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Nature of the psyche (development of the psyche in phylogenesis)
Psyche (Greek psychikos — spiritual) is a product of the functioning of highly
organized matter (brain), manifested in a subjective reflection of objective reality.
Explaining its nature, domestic psychology proceeds from the law discovered by
Charles Darwin. Its essence lies in the fact that the evolution of living beings and the
emergence of man as a result was carried out on the basis of the variability of all
living things, as well as heredity, which consolidates and retains acquired
characteristics through natural selection. In this case, we are talking about the
formation and development of the psyche in phylogenesis — from the appearance of
the simplest organisms to the current state of the human nervous system.
The phylogenetic development of the psyche in Russian psychology is
considered at two levels: physiological and elementary mental.
At the level of physiological development, several stages are distinguished in
the evolution of the psyche.
First stage. At the very beginning of life emerging on earth, two main forms of
variability emerged in the interaction of elementary organisms (prototypes of nerve
cells) with the environment. They already determined the division of unicellular
organisms into two independent branches: those realized in plants and in the animal
world. This division is based on the form of physiological reflection of the
environment inherent in the simplest organism — irritability, which is a change in the
physiological state of the body under the influence of external influences (thermal,
light, chemical, etc.), called irritants.
Second phase. Subsequently, irritability began to cause adaptive processes that
balanced the state of the body with the environment. If plants settled on the
physiological form of reflection, which consists in changing the chemical
composition and physical state, then in the animal world the processes of
improvement continued. They develop a new type of irritability — sensitivity — as
the body’s general ability to sense and react defensively to the action of a stimulus. It
is with its appearance that the evolution of the mental reflection of the surrounding
world begins.
Third stage. Within its limits, sensations appear — the reflection by a nerve
cell of specific temperature, light, chemical, etc. characteristics, objects and
phenomena of the objective world affecting it.
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Fourth stage. The subsequent unification of nervous sensations into a system
led to the formation of a qualitatively new type of physiological reflection of
objective reality — perception, which is a combination of various types of sensations
in a single subjective image of external objects and phenomena affecting the body.
Further unification of nerve cells led to the formation of the brain tube in the
body, and subsequently the spinal cord and brain. It was already a perfect organ,
which allowed, along with the physiological, a mental (subjective) reflection of the
world to appear.
The formation of the elementary mental level of phylogenetic development of
the psyche can also be considered within the framework of several independent
stages.
First stage. Within its limits, the simplest mental reactions of the organism of
the animal world arise, called reflexes — a natural response of the body to the action
of a certain stimulus. As was experimentally identified and proven by I.M. Sechenov,
all acts of conscious and unconscious life are reflexes in the manner of their origin.
At the same time, they begin with sensory excitement, continue with a certain mental
act and end with muscle movement.
Second phase. The formation of monotonous reflexive actions to specific
influences of external or internal stimuli occurs. I.P. Pavlov established that the basis
of the nervous activity of a living organism is a reflex, which represents not only a
physiological, but also a mental phenomenon at the same time. At the same time, he
called the constant connection of an external stimulus with the corresponding reaction
of a living organism to it an unconditioned reflex, and a temporary connection a
conditioned reflex.
Third stage. Unconditioned reflexes are fixed in the body and are inherited,
which led to the formation of instincts — a set of innate components of mental
activity of humans and animals (unconditioned reflexes), manifested in their behavior
and ensuring their existence. The formation of instincts at first was determined by
biological needs (nutrition, procreation, etc.), and subsequently improved and
acquired new content — indicative, protective, search. But it should be noted that
unconditioned reflexes and instincts ensure the interaction of the body only with a
stable environment. In a changing environment, unconditional connections alone are
not enough. This gap is filled by the mechanisms of conditioned reflexes.
The formation of conditioned reflexes is a more complex process in the
functioning of the nervous system. They have become the basis for the adaptation of
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a living organism to a changeable, mobile, diverse environment and can be developed
in response to signals associated with an unconditioned stimulus, but through the
second, third, etc. stimuli.
Fourth stage. The subsequent development of the nervous system made it
possible to rely in reflexive behavior on a combination of various reactions to
simultaneously acting stimuli. The more an organism improves, the more easily
changing environmental conditions remove outdated instinctive forms of behavior
and form new, more perfect ones. The emergence of the ability to easily change
forms of behavior created a new type of mental activity called skill.
Analysis of the results of the presented phylogenetic development of the
psyche at the physiological and elementary mental level allows us to consider
generalized indicators of its evolution.
Evolution of the psyche
At the first stage, sensory (Latin sensus — sensation) processes were formed
and developed in animals. As a result, their motor system was improved. Gradually,
their ability to respond differentially to the influence of external and internal stimuli
was formed. At the same time, the senses (smell, vision, hearing, etc.) were
developed, making it possible to more accurately differentiate the effects of external
stimuli.
