Basics of social studies. Theoretical and everyday consciousness

Document From the book of the French psychologist, sociologist, historian G. Lebon “Psychology of Peoples and Masses.” In a crowd, only stupidity can accumulate, and not intelligence... The appearance... of new special features that are characteristic of the crowd and, moreover, not found in the individual individuals included in its composition, is determined by for various reasons. The first of these is that an individual in a crowd acquires, thanks only to his numbers, a consciousness of irresistible force, and this consciousness allows him to succumb to instincts that he never gives free rein to when he is alone. In a crowd, he is less inclined to curb these instincts, because the crowd is anonymous and does not bear responsibility. The sense of responsibility, which always restrains individuals, completely disappears in the crowd. The second reason, contagion, or contagion, also contributes to the formation of special properties in the crowd and determines their direction... In the crowd, every feeling, every action is contagious, and, moreover, to such an extent that the individual very easily sacrifices his personal interests to the collective interest. Such behavior, however, is contrary to human nature, and therefore a person is capable of it only when he is part of a crowd. Questions and tasks for the document 1. What features of human behavior are manifested specifically in a crowd? 2. Indicate the reasons for the specific behavior of an individual in a crowd, which are named by the author of the text. 3. How do you understand the essence of these reasons? 4. Give your own examples that confirm or refute the author’s opinion that the crowd has properties that an individual may not possess. 5. Is it true that social consciousness is formed in the crowd? public opinion? Justify your answer INTRODUCTION

Homework - reference summary

1. The concept of social consciousness is a set of ideas, views and value systems of a particular society or social community.

2. Structure of social consciousness

3. Features of social consciousness

Relativity

· Dynamism

· Continuity

4. Levels of social consciousness

Ordinary (empirical)

Theoretical

5. Social existence - the material life of people

6. Types (sides) of social consciousness

· Mass

· Ordinary

7. Features of individual consciousness (feelings, emotions, abilities)

8. Interaction of public and individual consciousness

Practical task

Task 1. Find which term generalizes others

Ideas, values, attitudes, guidelines, consciousness, motives, interests.

Question 2. What is missing from the table?

Artistic

Scientific consciousness

………………………

ideological

Task 3. Read the text about the forms of social consciousness, insert the missing words (words to choose from: faith, love, religion, philosophy, image, education, legislation, social, totality)

Political consciousness represents __1__public views on political organization society. Legal consciousness is a set of views on issues of __2__, the court, and the prosecutor's office. It aims to assert legal order, corresponding to the interests of a particular society. Morality is a system of views and assessments that regulate the behavior of individuals, a means of ___3___ and strengthening certain moral principles and relationships. Art is a special form of human activity associated with the mastery of reality through artistic ____4___; Religion and ___5___ are the most distant forms of social consciousness from material conditions. ___6____is more ancient than philosophy and is a necessary stage in the development of mankind. The religious worldview is based on __7___ and religious postulates.

Task 4. Text by G. Lebon “Psychology of Peoples and Masses.”

In a crowd, only stupidity can accumulate, and not intelligence... The appearance... of new special features that are characteristic of the crowd and, moreover, not found in individual individuals. The first of them is that an individual in a crowd acquires, thanks only to numbers, consciousness an irresistible force, and this consciousness allows him to succumb to such instincts, which he never gives free rein to when he is alone.

In a crowd, he is less inclined to curb these instincts, because the crowd is anonymous and does not bear responsibility. The sense of responsibility, which always restrains individuals, completely disappears in the crowd. The second reason - contagiousness, or contagion - also contributes to the formation of special properties in the crowd and determines their direction...

In a crowd, every feeling, every action is contagious, and to such an extent that the individual very easily sacrifices his personal interests to the collective interest. Such behavior, however, is contrary to human nature, and therefore a person is capable of it only when he is part of a crowd.

Questions and tasks for the document– answer the questions and copy the answers into your notebook

1. What features of people’s behavior are manifested specifically in a crowd?

2. Indicate the reasons for the specific behavior of an individual in a crowd, which are named by the author of the text.

3. How do you understand the essence of these reasons?

4. Give your own examples that confirm or refute the author’s opinion that the crowd has properties that an individual may not possess.

5. Is it true that social consciousness is formed in the crowd? public opinion? Justify your answer

Task 5. Fill out the table according to the text

Science as a form of social consciousness
Signs of science with examples	Science functions with examples	Types of sciences
1.
2.
3.

Science as a form of social consciousness is a reflection of reality in rationally ordered and systematized forms of knowledge as it exists independently of the cognizing and acting person.

