Need as the main and driving force of human behavior. Classification of needs

Answer from Viable[master]
The man is aware of his needs!
Since man is a social animal, he also has special needs, Related social status and role in society.
And in all other respects, all needs are the same, since a person is also a kind of animal!

Answer from oversleep[guru]
The needs of animals are much more modest

Answer from IONA[guru]
The needs of animals are focused on self-preservation, and in addition to this, a person has invented a bunch of whims and desires for himself.

Answer from Anatoly wolf[active]
Well, not all of them are different.

Answer from Mike Corleone[expert]
In essence, we are all the same.

Answer from Antonio[expert]
our needs are basically based on "he has and I want too", and in animals on the survival instinct!!

Answer from Yury Baranov[guru]
The fact that in addition to animal needs, we will invent a bunch of human ones.
And animal needs do not know how to invent.

Answer from Anastasia Dementieva[newbie]
we are all souls

Answer from Andrey Maryshev[active]
Animals have only primary biological and existential needs, i.e. they need food, water, and they also need protection.
A person, in addition to primary needs, has acquired social, prestigious and spiritual needs, i.e., needs for communication, for being noticed, etc.

Need is a physical need experienced by an animal organism for something.

animal organism- an open system dependent on the environment. In the process of life, energy, plastic material, water, minerals and vitamins are consumed. The source of energy and various vital substances is the habitat of the animal. It is need that activates the behavior of the animal in search of what is necessary to stabilize homeostasis. Behavior in this situation acts as a tool to eliminate the need. The emergence of needs is a reflection of changes in physical and chemical homeostasis actually developing in the animal body.

The needs of animals are conditionally divided into two groups: vital (biological) and zoosocial.

vital needs aimed at maintaining and maintaining the integrity of the individual. These include metabolic needs (need for oxygen, nutrients, water, as well as the need for defecation, urination, movement), the need for rest and sleep, the need for self-preservation (care for the body, defensive actions, seeking comfort), the need for constant and varied sensory afferentation. In addition, the animal's need for living space (reflex of freedom, according to I. P. Pavlov) and the need for novelty of the environment (orienting research activity) are distinguished.

In any individual of a population or species, the biological need has quite specific outlines. The most devastating consequences for the body of dissatisfaction of needs are associated with metabolic need. So, without oxygen, an animal organism (at least aerobes) can exist for only a few minutes. Without water for several days. Without food - several weeks.

Animals periodically need to empty the rectum and Bladder. In fish, most birds and mammals that consume large amounts of plant food (ruminants, horses, rodents, etc.), defecation and urination are carried out unconditionally reflex. In animals such as dogs, cats, pigs, these physiological processes important for maintaining homeostasis are controlled by the cerebral cortex, that is, they are of an arbitrary nature.

stands apart need for rest and sleep. This need can be legitimately attributed to the needs of the metabolic type. But due to its specificity and great biological significance, this need can be distinguished into a special category. Regular sleep is necessary for all animals without exception. Sleep deprivation leads to a complex of painful phenomena, including metabolic pathologies. Therefore, the need for animals to sleep is at least 8 hours a day. In some species and age groups of animals, the need for sleep reaches 20-22 hours a day (sloth, dormice, old cats, newborns).

Need for a constant afferent flow researchers regard it as a biological need based on the results of experiments performed on animals and humans. Even I.P. Pavlov pointed out that in dogs in a soundproof chamber (deprivation of acoustic afferentation) nervous breakdowns and metabolic disorders. Monotonous sound stimulation improves the condition of the animal for a while. Sounds presented to the animal not rhythmically, but in a random order, are more effective than monotonous sound stimuli. Monocular and contour visual deprivation of kittens during critical periods of their development led to the fact that the ability of the animals to overcome obstacles, jump, and perform other complex locomotions was subsequently impaired.

In human experiments, the researchers created more rigid insulation. Volunteers in special equipment, resembling an astronaut's spacesuit, was immersed in a liquid with special properties. Under the conditions of the experiment, a person was deprived of visual, sound, olfactory, gustatory and even tactile stimuli. Deprivation of afferentation very quickly led to the development of mental anomalies (visual, auditory hallucinations) and dysfunction of the vegetative organs.

