1. Introduction

2. Main part:

a) Irrational in cognitive activity

b) Rational in cognitive activity

c) Intuition, types of intuition

3. Conclusion

4. List of used literature

1. Introduction

The condition for cognitive activity is the presence of cognitive abilities in a person. First of all, we should note the internal unity of all human knowledge. The psychophysical mechanisms of sensory reflection and abstract thinking are fundamentally the same in all people, although there are certain gender, age, individual and sociocultural differences in the development of cognitive abilities. However, all attempts to identify pre- or extra-logical forms of thought among traditional peoples, individual layers modern society or among representatives of different races were not successful. This indicates the inconsistency of theoretical constructs such as Malthusianism or racism, which assert the inferiority of the intellectual capabilities of individual peoples, races or social strata.

Fundamental patterns of the reproduction of reality by consciousness were formed in anthropogenesis, apparently simultaneously with complete bipedalism and differentiation of the hand and fingers.

A unified cognitive mechanism makes it possible to identify the general stages of cognition that are characteristic of people, regardless of their race, nationality or social affiliation. There are two such stages: sensual and rational. Some authors say that the sensual and rational cannot be considered stages of knowledge, because in humans the sensual is permeated by the rational. This is absolutely true for the cognitive activity of an adult who has developed both abilities. But if we consider the process of the genesis of cognitive abilities, we will see that they develop gradually from sensory to rational, from simpler to more complex, i.e. in the development of his cognitive capabilities, a person, as it were, undergoes a process of ascent along the steps of sensory and rational knowledge. Therefore, we can fully consider the sensual and rational as both stages of knowledge and abilities that determine the way a person masters the world around him and himself.

2. Main part

a) Irrational in cognitive activity

Irrationalism (from the Latin irrationalis - unreasonable) is a philosophical doctrine that insists on the limited cognitive capabilities of the mind, thinking and recognizes feeling, instinct, intuition, etc. as the main type of knowledge. Irrationalism considers reality chaotic, devoid of regularity, subject to the game of chance, blind will .

Sensory cognition is carried out in three forms. The forms of sensory cognition are sensations, perceptions and ideas.

Since the time of Aristotle, it was believed that humans have five senses: vision, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. In fact, there are apparently much more of them, because a person is able to feel heat and cold, pressure, gravity, acceleration, vibration, and the position of his body (or its individual parts) in space. And yet, a person does not feel all environmental factors. We do not have analyzing systems that would allow us to feel electric field, X-rays, radio waves and much more. Even those types of energy that are, in principle, perceived by a person, cause sensations only if their intensity exceeds some threshold-limit. Our visual organs react to electromagnetic radiation within certain limits. Short and long electromagnetic waves (ultraviolet and infrared light) are not perceived by the human eye. The organ of hearing responds to environmental vibrations with a frequency of sixteen to twenty thousand hertz. Ultra- and infrasounds, the frequency of which does not fit within this range, cannot be heard by humans. Light, sound, and smell evoke sensations in a person only if their intensity is equal to or exceeds the threshold. If external irritations are excessively intense, they can damage a person’s sensory organs (eyes, ears, skin), and sometimes other organs and tissues. A bright flash of light can cause decreased vision or complete blindness. The blast wave causes hearing loss.

Each person's analyzing systems have their own individual characteristics. Therefore, people perceive the quality of objects and phenomena differently. Some are able to differentiate odors with extraordinary finesse, others have absolute pitch. These abilities are usually innate, although within certain limits they can be improved during life.

If for some reason a person is deprived of one of the senses, then this forces him to constant training surviving analyzer systems. As a result, a person develops the ability to sense those stimuli that are not perceived by healthy people. For example, people who are blind (especially from childhood) have amazing sensitivity to sounds, smells, and tactile influences. Over time, deaf people learn to extract as much information as possible from what they see. They are often able to understand the speech of their interlocutor by the movements of his lips.

The second form of sensory knowledge is perception. It is based on sensations and previously acquired experience. Perception can be considered as a synthesis of sensations and a comparison of the emerging image with existing life experience recorded in memory.

Perception is related to recognition, so familiar objects are much easier to perceive than new ones. For a holistic perception of a familiar object, sensations of all its qualities (volume, color, texture, mass) are not necessary. A flat image of it in a drawing or photograph is sufficient. From a black and white photograph of a rose, you can easily imagine this flower down to its color and smell. If the object was not previously familiar, and the information received about it is incomplete, then errors in the perception of its holistic image are possible.

Any perception is subjective. We usually notice what we are inclined to notice, and do not perceive what is currently beyond our interests. That is why the testimony of witnesses to an incident, impressions of a book read and other events are often contradictory.

The more a person knows, the richer his life experience, the easier it will be for him to perceive information. There are situations when a person does not notice something because he has not encountered it before. Not perceiving something new hinders the development of cognition.

History knows a lot of examples of how something new was denied due to its obscurity, incomprehensibility, because... it was impossible to correlate this new thing with already familiar ideas about the world. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte, known for his foresight and unconventional thinking, rejected the proposal of the young American inventor Fulton to create a steam fleet, although a new fleet would allow him to reach the shores of England and, possibly, defeat her. If Napoleon had accepted this proposal, then World history, probably would have looked different.

The more educated and erudite a person is, the richer his perceptions will be. He will be able to extract more information from a scientific monograph, a work of art, or a theatrical performance. A professional historian will receive much more information from the book of Academician E.V. Tarle "Napoleon" or from "The Tale of Bygone Years" than an unprepared reader (a high school student, for example). A student of the medical faculty of a medical institute will have a better understanding of the therapy handbook, and a law student will have a better understanding of modern legislation.

The nature of perception largely depends on the emotional state of a person. If a student is not emotionally motivated to prepare for an exam, he may waste a whole day studying textbooks without remembering anything.

The third form of sensory knowledge is representation. The idea is formed on the basis of sensations and perceptions, representing mental images that are not directly related to the object.

Unlike perception, ideas are more holistic. Imagination plays a big role in the formation of ideas. If information is incomplete, it can contribute to a distortion of the image that arises in a person.

b) Rational in cognitive activity

Rationalism (from Latin rationalis - reasonable) is a stage of cognition associated with the ability to generalize and formulate concepts. That is, concepts are the initial form of abstract-logical or rational knowledge, just as sensations are the initial form of sensory-figurative reflection of reality.

Concepts are formed spontaneously in humans. At a certain stage of his intellectual development, a person begins to show a tendency to abstract and use concepts. However, these abilities (abstract-logical or conceptual thinking) can be formed and developed purposefully, raising them from childhood.

All concepts that people use can be divided into everyday and scientific. Everyday concepts include, for example, furniture, clothes, cup, spoon. Scientific - mass, electron, energy, molecule.

Concepts can have varying degrees of generality. For example, the concepts “table”, “chair”, “sofa” and the concept “furniture” are characterized by varying degrees of generality: the first three concepts are less general, and the fourth is more general. Most common scientific concepts are called categories. The categories are concepts such as “matter”, “motion”, “consciousness”, “quality”, “cause”. Most general concepts, or categories, are developed within the framework of philosophical knowledge, and are used in all sciences and in everyday speech.