Distinctive features sciences are: - identification of deep, essential connections and relationships of the Objective world, formulation of the laws of science in which these connections and relationships are recorded, as well as the creation scientific theories; - general significance scientific knowledge; - foresight, forecasting changes in an object; - strict evidence and validity of the results, reliability of the conclusions; - lack of references to authority; - continuous self-renewal; - availability of professionally trained personnel; - availability special language and research methods; - strict structure.

Functions of science: - Worldview function: at each historical stage of development of human society, science forms a certain picture of the world and thereby determines a person’s worldview. - The integrative function of science is to combine individual reliable knowledge about the world into an integral, consistent system. - The epistemological function of science is aimed at identifying the essence and patterns of functioning and development of natural and social phenomena. - Methodological function: science creates various methods and methods of research activity. - Prognostic function: based on the identified patterns of the studied phenomena, science is able to explain promising trends in the development of nature and society. - The function of science as a direct productive force, modern science directly related to practice, the goal of scientific achievements is their practical implementation; At the same time, the practical life of a person is increasingly connected and dependent on scientific achievements and discoveries. - The function of science as a social force: on modern stage development of human society scientific achievements are increasingly used in the development of social and economic development programs.

THEORETICAL AND ORDINARY CONSCIOUSNESS

The structure of social consciousness can be considered from the point of view of the depth of reflection of social reality by social consciousness. Then, social psychology and ideology are identified as the main structural elements.
Social psychology is a set of feelings, moods, customs, traditions, motivations characteristic of a given society as a whole and for each of the large social groups. Social psychology develops under the influence of specific historical conditions of social existence. And since these conditions are different for each of the large social groups, their socio-psychological complexes inevitably differ from each other (the complex of superiority of the so-called “noble classes” over the “common people” in the Middle Ages). The socio-psychological complexes of various social groups have and common features related to historical features, national traditions, the cultural level of a particular society.
Ideology is a system of theoretical views that reflects the degree of society’s knowledge of the world as a whole and its individual aspects. It represents a higher level of social consciousness compared to social psychology - the level of theoretical reflection of the world. If, when analyzing the psychology of social groups, the epithet “social” is most often used (as opposed to age, professional, etc.), then the concept of “ideology” does not need such an epithet, since there is no individual ideology, it is always of a social nature.
It must be borne in mind that the concept of “ideology” is used in social philosophy in another, narrower sense - as a system of theoretical views of one large social group, directly or indirectly reflecting its fundamental interests.
If social psychology is formed spontaneously, directly under the influence of the life circumstances in which it finds itself community group, class, then ideology primarily acts as a product theoretical activities representatives of this class - its ideologists.
From a theoretical-cognitive point of view, the relationship between social psychology and ideology is vaguely reminiscent of the relationship between the emotional, sensory and rational levels of social consciousness. It is known that sensory knowledge in general is not sufficient, but a necessary “floor” of consciousness, since only thanks to it our brain can receive primary information about the world, however, the feelings of a cultured person are always rationally loaded (a musical ear that feels the beauty of the shape of the eyes). Social psychology is that direct reflection of the external manifestations of social reality, which constitutes the life-practical basis for the emergence of the corresponding ideology. Ideology clarifies what is not sufficiently understood by psychology and penetrates deeply into the essence of phenomena.
In philosophical and historical literature the concept is very common "ordinary consciousness". This concept is intended to characterize consciousness directly woven into the everyday practical life of people. This is pre-reflective knowledge, a set of socially approved life-practical evidence.
One of the varieties of social consciousness is mass consciousness.
Mass consciousness is distinguished not by its content, level and quality of reflection of reality, but primarily by specific properties its bearer, subject. The mass as a subject of mass consciousness is a special collection (set, community) of individuals. Examples of the masses include participants in broad political, sociocultural and other movements, audiences of various media and channels mass media, consumers of certain socially “colored” (prestigious, fashionable) goods and services, members of various amateur (interest) associations and clubs, fans of football and other sports teams, etc.
The following features are characteristic of the masses as a subject of consciousness. Firstly, the statistical nature of this community, expressed in the fact that it, without being an independent, integral formation distinct from its constituent elements, is represented by many separate “units”. Secondly, the entry of individuals into it is disordered, random nature, as a result of which such a community is always characterized by “blurry”, open boundaries, and an uncertain quantitative and qualitative composition. The mass is characterized by a situational nature of existence, which is expressed in the fact that it is formed and functions exclusively on the basis and within the boundaries of one or another specific activity, and is impossible outside of it. As a result of this, the mass always turns out to be an unstable formation, changing from case to case, from one specific situation to another. The mass is characterized by pronounced heterogeneity, the mixed composition of a given community, its non-group (or intergroup) nature, manifested in the fact that in it the boundaries between all social demographic, political, regional and other groups existing in society are “destroyed”.
The listed properties of the mass completely determine its inherent type of consciousness, the features of its content and structure, methods of formation and functioning.
In terms of content, mass consciousness is a set of ideas, judgments, perceptions, illusions, feelings, moods, reflecting in one form or another different sides life of society. At the same time, in terms of its content, mass consciousness is much narrower than social consciousness as a whole, since beyond its boundaries there remains a great many subjects that are inaccessible to the understanding of the masses and (or) do not affect their interests (for example, the content of science, philosophy, etc. ).
The structure of mass consciousness is an extremely complex conglomerate formation that arises at the “intersection” of all known types of social consciousness - social psychology and ideology, everyday and theoretical, abstract and artistic, contemplative and associated with volitional actions, etc.
In this regard, the structure of mass consciousness is characterized by fragmentation, inconsistency, and the ability to undergo rapid, unexpected changes.
Mass consciousness in societies modern type arises in the process of standardization of the basic conditions and forms of human life (in the spheres of production, consumption, communication, socio-political participation, leisure), giving rise to the same aspirations, interests, needs, skills, inclinations, etc. The effect of these conditions and forms of existence is consolidated and is completed in the production and dissemination of relevant types of mass culture, primarily related to the functioning of the media. With their help, the interests, needs, and aspirations of broad sections of the population are formalized in the form of standard images of reality, ways of understanding it, and patterns of behavior.
Being a spiritual product of objective processes of standardization human activity, mass consciousness itself has an active influence on many aspects of social life. It acts as a powerful regulator of mass forms of human behavior. At the same time, the main forms of expression and functioning of mass consciousness are public opinion and public mood.
Basic concepts: social consciousness, individual consciousness, social psychology, ideology.
Terms: consciousness, ordinary consciousness, mass consciousness, public opinion.

