguished in the structure of self-awareness: well-being, self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-control. Self-awareness in general is closely related to reflection. In philosophical literature, reflection is understood as the turning of a person’s consciousness (thinking) towards himself, his reflection on his mental state, full of doubts and contradictions. That is why, in our opinion, reflection can be considered as an activity of self-awareness that reveals the internal structure and specificity of a person’s spiritual world.

A person's understanding of his internal state, the ability to self-control does not come immediately. Self-awareness, along with such spiritual elements of personality as worldview, abilities, character, interests, is formed under the influence of the social environment. The environment requires the individual to control his actions and be responsible for their results. The level of consciousness largely depends on what demands are placed on the individual and what social values ​​are cultivated in a given environment. The main requirement here is that a person himself must control his actions and be responsible for their consequences.

Functions of consciousness. Structural elements consciousnesses are interconnected and interacting and provide consciousness with a number of vital functions for humans (Diagram 6.7).

Main function consciousness is cognitive, or reflective, those. gaining knowledge about the reality surrounding a person and about himself. How cognitive activity, consciousness begins with sensory, figurative knowledge and goes back to abstract thinking. At the stage of sensory (empirical) knowledge, a variety of factual material accumulates, which is then generalized with the help of abstract thinking, thus penetrating into the essence of the most complex phenomena and establishing objective laws to which they are subject. This function is all-encompassing, and from it all others come. Cognitive function has not a passive, but an active, heuristic character, i.e. consciousness has the property of anticipating reflection of reality.

Scheme 6.7. Functions of consciousness

The cognitive function of consciousness determines accumulative (storage) function. Its essence lies in the fact that a person’s memory accumulates knowledge obtained not only from direct, personal experience, but also obtained by contemporaries or previous generations of people. This knowledge is updated, recreated as necessary, and serves as a means of implementing other functions of consciousness. The richer a person’s memory, the easier it is for him to make the optimal decision.

Another function is axiological (evaluative). A person not only receives information about outside world, but also evaluates them from the point of view of their needs and interests. Consciousness, on the one hand, acts as a form of objective reflection, a form of knowledge of reality, independent of human aspirations and interests. The result and goal of consciousness as a cognitive activity is the acquisition of knowledge, objective truth. On the other hand, consciousness includes the manifestation of a subjective attitude towards reality, its assessment, awareness of one’s knowledge and oneself. The result and goal of a value-based attitude to the world is the comprehension of existence, the degree of correspondence of the world and its manifestations to human interests and needs, the meaning of one’s own life. If thinking and cognitive activity require mainly only a clear expression of knowledge and adherence to logical schemes for operating them, then value attitude to the world and its awareness require personal effort, one’s own reflection and experience of the truth.

The evaluation function goes directly into function of purposefulness (formation of goals). Purposefulness is a purely human ability, which is a cardinal characteristic of consciousness. Goal is the idealized need of a person who has found his object; This is such a subjective image of the subject of activity, in the ideal form of which the result of human activity is assumed. Goals are formed on the basis of the entire cumulative experience of humanity and go back to the highest forms of manifestation in the form of social, ethical, aesthetic and other ideals. Purposeful activity is explained by a person’s dissatisfaction with the world and the need to change it, to give it the form that is necessary for a person and society.

Higher Opportunities consciousnesses are found in creative (constructive) function. Determination, i.e. awareness of “why” and “for what” a person carries out his actions - necessary condition any conscious act. Realization of the goal involves the use of certain means, i.e. something that is created and exists to achieve a goal. Man creates something that nature has not generated before him. He creates something fundamentally new, builds new world. The poet Nikolai Zabolotsky said this about this:

Man has two worlds -

The One who created us

The other one, which we have been creating since time immemorial to the best of our ability.

The scales, forms and properties of things transformed and created by people are dictated by the needs of people, their goals; they embody human plans and ideas.