Any concept is an abstraction, so in order to use them, you must have the ability to abstract and generalize. In the concept, there is an abstraction from the specific properties of specific objects and processes and a generalization of those qualities and properties that make these objects similar. For example, in the concept of “tree” a person is distracted (abstracted) from the characteristics of real existing trees, on the one hand, and on the other hand, generalizes those properties that make all trees similar to each other and at the same time distinguish them from grass, flowers, houses and other items.

Generalization of data obtained at the stage of sensory cognition occurs at the level of rational cognition. Rational knowledge is based on a person’s ability to generalize and analyze in his mental activity, to find the main, essential and necessary features in sensory-concrete homogeneous objects and phenomena. The results of the received sensory data are recorded and processed at the stage of rational cognition with the help of concepts, judgments and inferences.

Concept- a form of thinking that reflects the most general, essential and necessary properties and signs of reality. In the process of cognition and practical activity, it is not enough to just find out the general and essential; it is also necessary to know the connections and relationships between objects, phenomena, and processes.

The unification of concepts occurs in judgment. Judgment- a form of thought in which the presence or absence of any property of an object is established, something is affirmed or denied.

An increase in the degree of generalization of knowledge, its deepening and specification is manifested in conclusions. Inference- reasoning, during which new knowledge is derived from several judgments.

In the structure of rational knowledge, such levels as reason and reason are often distinguished. I. Kant, in particular, dividing reason and understanding, characterizes reason as a form of synthesis of visual representations, which “subsumes” them under the type of concept and under the laws of formal logic (according to given patterns and algorithms of thinking). For Kant, reason characterizes human knowledge as free, creative, and opens up the prospect of philosophical thinking; the mind is speculative, therefore it is possible for it not only to judge things, but also to understand them. The expediency of distinguishing mind and understanding (2 levels) in rational cognition is to a certain extent confirmed by the data of modern neurophysiology.

IN general view the process of cognition (its main stages and their corresponding forms) can be represented by the following diagram:

cognitive process sensual rational

In the history of philosophy, the absolutization of the sensory or rational stages of knowledge led to the emergence (in the 17th - 18th centuries) of the dilemma of empiricism and rationalism. These directions are chosen different ways solving the problem of finding absolutely reliable knowledge, which allows us to evaluate all knowledge according to the degree of its value. Empiricism(Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Mach, logical positivism) recognizes sensory experience as the only source of knowledge, i.e. The content of knowledge, according to empiricists, can be reduced to experience. With this approach, rational activity in the process of cognition is reduced to a combination of the material obtained through experience. Empiricism largely overlaps with sensationalism (Berkeley, Hume), where sensory cognition is also recognized as the main form of cognition, and the entire content of cognition is derived from the activity of the senses.

Rationalism ( Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, etc.) assume the priority of reason in relation to sensory experience; according to rationalists, knowledge is universal and necessary. Rationalism emphasizes the role of the deductive methodology of knowledge, focuses on the epistemological role of universal logical schemes of human consciousness.

In the process of cognition, along with rational operations and procedures, irrational ones also participate (the latter are produced by various parts of the brain on the basis of certain biosocial patterns that operate independently of the consciousness and will of a person). The creative-non-rational side of the cognition process is represented by various psychological and irrational factors - such as will, fantasy, imagination, emotions, intuition, etc. Intuition plays a particularly important role in the process of cognition (and above all scientific) and creativity.

Intuition- the ability to comprehend the truth by directly observing it without justification with the help of evidence. The source and essence of intuition in different philosophical concepts is considered differently - for example, as a result divine revelation or instinct, which directly determines, without prior learning, the form of behavior of an individual (Bergson), or as a hidden unconscious first principle of creativity (Freud), however, even with different interpretations of intuition by various philosophical concepts and schools, almost all emphasize the moment of immediacy in the process of intuitive cognition (as opposed to indirect fixed nature of logical thinking).

As a direct moment of cognition, intuition unites the sensual and the rational. Intuition is not carried out in a logically developed and evidential form: the subject of cognition seems to instantly embrace the thought difficult situation(for example, when making a diagnosis) and “insight” occurs. The role of intuition is especially great where it is necessary to go beyond the limits of methods of cognition to penetrate into the unknown. In the process of intuition, complex functional transitions are made, in which, at a certain stage, the disparate activities of operating with abstract and sensory knowledge (carried out respectively by the left and right hemispheres of the brain) suddenly unite, leading to the desired result, to a kind of “insight”, which is perceived as a discovery , as a “highlighting” of what was previously in the darkness of unconscious activity. Intuition is not something unreasonable or super-intelligent; Its complexity is explained by the fact that in the process of intuitive cognition all the signs by which a conclusion is made (a conclusion is made) and the techniques by which it is made are not realized. Thus, intuition is a special type of thinking in which individual links of the thinking process are carried out in consciousness more or less unconsciously, but the result of the thought - the truth - is extremely clearly realized. Intuition is enough to discern the truth, but it is not enough to convince others and oneself of one’s correctness (the truth of knowledge).

The most important feature of human activity in general (not only cognitive) is creation- activities of cognition, comprehension and transformation of the surrounding world. In a broad sense, creativity creates a unique symbiosis of the sensory, rational and non-rational stages of cognition. In real life, people are faced with rapidly changing situations, in solving which a person makes instantaneous and often non-standard decisions - such a process can be called creativity. The mechanisms of creativity and its nature have been studied by philosophy and science since antiquity (creativity as a manifestation of the divine principle in man - Christian tradition, creativity as a manifestation of the unconscious - S. Freud, etc.). The mechanisms of creativity have not yet been thoroughly studied, but it can be asserted quite authoritatively that creativity is a product of human biosocial evolution. In their elementary form, acts of creativity are already manifested in the behavior of higher animals; for humans, creativity is the essence and functional characteristic of his activity. Probably, a person’s creative capabilities are determined not only by the neurophysiological characteristics of the brain, but also by its “functional architecture.” It is a system of organized and interconnected operations carried out by various parts of the brain, with the help of which symbolic information is processed, images and abstractions are developed, information stored in memory is recalled and processed, etc.

In a certain sense, creativity is a mechanism for human adaptation in an infinitely diverse and changing world, a mechanism that realizes acceptance non-standard solutions, which ultimately ensures the survival and development of humans as a biological species and a social being.

The creative process does not oppose the sensory and rational stages of cognition, but complements and even organizes them. Mechanisms of creativity, proceeding subconsciously and not obeying certain rules and standards of rational activity, at the level of results can be consolidated with rational activity and included in it (this applies to both individual and collective creativity).

The formation of a person’s emotionality is the most important condition for his development as a person. Only by becoming the subject of stable emotional relationships do ideals, responsibilities, and norms of behavior turn into real motives for activity. The extreme diversity of human energy is explained by the complexity of the relationships between the objects of his needs, the specific conditions of their occurrence, and the activities aimed at achieving them. Supreme Product development of human emotions - feelings that arise in ontogenesis as a result of generalization of situationally manifested emotions. The formed feelings become the main determinants of a person’s emotional life, on which the emergence and content of situational emotions and affects depend (for example, pride may be determined by a feeling of love loved one, hatred of his rivals, grief over the failures that befell him, jealousy, etc.). The manifestation of a strong, dominant feeling is called passion.

