Self-consciousness in psychology is ... What is self-awareness? Definition and concept

One of the basic in the doctrine of the individual is the problem of self-awareness. It is not surprising, because the concept is very complex and multifaceted. Scientific researchers devoted a lot of work to this phenomenon. Self-consciousness in psychology is the process of comprehension and evaluation of oneself as an individual as a subject of different types of activity and as a person who has a set of own interests, value orientations, motives, ideals.

Definition of concept

Psychologists assert that not only a person is different in self-consciousness, but also a society, a class, a nation or any other social group, but only if these elements achieve understanding and understanding of the system of mutual relations, common interests, common activities. Self-consciousness in psychology is when a person separates himself from the entire external environment and determines his place in a stormy natural and social life. This phenomenon has a close connection with such a concept as reflection, theoretical thinking.

The criterion and starting point of how a person treats themselves are surrounding people, that is, the emergence and development of consciousness occurs among themselves, in society. Social psychologists argue that in three areas, the formation and formation of the individual as an individual is possible, namely: in activity, in communication and in self-awareness.

The theory of VS Merlin

The process of socialization involves the expansion and deepening of ties and relationships of the individual with other people, certain groups, the society in general. The image of "I" develops and becomes more stable. The formation of self-consciousness, or the same "I", occurs gradually, throughout the life course, and not immediately, from birth. This is a complex process, subject to many social impacts. In this regard, VS Merlin singled out the components of self-consciousness:

• The first is that a person realizes his differences and distinguishes himself from the outside world.
• Second - the individual realizes himself as an active subject, capable of changing the surrounding reality, and not as a passive object.
• Third - the individual is aware of his own mental properties, processes and emotional states.
• Fourth, a person develops social and moral aspects, respect for himself as a result of his experience.

Self-awareness: three directions in science

Modern science has very different views on the emergence and development of consciousness and self-awareness. In the traditional approach, this concept is considered as the initial, in the genetic plan, primary form of human consciousness, based on self-perception and self-perception. It develops in childhood, when the child gets to know his body, realizes it, distinguishes his "I" from the "I" of others, looks in the mirror and realizes that it is him.

Such a conception indicates that the special and universal aspect of what we call ethnic self-awareness is self-reliance, which generates it.

But the scientists did not stop, and SL Rubinstein proposed the opposite view. For him, the problem of self-consciousness is different and lies in another area. It consists in the fact that this phenomenon has the highest level and is, as it were, the product and the result of the development of consciousness.

There is also a third point of view, which assumes that consciousness and the psyche, as well as self-consciousness, are characterized by parallel simultaneous development, single and interdependent. It turns out that a person learns the world with the help of sensations, and he has a certain picture of the external world, but apart from that he experiences the self-sensations that form his idea of himself.

The development of the phenomenon

Self-consciousness in psychology is a process that consists of two main stages:

• The first involves the construction of a scheme of his physical body and forms a sense of "I".
• The second stage begins when intellectual opportunities, conceptual thinking and reflexivity develop. The individual is already able to comprehend his life. But no matter how much we want to think rationally, even the reflective level still has a connection with affective experiences, at least, Zinchenko asserts. According to scientists, the right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for sensing itself, and the left - for reflection.

The components of the concept

The structure of self-awareness is characterized by several components. First, the individual distinguishes himself from the surrounding world, recognizes himself as a subject independent of the environment - from the natural, and from the public. Secondly, there is an awareness of one's own activity, that is, control of oneself. Thirdly, a person can realize himself and his qualities through others (if you notice some feature in the familiar, then you have it, otherwise you would not have singled it out from the general background). Fourthly, a person evaluates himself from the moral point of view, for it is characterized by reflection, inner experience. This structure has and Russian identity.

A person feels united through the continuity of the experience of time: the memory of past events, the experience of the present and the hope for a brighter future. Since this is a continuous phenomenon, the personality integrates itself into a complete education.

The structure of self-consciousness, namely its dynamic aspect, has been repeatedly analyzed. As a result, two terms appeared: the "current I", indicating certain forms of how a person realizes himself in a given period, "here and now", and "the personal self," which is characterized by staunchness and is the core for all other "I'm current". It turns out that any act of self-awareness differs both in self-knowledge and in self-reliance.