A very important function is communicative (communication function). It is due to the fact that people participate in common work and need constant communication. This connection of thoughts is carried out with the help of speech (sound) and technical means (texts, coded information). It should be borne in mind that written texts (books, magazines, newspapers, etc.) do not contain knowledge, but only information. For information to become knowledge, it must be subjectified. That is why the spread of the printed word is a condition, but not a guarantee, that the information presented will become knowledge. Additional efforts are needed to transform information into knowledge - subjective property.

Completes the logical cycle of personality consciousness regulatory (managerial) function. Based on an assessment of factors and in accordance with the set goal, consciousness regulates and puts in order the actions of a person, and then the actions of groups. The regulatory function of consciousness depends on the interaction of a person with environment and appears in two forms: incentive and executive regulation. The ideological content of the motivations for people’s behavior and activities is important. As ideas acquire motivating power, a person acts consciously, purposefully, according to his conviction. Executive regulation brings people's activities into line with their needs, ensures proportionality between the goal and the real means of its regulation.

These are the main functions of consciousness. Only their harmonious development gives the final result a truly holistic personality in intellectual and spiritual terms.

TO beginning of XXI V. Scientists have done a lot to transfer certain functions of intelligence to information machines. Already today, computers perform complex work: translate from one language to another, control airplanes, drive trains, play chess, even carry out some logical operations inherent in the human brain. The question arises: is it possible to create a machine that would be able to replace the human mind?

From the point of view of technical capabilities, indeed, one should not set limits to the improvement of information machines. However, the analogy between the operations carried out by machines and those that occur in the human brain does not provide grounds for considering machines capable of thinking. Essentially, the machine recreates only one aspect of our thinking - formal-logical, while the real thinking of a person is will, emotions, intuition, dreams, fantasy and other components. The wealth of a person’s inner world is a consequence of the wealth and versatility of his social connections. Therefore, in order to completely simulate human consciousness, its structure and all functions, it is not enough to reproduce only the structure of the brain. To do this, it would be necessary to recreate the entire historical path of human development, to provide him with all his needs, including political, moral, and aesthetic needs. All this indicates disabilities modern cybernetic devices in solving complex cognitive problems. They are nothing more than means of mechanization and automation of those aspects of intellectual activity that are associated with clear rules for processing information. But this is their great significance.

Structure and functions of consciousness

Consciousness as such is structurally organized, representing an integral organic system consisting of many components that are interconnected in diverse connections. One of the important elements of the structure of consciousness is knowledge - the result of the process of cognition, a reflection of reality in the form of sensual and rational images. Knowledge and cognition as such are the subject of study of the theory of knowledge (epistemology), which will be discussed further.

A necessary component of consciousness is attention. It is often defined as a mental state that provides direction and focus for cognitive and practical activities person on a specific object or action. There is a distinction between involuntary (unintentional) attention and voluntary, intentional attention, which is of a volitional nature. The opposite of attention is inattention, i.e. absent-mindedness.

The vast sphere of consciousness consists of emotions, emotional states of a person. Richest Sphere emotional life human personality includes actual feelings (pleasure, joy, grief, etc.), moods (emotional well-being - cheerful, depressed, etc.) and affects.

Feelings (emotions in the narrow sense) - a person’s experience of his relationship to the surrounding reality, to other people, to some phenomena. Feelings can be short-term (joy, sadness, etc.) and long-term, stable (love, hatred, etc.). Unlike the feelings of animals, human feelings are products of world history.

Mood - long-term emotional state(joyful, depressed, etc.), which gives a certain emotional tone, coloring to all other experiences, as well as the thoughts and actions of a person. Passion- a strong and deep feeling that captivates a person for a long time. A special group of feelings consists of higher feelings - feelings of duty, honor, aesthetic, intellectual, etc.

Affect (mental excitement) - a strong and violent emotional experience - rage, horror, numbness, strong vocal reactions (crying, screaming, etc.).