Events signaling possible changes in a person’s life, along with specific E. can cause long-term changes in the general emotional background - the so-called. moods.

Human emotions differ in the degree of awareness. The conflict between conscious and unconscious emotions most often underlies neuroses. Important role E. play in the etiology of mental and psychosomatic diseases.

Manifesting in response to the impact of vital events, E. contribute to either the mobilization or inhibition of internal and external activity (see Asthenic emotions, Thethenic emotions); including they influence the content and dynamics of cognitive mental processes: perception, attention, imagination, memory, thinking (for example, fear of the teacher does not contribute to the student’s achievements). One of the regulatory functions of E., which consists in regulating the level of energy mobilization (activation) or demobilization of the body, is carried out through the activity of vegetative N. With. and reticular formation, which interact with the limbic structures that make up the central nervous substrate of E. Accompanying E. physiological processes(vegetative, biochemical, electromyographic, electroencephalographic) act (along with facial, pantomimic and speech indicators) in psychological experiments as objective indicators of emotional states. See Ambivalence of feelings, Basal emotions, Pituitary gland, Discomfortable state, Catharsis, Complex, Mental states, Anxiety, Phobias, Frustration, Euphoria. (V.K. Vilyunas.)

Addition: Defining E. (i.e., all emotional phenomena together) is much more difficult than experiencing a variety of emotions every hour. Sometimes E. is forced to think; Thus, E., caused by existing definitions of E., make one think about E. themselves.

E. (emotional phenomena) are psychophysiological complexes of processes and states of an individual (humans and higher vertebrates), the system-forming component of which is emotional experience - a subjective process of reflection (evaluation) in the form of direct experience (satisfaction, joy, fear, etc.). ) the significance (value) of perceived or imagined situations (phenomena), their relationship to the needs and motives of the individual; As a result and as a consequence of emotional assessment, the body automatically and urgently undergoes processes of increasing or decreasing readiness for action, as well as intensifying, weakening, stopping, and even disrupting current activities. It is difficult to agree with those physiologists and psychophysiologists who claim that emotion is the brain’s reflection of the force of need... In such cases, I would like to say: if the brain reflects, then let it experience. Nevertheless, one cannot fail to take into account that E. include, in addition to the actual experiential (subjective, phenomenological) component, a number of objective, non-mental components, which, however, clearly go beyond the boundaries of the brain, due to which in relation to E. it is permissible to speak of reflection by the entire organism (and not just the brain).

E. are rightfully considered one of the mechanisms for regulating external and internal activities, as well as the state of the body and all its systems. The emotional phenomena themselves include components of various kinds (both subjective and objective; primary and secondary): 1) emotional-evaluative component (emotional experience); 2) expressive component (expressive movements: facial expressions, gestures, pantomime, vocal reactions, etc.); 3) cognitive, including reflective, component (analysis and understanding of a perceived, recalled or imaginary situation, which, in fact, gives emotional phenomena an objective focus, intentionality; sensation and perception of the body’s states; reflection of various components of E.); 4) physiological, both central and peripheral, component (includes a variety of vegetative and biochemical, including endocrine, changes; the activation effect of the reticular formation, clearly manifested in EEG shifts, pupillary reflex, tremor, etc.); 5) behavioral component. (The given list of components cannot be considered exemplary and indisputable: sometimes the components of E. include the processes of volitional self-regulation; in addition, it would make sense to separate the cognitive and reflexive components.) Obviously, the James-Lange theory, in essence, interpreted the emotional-evaluative component as secondary (if not epiphenomenal) in relation to effector manifestations (expressive, physiological, behavioral).

Emotional phenomena are extremely diverse not only in modality and intensity of emotional assessment, but also in the dynamics and degree of expression of all their other components. The main divisions of the emotional sphere - emotional (affective) tone of sensations, affects, situational (specific-subject) E., feelings, moods - structure many emotional phenomena based on taking into account the relationships between the components of E., but this list is rather an intuitive quasi-classification. (B.M.)

EMOTIONAL AMBIVALENCE - see Ambivalence of feelings.

EMOTIONAL HEARING (eng. emotional ear) is a relatively new term proposed by biologist V.P. Morozov (1985) for the long-known and studied in psychology ability to recognize a person’s emotional state by the sound of a person’s voice (in particular, the speaker). E. s. is considered as an evolutionarily more ancient form of auditory perception compared to speech (semantic) hearing. V.P. Morozov developed a test to determine the degree of development of E. s. In this test, the subject is presented with three phrases (in a tape recording) to decode the emotional state, spoken by a professional actor who imitated 5 states (joy, sadness, fear, anger and neutral state). First, one phrase is presented 10 times, then the second 10 times and the third 10 times. Different emotional expressions are presented equally likely and in a random order. Immediately after listening to the spoken phrase, the listener must identify it emotional coloring. (B.M.)

EMPATHY (from the Greek empatheia - empathy).

1. Non-rational cognition by a person of the inner world of other people (empathy). Ability to E. - necessary condition to develop such professional quality like insight practical psychologist(consultant, psychotherapist).

2. Aesthetic E. - feeling into an artistic object, a source of aesthetic pleasure.

3. A person’s emotional responsiveness to the experiences of another, a type of social (moral) emotion. E. as an emotional response is carried out in elementary (reflex) and in higher personal forms (sympathy, empathy, rejoicing). At the basis of E. as social cognition and higher forms E. as an emotional response lies the mechanism of decentration. It is human nature to experience a wide range of empathic reactions and experiences. The highest personal forms of emotion express a person’s relationship to other people. Empathy and compassion differ as a person’s experience for himself (egocentric E.) and for another (humanistic E.).

When empathizing, a person experiences emotions identical to those observed. However, empathy can arise not only in relation to the observed, but also imaginary emotions of others, as well as in relation to the experiences of characters in works of art, cinema, theater, literature ( aesthetic empathy). See Identification.

With empathy, a person experiences something different than the one who caused an emotional response in him. Sympathy motivates a person to help another. The more stable a person’s altruistic motives are, the wider the circle of people whom he sympathizes with and helps (see Altruism).

Finally, sympathy is a warm, friendly attitude of a person towards other people. (T. P. Gavrilova.)

EMPIRICAL PSYCHOLOGY (English empirical psychology) - a term introduced by German. philosopher of the 18th century H. Wolf to designate a special discipline that describes and studies specific phenomena of mental life (as opposed to rational psychology, which deals with the “immortal” soul). The task of E.P. was considered to be observation of individual psychic facts, their classification, establishment of an experimentally verifiable natural connection between them. This attitude has been characteristic of many researchers of human behavior since ancient times.