1. What feature of consciousness did I. Kant point to when he said that the idea of an apple has neither weight, nor color, nor smell, nor taste. The concept of an earthquake cannot destroy a city, but a thaler in your pocket and a thaler in your head are not the same thing? State this feature in your own words.
2. G. Hegel spoke about everyday consciousness that this is a way of thinking of any era that contains all the prejudices of a given time. Illustrate the philosopher’s statement with your own examples.
3. Comment on the following fragment:
« Social psychology- this is the sphere of emotions, experiences and moods that are caused not by purely personal circumstances, but by circumstances generated by the course of social development, historical events affecting the vital interests of large groups of the population.”
Give examples of such emotions, moods and experiences.
4. Using various dictionaries, find the meaning of the concept “ideology”. How do these interpretations differ?

Work with the source

Read an excerpt from the book by psychologist G. Lebon “Psychology of Peoples and Masses.”

Soul of the Crowd

Decisions concerning common interests, adopted by the meeting even famous people in the field of various specialties, still differ little from the decisions made by a meeting of fools, since in both cases there are not any outstanding qualities combined, but only ordinary ones that are found in everyone. In a crowd, only stupidity can accumulate, not intelligence.<...>
The appearance of these new special features, characteristic of the crowd and, moreover, not found in the individual individuals included in its composition, is due to various reasons. The first of these is that an individual in a crowd acquires, thanks only to his numbers, a consciousness of irresistible force, and this consciousness allows him to succumb to instincts that he never gives free rein to when he is alone. In a crowd, he is less inclined to curb these instincts, because the crowd is anonymous and does not bear responsibility. The sense of responsibility, which always restrains individuals, completely disappears in the crowd.
The second reason - contagiousness or contagion - also contributes to the formation of special properties in the crowd and determines their direction.<...>In a crowd, every feeling, every action is contagious, and to such an extent that the individual very easily sacrifices his personal interests to the collective interest. Such behavior, however, is contrary to human nature, and therefore a person is capable of it only when he is part of a crowd.
Questions and tasks: 1) What features of people’s behavior are manifested specifically in a crowd? 2) What reasons does the author of the text name for the specific behavior of an individual in a crowd? 3) How do you understand the essence of these reasons? 4) Give your own examples that confirm or refute the author’s opinion that the crowd has properties that an individual may not possess. 5) Is it possible to say that social consciousness is formed in the crowd? public opinion?