Another important element of consciousness is will- a person’s creative aspiration to perform certain actions. Will is the creative overcoming of external and internal difficulties on the path to achieving the desired action and goal: it is, first of all, power over oneself, over one’s feelings and actions.

The initial link of volitional action is the setting and awareness of a goal, then the decision to act, the choice of the most appropriate ways to carry out the action. Decisive for characterizing a given action as volitional is the execution of the decision.

Willpower is not given to man by nature. The ability and ability to choose goals, make the right decisions and carry them out, and bring the work started to completion are the result of knowledge, experience, education and self-education.

Frustration - a mental state caused by objectively insurmountable (or subjectively perceived) difficulties on the way to solving problems that are significant to a person. This state occurs in a situation of disappointment, failure to achieve any goal or need that is significant for a person. It manifests itself in oppressive tension, anxiety, and a feeling of hopelessness. The reaction to frustration may be withdrawal into the world of dreams and fantasies, aggressive behavior, etc.

The most important elements of consciousness are imagination, fantasy and memory.

Imagination - the ability to create new sensory or mental images in the human mind based on impressions received from reality. Its important purpose is to present the result of an activity before it begins, that is, to foresee the future. The imagination “works” especially in uncertain situations, where the activity of thinking, accustomed to a precise, definite situation, is difficult. He is often identified with fantasy as a figment of the imagination.

In psychology, imagination is classified according to the degree of intentionality (voluntary and involuntary), activity (reproducing and creative), generalization of images (abstract and concrete), and types of creative activity (scientific, inventive, artistic, religious, etc.).

Memory - consolidation, preservation and subsequent reproduction by the individual of his previous experience. Depending on the material that is remembered, figurative, verbal-logical, emotional and motor memory are distinguished. In addition, they talk about voluntary and involuntary memory, short- and long-term, visual, etc.

The largest levels of consciousness Most often, ordinary (everyday) and theoretical consciousness are distinguished.

Leontiev on the essence and structure of consciousness

consciousness in its immediacy is the picture of the world that is revealed to the subject, in which he himself, his actions and states are included;

Initially, consciousness exists only in the form of a mental image that reveals the world around it to the subject, while activity remains practical, external. At a later stage, activity also becomes the subject of consciousness: the actions of other people, and through them, the subject’s own actions, are realized. Now they communicate using gestures or sound speech. This is a prerequisite for the generation of internal actions and operations that take place in the mind, on the “plane of consciousness.” Consciousness - the image also becomes consciousness - activity. It is in this fullness that consciousness begins to seem emancipated from external, sensory-practical activity, moreover, in control of it;

another major change undergoes consciousness in the course of historical development. It lies in the destruction of the initial unity of the consciousness of the work collective (for example, a community) and the consciousness of the individuals forming it. At the same time psychological characteristics individual consciousness can only be understood through their connections with those public relations, in which the individual is involved;

structure of consciousness includes: the sensory fabric of consciousness, meaning and personal meanings;

sensual fabric consciousness forms a sensory composition of specific images of reality, actually perceived or emerging in memory, related to the future or only imaginary. These images differ in their modality, sensory tone, degree of clarity, greater or lesser stability, etc.;

the special function of sensory images of consciousness is that they give reality to the conscious picture of the world that is revealed to the subject. It is thanks to the sensory content of consciousness that the world appears to the subject as existing not in consciousness, but outside his consciousness - as an objective “field” and the object of his activity;

sensory images represent a universal form of mental reflection generated by the objective activity of the subject. However, in humans, sensory images acquire a new quality, namely, their meaning. Meanings are the most important “formatives” of human consciousness.