In the teachings of ancient Greek. philosophers were kept not only general provisions about the nature of the soul and its place in the universe, but also numerous information about specific mental manifestations. In the Middle Ages, the importance of the empiric-psychological approach was substantiated by Arabic-speaking thinkers (especially Ibn Sina), as well as such progressive philosophers as F. Bacon, W. Ockham, and others. During the Renaissance, the Spanish physician H. L. was an ardent supporter of E. P. . Vives, whose book “On the Soul and Life” (1538) had a great influence on the psychological theories of modern times. Vives argued that it is not the metaphysical essence of the soul, but its real manifestations that should become the object of analysis, that individual method is the only reliable way to acquire such knowledge about people, which can. used to improve their nature. The idea that psychological knowledge should be based on experience became the cornerstone of the teachings of J. Locke, who divided experience into external and internal. If external experience was considered as a product of the influence of the real world on the senses, then internal experience acted in the form of operations performed by the soul. This became a prerequisite for the splitting of economic psychology into two directions: materialistic and idealistic.

A number of idealists (J. Berkeley, D. Hume), having rejected the division of experience into external and internal, began to understand by “experience” the sensory impressions of the subject, which have a basis only in himself, but not in anything external. The French took a fundamentally different position. materialists of the 18th century Speaking as supporters of scientific research, they understood it as the study of natural sciences. mental properties human bodily organization.

The most important questions that have confronted epistemological thought since the times of ancient philosophy are questions about what are the sources of our knowledge of being? Is knowledge the result of the activity of the senses or is knowledge the fruit of human rational abilities? How reliable are these sources? How is the process of cognition carried out? What parts does it consist of?

The process of cognition begins with activity through which a person’s contact with the world is achieved. This is the basis and prerequisite, without which other forms of cognitive activity cannot exist. This is sensory activity or sensory cognition. It is related to the functioning of the sense organs, nervous system, brain, based on their activity, sensations, perceptions, and ideas arise. Feeling- the simplest and initial element of sensory cognition and human consciousness, and is a reflection of individual aspects of reality with the help of the senses (hearing, vision, touch, smell, taste). But, in essence, there are more sensations, such as temperature, vibration, equilibrium and others. Sensory cognition also includes such states of consciousness as premonition, hostility, disposition towards another person, and others. A specific property of human sensory cognition is due to the fact that individual sensations, being constituent elements of sensory cognition, in fact, do not exist separately from each other. Sensory activity has the ability to synthesize sensations, transforming them into the perception of an object in its holistic form.

Perception- this is a holistic image of an object, which is the result of a synthesis of sensations. IN modern philosophy distinguish different levels of perception: perception without interpretation (something flashed around the corner); perception of a specific object (this is a tree, not another); understanding that an object exists independently of the subject’s consciousness and is connected with other objects; understanding that perception and the object itself are not identical, that there may be other aspects and properties in the object that are not perceived at the moment. This analysis already shows that perception is not a passive contemplation of the external world, but is permeated by the active mental activity of a person. Thanks to the repeated operation of the mechanisms of perception in consciousness, a complete image of an object can be retained in memory even when the object is not directly given to the person. In this case, such a form of sensory cognition as representation functions.

Performance- an image of a previously perceived object, preserved in memory, or the creation of a new image with the help of imagination and knowledge. The representation is “poorer” than the perception, since some qualities of the object that took place at the level of perception are lost. However, here the selective nature of cognition is more clearly expressed, the most significant and interesting features of the subject for the subject are remembered. In representation, even more than in perception, the active role of thinking is manifested, especially when creating images of the future. Classification of representations includes:

Reproduction images (mental reproduction of perception); image-assumptions (images of heroes of works of art, described situations, landscapes);

Model images (model of the Solar system, atom);

Images expressing the goals of an activity and the sequence of operations necessary to achieve these goals (go to the store, complete a task);

Images-symbols, etc.

Thinking, being included in the representation, allows you to reproduce the object being studied, its characteristics and properties.

In human sensory perception there is another important element which is unique to him. A person is able to take in with his gaze, imagine not only what he saw with his own eyes, but also what he gleaned from descriptions and knowledge acquired by other people. This is possible thanks to language, one of the most important functions of which is the storage and transmission of information.

The history of human development shows that the practical development of the world from the moment of the creation of tools of production is at the same time its comprehension, that is, the consolidation in knowledge of certain properties of objects, natural phenomena, and processes discovered and successfully used. The simultaneity of the formation and development of practical and epistemological human activity predetermines a qualitative leap in the evolution of the animal world - the formation of abstract thinking.

Abstract thinking is, first of all, the stage of the formation of such generalized images of objects and phenomena that retain essential features and properties in their form, which allows these forms to exist not in the form of one-time imprints or traces of the perception of the world, as is typical of animals, including higher ones, and to fix in consciousness the reflected fragments of the objective world in the form of ideal entities - concepts and their connections.

Language permeates human life, and he must be as rich as she is. With the help of language, we can not only describe a wide variety of situations, but also evaluate them, give commands, warn, promise, formulate norms, pray, conjure, etc. Language largely organizes and shapes sensory cognition with the help of concepts that a person acquires in the process of socialization. Thus, in the real cognitive process, sensibility and conceptual thinking are in unity and interaction.

The main forms of rational knowledge are concepts, judgments, and inferences. Concept– a form of rational knowledge that expresses the general and essential characteristics of objects and phenomena. In highlighting the essential features of objects, it was of particular importance practical activities, human interaction with nature. In the process of man's transformation of nature, an active cognitive process took place: man purposefully compared different objects, compared, discarding those characteristics and connections that did not interest him at the moment. Comparing various objects, a person recorded in language what interested him general characteristics in things, for example, “hardness”, “whiteness”, etc. Language, the property enshrined in a word, makes the word sign a certain property, it becomes possible to freely reproduce not only individual properties of objects, but also any ideas.

Words-concepts generalize and record such knowledge that allows a person to act with objects of the corresponding class. Concepts act as a kind of rules, a unique scheme of sensory-practical action, which embodies the centuries-old experience of mankind. Without concepts, human cognition would be impossible; a person would have to go through the procedures of comparison, fixing some properties, and abstracting from others again and again.

Man's mastery of the world necessarily shaped such a form of thinking as judgment. Judgment– this is a reflection of the connections between objects and phenomena of reality or between their properties and characteristics. In a judgment, the object, the property that is attributed to it, and the connection are highlighted. Judgments can be simple or complex. Simple judgments: “The man stopped,” “Ivan is taller than Peter.” A complex statement is built from simple statements: “The man stopped and turned back.”

Inference is a connection of judgments that allows one to obtain new inferential knowledge. The main types of inferential knowledge are induction, i.e., the movement of thought from the particular to the general, and deduction - from the general to the particular. Induction (from Latin - guidance) is a type of generalization associated with anticipating results based on experimental data. In induction, the data of experience “suggest” or induce the general, so inductive generalizations are usually regarded as empirical truths or empirical laws. There are complete and incomplete induction. Complete induction is a generalization of data through a simple enumeration. Incomplete induction is carried out on the basis of the study of a certain group of phenomena and the absence of data contradicting the conclusion, when the knowledge obtained from the study of a group of phenomena is transferred to the entire class of similar phenomena. However, in relation to the infinity of phenomena, actual experience is always incomplete, incomplete. This feature of experience is transferred to the result - inductive generalization, making it plausible, since it is impossible to talk about the reliability of inductive generalization.