§ 27. Self-knowledge and personality development

Inner world man and his self-awareness have long attracted the attention of philosophers, psychologists, linguists, ethnographers, sociologists, teachers and artists. Thus, philosophers starting from the 17th-18th centuries. they sought to know what the value of the individual is and how it manifests itself, how it knows itself and where the boundaries of this knowledge are. Already in the famous formula of R. Descartes “I think, therefore I exist,” the fact of possessing thinking serves as proof of the existence of a person.
J. Locke argued that a person knows himself intuitively on the basis of reflection (understanding) of life experience, which expands over the years. From his point of view, a reflective attitude towards oneself is characteristic of a mature personality, and not everyone.
I. Kant gave the understanding of “I” a value-personal dimension. He introduced into scientific circulation the division of human consciousness and self-awareness. “The fact that a person can have an idea of his Self infinitely elevates him above all other creatures living on Earth. Thanks to this, he is a person...” Self-awareness, according to Kant, is a necessary prerequisite for morality and moral responsibility.
G. Hegel considered self-consciousness in development; when studying self-awareness, he identified stages corresponding to the phases of development of human activity.
Psychologists, in turn, study the structure of the human self and ways of knowing it.

WHAT IS SELF-AWARENESS

The complexity of the problem lies in the fact that in this case the object and subject of knowledge coincide, which makes it difficult to establish the degree of reliability of a person’s knowledge about himself. Nevertheless, knowledge about oneself, assessment of one’s qualities, and self-awareness are an important part of the development of personality.
Usually under self-awareness understand a person’s definition of himself as an individual, capable of making independent decisions, enter into certain relationships with other people and nature. One of the important signs of self-awareness is a person’s willingness to take responsibility for the decisions he makes and the actions he takes.
Self-knowledge occurs primarily at the individual level. In fact, a person spends his entire life engaged in self-knowledge, but is not always aware that he is carrying out this type of activity. Self-knowledge, according to scientists, begins in infancy and often ends with the last breath. Of course, in the process of personality development, the ways of knowing oneself, the attitude towards oneself change, and self-awareness develops.
Personality manifests itself not only through self-awareness, but also in the process self-realization. This term defines the process of the most complete identification and implementation by an individual of his capabilities, achievement of intended goals in solving personally significant problems, allowing him to fully realize creativity personality.
But in order to realize oneself, a person must know his own characteristics.

FAMILIAR STRANGER

Self-knowledge begins with self-recognition, distinguishing between oneself and the outside world. Scientists believe that this discrimination occurs as early as three to eight month old infants.

Every person looking in the mirror strives to see himself, his image, adjust it, change or “correct” his appearance. This is the beginning of the transition from passive perception of oneself to the active creation of the image of “I”, the path to self-improvement, which so far affects only appearance.
Strictly speaking, a person practically does not see his real face in the mirror, just as he does not hear his own voice. (Each of you who has heard a recording of your voice on a tape recorder was probably surprised at the unexpectedly strange, unusual sound.) The fact is that, when preparing to look at ourselves in the mirror, we involuntarily take a certain pose. As a result, our facial expression changes, its spontaneity and ease are lost. We unconsciously form our image of “I”. Therefore, when we accidentally see our reflection in the mirror, we are surprised by unfamiliar features. Such a case is described in A. Moravia’s story “Trellage”. A young lawyer, examining a mirror that had just been delivered from the store, suddenly saw in it not his usual self, but some kind of his own double, for whom he felt strong feeling antipathy as completely to a stranger. Mixed with the feeling of antipathy was a feeling of some kind of alienation. The hero of the story looked at the mirror as an object, and did not prepare to perceive his own appearance in it. As a result, what he saw turned out to be unexpected for him, strangely diverging from his usual, apparently more significant, idea of himself.
The photographic image also often diverges from the model’s true face, since it does not convey the liveliness of facial expressions characteristic of the character in life.
The famous film director S. Eisenstein believed that every face contains many faces and at the same time all people are two-faced. In the first case, he emphasized mobility and variability human face, and in the second, the difference between the left and right sides of the face. If you assemble portraits of a particular person from the same right or left halves of the face of the same photograph, they will differ significantly from each other. Thus, “right” faces (consisting of right halves) look older than the real age of the original. “Left” faces are less defined, more typical, and less retain the individuality of a living face.
A person’s appearance is not only significant for himself, it influences the perception of a person by other people. You have probably noticed that some people invariably inspire confidence in themselves even strangers, and acquaintances try to contact others infrequently. Psychological experiments show that people tend to attribute advantages to those who have a pleasant appearance, even ones that they actually do not have.
Even in ancient times, attempts were made to create typical characteristics of human properties based on external signs, body features, facial structure. When they say: “It’s written all over his face,” they mean a certain connection between the appearance and internal properties of a person.
What has been said about the peculiarities of self-perception does not mean that a person is generally unable to form a correct idea of himself. Not everything is contained in human appearance. An intelligent facial expression has always seemed more attractive than one devoid of thought. How can one not recall the proverb that says that one is greeted by his clothes, but seen off by his mind?