values refract the world in the human mind. Although language is the carrier of meanings, language is not the demiurge of meanings. Behind linguistic meanings are hidden socially developed methods (operations) of action, in the process of which people change and cognize objective reality;

the meanings represent the ideal form of existence of the objective world, its properties, connections and relationships revealed by cumulative social practice, transformed and folded into matter. Therefore, the values ​​themselves, i.e. in abstraction from their functioning in the individual consciousness, they are just as “non-psychological” as the socially cognized reality that lies behind them;

one should distinguish between the perceived objective meaning and its meaning for the subject. In the latter case they talk about personal meaning. In other words personal meaning- this is the meaning of a particular phenomenon for a specific person. Personal meaning creates partiality of consciousness. Unlike meanings, personal meanings do not have their own “psychological existence”;

a person’s consciousness, like his activity itself, is not a certain sum of its constituent parts, i.e. it is not additive. This is not a plane, not even a container filled with images and processes. This is not the connection of its individual “units”, but the internal movement of its constituents, included in the general movement of the activity carrying out real life individual in society. Human activity constitutes the substance of his consciousness.

Consciousness- the highest function of the brain, peculiar only to humans and associated with speech, which consists in a generalized evaluative and purposeful reflection and constructive and creative transformation of reality, in the preliminary mental construction of actions and anticipation of their results, in the reasonable regulation and self-control of human behavior.

Consciousness- the highest, uniquely human form of reflection of reality, which is a set of mental processes that allow him to navigate the world around him, time, his own personality, ensuring continuity of experience, unity and diversity of behavior.

Wundt: “Consciousness is the ability to notice one’s mental states”

James: “Consciousness is the master of mental functions”

Jaspers: “Consciousness as a stage”

Vygotsky: consciousness is the unity of experience and knowledge

“Consciousness - co-knowledge, shared knowledge” (French social school).

Functions of consciousness:

· Reflection

Consciousness organizes cognitive processes- perception, representation, thinking, and also organizes memory.

Regulation

Reflection

A type of consciousness is self-awareness - the process by which a person analyzes his thoughts and actions, observes himself, evaluates himself, etc. One of the meanings of the word “reflection” is the ability of a person’s consciousness to focus on himself. In addition, this term also denotes the mechanism of mutual understanding, that is, a person’s understanding of how other people with whom he interacts think and feel.

· Creative function

Creativity is impossible without consciousness. Many voluntary types of imagination are organized at a conscious level: invention, artistic creativity.

· Spiritual

Structure of consciousness

L. Feuerbach put forward the idea of ​​the existence of consciousness for consciousness and consciousness for being. This idea was developed by L.S. Vygotsky.

A. N. Leontiev identified three components in the structure of consciousness:

• sensual fabric of the image;
• meaning;
• meaning.

V. P. Zinchenko adds another component to this structure: the biodynamic fabric of movement and action. Then we can imagine the structure of consciousness schematically as follows:

Properties of consciousness

Activity

Consciousness is associated with activity, with active interaction with the outside world.

Selective nature

Consciousness is not directed at the entire world as a whole, but only at certain of its objects (most often associated with some unfulfilled needs).

Generalization and abstraction

Consciousness operates not with real objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, but with generalized and abstract concepts, devoid of some of the attributes of specific objects of reality.

Integrity

Consciousness psychically healthy person, as a rule, has integrity. Within of this property possible internal conflicts values ​​or interests. For some types mental illness the integrity of consciousness is disrupted (schizophrenia).

Constancy

Relative stability, immutability and continuity of consciousness, determined by memory. The constancy of consciousness is determined by the properties of the individual.

Dynamism

Its changeability and ability for continuous development, determined by short-term and rapidly changing mental processes that can be fixed in the state and in new personality traits.

Distortion

Consciousness always reflects reality in a distorted form (some of the information is lost, and the other part is distorted by individual characteristics of perception and personal attitudes).

Individual character

Each person's consciousness is different from the consciousness of other people. This is due to a number of factors: genetic differences, upbringing conditions, life experience, social environment, etc.

Ability to reflect

Consciousness has the ability to introspect and self-evaluate, and can also imagine how other people evaluate it.

Consciousness is highest function of the psyche which is unique to humans.