At the second stage, the development of perceptual (Latin perceptio —
perception) processes occurs, as a result of which the functioning of the psyche has
become more complex. There is a significant development and complication of
sensory processes, and their role in regulating behavior is also increasing. At the
same stage, the central parts of the nervous system are improved, allowing the
formation of connections between various sensory organs, an object-shaped reflection
of reality and the first emotions appear.
The next stage in the evolution of the psyche is characterized by the formation
of rational behavior
4
— such a form of behavior in which problem solving is carried
out on the basis of reflecting connections and deviations between objects and
phenomena of the objective world. In this case, the nervous system ensures the
4
A number of psychologists, within the framework of this stage, highlight the formation of intellectual actions
in animals. However, this cannot be considered legal. Intelligence (Latin intellectus — understanding, understanding)
from the point of view of psychology involves comprehending the essence of something that is not inherent in animals.
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regulation of the behavior of a living creature in the conditions in which it currently
finds itself. At the same time, it manifests itself in the ability to behave meaningfully
when obstacles arise on the way to achieving a goal. At the same time, it is noted that
these actions in animals are primitive in nature and are not a consequence of
knowledge of the objective laws of nature. In addition, they do not occupy a
dominant position in their behavior, are not transmitted from one animal to another,
and, therefore, cannot be considered a product of species development.
At the same stage, the physical and mental development of a person is carried
out as a result of activities specific to him, with the goal of ensuring his existence —
labor. As a result, his hands lose the functions of supporting movement and acquire
the first properties of touch (skin sensitivity), which help to recognize the features of
objects that are important for the labor process. This led to the emergence of the
ability to think, the formation of the need to communicate with other people. The
subsequent appearance of speech contributed to the development of abstract thinking,
and reflective activity begins to be of a conscious nature.
If an animal is capable only of rational behavior based on actually existing
conditions, then a person can plan these actions abstractly. Consequently, at the next
stage, a person developed a different, more advanced form of mental activity, called
consciousness. It represents the highest level of a person’s mental reflection of the
surrounding world, acting as a continuously changing set of sensory and mental
images and anticipating his practical activity. Consciousness exists in the form of the
unity of all forms of human cognition of the objective reality surrounding them, their
experiences and relationships to what they reflect. In addition, it allows a person to
recognize the general and special in the reality around them, relate to it in a certain
way, and solve non-standard (creative) tasks.
The consistent development and improvement of consciousness led to the
evolutionary formation of the next mental structure — self-consciousness. At its
core, it is a relatively stable, conscious and emotionally charged system of a person’s
representation of themself, on the basis of which they build their interaction with
other people. This is a holistic, although not without internal contradictions, image of
one’s own Self, acting as an attitude towards oneself. This is already a consequence
of a person’s social interaction, which is determined by their life experience. From
the point of view of the domestic self-concept, its components are the real self (the
idea of oneself in real time), the ideal self (what a person, in their opinion, should
become, focusing on the moral norms of society), the dynamic self (what they intend
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to become), fantastic self (what a person would like to become if this were possible),
etc. It is self-awareness that regulates the social behavior of people, which is today
the highest level of their activity.
Psyche, brain and body
The main physiological prerequisite for the formation and improvement of
human consciousness and self-awareness was the evolutionary development of
nervous system. Its primary element is the nerve cell. Together with its processes
(dendrites, axon and nerve endings), it represents a morphological unit called a
neuron. The main function of a neuron is the formation of excitation that spreads to
other nerve cells in the form of short-term electrical impulses. Those nerve cells that
directly perceive the action of the stimulus are called receptors.
The adult human nervous system has about 17 billion nerve cells that have the
same structure and general function. Uniting into certain groups, they form the
central, peripheral, bodily and autonomic nervous systems.
The central nervous system is the nerve cells that form the human brain and
spinal cord. It unites the body and subordinates it to a single governing body.
The brain plays the main role in controlling the body. Its functional
organization can be combined into three main blocks.
1. Energy block. Maintains the tone necessary for the normal functioning of the
nervous system. It is located in the upper parts of the brain stem.
2. Block for receiving, processing and storing information. It includes the
posterior sections of both hemispheres of the brain, as well as the parietal, occipital
and temporal sections of its cortex.
3. A block that provides programming, regulation and control of the activity of
the nervous system. Located in the frontal regions of the cerebral cortex.