HOW TO NOT MAKE A MISTAKE IN YOUR ASSESSMENT

Self-esteem plays an equally important role in self-knowledge.
The attitude towards one’s own appearance, together with ideas about one’s abilities and the attitude of other people towards oneself, forms self-esteem. Self-esteem is predominantly an emotional attitude towards one’s own image: “I am talented”, “I am absolutely untalented”, “I am no worse than others”, etc. Self-esteem is most often subjective, but it is based not only on one’s own judgments, but also on opinions others about your person. Strictly speaking, a person evaluates himself in two ways: first, by comparing the level of his aspirations with the objective results of his activities; secondly, by comparing yourself with other people.
Three main points are important to understanding self-esteem. Firstly, in its formation an important role is played by the comparison of the image of the real “I” with the image of the ideal that we would like to be. Self-esteem can be expressed with the following formula:

You can increase your self-esteem either by achieving something, such as success, or by lowering your level of aspirations.
Secondly, some people tend to evaluate themselves the way others evaluate them. You can tell your child from childhood that he is beautiful. However, if someone tells a boy that he has big ears, then years later, when going on a date, the young man will pull on his hat or comb his hair in a special way. Human consciousness turns out to be a kind of shell that opens to new knowledge about oneself.
Thirdly, self-esteem depends on our attitude to our own successes and failures, to what we learn from own history life.
The image of “I” does not remain unchanged throughout life. Not only the appearance changes, but also the attitude towards it, self-esteem becomes more justified, and measures are taken to increase it. The desire to gain respect forces a person to change his attitude towards himself and others. It would be more correct to say that a person does not have one image of “I”, but many such images, alternately coming to the forefront of self-awareness or receding into the shadows.
The complexity and complexity of the “I” have allowed scientists to identify a number of components in it that are formed in the process of life and have an impact on the behavior of the individual. 10 classgeneral education schools / under ed. L.N., Bogolyubova, A.Yu. Lazebnikova. – M.: Education, 2008. Social science. Profilelevel : textbookFor 11 ...

Work program on social studies profile

Work program

Which includes: textbooks: Social science: profilelevel: textbookFor10 class general educationinstitutions/L. N. Bogolyubov, A. Yu. Lazebnikova, N. M. Smirnova and others - M.: Education, 2007; Social science: profilelevel: textbookFor 11th grade...

List of textbooks used in the educational process for the 2012-2013 academic year

List of textbooks

Issued to low-income people Social science Bogolyubov L.N., Lazebnikova A.Yu., Smirnova N.M. etc. under ed. Bogolyubova L.N.,

Megamind

1) What features of people’s behavior are manifested specifically in a crowd? The first is herd behavior. That is, if you did one, repeat after him. The second feature is the absence of one’s own opinion, succumbing to imposed ideas. The third feature is aggression. The fourth is controllability. Fifth - a decrease in the level of IQ of the totality in the crowd, that is, everyone thinks less in a crowd than one would think alone. 2) What reasons for the specific behavior of an individual in a crowd does the author of the text name? “The first of these is that an individual in a crowd acquires, thanks only to his numbers, a consciousness of irresistible force, and this consciousness allows him to succumb to instincts that he never gives free rein to when he is alone. In a crowd, he is less inclined to curb these instincts, because the crowd is anonymous and does not bear responsibility. The sense of responsibility, which always restrains individuals, completely disappears in the crowd. The second reason - contagiousness or contagion - also contributes to the formation of special properties in the crowd and determines their direction.<…>In a crowd, every feeling, every action is contagious, and to such an extent that the individual very easily sacrifices his personal interests to the collective interest.”3) How do you understand the essence of these reasons? Every person, falling into a crowd, understands that he is not alone, that there are many like him, and that it will not be possible to deal with them all, and he is aware of his strength, like the strength of the crowd. Therefore, he loses control over himself, succumbs to the crowd, and the level of responsibility decreases. The second reason is that due to the socialization of consciousness and a decrease in IQ, each individual in the group becomes part of this egregor, because the egregor of the crowd thinks for him, therefore, all opinions, all interests of an individual person in the crowd are suppressed by the will of the crowd. 4. Give your own examples that confirm or refute the author’s opinion that the crowd has properties that an individual may not possess - for example, the behavior of the crowd at school during a meeting of the line. Each individual who falls into this crowd also falls under influence, losing some of his traits, and receiving the traits of the crowd in return. For example, reprimanding one of the students in the form of irony and ridicule causes an outburst of laughter in the entire crowd - while an individual would most likely not laugh. 5) Is it possible to say that social consciousness is formed in the crowd? public opinion? - Social consciousness, no, but the consciousness of the crowd as an egregor - yes. That is, the crowd ceases to be a collection of people, the crowd itself becomes a governing body - it dictates its rules to each member of the crowd, forcing him to obey.