Sensory afferentation is of particular importance for the formation of the psyche of animals at the initial stages of ontogenesis. And in different periods During their development, young animals have different sensitivity to stimuli of different modality. For example, the immobilization of chicken embryos with muscle relaxants in the early stages of egg incubation leads to irreversible consequences in the psychomotor sphere of chickens after hatching. Isolation of puppies during the sensitive period of socialization (from 3rd to 10th week of life) disrupts the process of socialization at a later age. Such dogs have problems communicating with their own kind and with humans.

The role of visual afferentation in the formation of the psyche was experimentally proved by the experiments of S. Blakemore and G. F. Cooper. From the age of two weeks, kittens were placed daily for 5 hours in a special arena, in which the walls were painted with either vertical or horizontal black and white lines.

At the age of 5 months, the kittens were placed in a regular arena, to which, after a detailed study of the new environment, they quickly adapted. However, the animals forever left a trace of the influence of the environment in which they were kept during the sensitive period. Their play behavior was impaired. Some kittens reacted only to swinging horizontal sticks, while others, on the contrary, did not pay any attention to horizontal sticks, but actively played with vertical moving sticks. If the orientation of the wand was changed during the game, the kittens stopped manipulating the object and behaved as if the wand was not in the playpen at all.

Later it was found that afferentation in the sensitive period of development plays decisive role in the development of functional activation of the cerebral cortex of kittens. After the kittens' eyes open, the afferent flow from the light-sensitive elements of the retina begins to activate neurons in a part of the cortex called the visual cortex. Moreover, under the experimental conditions, vertical and horizontal lines on the arena wall activated different neurons in the visual cortex of the kittens. In the case when certain lines were not presented to kittens, the neurons responsible for their perception remained functionally underdeveloped (the kittens did not see these lines). In kittens raised in a normal environment (rich in visual stimuli), there are neurons in the cortex that perceive lines of various orientations.

In kittens from the experimental groups, the reception of vertical and horizontal lines was irrevocably impaired. For example, kittens of the "horizontal" group perceived only horizontal sticks with a deviation of no more than 20°. When the stick deviated to a larger angle from the horizontal axis, the kitten stopped noticing it. Consequently, the richness of the habitat through its visual perception has a huge impact on the development of the psyche and behavior of the animal.

In more cruel experiments, kittens were kept in total darkness around the clock for long periods of time. As a result, in the adult state, such animals generally remained blind due to morphofunctional underdevelopment of various components of the visual analyzer.

Thus, there is experimental evidence of the presence in animals and humans of the phenomenon, which is conventionally called sensory hunger. Deafferentation of an animal, partial or total, temporary or permanent, contains a very real threat of structural or functional damage to the body. Therefore, the assignment of the need of the animal organism for sensory afferentation to the group of vital needs is quite justified.

Of great importance for understanding the causes of animal behavior is the analysis of their needs for living space and the novelty of the living environment. The deprivation of living space or the monotony of the environment is tolerated by animals in different ways. Some animal species predisposed to domestication adapt to the limitation of living space and the monotony of the habitat, i.e., the needs of an animal for living space and novelty are not as tragic in their consequences as metabolic needs. Thanks to this biological feature of some animal species, modern cattle, a domestic horse, a pig, a variety of breeds of sheep, dogs and cats appeared in the environment of man. However, even among domesticated animals there is a pronounced need for the novelty of the situation. Experiments on laboratory rats have shown that if rat pups in the critical period of development (from the 21st day of life) are kept isolated in a cage and fed with food of the same physical form (powder), then adulthood animals do not behave appropriately in a new environment for them. They show an unreasonable fear of everything new, including a new physical form feed (granules instead of powder), familiar to them from previous experience, i.e., the mechanism of behavioral adaptation to the environment is disturbed in animals.

Needs of self-preservation include a complex of phenomena. Here we can single out the need for self-defense from enemies, the need for grooming (care for own body), the need for comfortable conditions (avoidance of a damp and cold place, arrangement of a place to rest).