In general, the brain is the central section of the nervous system of animals and
humans, providing the most advanced forms of regulation of all functions of the
body, its interaction with the environment, higher nervous activity, and in humans
also higher mental functions (consciousness and self-awareness). Its structural physiological components are:
- the cerebral cortex (cerebral cortex) is a layer of nerve cells (the so-called
“gray matter”) that covers them and plays an extremely important role in the imple-
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mentation of mental activity. It is 2–5 mm thick and consists of approximately 15
billion nerve cells. The cerebral cortex is divided into several sections: the frontal,
where complex connections are made that provide analysis and synthesis of what is
reflected in consciousness; parietal, where motor centers are located; occipital with
centers of vision; two temporal ones — with hearing centers. A significant part of the
cerebral cortex is occupied by cells associated with the activity of the hands,
especially the thumbs, as well as cells associated with the functions of the muscles of
the speech organs — lips and tongue. Thus, in the human cerebral cortex, those
organs that participate in his activity and communication are most represented;
- forebrain — the front part of the brain, consisting of the right and left hemispheres, and also including the telencephalon, which is one of its most important
parts, and the diencephalon, in which the thalamus and hypothalamus are located;
- midbrain — a section of the brain that lies under the cerebral hemispheres
and provides reflex regulation of muscle tone, posture, eye movements, etc.;
- hindbrain — the part of the brain in which the cerebellum is located, to which
the medulla oblongata is adjacent;
- cerebellum — the back part of the brain stem, providing coordination of
movements and posture, tone and balance of the body;
- the medulla oblongata acts as a connecting element between the brain and
spinal cord. It contains centers that control breathing, cardiac activity, the functioning
of the gastrointestinal tract and other internal organs.
The spinal cord contains nerve fibers from all organs and tissues. It seems to
unite the body into a single whole and subordinate it to the brain. At the same time,
the spinal cord is a channel through which the brain receives information from
receptors about the actions of external and internal stimuli, and also controls the
functioning of the human body as an integral system.
The human brain is the crown of evolution, on which nature has worked for
millions of years, the material apparatus of our mental activity is the most complex
and perfect creation, the central control panel for all the vital functions of the body.
The peripheral nervous system includes nerve cells connecting the spinal
cord and brain with nerve endings (receptors) in the periphery of the body (eyes,
arms, legs, etc.). It consists of nerve fibers (nerves), nerve ganglia and plexuses,
sensory nerve endings connecting receptors to the spinal cord and brain. 12 pairs of
nerves depart directly from the brain (facial, auditory, visual, etc.) and are called
cranial. In addition, the peripheral nervous system is served by 31 pairs of spinal
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nerves. Their main functions are to transmit the action of stimuli to the central
nervous system and the body’s responses to them. Each peripheral nerve includes
sensory nerve fibers consisting of nerve cell processes.
The central and peripheral nervous systems are united by the so-called bodily
(somatic) nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system regulates the interconnected functioning of
human internal organs and plays an important role in emotional reactions. It consists
of the parasympathetic and sympathetic systems, the first of which has a depressing
effect on the body, the second stimulates its work.
The product of the functioning of the nervous system is the psyche, which is
information dynamically reflected in the human consciousness about the objective
and subjective reality surrounding him. At the same time, the product of the
functioning of the psyche itself are phenomena called human psychology.
The work of the nervous system, which ensures the connection of the body
with its environment, is called higher nervous activity, and the work that connects
the organs into a single system of the body is called lower nervous activity. It is
based on the processes of excitation (bioelectric reaction of a nerve cell to irritation,
ensuring the formation of connections with other cells) and inhibition (destruction of
connections with other cells due to the disappearance of irritation).
The orienting activity of the human brain based on the processes of excitation
and inhibition, which forms unconditioned and conditioned reflexes, constitutes the
first signaling system. Through it, reactions to direct stimuli and their simple signals
are carried out. The first signaling system underlies the behavior of animals and
humans adapting to a specific environment.
However, a person reacts in a certain way not only to direct stimuli. For him,
the specific content embedded in the word also became an irritant. It is not only
associated with a separate phenomenon, but also expresses a concept that always
denotes a class of phenomena and objects. A system that ensures the activation of one
or another group of foci of excitation or inhibition in response to specific content
embedded in a word is called the second signaling system, which is connected with
the first and works on its basis. However, its originality, which ensures its effect on
verbal stimuli, makes it unique to humans. While an animal can only signal to its
fellows about danger, a person has the ability, using language, to inform other people
about the past, present and future, to convey to them social experience, or to perform
any other activity.
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Structure and basic (higher) functions of the psyche
The structure of the psyche (Latin structura — mutual arrangement,
structure) is a set of stable connections between many of its components, ensuring the
integrity of its functioning. In this regard, it is understood as a system that is
indecomposable into individual elements and is steadily reproduced in the course of
continuously changing (occurring in time) mental processes (for example, sensations,
perception, etc.).