Decisions concerning common interests, made by a meeting of even famous people in the field of various specialties, still differ little from decisions made by a meeting of fools, since in both cases there are not any outstanding qualities combined, but only ordinary ones that occur everyone has. In a crowd, only stupidity can accumulate, not intelligence.<...>
The appearance of these new special features, characteristic of the crowd and, moreover, not found in the individual individuals included in its composition, is due to various reasons. The first of these is that an individual in a crowd acquires, thanks only to his numbers, a consciousness of irresistible force, and this consciousness allows him to succumb to instincts that he never gives free rein to when he is alone. In a crowd, he is less inclined to curb these instincts, because the crowd is anonymous and does not bear responsibility. The sense of responsibility, which always restrains individuals, completely disappears in the crowd.
The second reason - contagiousness or contagion - also contributes to the formation of special properties in the crowd and determines their direction.<...>In a crowd, every feeling, every action is contagious, and to such an extent that the individual very easily sacrifices his personal interests to the collective interest. Such behavior, however, is contrary to human nature, and therefore a person is capable of it only when he is part of a crowd.
Questions and tasks: 1) What features of people’s behavior are manifested specifically in a crowd? 2) What reasons does the author of the text name for the specific behavior of an individual in a crowd? 3) How do you understand the essence of these reasons? 4) Give your own examples that confirm or refute the author’s opinion that the crowd has properties that an individual may not possess. 5) Is it possible to say that social consciousness is formed in the crowd? public opinion?

§ 27. Self-knowledge and personality development

The inner world of man and his self-awareness have long attracted the attention of philosophers, psychologists, linguists, ethnographers, sociologists, teachers and artists. Thus, philosophers starting from the 17th-18th centuries. they sought to know what the value of the individual is and how it manifests itself, how it knows itself and where the boundaries of this knowledge are. Already in the famous formula of R. Descartes “I think, therefore I exist,” the fact of possessing thinking serves as proof of the existence of a person.
J. Locke argued that a person knows himself intuitively on the basis of reflection (understanding) of life experience, which expands over the years. From his point of view, a reflective attitude towards oneself is characteristic of a mature personality, and not everyone.
I. Kant gave the understanding of “I” a value-personal dimension. He introduced into scientific circulation the division of human consciousness and self-awareness. “The fact that a person can have an idea of his Self infinitely elevates him above all other creatures living on Earth. Thanks to this, he is a person...” Self-awareness, according to Kant, is a necessary prerequisite for morality and moral responsibility.
G. Hegel considered self-consciousness in development; when studying self-awareness, he identified stages corresponding to the phases of development of human activity.
Psychologists, in turn, study the structure of the human self and ways of knowing it.

WHAT IS SELF-AWARENESS

The complexity of the problem lies in the fact that in this case the object and subject of knowledge coincide, which makes it difficult to establish the degree of reliability of a person’s knowledge about himself. Nevertheless, knowledge about oneself, assessment of one’s qualities, and self-awareness are an important part of the development of personality.
Usually under self-awareness understand a person’s definition of himself as an individual, capable of making independent decisions, enter into certain relationships with other people and nature. One of the important signs of self-awareness is a person’s willingness to take responsibility for the decisions he makes and the actions he takes.
Self-knowledge occurs primarily at the individual level. In fact, a person spends his entire life engaged in self-knowledge, but is not always aware that he is carrying out this type of activity. Self-knowledge, according to scientists, begins in infancy and often ends with the last breath. Of course, in the process of personality development, the ways of knowing oneself, the attitude towards oneself change, and self-awareness develops.
Personality manifests itself not only through self-awareness, but also in the process self-realization. This term defines the process of the most complete identification and implementation by an individual of his capabilities, the achievement of intended goals in solving personally significant problems, allowing for the fullest possible realization of the creative potential of the individual.
But in order to realize oneself, a person must know his own characteristics.

FAMILIAR STRANGER

Self-knowledge begins with self-recognition, distinguishing between oneself and the outside world. Scientists believe that this discrimination occurs as early as three to eight month old infants.