Deduction is the transition from some judgments that are accepted as true to others, based on the rules of inference. The main difference between inductive and deductive inferences is seen in the fact that deductive inferences are reliable, ensuring the truth of the conclusions when the premises are true. Deduction is widely used in everyday life. But its significance is especially great in scientific knowledge. Deduction helps to provide logical argumentation to individual statements and serves as a means of proof. Using deduction, consequences are derived from the hypothesis for their subsequent verification in experimental activities.

A special role in cognition is played by the non-rational, which can be classified as intuition, usually defined as a direct perception of the truth, comprehension of it without any reasoning or proof. The word “intuition” entered philosophy as an analogue of the ancient Greek term, meaning knowledge of an object not in parts, but at once, in one movement. Beginning with Plotinus, the opposition between intuition and discursive thinking is established. Intuition is the divine way of knowing something with just one glance, in an instant, outside of time. Discursive or thinking – human way knowledge, which consists in the fact that in the course of some reasoning, justification is consistently developed step by step. In modern times, Descartes reduced all acts of thinking that allow us to obtain new knowledge without fear of falling into error into two: intuition and deduction. “By intuition,” says Descartes, “I mean not faith in the wavering evidence of the senses, nor the deceptive judgment of a disordered imagination, but the concept of a clear and attentive mind... simple and distinct.”

There are opposing views on the place and role of intuition in cognition. Thus, the first position believes that one can do without intuition. A person is capable of knowing only by reasoning, drawing conclusions, and cannot know anything without these necessary steps. Counterexamples to this view are mathematics and logic, which ultimately rely on intellectual intuition. Another idea is that intuition underlies all our knowledge, and reason plays only a supporting role. It is difficult to agree with such a position; intuition cannot replace reason even in those areas where its role is especially great. She is not infallible; her insights always require critical verification and justification . Typical for intuition are: surprise, immediate evidence and unawareness of the path leading to it. Therefore, as a rule, for a result found intuitively, more convincing logical grounds are sought than a simple reference to intuitive evidence. To convince not only others, but also oneself of an intuitively grasped truth, extensive reasoning and proof are required.

Cognition and language

Discussing problems of cognition cannot be avoided most important factor cognitive activity - language. Language is distinguished by its multifunctionality, these are the functions of communication, conveying meaning, expressive function (expressing feelings, emotions), signal-communicative, descriptive, argumentative.

Things become phenomena—part of our lifeworld—through naming. Plato spoke of "name" as the beginning of knowledge. The second step in knowledge is the meaning of the name, which can only be revealed in judgment. Knowledge can only be expressed in language. Culture can only be linguistic (naming phenomena). Naming allows us to expand our life world. Language is the ability to form new symbols to represent absolutely everything - even things that cannot be felt or seen. Having at his disposal rules of combination and recombination, similar to grammar, a person has various possibilities that allow him to go beyond the limits of things and events that are in the sphere of our immediate perception. Language is the core of culture and human creativity. In ancient philosophy linguistics is part of philosophy.

What is the connection between language and thinking? There are three main concepts on this score: 1) language is identified with thinking; 2) the hypothesis of the dependence of thinking on language; 3) the structure of thinking determines language.

1) Language and thinking are identical. The initial ideas of this theory were laid down by the founder of behaviorism (from the English behavior - behavior) - J. Watson. He believed that ideas about internal mental activity wrong. Everything a person does comes down to reactions developed to various stimuli, i.e. human behavior is a set of motor reactions and the verbal and emotional reactions of the body to stimuli that can be reduced to them external environment. Language is a form of human reaction to the influences of the external environment, thanks to which a person adapts to social environment. But what then to do with the obvious fact of intellectual behavior, for example, mental arithmetic, solving problems in the mind? Watson believed that thinking in this case is subvocal speech, i.e. people engaged in intellectual behavior actually talk to themselves, which is accompanied by subtle but existing micromovements of the larynx, possibly by the movement of other muscle groups. In 1947, a decisive experiment was conducted that demonstrated the fallacy of the behaviorists' views. A substance derived from curare was used: the subject’s muscles were completely paralyzed, but life was maintained by the device artificial respiration. Since the entire set of muscles responsible for subvocal speech turned out to be paralyzed, subvocal speech became fundamentally impossible. However, the subject, while under the influence of curare, observed what was happening around him, understood the speech of those around him, remembered events, compared them, etc. Thus, it has been demonstrated that thinking is possible in the absence of any muscular activity, and thus thinking cannot be identified with language. However, later weakened versions of behaviorism appeared in philosophy in the form of a special theory of consciousness. The origins of the hypothesis that categories of thought determine the structure of language go back to Aristotle. More precisely, Aristotle's reflections on categories made it possible to later express this alternative. Aristotle proposed ten categories that represent some characteristics of the world: 1) essence (substance), 2) quantity, 3) quality, 4) relation, 5) place, 6) time, 7) position, 8) state (possession), 9) action, 10) suffering. Perhaps these categories do not represent exhaustive characteristics of the surrounding world. Another thing is important: if you do not take into account the position of words in the syntactic structure of a sentence, then the meanings of words in any language are included in one category. Thus, the meaning of all kinds of nouns belongs to the category - essence, the meanings of adverbs belong to the category of either place or time, the meanings of all kinds of verbs are divided into the categories of position, state, action and suffering. It doesn't matter that the Dani people (from Indonesian New Guinea) use only two words for color. One word for dark, cool colors, another for bright, warm colors. Whereas English has eleven basic words for colors. The important thing is that in both languages, the meanings of words denoting colors belong to the same category - quality. In other words, the languages ​​of peoples may have significant differences, but the structure of their thinking, according to this hypothesis, is the same.

The hypothesis of the dependence of thinking on language is associated with the name of W. Humboldt. W. Humboldt, the first philosopher of language, believed that a person’s ideas about the world depend on the language in which he thinks, and asserted the connection between language and the spiritual nature of man. Man lives with objects as language presents them to him. E. Sapir: the real world is largely built unconsciously on the basis of the linguistic habits of a particular social group. We see, hear and perceive reality in one way and not another, largely because the linguistic norms of our society predispose us to a certain choice of interpretation. Vocabulary is a very sensitive indicator of culture. Lexical differences go beyond the names of cultural objects; they are equally characteristic of the mental domain. E. Sapir introduces the concept of linguistic determinism (language determines thinking) and linguistic relativity (this determinism is associated with the specific language a person speaks). These statements are called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis or linguistic relativity. B. Whorf believed that our ideas about time, space and matter are to some extent determined by the structure of a particular language.