With its help, an individual plans his life, evaluates the surrounding reality, and gains knowledge. Consciousness has a certain structure and...

About the types and signs of impairment of human consciousness in our country.

Definition of the concept

Psychologists and philosophers distinguish two aspects of the psyche that make a person human.

This consciousness and self-awareness. Consciousness is understood as the highest degree of reflection of reality and control of life.

With the help of consciousness, a person controls his mental functions, forms a model of the external world, cognizes and evaluates everything that happens to him and around him.

The most important element of consciousness is self-awareness. It means an individual’s understanding of himself as an object of the world, the formation of an image of his “I”, ideas about himself.

The fastest and most rapid development of consciousness and self-awareness passes into adolescence when a person actively searches for himself, his style, and determines his place in life. During this same period, moral principles were formed.

Thus, in the mind The following forms are distinguished:

• self-awareness;
• rationality - the relationship of oneself and one’s concepts with the world;
• reason - thinking consciousness;
• spirituality is the highest degree of consciousness.

Exists many theories about consciousness. For example, Freud believed that every event and human experience is determined by the conscious and unconscious.

In the area of ​​the unconscious there is the sexual and aggressive side of the personality, as well as those events that the individual has deliberately repressed from his memory and mind. When the unconscious tries to “break through” into consciousness, a person experiences.

From the point of view of idealism, consciousness is always primary. The world cannot exist outside of human perception.

Materialism considers consciousness to be a property of highly organized matter. It not only reflects the existing reality, but also controls it.

Functionalism defines consciousness as a function, that is, a person, being in a conscious state, performs certain functions. built on this artificial intelligence.

Structure

What is included in the structure of consciousness? In psychology they distinguish important structural components of consciousness:

• being;
• reflection;
• self-awareness.

It performs the following functions:

1. Reflection. This includes an individual's ability to perceive, perceive, remember and store information.
2. Reflection. This is an opportunity to realize oneself as an object of the world, to understand one’s “I”.
3. Conversion. A person is able to set goals and achieve them.
4. Creative. With the help of the mind, a person shows imagination and creativity.
5. Grade. This includes.
6. Communication. A person conveys his knowledge with the help of certain signs. That is, consciousness cannot exist without communication.
7. Time formation. This is a holistic picture of the world, containing memories of the past, understanding of the present and future.

   This property is the main one.

According to modern psychology, The structure of consciousness contains the following components:

In terms of scale, consciousness is personal and social. The personal includes all the structural components described above.

Based on this, we can highlight the following forms of public:

• religious;
• moral and ethical;
• legal;
• political;
• economic.

Thus, public consciousness is influenced by religion, laws, economics, political system and moral standards adopted by a particular society.

Stages and functions of self-awareness

Self-awareness- this is a person’s perception of himself, understanding of his differences from others, awareness of his needs, emotions, feelings, experiences.

Self-awareness performs the following functions:

In its development, self-awareness goes through the following steps:

1. Natural. The child learns to distinguish and perceive sensations and the effects of external factors on him with the help of sensorimotor intelligence.
2. Social. A person perceives himself, evaluates and compares with others.

   At this stage, self-respect and will appear.

3. Personal. The individual understands the reasons for his actions and evaluates the possibilities for further development.

Thus, psychological structure self-awareness consists of the following components:

• self-knowledge;
• self-control and self-regulation;
• self-esteem;
• self-acceptance;
• self-respect.

Stages of development:

Freud's theory in brief

Sigmund Freud became the founder of the theory of. According to him, only a very small part of the human psyche is conscious, the rest remains outside of consciousness.

The unconscious includes the sexual sphere, the aggressive side of the personality, and the feeling of hunger. A person cannot influence them in any way.

Although the line between conscious and unconscious very conditional. Some moments may go into the unconscious and return under certain circumstances.