Every person looking in the mirror strives to see himself, his image, adjust it, change or “correct” his appearance. This is the beginning of the transition from passive perception of oneself to the active creation of the image of “I”, the path to self-improvement, which so far affects only appearance.
Strictly speaking, a person practically does not see his real face in the mirror, just as he does not hear his own voice. (Each of you who has heard a recording of your voice on a tape recorder was probably surprised at the unexpectedly strange, unusual sound.) The fact is that, when preparing to look at ourselves in the mirror, we involuntarily take a certain pose. As a result, our facial expression changes, its spontaneity and ease are lost. We unconsciously form our image of “I”. Therefore, when we accidentally see our reflection in the mirror, we are surprised by unfamiliar features. Such a case is described in A. Moravia’s story “Trellage”. A young lawyer, examining a mirror that had just been delivered from the store, suddenly saw in it not his usual self, but some kind of his own double, towards whom he experienced a strong feeling of antipathy as a complete stranger. Mixed with the feeling of antipathy was a feeling of some kind of alienation. The hero of the story looked at the mirror as an object, and did not prepare to perceive his own appearance in it. As a result, what he saw turned out to be unexpected for him, strangely diverging from his usual, apparently more significant, idea of himself.
The photographic image also often diverges from the model’s true face, since it does not convey the liveliness of facial expressions characteristic of the character in life.
The famous film director S. Eisenstein believed that every face contains many faces and at the same time all people are two-faced. In the first case, he emphasized the mobility and variability of the human face, and in the second, the difference between the left and right parts of the face. If you assemble portraits of a particular person from the same right or left halves of the face of the same photograph, they will differ significantly from each other. Thus, “right” faces (consisting of right halves) look older than the real age of the original. “Left” faces are less defined, more typical, and less retain the individuality of a living face.
A person’s appearance is not only significant for himself, it influences the perception of a person by other people. You have probably noticed that some people invariably inspire trust in even strangers, while acquaintances try to approach others infrequently. Psychological experiments show that people tend to attribute advantages to those who have a pleasant appearance, even ones that they actually do not have.
Even in ancient times, attempts were made to create typical characteristics of people's properties, based on external signs, body features, and facial structure. When they say: “It’s written all over his face,” they mean a certain connection between the appearance and internal properties of a person.
What has been said about the peculiarities of self-perception does not mean that a person is generally unable to form a correct idea of himself. Not everything is contained in human appearance. An intelligent facial expression has always seemed more attractive than one devoid of thought. How can one not recall the proverb that says that one is greeted by his clothes, but seen off by his mind?

HOW TO NOT MAKE A MISTAKE IN YOUR ASSESSMENT

You can increase your self-esteem either by achieving something, such as success, or by lowering your level of aspirations.
Secondly, some people tend to evaluate themselves the way others evaluate them. You can tell your child from childhood that he is beautiful. However, if someone tells a boy that he has big ears, then years later, when going on a date, the young man will pull on his hat or comb his hair in a special way. Human consciousness turns out to be a kind of shell that opens to new knowledge about oneself.
Third, self-esteem depends on our attitude towards our own successes and failures, and what we learn from our own life history.
The image of “I” does not remain unchanged throughout life. Not only the appearance changes, but also the attitude towards it, self-esteem becomes more justified, and measures are taken to increase it. The desire to gain respect forces a person to change his attitude towards himself and others. It would be more correct to say that a person does not have one image of “I”, but many such images, alternately coming to the forefront of self-awareness or receding into the shadows.
The complexity and complexity of the “I” have allowed scientists to identify a number of components in it that are formed in the process of life and have an impact on the behavior of the individual.

DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-AWARENESS AND FORMATION OF PERSONALITY