In Russian psychology, the presence of several levels of mental structures
connected by hierarchical (subordinate) relationships is recognized. Their list
highlights mental cognitive and emotional-volitional processes5, mental formations
and mental properties. In the structure of the psyche, they function in a complex
manner, but each of them, being a relatively independent element, solves the
problems of mental activity inherent only to it. Thus, mental processes (sensations,
perceptions, ideas, etc.) provide a direct reflection of the properties and qualities of
the external environment in the human mind. Mental formations (knowledge, skills,
abilities, etc.) predetermine the volume and quality of the impact (activity) of the
person himself on the world around him. Mental properties (direction, character,
temperament, etc.) determine a person’s behavior, primarily how he will act in a
particular life situation.
At the heart of the formation and subsequent development of each of the
structural elements of the human psyche are mental functions, which are complex,
socially conditioned systemic mental phenomena that develop during life. They were
studied and substantiated by L.S. Vygotsky and subsequently developed by
A.R. Luria and other domestic psychologists. The basis of modern ideas about the
functions of the psyche as conscious forms of mental activity are scientific provisions
about the socio-historical origin of the human psyche and the leading role of activity
in the formation of his consciousness.
It is recognized that human mental functions have great plasticity and
interchangeability of their components. Their formation is characterized by the fact
that initially they exist as a form of interaction between people and only later as a
completely internal process. This transformation is called interiorization (Latin
interior — internal). At its core, this is the process of forming the internal structures
5
In a number of educational publications, cognitive and emotional-volitional processes are considered as inde-
pendent structural components of the psyche.
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of the human psyche, thanks to the assimilation of the structures of external social
activity. In other words, the function of interiorization can be understood as the
transformation of the structure of external (objective) activity into the structure of the
internal plane of consciousness.
At the first stages of the formation of the considered higher mental function, it
represents a detailed form of objective activity and is based on relatively simple
sensory (sensitive) and motor (motor) processes. Subsequently, these actions seem to
“curl up”, becoming a kind of automated mental actions. This phenomenon in
psychology is revealed through the second of the highest functions of the psyche,
designated by the concept of automation. In this case, human activity can be
considered as controlled by the subconscious.
At the first stages of their formation, the considered basic mental functions
represent a detailed form of objective activity, based on relatively elementary sensory
and motor processes. Then this activity “collapses”, acquiring the character of
automated mental actions. At the same time, their psychological structure changes.
The psychophysiological basis of the main functions of the psyche are complex
functional systems, including a large number of afferent (Latin afferens — bringing)
and efferent (executive) links. Some of them are rigidly attached to certain brain
structures, while the other part has high plasticity and can replace each other. This is
the basis of the mechanism for restructuring the functional system as a whole.
Consequently, each of the mental functions is associated with the work of more than
just one part of the human brain. It is the result of its systemic functioning as a whole,
in which various brain structures take appropriate differentiated participation. This is
what ensures the regulation of behavior and activity.
Mentality, behavior and activity
Behavior is considered as a goal-oriented activity of the organism (psyche) in
the interests of making contact with the outside world. It is based on needs, over
which executive actions aimed at satisfying them are built. The list of forms of
behavior is due to the complication of environmental conditions, in particular the
transition of a person from a simple objective to a more complex social environment.
However, already at relatively early stages of phylogenetic development of the
psyche, a mental reality arises that requires indicative and exploratory behavior. Its
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main task was to survey the surrounding world and form a certain image of the
situation in order to regulate motor behavior in accordance with the conditions for
solving the task at hand. However, if the only characteristic of an animal is that they
are able to focus only on directly perceived features of the environment, then a
person, due to the development of collective work, can be based on symbolic forms
of representing objective relationships. In this case, their behavior takes on a unique
form, denoted by the concept of activity.
Psychological analysis shows that every human activity is not only an
adaptation to nature. To make a tool, even the most primitive one, means to know
certain patterns of objectively existing material reality. And not only to know, but
also to consciously influence it. It is also extremely important that a person foresees
the result of the activity being performed and, on the basis of this, controls their
actions. Consequently, we are talking about the conscious component of person’s
psyche, formed in the process of their life.
For a more complete understanding of this phenomenon, it is necessary to take
into account that in ontogenesis a person goes through several stages of development,
each of which reflects a certain type of activity. It's a game when you're a child. A
little later — study. And finally, professional activity. All these types of human
activities take place against the background of his conscious interaction with the
environment, therefore, they include the corresponding structural components. Their
list includes: motives that motivate people to activity; goals as its predicted results;
operations (local actions) with the help of which activities are implemented.
This is an evolutionary characteristic of the human psyche. At present, it
represents the highest level of subjective reflection of objective reality, the basis of
which is mental processes.
1.2. MENTAL PROCESSES AS THE BASIS OF FUNCTIONING
HUMAN MENTAL SPHERE
Cognitive activity is a necessary component of a person’s life, a condition for
their formation and development as an individual performing a specific type of
professional and other activity, playing a certain role in society and the team. It is
based on mental processes — sensation, perception, representation, imagination,
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