Object, image, sign, meaning

According to E. Cassirer’s definition, “Man is a symbolic being.” Compared to other animals, man lives not only in the natural world, but also in the symbolic one; language, myth, religion are parts of this universe. Man is so immersed in linguistic forms, artistic images, mythical symbols, which cannot see or know anything without the intervention of this artificial intermediary - a symbol, a sign.

According to E. Cassirer, instead of defining a person as a rational being, we must define him as a symbolic being, thereby denoting his specific difference, and we will be able to understand new way, open to man- the path of civilization.

A person, carrying out his activity, constantly directs it towards an object, something that opposes him both in the practical and in the cognitive sphere.

Subject in the broadest sense of the word, they call any really existing something, starting from the universe and ending with the smallest particle of the atomic nucleus known today; everything that can be known. Most often, such something is called an object and a distinction is made between objects-objects and attributes-objects. Items-objects- something that can exist independently in space and time, signs-objects exist only in the composition of objects as their signs, characteristics, features, certainties. In addition, a sign characterizes an object, while the opposite does not apply. An item cannot be a characteristic of a feature.

The result of the transformation of an object (subject) in the human mind, the way of understanding reality is image. This concept is an integral component of psychological, philosophical, sociological and aesthetic discourses.

In naturalistic versions of epistemology, the image coincides with sensory data and manifests itself in sensations, perceptions, ideas. In this sense, they talk about the reflective nature of the image. In an epistemological sense, an image is characterized through a system of interaction between subject and object, through an active, transformative attitude to reality. Its main task is representation ideal, connected with moral, ethical and socio-cultural values ​​and value judgments.

The characteristics of the epistemological image are:

His subject correlation: the image is always directed at some object, at some aspect of cognitive activity. The image itself is within us, but cognitive activity is aimed at what is outside of us, outside of our consciousness. For the appearance of an image, complex neurophysiological activity is required. But we perceive not what is happening in our brain, but the object itself. Marx: “...the light effect of a thing on the optic nerve is not perceived as a subjective irritation of the optic nerve, but as the objective form of a thing located outside the eye” (T. 23. P. 82);

The image is secondary, derivative, and has no independent character;

The image is ideal, in the image of the object there is not a grain of the substance of the object itself and not a grain of the substance of the brain;

If the image is objective in its subject correlation,
then in its form of existence it is subjective. The way of perception of each individual subject is unique, inimitable. It is impossible to know from the outside the way of perception of each individual subject;

The image is directly addressed to the subject of cognitive activity, the one who produces the activity;

The image performs a function regulating, directing human activity;

A distinctive feature of the image is its integrity as a set of diverse subject and structural characteristics, making it possible to judge the whole even with a lack of empirical data, when the content is completed on the basis of existing experience and knowledge. A solid and distinct image can replace spatial descriptions and combine explanation And understanding, convey the conceptually indefinable and inaccessible to our cognitive abilities. The image, understood as a synthesis of visibility and abstraction, is the result of productive activity imagination, creating various models and designs, conducting thought experiments.

The content of the cognitive image is determined by the nature of the fragment of reality included in the activity of the subject, i.e. the basis of the image’s relationship to reality is not the subject’s simple contemplation of the object, but an active active relationship, manifested in the subject’s expedient actions with the object. The image is different selectivity.

A cognitive image cannot be considered as something frozen and complete. This is first of all process. The image is in the state constant change, has a “fluid” character, like all human activities in general. A cognitive image and its emergence are always associated with the solution of some practical or cognitive problem. Having been the completion of some actions, the image becomes the basis of new ones. The cognitive image exists in modern science in the form ideas, hypotheses, mathematical models, etc.

An image always arises on the basis of objective activity and is expressed in objective forms. Sign systems (or signs) are such a specialized subject form.

What is a sign?

We live in a world of signs. The bell rings. Any call has a meaning: a school call means the beginning or end of classes, a telephone call means a message. On products: cans, boxes - stickers, inscriptions indicating what product it is. On buses - numbers - route signs, traffic lights - sign, shoulder straps - sign, uniform, smile, greeting.

Any material object is called a sign., which serves in the process of communication and thinking of people as a representative of another object (things, their properties, processes, reality).

Isn't there any doubt that, while dealing with the problem of the sign, we are moving away from the material world? Leibniz answered this doubt as follows: “No one should fear that observation of signs will lead us away from things, on the contrary, it leads us to the essence of things.”

What are the properties of signs? There are four properties of signs. The first two properties were introduced into widespread use by the founder modern linguistics– Ferdinand de Saussure. However, this is an old concept that belongs to the Stoics.

1. Every sign means something, which means there must be something denoting and it must be accessible to sight and hearing: words, flag, red light, etc. So, a sign is characterized by its material characteristics, due to which the sign performs the function of designation (signifier).

2. Secondly, the sign must mean something, i.e. necessary denoted. This is either a concept (circumference, cold, conscience), or a representation - an image (Snow Maiden, spruce, snow). If the denoting is perceived by the senses, the denoted is part of the world of thoughts and ideas. In the sign, thoughts and feelings are united.

3. Thirdly, a conditional connection is necessary between the signifier and the signified, the connection that people have agreed upon. For example, the number of stars on the shoulder straps, shoe number, traffic light, etc.

4. Fourthly, and this is a particularly important aspect of the sign, the sign cannot stand loneliness. It cannot be alone, it is always correlated with other signs or, in other words, forms a single sign system instead of them, if their meanings are comparable. Signs with the meanings “Being” and “Shake before use” cannot form a single system.

H what is a sign system ? Not every group of signs can be called a sign system. The main property of a system is its structure. Any structure, including the structure of signs, implies existence of a relationship between all elements. We encounter systems with a stable structure all the time. This is any mechanism, any living organism, the Earth, the Universe as a whole, as well as a football team, an army. However, isolating systemic properties is not easy. It is necessary to identify the structure in the object being studied, describe all its elements and, what is especially difficult, establish the entire set of relationships between them (or the set of roles).

Four properties necessary for a sign , if at least one of them is missing, there will be no sign.

There are many sign systems. But among them there is a main one. This is our ordinary, everyday language. It is necessary to show that the language has a symbolic character.

Let's take the floor. This is the unity of the signifier and the signified. The word itself is denotative, the meaning of the word is its denotation. So, the first and second conditions exist. Further, there is a conditional connection between the meaning of a word and its sound. The Czech word "gun" means our rifle. In turn, our “gun” in Czech is business. Our “business” in Czech is “chin”. And our word “submariner” means “sharp” in Czech. In other words, the sound of a word and its meaning are related to each other conventionally, and not naturally. In one language it is like this, in another it is different. And, of course, the word does not act “alone.” Each word is related to other words. This is the fourth feature of the sign. Imagine, now I say: “kefir”, “ nuclear reactor”, the listeners will immediately demand to enter the sign into the circle of other signs.

So, language is undoubtedly a sign system. Besides, language universal sign system. It is universal in relation to all other sign systems, because any sign, any system can be “retold” by means of language. Language is also universal because it covers the whole world: both the one that is around us and the one that is inside us, language is capable of denoting everything.

So, it is characteristic of a sign: to be a material object; to be a representative of some other object.