The development of self-awareness comes from simple to complex: from distinguishing between sensations coming from the outside and sensations caused from within. Up to a certain point, a child may play with his leg, cause himself pain and not understand that he himself is the source. discomfort. This is a very important achievement, since the body for a person is a coordinate system in relation to which he perceives top, bottom, right or left side, etc. When he loses the ability to identify the boundaries of his body (for example, when placed in a special chamber in which a person is deprived of ordinary sensations) he begins to hallucinate and has a feeling of the unreality of what is happening.
The next stage in the development of self-awareness is associated with the formation in the child of the ability to independently act with objects, due to which the child begins to perceive himself as an active subject. By the age of three, the pronoun “I” enters his vocabulary, which finally consolidates the awareness of the identity of his personality. After this, the period of self-esteem development begins. IN preschool age Children's self-esteem is based on the opinions of others, mainly parents and educators, who constantly evaluate them. Here a lot depends on the balance between positive and negative traits in children's self-esteem. Preschoolers' self-image is very situational, unstable and emotionally charged. As soon as a child surpasses others in something, he already believes that he has become the best, and the first failure leads to a decrease in self-esteem. IN school years the child develops logical thinking, at this time the role of friends and their opinions begins to increase, and the circle of communication expands. These factors lead to teenagers comparing different opinions about themselves. Based on them, he begins to develop his own own opinion, while relying on your intellect. Assessments are becoming more generalized and stable, and along with affective components, rational ones also appear. The next stage is associated with the development of moral self-esteem, which is built on the basis of a teenager’s ability to clarify moral judgments about other people’s and their own actions.
As a result of the development of self-awareness, a person develops I-concept which is the totality of all his ideas about various aspects of his personality and body. The self-concept consists of numerous self-images that serve as more specific characteristics. There are different criteria for their classification.
By temporal reference, images can be distinguished: I-present, I-past, I-future or, even more granularly, Me at 15 years old, Me at 30 years old, etc.
By content, we can distinguish images: I-physical, I-mental, I-emotional, I-social.
Based on the source of information, different mirror selves can be distinguished: Me through the eyes of my mother, Me through the eyes of a friend, etc.
All these images serve as regulators of human behavior and interaction with other people. Therefore, along with reflecting information about oneself, self-awareness also performs the function of self-regulation. The more adequate a person’s self-concept is, the easier it is for him to manage his behavior. If a person is mistaken about his qualities, then he becomes like a traveler who is guided by wrong card.
The process of self-knowledge has no boundaries, since the object itself is constantly changing. A person changes social roles, moves from one age category to another, and in order for his self-awareness to correspond to reality, he needs to constantly adjust his ideas about himself. Who am I? A person is concerned with this issue throughout his life. Depending on how he answers it, the formation of his self-concept depends.
According to psychologists, the central place in understanding the process of one’s own development is occupied by the concept identity. It includes three main aspects. Firstly, identity is based on awareness of the temporal extent of one’s own existence: a person sees continuity between what he did in the past, is doing now and is going to do in the future. Secondly, identity presupposes the perception of one’s own integrity, unity, and identity with oneself. Thirdly, identity allows a person to determine the degree of his similarity with different people while simultaneously seeing one’s uniqueness and originality.
Every person throughout his life goes through identifying himself with different social groups(social identity) and identification with people who have certain personal characteristics (personal identification), as a result of which knowledge about oneself is born. First, the child learns what gender he is, then what nationality he is. A little later, he begins to identify himself with the social stratum to which his parents belong, with the city and country where he lives. A mature person identifies himself with representatives of his profession, party, religion, social class, etc.
Special significance plays in the formation of personal and social identity adolescence, which involves establishing a bridge between the child he was and the adult he will become.
Interesting research made it possible to clarify what constitutes teenage identity. This study is based on the famous “Who Am I?” technique. Each subject was asked to answer the question “Who am I?” 20 times. Based on the data obtained, psychologists identified three dimensions of adolescent identity. The first dimension includes describing oneself through belonging to a certain category of people and through preferred activities and tastes (I am a student, I am a lover of modern music, etc.).
The second dimension of identity is based on the description, on the one hand, of the official social status, and on the other - personal traits (I am Russian, I am brave, I am decisive).
The third dimension is the most evaluative and consists of personality characteristics that are socially approved and disapproved (I don’t like scoundrels, I try to be honest).
Thus, the acquisition of personal and social identity is the main line of development of self-awareness of each person.
Based on empirical research, science has described four options for acquiring identity in adolescents.
The first of them, called diffuse identity, is characterized by the teenager’s lack of any professional and ideological models of his future and little concern for the problem of choice.
The second is a predetermined identity, when a teenager makes a choice not as a result of internal conflict, but under the influence of others.
The third option is when a teenager is going through a crisis, but cannot make an important choice for him, postponing it for the future.
Realized identity is the most optimal option, in which a teenager makes his choice consciously and completely independently based on going through the stage of experiencing an identity crisis.
The ease of acquiring identity largely depends on the society in which the teenager lives. Paradoxically, the more freedom society gives a teenager, the more difficult it is for him to find himself.
So, let's summarize some results.
A person constantly changes in the process of activity. His “I,” acting as an object of cognition, is a complex and dynamic formation.
The self-concept, which includes the image of “I,” is a relatively stable, more or less conscious and recorded in verbal form, a person’s idea of himself. This concept is the result of knowing and evaluating oneself through individual images of oneself in a wide variety of real and fantastic situations, as well as through the opinions of other people and comparing oneself with others.
Basic concepts: self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-esteem.
Terms: Self-concept, self-image, identity.

1. What features in the process of self-knowledge did the poet N. Zabolotsky manage to reflect in the following poetic lines?
How the world is changing!
And how I myself am changing!
I am called by only one name,
In fact, what they call me is -
I'm not alone. There are many of us. I am alive.

2. Self-perception exercise. Stand in front of the mirror and look at it for at least 10 minutes. What did you see? What's the best thing about you? How would you describe yourself to a stranger who, for example, was going to meet you at the train station? Imagine seeing yourself for the first time. What is your impression? What does it take to make this experience better? What is your most annoying external feature? Imagine this trait being outrageously strong. Now laugh at the resulting image, like at a reflection in a distorting mirror.
3. Do a little research in your class using the Who Am I test described in the paragraph. Compare your findings with those of other researchers.

Work with the source

Read an excerpt from the book by V. B. Olshansky, psychologist and sociologist, “Psychology for practitioners, teachers, parents and managers.”