Most wild animals, after being caught and subsequently kept in conditions of limited living space, die as a result of developing secondary diseases due to dissatisfaction with the needs for living space and the novelty of the situation. The biological significance of these needs is due to the need for wild animals to expand their habitat in order to provide food resources, protect against adverse natural and climatic phenomena, avoid predators and meet zoosocial needs.

zoosocial needs, as well as vital ones, develop as a result of a pronounced change in the internal equilibrium state of the animal organism. The material basis for their occurrence are two factors: a change in the excitability (electrical state) of certain groups of neurons (nerve centers) and a change in the hormonal status of the body. Needs of this type can be conditionally divided into three groups: the need to be surrounded by representatives of one's own species (population), i.e., to be a member of a group; the need to exhibit species-typical behavioral actions; need to occupy a certain hierarchical position in the group. Zoosocial needs provide stabilization internal state individual member of the group and stabilize the group as a whole. In ethological terms, zoosocial needs act as the physiological basis for such manifestations of animal life as sexual and parental behavior, play behavior, migration, self-preservation reactions, and adaptation to adverse natural and climatic conditions of life.

Needs such as the need for nutrients (hunger), water (thirst), rest (muscle fatigue) are well described. quantitative indicators. Consequently, the need as an objectively existing reality has its own modality and threshold characteristics.

Hunger in monogastric animals is felt when the concentration of glucose in the blood drops below 80 mg%. Thirst occurs when an animal loses more than 5% of its body weight due to water. The need for rest (cessation of muscular work) occurs when lactic acid, pyruvate accumulate in the blood, blood pH drops to 7.0. Specialists in sports medicine propose to evaluate the athlete's ultimate fatigue using a number of biochemical indices, such as: lactate: NEFA ratio = 1.5-3.0; the ratio of pyruvate: NEFA = 3-10; the ratio of lactate: ketone bodies = 5-20.

The threshold of anaerobic metabolism is the concentration of lactic acid in the blood of about 4 mmol / l.

However, with muscle fatigue, the concentration of lactic acid in the blood can briefly exceed 20 mmol / l. This level of lactate in the blood and a decrease in blood pH to 7.0 coincide with an irresistible desire to stop working, i.e., predetermine the body's need for rest.

Changes in homeostatic balance are received by various sensitive nerve endings. As a result, the nerve centers of the hypothalamus come into a state of strong excitation, which, through synaptic connections, activate the structures of the limbic system. In the format of the individual, the need is expressed by the formula "I want". I want to drink, sleep, eat, etc., i.e. I want to change the state that has arisen, because it is unpleasant. The need is always accompanied by unpleasant sensations (thirst, hunger, overflow of the bladder, damp and cold place). Satisfaction of needs leads to a pleasant sensation (satisfaction of thirst, satiety, reduction of pressure on the walls of the bladder and rectum, orgasm during sexual intercourse). The result of satisfying a need may be a simple relief from an unpleasant sensation (cessation of pain, avoidance of rain and snow in shelter, avoidance of a threatening factor).

The assessment of the degree of trouble from the need that has arisen is individual, that is, the significance of the need is assessed by the nervous system. At the same time, the developing state of the animal organism no longer fits into the framework of the concept of "need" only with a biochemical or physical context. Other terms are used to designate it, for example, "motivation of behavior", "motivational state" or simply "motivation", focusing on its purely nervous content.

Determinants of needs. Needs represent the foundation on which everything and all human mental activity is built. In the process of evolution, the improvement and development of living beings takes place. This process is difficult to explain only by adaptation to changes in the environment. "Balance with the environment" ensures only the self-preservation of the individual and the species. It is a necessary condition for development, but not its guiding tendency.

Undoubtedly, there is an independent process of evolution, which is expressed in the growth and complication of the central organism and in the development of its habitat on spatio-temporal scales. Needs are the driving force behind this process. Their dynamics, transformation and determine the direction of development of living beings.

Activity is due to the presence of needs. Need- this is a concept that denotes the determinants of the mental state of an individual, reflecting his need for objects necessary for his existence and development, and acting as a source of his activity.