The unconscious is formed in the subcortical layer, and the conscious is the result of the activity of the cerebral cortex. The unconscious also able to perceive and process information, but the person is not aware of these processes.

In this way, the load on the intellect is removed, the individual has the opportunity to engage in creative and mental activities.

They enter the realm of the unconscious experiences, traumatic events, forbidden desires, shameful actions, that is, everything that a person is trying to get rid of.

But “hidden” moments still influence the actions, emotions, and experiences of the individual.

They can, under the influence of external factors break back into consciousness, creating a feeling of anxiety.

According to Freud, man is driven by his sexual instinct. Social norms and public morality form the “superego” of a person.

With their help, forbidden desires are transformed into those actions that are acceptable in a given society. However, in man There will always be a struggle between the conscious and the unconscious.

In neo-Freudianism, the concept of the unconscious deepens, the term “collective unconscious” appears.

Unlike the personal, the collective is inherent in all people belonging to a particular society. It is formed by the experience accumulated over generations.

The personal emerges from the collective, providing full existence of the psyche person.

Leontiev concept

The theory of the structure of human consciousness was presented by the Soviet psychologist A.N. Leontyev.

He created activity theory, worked on issues of the evolutionary development of memory, attention, and thinking.

According to Leontiev, at first consciousness is a mental image that reveals to a person the world around him. Then the activity of the individual is included in the object of consciousness.

He is aware of the actions of others, and through them his own. People interact using words and gestures. After that the man able to form images in the mind.

Thus, consciousness begins to exist separately from feelings and control them.

According to Leontief's theory, consciousness consists of:

1. Sensual fabric. The individual creates a specific image of reality. It can be imaginary or emerging from memory. These images become meaningful, which is unique to humans.
2. Values. These are the ways in which a person experiences the world. The meaning can be objective and subjective, that is, taking on a personal meaning.
3. Personal meaning. This is what a particular object or phenomenon means to the individual himself. Thus meaning makes consciousness partial.

Consciousness- this form reflects reality at the highest level, and not at the level of instincts. It is unique to humans and helps them assess the surrounding reality, shape behavior, moral norms and principles.

About the structure of consciousness in this video:

Consciousness as the inner world of a person has its own structure. To consider it, you should first of all pay attention to this circumstance. Often the concept of “consciousness” is identified with the concept of “human psyche”. This is a mistake. The psyche is a more complex formation, which includes two spheres of reflection: consciousness and the unconscious. It is believed that the unconscious is a set of mental phenomena, states and actions that are outside the sphere of reason. The unconscious includes, first of all, instincts - a set of innate acts of human behavior that are created as a result of long evolution and are aimed at ensuring vital functions, the very existence of each creature.

The structure of the unconscious also includes intuition and automatisms, which can arise in the sphere of consciousness and over time penetrate into the sphere of the unconscious. Intuition is knowledge that arises without awareness of the ways and conditions of its acquisition, through direct sensory contemplation or speculation. Automatisms are complex human actions that, initially appearing under the control of consciousness, as a result of long-term training and repeated repetition, acquire the character of unconsciousness. Dreams, hypnotic states, somnambulism, states of insanity, etc. are also unconscious.

Thanks to the connection of the unconscious to mental activity, the load on consciousness is reduced, and this, in turn, expands the field of human creative possibilities.

So, consciousness is specifically human reflection and spiritual mastery of reality, a property of highly organized matter - human brain, which consists in creating subjective images of the objective world, retaining, storing and processing information, developing a program of activities aimed at solving certain problems in the active management of this activity.

Consciousness is a socio-historical product. It arises together with human society in the process of formation and development labor activity and speech, forming only in the conditions of the social environment, constant communication of individuals with each other.