The main characteristics of the signs are subject meaning And meaning. Subject meaning is the object of which the sign is a representative. This is the main characteristic of the sign. The objective meaning of linguistic signs, for example, names, are objects in the broad sense of the word, everything that can be an object of thought. The meanings of words are also called designata, and the names themselves are called designators.

The meaning of the sign is This is such a characteristic of the designated object that allows clearly mentally distinguish this item from many others. In other words , meaning is the totality features that are distinctive for this item. Meanings are certain forms of thought. For names these are concepts, for declarative sentences these are judgments.

Classification of signs.

There are three main types of signs in depending on the character their relationship to the designated objects:

- index signs

- signs-images

- signs-symbols.

Index signs related to the objects they represent in some causal way. These include tracks in the snow, the position of a weather vane, smoke from a chimney, etc.

In language, signs-indices include expressions that arise as reactions to external influences(interjections).

Signs-images are to some extent images of designated objects (paintings, drawings, diagrams, photos. In a language, signs of this type include words that, in their sound, reproduce some sound characteristics of the designated objects, for example, “crackling”, “ringing” ", "buzzing", etc.

Signs-symbols – are not physically connected in any way with the designated objects. These are most words in natural language. Their connection with designated objects is established (as mentioned above) either by agreement or spontaneously during the formation of language . Signs of this type play a decisive role in language.. What is called " symbol" formed only by agreement. The meaning of the symbol is clear only to those who know its origin.

The science of signs is semiotics. The term "semiotics" dates back to the Stoics, who were influenced by Greek medicine, where diagnosis and prognosis were interpreted as sign processes. The term semiotics has become widespread these days thanks to Charles Peirce (1839-1914).

Ferdinand de Saussure, also starting from the Greeks, called this area semiology and I expected from this branch of knowledge that it would clarify the essence of knowledge and the laws of its management.

The main ideas of semiotics were expressed by Charles Pierce, “the most inventive, versatile of American thinkers” (R. Jacobson). Charles Pierce was so great that there was no place for him in any university. The first attempt to classify signs was made by C. Pierce in his work “On a New List of Categories,” which was forgotten until the 30s of the 20th century. Most of his work remained unpublished and therefore unknown.

A follower of C. Pierce, C. Morris added theoretical principles Peirce in that he approached the study of the properties of signs in the process of their functioning, otherwise signs would not exist, since there is an interpreter. The process by which something functions as a sign is what Morris calls semiosis. This process, in a tradition dating back to the Greeks, was usually seen as involving three or four factors:

That which acts as a sign ( symbolic means, sign bearer)

What the sign indicates ( designat)

The influence by virtue of which the corresponding thing turns out to be a sign for the interpreter (interpretant) is taking into account the sign and accordingly constructing your behavior;

The fourth factor can be introduced interpreter – all these factors are interrelated and presuppose an interpreter. Morris also introduces three dimensions of semiosis, three interconnected relationships in which signs can exist in the process of their functioning:

- “sign-sign” - syntax;

- “sign – object” - semantics;

- “sign – people” - or interpreters.

According to these relationships, three main aspects of language are distinguished: syntax, semantics and pragmatics.

Syntactic aspect includes the variety of relationships of signs to other signs. And also, these are the rules available in the language for the formation of some signs from others, the rules for changing signs (declension, conjugation).

Semantic aspect– constitutes a set of relations of signs to objects of extra-linguistic reality, i.e. to what they mean, their properties, characteristics.

Pragmatic aspect includes such features of the language that depend on who and in what situations it is used. Undoubtedly, everyone knows many cases when the same expression of language, depending on the situation, for example, on intonation, can have different semantic shades, sometimes opposite. The language of science avoids uncertainty and ambiguity as much as possible. These requirements are met by specially constructed formalized languages.

Communication as people's perception of each other ( perceptual side communication)

The emergence and successful development of communication is associated with the peculiarities of people’s perception and understanding of each other. The effectiveness of mutual understanding depends on how people reflect each other’s traits and feelings, perceive and understand others, and through them, themselves and the communication situation as a whole. The process of cognition and understanding by one person of another in the course of communication acts as one of the main components of communication. Conventionally, this process is called the perceptual side of communication (.

Social perception is people’s perception, understanding and assessment of social objects: other people, themselves, groups, social communities, etc.

Social perception is one of the most complex and important concepts in social psychology. It should be distinguished from the general psychological concept of “perception,” which is interpreted as an artificially isolated fragment of the holistic process of cognition and a person’s subjective understanding of the surrounding reality. Perception is associated with the conscious identification of a particular phenomenon and the interpretation of its meaning through various transformations of sensory information.

“The concept of “social perception” includes everything that is usually designated in the general psychological approach various terms and study separately, then trying to piece together a complete picture of the human mental world:

• the actual process of perception of observed behavior;
• interpreting perceived behavior in terms of causes of behavior and expected consequences;
• emotional assessment;
• building a strategy for your own behavior."

The very concept of “perception” does not fully reflect the communication situation. In Russian literature, often as a synonym for the concept

"person's perception" is the expression used "knowing another person"(A. A. Bodalev). At least two people are included in the process of interpersonal cognition, and each of them is an active subject and compares himself with a communication partner. The effectiveness of people's understanding of each other depends on the operation of a number of mechanisms of interpersonal cognition.

An important place among the mechanisms of interpersonal cognition is occupied by identification , literally meaning identifying oneself with another person. Likening yourself to another is one of the simplest and most accessible ways to understand another person. It represents the ability to put oneself in another person’s place, to look at things from their point of view. When we want to be understood, we say: “Stand in my place!”, “Be in my shoes!” Identifying yourself with someone allows you to build your behavior the way someone else builds it. The psychological meaning of this process is to expand the range of experiences, to enrich internal experience. Through the identification mechanism, from early childhood a child develops many personality traits, behavioral stereotypes, value orientations, gender, ethnic and other aspects of identity. M.R. Bityanova emphasizes the role of the identification mechanism in adolescence and adolescence: “Identification has a special personal significance at a certain stage of personal development, most often in older adolescence and youth, when it largely determines the nature of relationships between peers (for example, the attitude to the idol)" 1.

The completeness and nature of the assessment of another person depend on such qualities of the assessor as the degree of his self-confidence and his inherent attitude towards other people. These qualities make a person insightful, a kind of seer in the complex sphere of human interaction. In addition to general abilities and life experience, such a property of a person as empathy.

Empathy (from Greek. ampatheia - empathy) is a person’s non-rational knowledge of the inner world of other people (feeling).

This mechanism of cognition and understanding of a person includes the ability to correctly imagine what is happening in the inner world of another person, what he experiences, and how he evaluates the world around him. Empathy is an affective understanding of another. The emotional nature is manifested in the fact that the situation of the communication partner is not so much thought through as felt. A developed ability for empathy is a necessary condition for the development of such a professionally significant quality of a practical psychologist and teacher as insight.