The actualization of any need is associated with the occurrence of certain changes in the internal environment of the body. It is known that the emergence of the need for food most often occurs due to a lack of glucose. First of all, the body reacts to glucose deficiency by turning on the homeostatic mechanism of self-regulation, which compensates for the violation at the expense of its reserves. In the event of hunger, adrenaline and glucagon are released into the bloodstream, which convert glycogen into glucose. The released glucose enters the bloodstream to organs and tissues. However, if the lack of glucose in the blood cannot be compensated for by the body's internal reserves, then "eating behavior" occurs.

For such behavior to occur, it is necessary that the deviation of the constants of the internal medium reach certain threshold values. Those deviations in the internal environment that reach or exceed the search initiation threshold eating behavior, called nutritional (biological) need. Deviations in the internal environment, which are compensated with the help of homeostatic control mechanisms, cannot be called a biological need. That is biological need- this is the physiological need of the body, which reaches a certain threshold value and which the body eliminates through behavior.

Classification of needs. A person has three groups of primary needs: vital, social and ideal needs of knowledge and. In animals, they correspond to similar three groups of needs, which are realized in the corresponding forms of innate behavior.

biological needs animals aimed at preserving the integrity of the individual and the species (vital function). They determine the food, defensive behavior.

zoosocial needs animals are realized through interaction with other individuals of their species during sexual, parental, territorial behavior.

Ideal Needs animals create the basis for the self-development of the individual. These include the need for novelty, obtaining new information, which is realized in orienting-exploratory behavior. To this group, P.V. Simonov also includes need to overcome , the basis of which is the specific freedom discovered by I.P. Pavlov and named by him. In particular, it manifests itself in the resistance of the animal to attempts to limit its motor activity. Some researchers also distinguish in animals a specific need for competence – in aspiration and without a special one and the same actions, which leads to the improvement of motor skills. This need is realized in imitative and playful behavior.

In man in the norm there are no implementations of pure biological needs because their satisfaction is always mediated by the influence of the social environment.

Human social needs include the desire to belong to a certain social group and occupy a certain place in it in accordance with the subject's subjective ideas about the hierarchy of this group. Among the social needs, the need of a person to follow the behavioral, moral, aesthetic standards adopted in the society to which he belongs should be highlighted. Without this social need, the existence of social communities would be impossible. It is believed that social needs, arising in communication, are formed independently of the vital ones. The first signs of a child's socialization (his positive reaction to communication with an adult - the appearance of a smile, movements) arise as a result of satisfying the need for attachment. In this case, the child usually becomes attached to the person who communicates with him more, even if he is fed by another.

To the ideal human needs relates to his need for knowledge of the world around him and his place in it, knowledge of the meaning and purpose of his existence. It is based on the need for new information, which already in animals reveals itself in orienting-exploratory behavior.

There are two groups of determinants of orienting-exploratory behavior. On the one hand, this is a deficiency of activation in the body, which prompts the search for stimuli that can change its activity. This property is possessed by stimuli characterized by novelty, complexity, change, and uncertainty. On the other hand, research activity is motivated by the lack, uncertainty of the information received. A person can hardly tolerate uncertainty, mystery. To remedy this condition, there is special form orienting-research activity in the form of directed curiosity. Its purpose is to obtain missing, clarifying information and thereby reduce uncertainty.

Speaking about the development of higher needs, A.N. Leontiev notes that a person opens new opportunity: to break the connection between the formation of needs and the "need states of the body". These include the highest human needs, which arise due to the shift of the need for the content of the activity. These are functional needs that are distinct from biological functional needs, in particular, such as the need for or expenditure of muscle power. New types of needs - "subject-functional" - include the need for labor, artistic creativity.

In each of the three groups of needs (vital, social, ideal), P.V. Simonov proposes to distinguish between the needs of conservation and development. The differentiating feature of these needs is their relation to the socio-historical norm of satisfaction. The needs of conservation are met within the limits of the norms, the needs of development exceed them. Thus, the ideal need for preservation is satisfied by mastering the level of knowledge achieved to date, the need for development encourages one to strive for the unknown, previously unknown to anyone.