What structure does consciousness itself have? Can highlight the following elements:

The first element is knowledge. This is the main component, the core of consciousness, the means of its existence. Knowledge is a person’s understanding of reality, its reflection in the form of conscious sensory and abstract logical images. Thanks to knowledge, a person can “embrace” and comprehend everything that surrounds him and constitutes the subject of knowledge. Knowledge predetermines such properties of consciousness as the ability to purposefully “create the world” through objective activity, foresee the course of events, and demonstrate creative activity. In other words, consciousness is an attitude to reality in the form of knowledge, taking into account human needs.

Second important Emotions are an element of the structure of consciousness. A person experiences the world around him not with the cold indifference of an automaton, but with a feeling of satisfaction, hatred or sympathy, passion or indignation. He experiences something that reflects Emotions either stimulate or inhibit the individual’s awareness of real phenomena of reality. What pleases the eye is more easily remembered. But sometimes a “rainbow” perception of the world can blind, give rise to illusions, and wishful thinking. Some emotions, especially negative ones, have a negative impact on mental clarity. The feeling of fear, for example, becomes an obstacle to a person’s understanding of what is happening. The highest level of emotions are spiritual feelings (for example, a feeling of love), which are formed as a result of awareness of the individual’s connections with the most significant social and existential values. Feelings are characterized by objective content, constancy, and independence from the real situation. The emotional sphere significantly influences all manifestations of a person’s consciousness and serves as the basis of his activity.

The third structural element consciousness is will - conscious, purposeful regulation by a person of his activities. This is a person’s ability to mobilize and direct his mental and physical strength to solve problems that arise in his activities and require conscious overcoming of subjective and objective difficulties and obstacles. The making of tools by man is the first and most important school of will formation. Will and purpose complement each other. Without will you cannot achieve your goal; without purposeful activity there is no will. Will is a conscious desire and urge to action. However, unconscious impulses are also characteristic of humans. Sometimes it happens that a person strives somewhere, but he himself does not know where and why. Such subconscious regulation has remained in humans from animals.

In the structure of consciousness one should also mention such element like thinking. Thinking is a process of cognitive activity of an individual, which is characterized by a generalized and indirect reflection of reality. This process ends with the creation of abstract concepts, judgments, which are a reflection of the essential, natural relationships of things based on the known, tangible, heard, etc. Thanks to mental activity, we penetrate into the invisible, into what is not perceived by touch and what cannot be felt . Thinking gives us knowledge about essential properties, connections and relationships. With the help of thinking, we make the transition from external to internal, from phenomena to the essence of things and processes.

The structure of consciousness also includes attention and memory. Attention is a form of human mental activity, which manifests itself in direction and concentration on certain objects. Memory is a mental process that consists of consolidating, preserving and reproducing past experiences in the individual’s brain. The main elements of memory are remembering, storing, reproducing and forgetting. The physiological basis of memorization is the formation and consolidation of temporary nerve connections in the cerebral cortex. The subsequent revitalization of neural connections results in the reproduction of memorized material, and the inhibition of these connections leads to forgetting.

In the subjective reality of a person there is such an important substructure as self-awareness. This is a person’s awareness of himself as an individual, awareness of his ability to make independent decisions and, on this basis, enter into conscious relationships with people and nature, and bear responsibility for decisions and actions taken. In other words, this is a holistic assessment of oneself, one’s moral character, one’s own knowledge, thoughts, interests, ideals, motives of behavior, actions, etc. With the help of self-awareness, a person realizes his attitude towards himself, realizes his self-esteem as a thinking being capable of feeling . In this case, the subject makes himself and his consciousness the object of knowledge. The appeal of philosophers to self-consciousness as a special sphere of the subjective world began with Socrates, with his maxim “Know thyself.” In the process of the formation of philosophy as specific knowledge about the world and man, a view was formed on the active, restless nature of the soul, the dialogical and critical nature of the mind regarding itself. According to Plato, the activity of the soul is internal work, which has the character of a conversation with oneself. When thinking, the soul constantly talks to itself, asks, answers, affirms and objects.

Thus, self-awareness is an important condition for a person’s constant self-improvement. In the structure of self-awareness the following elements can be distinguished; well-being, self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-control.