Along with identification and empathy, one of the main mechanisms of interpersonal cognition and understanding is social reflection. Social reflection - this is a mechanism of self-knowledge in the process of interaction, which is based on a person’s ability to imagine how he is perceived by a communication partner. This is not just knowledge or understanding of a partner, but knowledge of how a partner understands me, a kind of double process of mirror relationships with each other.

The wider the circle of communication, the more diverse ideas about how a person is perceived by others, the more a person ultimately knows about himself and others. Including a partner in your inner world- the most effective source of self-knowledge in the process of communication. R. M. Bityanova explains this thesis using the example of the famous “Yogari window”.

Each personality is a combination of four psychological spaces.

At the beginning of communication, the area of ​​“what is unknown to me” is wider, but in the process of establishing open, direct relationships, we get the opportunity to get to know ourselves better, manifesting ourselves in interaction with our communication partner. Thus, by revealing our inner world in the process of communication, we ourselves gain access to the riches of our own soul 1 .

One more special shape perception and cognition of another person - attraction- is based on the formation of a stable deep feeling towards a partner, often affection. However, it does not always have to be positive: it is easier to understand a friend and an enemy than a stranger and a stranger.

Attraction attraction; from lat. attrahere - to pull towards oneself, to attract, in a figurative sense - to attract, to incline) - a concept denoting the emergence, when a person perceives a person, of the attractiveness of one of them for another.

The formation of attachment arises in the subject as a result of his specific emotional attitude, the assessment of which gives rise to a diverse range of feelings (from hostility to sympathy and even love) and manifests itself in the form of a special social attitude towards another person.

This mechanism of social perception, associated with expressed interest in another, contributes to a more complete and deeper understanding of the partner and communication. While studying the phenomenon of attraction, researchers found that the factor mutual reach influences the emergence of interest and mutual disposition. D. Myers emphasizes that we often find friends among those who use the same passages, parking lots and rest areas. Colleagues who happen to be neighbors in the office and, of course, are doomed to constant interaction, are much more likely to become friends rather than enemies. Such interaction gives people the opportunity to discover their own traits in each other, feel mutual affection and perceive each other as members of the same social community 1 .

The mechanism of social perception - causal attribution- associated with attributing reasons for behavior to a person. In everyday life, people often do not know the reasons for the behavior of other people, therefore, especially in conditions of a lack of information, they begin to attribute to people both reasons for behavior and more general traits that may not be characteristic of them. An entire section is devoted to the study of the process of causal attribution in social psychology. The most famous among the creators of causal analysis schemes are E. Jones, K. Davis, G. Kelly, D. Kennose, R. Nisbet, L. Strickland.

The ability to interpret behavior is inherent in every person and constitutes the baggage of his everyday psychology. Analyzing how the “ordinary person”, the “man on the street” tries to understand and explain the cause and effect of the events he witnesses, the researchers found that people choose different types attribution depending on whether they themselves are participants in an event or its observers. G. Kelly identified three such types: personal attribution(when the reason is attributed to the personal inclinations of the person committing the act), object attribution(when the cause is attributed to the object to which the action is directed) and circumstantial attribution(when the cause of what is happening is attributed to circumstances). The extent and degree of attribution of reasons may depend on the degree of uniqueness or typicality of the action and the degree of its “desirability” or “undesirability.” The first case refers to the fact that typical behavior is associated with role models and is therefore easily explainable. In contrast, atypical behavior allows for multiple interpretations and therefore leaves room for attribution of causes and explanations.

One of the central questions in this direction of research is the origin of natural errors and distortions in the process of interpersonal perception and cognition. Attribution researchers have found that when we explain someone's behavior, we often underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the extent to which the individual's personality traits and attitudes are manifested. This skepticism about the role played by the situation is what Lee Ross (1977) called the fundamental attribution error.

The fundamental attribution error is the tendency of observers to underestimate situational and overestimate dispositional influences on the behavior of others 1 .

D. Myers illustrates this phenomenon by describing his observations when he taught classes that began at 8:30 and 19:00. At 8:30 he was met with silent glances; at 19:00 he had to ask that the company not chat during class. In every situation, some people are more talkative than others, but the difference between the two situations increases individual differences. Even though he knew how time of day affected classroom conversation, he was tempted to assume that people who showed up to class at 7:00 p.m. were more extroverted than the silent types who “crept up” by 8:30 p.m.

Among other errors and effects of perception that distort interpersonal cognition, the most well-known are: the effect of “simply being in the field of view”, the “halo” effect, the effects of “primacy” and “novelty” and the phenomenon of stereotyping.

Many experiments have shown that simply being in the field of vision can lead to feelings of sympathy. The effect of “simply being in the field of view” - This is the tendency to feel more favorable and to give a more positive evaluation to previously unfamiliar stimuli after their repeated appearance in the field of view of the evaluator. This effect influences how we evaluate others: we like people we know more. Advertisers and politicians make extensive use of this phenomenon. When people are uncertain about a product (or candidate), simply mentioning it repeatedly can increase sales (or votes). After repeated repetitions of the product name, buyers, without hesitation, completely automatically respond favorably to the advertised product. If the candidates are relatively unknown, those who are mentioned more often in the media usually win.

First impressions can shape our interpretation of later information. Essence effect « halo“The point is that the information received about a person is superimposed on the image that was already created in advance. This pre-existing image plays the role of a “halo” that prevents one from seeing the actual features and manifestations of the object of perception. A general favorable impression leads to positive assessments of unknown qualities of the perceived subject, while a general unfavorable impression, on the contrary, contributes to the predominance of negative assessments. For example, if we are told about someone that they are “smart,” we may further interpret a trait of theirs called “boldness” to mean “courage” rather than “recklessness.”

Visual appeal also causes a halo effect and contributes to misperception. People tend to overestimate an outwardly attractive person based on other psychological and social parameters that are important to them. For example, in an experiment, teachers were given identical information about a boy and a girl, but with photographs of an attractive and an unattractive child. Teachers perceived an attractive child as more intelligent and academically successful 1 .

A perceptual error may arise from the fact that we tend to value things higher. psychological qualities people who treat us well or share some of our important ideas. In other words, people close to me in convictions, in general better than people who profess other, opposing views. The most famous techniques of manipulative communication are built on this property of social perception. Let’s say, the rule of “three YES”: make sure that in a conversation a person answers your questions “yes” three times in a row (even the simplest ones), and you can count on his greater favor when resolving fundamental issues.

Closely related to the halo effect primacy effects And "novelty". Their essence is that when perceiving a stranger, the most significant for us is the first information about him (the first impression can serve as a “halo” effect), and when perceiving a familiar person, new information will be the most significant (analysis of actions is carried out on the basis latest information about a person).

In a broader sense, these effects are considered as a manifestation of a special process that accompanies interpersonal perception and is associated with the formation of an impression of a person on the basis of stereotypes developed by the group. This process is called stereotyping. Stereotyping performs the function of simplifying and shortening the process of perception, thereby being necessary and useful tool social knowledge of the world. Various social stereotypes (ethnic, gender, age, professional, etc.) are involved in selection, categorization, and limitation of the flow of social information that befalls a person every day, helping to “save” mental resources and “accelerate” the thinking process.