Needs and upbringing. Your idea of ​​the rules public life a person forms on the basis of the need to follow certain standards of behavior. At the same time, an important role in the child's assimilation of the norms of behavior belongs to his desire to imitate the behavior of an adult. Therefore, in the formation of the ethical, ideological, moral principles of the child, a huge role belongs to personal example. The child aspires to adults and thereby practically learns the principles that guide them, and not the rules of behavior that they try to instill in him, referring to his consciousness. Particularly detrimental to education young man discrepancy between a personal example and a declaration of highly moral norms of behavior, which leads to the formation of cynicism.

Of particular importance for a person's desire for competence, his need for weapons. Only on the basis of this need a high level of professionalism and skill is formed. Satisfying this need generates joy about one's skill. Due to these positive, even the most routine activity becomes attractive. At school, the joy of learning, learning new things must be constantly supplemented by the joy of being able and able. This makes teaching successful and interesting. Satisfying the need for competence has a positive effect on the formation of a person's character. High level competence makes him balanced, confident, calm, independent, independent.

Early childhood is of great importance for the development and upbringing of the child. Many traits of behavior are laid during this period. This phenomenon is associated with the existence of periods with increased sensitivity (critical periods) at the early stages of ontogeny. There are many critical periods in functional development. The concept of the critical period was introduced by analogy with the period of the best manifestation of imprinting. Features of influence external environment, the state of the body during the critical period leaves an indelible mark on the entire future fate of the individual.

Studies have shown that if during a critical period there was a deprivation of any needs, for example, sensory deprivation, then defects develop that are not compensated. sensory deprivation - prolonged, more or less complete deprivation of a person's sensory impressions. Under conditions of sensory deprivation, a person actualizes the need for sensations and affective experiences, which is realized in the form of sensory and emotional hunger. Sensory deprivation at an early age leads to a violation of the integrative functions of the brain, to a deterioration in learning.

If, during the critical period of ontogeny, an individual is subjected not to deprivation, but, on the contrary, to increased influences, then the ability to withstand not only negative influences, but also many other stressors develops, that is, a rather strong resistance to stress develops.

The critical period in the early stages of ontogenesis has importance and for primary socialization. Socialization - the process and result of the assimilation and active reproduction of the social by the individual, carried out in communication and activity. Children between the ages of 5 and 12 months are characterized by an increase in fear of strangers, which suggests that in humans, the period of primary socialization ends at the age of about 5 months.

Thus, the presence of periods of increased sensitivity is characteristic of a person. The duration of critical periods in a person can vary from several months to several years. Periods of increased sensitivity are important both for the formation of individual characteristics, abilities, and the needs of the individual.

"How is a person different from an animal?" - the eternal question that occupies the minds of both scientists and ordinary people. And this continues, apparently, as long as there is light. Someone who behaves inappropriately can be called an animal - as if it degrades human dignity. And cats, dogs and other pets are credited with quite human character traits and even their resemblance to their owners is found. This idea is fixed in a sign: pets look like their owners. Is the difference between homo sapiens and those whom we used to call smaller brothers really so great?

Differences between man and animal

From a biological point of view, both a person and a single-celled bacterium are twin brothers, since both are organisms. But man is an incommensurably more complex mechanism, which, in addition to biological qualities, has also acquired pronounced physical, social, spiritual and many others. Scientists describe the differences between animals and people in different ways, but in general they can be reduced to five points:

1. Man has speech and thought.
2. He is capable of conscious creativity.
3. It transforms reality and creates the material and spiritual values ​​necessary for life, that is, it creates culture.
4. Makes and uses tools.
5. In addition to biological, it also satisfies spiritual needs.

However, scientists are ready to argue with at least three of these points.

There are fewer differences between humans and animals than scientists thought

Item #1: Thinking and Speech

It is generally accepted that only a person is able to think in the forms of judgment, reasoning and inference. In addition, his consciousness can perform various operations with information: analyze, synthesize, compare, abstract, concretize and generalize. Among animals, the ability to think was previously found only in monkeys, and then exclusively in humanoids, and not in all, but only in some species.