A person’s understanding of his internal state and the ability to self-control do not come immediately. Self-awareness, along with such spiritual elements of personality as worldview, abilities, character, interests, is formed under the influence of the social environment.

The structural elements of consciousness are interconnected and interact and provide consciousness with a number of vital functions for humans:

The first function of consciousness is cognitive or reflective function, i.e., gaining knowledge about the reality surrounding a person and about himself. As a cognitive activity, consciousness begins with sensory, figurative knowledge and ascends to abstract thinking. This function is all-encompassing, from which all others come. The cognitive function is not passive, but active, heuristic in nature, that is, consciousness has the property of anticipating reflection of reality. The cognitive function of consciousness determines accumulative (accumulative) function. Its essence is that knowledge gained not only from direct, personal experience, but also from contemporaries or previous generations of people “settles” in a person’s memory, accumulates. This knowledge is updated, recreated as necessary, and serves as a means of implementing other functions of consciousness. The richer a person’s memory, the easier it is for him to make the optimal decision.

Next function - axiological (evaluative). A person not only receives data about the outside world, but also evaluates it from the point of view of his needs and interests. Consciousness, on the one hand, is a form of objective reflection, a form of knowledge of reality, independent of human aspirations and interests. The result and goal of consciousness as a cognitive activity is the acquisition of knowledge, objective truth. On the other hand, consciousness includes the manifestation of a subjective attitude towards reality, its

assessment, awareness of one’s knowledge and oneself. The result and goal of a value-based attitude to the world is the comprehension of existence, the degree of correspondence of the world and its manifestations to human interests and needs, the meaning of one’s own life. If thinking, cognitive activity requires basically only a clear expression of knowledge, adherence to logical schemes, and operating with them, then a value-based attitude to the world and its awareness requires personal efforts, one’s own thoughts and the experience of truth.

Evaluation function goes directly into the function of purposefulness (formation of a goal). Purposefulness is a purely human ability, which is a cardinal characteristic of consciousness. A goal is an idealized need of a person who has found his object; This is such a subjective image of the subject of activity, in the ideal form of which the result of human activity is assumed. Goals are formed on the basis of the entire cumulative experience of humanity and go back to the highest forms of manifestation in the form of social, ethical, aesthetic and other ideals. Purposeful activity is explained by a person’s dissatisfaction with the world and the need to change it, to give it the form that is necessary for a person and society.

Higher possibilities of consciousness are revealed in the creative (constructive) function. Purposefulness, i.e. awareness of “why” and “for what” a person carries out his actions, is a necessary condition for any conscious act. Realization of a goal involves the use of certain means, i.e., what is created and exists to achieve the goal. Man creates something that nature has not generated before him. He creates something fundamentally new, builds a new world. The scales, forms and properties of things transformed and created by people are dictated by the needs of people, their goals; they embody human plans and ideas.

Another function - communicative (communications). It is due to the fact that people take part in common work and need constant communication. This connection of thoughts is carried out with the help of speech (sound) and technical means (texts, coded information). It should be borne in mind that written texts (books, magazines, newspapers, etc.) do not store knowledge, but only information. For information to become knowledge, it must be subjectified. That is why the spread of the printed word is a condition, but not a guarantee, that the information presented will become knowledge. Additional efforts are needed to transform information into knowledge, that is, subjective property.

Completes the logical cycle of personality consciousness regulatory (managerial) function. Based on an assessment of factors and in accordance with the set goal, consciousness regulates and puts in order the actions of a person, and then the actions of groups.

The regulatory function of consciousness depends on the interaction of a person with the environment and appears in two forms: incentive and executive regulation. The ideological content of the motivations for people’s behavior and activities is important. As ideas acquire motivating force, a person carries out actions consciously, purposefully, according to his conviction. Executive regulation brings people's activities into line with their needs, ensures proportionality between the goal and the real means of its regulation.