Another structure

Since many scientists were involved in this problem, most of them isolated and named their components of self-consciousness. Here's another example:

• We can realize the near and distant goals, the motives of our activity, although often they can be hidden and veiled ("I'm acting").
• We are able to understand what qualities are really inherent in us, and what we only want to possess ("I'm real", "I'm perfect").
• There is a process of understanding your cognitive attitudes and ideas about yourself.
• Emotional attitude towards yourself, which will be measured by a self-assessment test.

According to the above information, self-consciousness includes self-knowledge (the intellectual aspect) and self-relationship (emotional).

The teachings of CG Jung

A great popularity in psychological science, in the teaching "Consciousness and the psyche," was the theory of K. G. Jung, an Austrian psychiatrist. He argued that the basis of self-consciousness lies the opposition of conscious and unconscious activity. According to K. Jung, the psyche has two levels of self-display. The first of these is the self, which takes part in both conscious and unconscious processes, totally penetrating everything. The second level is how we think about ourselves, for example, "I feel that I miss," "I love myself," and all this - the extension of the self. Subjectivity and objectivity in one bottle.

The views of humanistic psychologists

Scientists of the humanistic direction in psychology perceive the self as a purposefulness of the whole human essence, which will help to realize the maximum potential of possibilities.

Become a criterion of how an individual will treat themselves, other people become. In this case, ethnic self-awareness develops, and social contacts that bring new experience change the perception of what we are, and make it more multifaceted. In conscious behavior, it is not so much what a person actually is, but rather the result of stereotypes, introjects about oneself, formed as a result of communication with other people.

It is important for a person to become oneself, to remain so, and to have the ability to support oneself in difficult moments, so that self-attitude does not change, and the self-esteem test shows stable results.

Levels of self-awareness

Psychologists have identified four levels of self-awareness. The first is direct-sensory, which has information about all the physiological processes, the desires of the body, the states of the psyche. This is the level of self-perception and self-reliance that provides the most simple identification of a person.

The second level is personal, or holistic. The individual realizes himself to be active, and self-actualizing processes manifest themselves.

The third can be called the level of the mind, because here the individual comprehends the content of his intellectual forms, reflexes, analyzes, observes.

Well, the fourth level - purposeful activity, which is a combination of the three previous, due to which the person adequately functions in the world. Self-control, self-education, self-organization, self-criticism, self-esteem, self-knowledge, self-improvement and many other things are all characteristics of the fourth synthesized level.

Structural components of self-awareness differ in content and have a connection with such mechanisms as assimilation, that is, identification of an individual with an object or subject, and intellectual analysis (we are talking about reflection).

Relationship Category

Self-consciousness in psychology is a combination of attitudes toward oneself and others and expectations of how other people will treat a person (projective mechanisms).

In this regard, the relationship is divided into the types:

1. Ego-centric - the individual puts himself in the center and believes that it is the self-worth. If people do what they want, then they are good.
2. Group-centered are relations in the reference group. When you're on our team, you're good.
3. Prosocial - in such respects respects and acceptance of each other reign supreme, since any person is considered to be an intrinsic value. Do what you want in return.
4. Estocholic - this is the level of spiritual relations, where such noble traits as charity, honesty, justice, love of God, neighbor are welcomed.

Pathological forms of the phenomenon

In pathological manifestations, self-consciousness is prone to defeat in the first place, after it comes the ordinary consciousness.

Consider what are the disorders:

• The process of depersonalization is characterized by the loss of one's own "I". In this case, a person perceives external events and takes place inside as an outsider, not an active subject.
• The process of splitting the basis of personality. This is dissociation. The core is divided into two, sometimes three or more began, having alien properties that can conflict with each other. A case known to science, when 24 (!) People got along in one person, who had their memories, interests, motives, temperament, values and even voice. Each of these principles claimed that it was true, and others simply did not exist.
• There are violations of the identification of one's own body. Its parts people can perceive as strangers, separate.
• The most pathological form is derealization. A person loses contact with reality, begins to doubt the existence of not only himself, but also the entire external environment. Very serious violation of personality.

Conclusion

The concept described in the article is important for understanding the various processes of human life. Self-awareness has to do with many aspects of the personality, is characterized by various manifestations, can be found both in the norm and in the pathological state. Different scientists distinguish their components, structure, levels and stages. This phenomenon is a superstructure over the human psyche, consciousness and depends on the surrounding individuals of the people influencing it. Self-consciousness has its own characteristics of development and formation in ontogenesis. Although this area has already been studied enough, but still many things are hidden and waiting for research.