The ability to speak was also attributed exclusively to humans. Among the arguments in favor of this statement were the ability to transmit and perceive information, as well as the use of various methods such as letters or music. Today's science looks at the question softer, and there are reasons for this, confirmed by experiments.

In 2013, Finnish scientists published the results of a study conducted on dogs. During the experiment, the animals were shown photographs of different people: familiar and unfamiliar to eared participants. The researchers monitored the dogs' eye movements and brain activity. It turned out that the watchdogs held their eyes when they saw familiar faces, and their brains were working more actively at that time. Before the experiment, science was of the opinion that only humans and primates had the ability to recognize from photographs.

In 2013, a joint team of researchers from America and Japan announced that cats recognize the voices of their owners. The experiment was carried out on 20 purrs, and 15 of them - that is, 75% - went to the call of the owner, having heard his voice from another room. The remaining 5% of the "participants" did not move, but clearly reacted to the sound. Appeals of strangers were ignored by the animals.

In 2014, scientists from the UK obtained interesting results during an experiment on the perception of speech in dogs. It turned out that close friends of a person understand speech and recognize emotions. The researchers figured this out by analyzing the head movements of the dogs. Thus, when listening to phrases uttered without emotion, the animals turned their heads to the right side, and to phrases spoken indistinctly, but emotionally, to the left.

Scientists proceeded from the premise that information processed in one of the hemispheres is perceived as heard by the opposite ear. That is, the phrase that the animal perceives with the left ear is processed by the right hemisphere, and vice versa. According to the results, it turned out that the distribution of the functions of the cerebral hemispheres in dogs almost completely corresponds to that in humans: the right one processes information related to emotions, and the left one is responsible for analytical thinking.

The language of dolphins deserves special attention. It has been studied for a very long time and intently. Scientists have found that these animals communicate a lot with each other and use about 190 different signals for this, mainly whistles, clicks, buzzes, squeaks, etc. And this is not counting the so-called sign language - like people, dolphins transmit information from movement, body position and head position.

Moreover, the dolphin language has a syntax. This means that separate "words" or "phrases" that have their own meaning, animals can collect in various combinations and, thus, form new meanings. (By the way, the same property was recently discovered in the language of tits.) Dolphins live in families, and each of them has its own "dialect". And these animals are able to remember familiar “voices” for more than 20 years.

In addition to their language, dolphins have syntax and dialects.

It is known that bottlenose dolphins can learn the signals that a person gives them. In addition, both dolphins and cetaceans are able to imitate the sounds they hear. However, in 2014, scientists found that killer whales don't just repeat what they hear, they use what they learn to communicate. The researchers analyzed the speech of killer whales that lived in captivity and compared it with the language of the same animals that only lived in the dolphinarium, next to the bottlenose dolphins.

It turned out that cetaceans more often used sounds from the speech of dolphins, and one of the killer whales even mastered the signals learned by bottlenose dolphins from humans. Thus, killer whales were able to learn the language of another animal species and use it for communication. Which speaks not only of the communicative abilities of these animals, but also of highly developed thinking.

Item number 2: Making and using tools

It is generally accepted that only people are able to create tools for the production of material goods. Some higher animals can use natural materials like sticks and stones, but they themselves do not create tools. Scientists argue that this statement is not entirely true. Firstly, our smaller brothers are still able to transform natural tools so that they can be used to achieve their goals. And secondly, not only higher animals are capable of this, as was previously thought.

In 2011, British and New Zealand researchers discovered this ability in the New Caledonian raven. The birds had to extract pieces of meat from cylinders filled with water using "pebbles" made of metal and plastic. The crows chose "tools" that helped them raise the liquid level faster. Based on the results of the experiment, the researchers concluded that the birds are able to assess the mass and shape of the "pebbles", and also understand when attempts to get food are fruitless and it is time to stop them.

By the way, it is interesting that these skills were more pronounced in wild ravens than in those kept in captivity. Four years later, in 2015, scientists managed to capture on video another skill of the New Caledonian ravens. It turned out that these birds can bend twigs in the shape of a hook, so that they can then get food from cracks in the tree bark with them and stir up fallen leaves in search of something tasty.

New Caledonian ravens solve puzzles at the level of five-year-olds!

In 2012, similar skills were recorded in New Zealand parrots. To get the calcium necessary for the body, the birds took date stones or small pebbles in their beaks and rubbed them with mollusk shells that lay at the bottom of the cage, and licked the resulting powder. The birds lived in one of the British natural parks, and newcomers periodically got into their company. The old-timers even taught the newcomers this "art": they took a tool in their beak and showed how to handle it.

Even invertebrates, in particular octopuses, use tools. In 2009, scientists managed to shoot such scenes. Octopuses have adapted to use coconut shells as protection. It is interesting that the mollusks carry this “armor” from place to place, for which they have to do difficult manipulations. First, the octopus looks for a good shell (or two - this also happens).

To do this, he washes the find. Having found the right one, he places his body in it, and if there are two halves, he puts them one into the other. Climbing into the shell, he puts forward the tentacles and moves, sorting through them. Having reached the destination, the mollusk burrows into the sand and hides with a “shell”. And if necessary, it can climb into one half and cover the other.

In the same year, scientists were able to document how the fish used the tool. The Pacific fish Choerodon anchoago, to open the shell of a mollusk, used a stone, and not the first one that came across. She found a shell and went in search of suitable stone and, having found it, she began to beat it with the shell of an invertebrate until it opened. And, of course, the use of tools is characteristic of primates. So, chimpanzees not only use tools, but also adopt the most effective ways of using them from relatives.

Having received a tool, the monkeys learn how to use it effectively.

Bonobo monkeys use different tools for different tasks. When they were offered to get food from under the rubble, they used deer antlers to remove a layer of stones, loosened the soil with short branches, and dug with long ones. The female bonobo, who lived in the zoo, made a kind of spear to scare off annoying researchers: she removed knots and bark from a long stick, and then sharpened it with her teeth. At the same time, as scientists are sure, the animal borrowed the idea from zoo employees who used similar devices.

Capuchins not only use stones to crack nuts, but also analyze the effectiveness of their actions. These monkeys after each blow check how successful he was, and change tactics in order to achieve a result as soon as possible.

Item #3: Biological and Spiritual Needs

It is generally accepted that along with biological needs, a person also satisfies social and spiritual ones. This is opposed to the desire to satisfy only the biological in animals. But this is not entirely true either. Whether animals have spiritual needs is a difficult question. However, the fact that they are not limited to biological ones is no longer in doubt among scientists.

Thus, animals are certainly capable of experiencing what humans call emotions. Cats enjoy petting. In 2001, scientists discovered that lab rats enjoy being tickled. The animals even reacted to her with squeaks, a bit like laughter. True, it is impossible to hear this - the rats "laughed" at frequencies that are not perceived by the human ear.

It's been proven that dogs experience jealousy - and hence other emotions.

Scientists have also been able to experimentally prove that dogs experience jealousy. In 2014, researchers at the University of California tested 36 dogs. Each of them has three "competitors" - a soft toy, a bucket in the form of a pumpkin and an animated plastic dog. The owner had to “communicate” with the latter: stroke, talk, read books.

During the experiment, the dogs were angry and aggressive, almost a third of them - 30% - went out of their way to get the attention of the owner, and a quarter even snapped at the toy. The bucket was considered dangerous only by 1% of the experimental balls. Interestingly, despite the definitely artificial nature of the toy, the vast majority of dogs - 86% - sniffed it under the tail, as they do with relatives. Obviously, the bobbies mistook the "rivals" for real animals.

Perhaps the most revealing in this regard is the attitude towards sex. The reproductive instinct is the strongest, because it ensures the survival of the species. However, numerous studies confirm that animals indulge in carnal pleasures not only for procreation, but also for pleasure. So, for example, female bonobo monkeys and white-faced capuchins copulate with males not only during the period when they are ready for fertilization.

Dolphins also have sex for pleasure. The females of these mammals are able to bear and give birth to a baby only once every few years, but cases of closeness between individuals occur much more often. Homosexuality and contacts between individuals of different ages are also common among them, when one of them is not yet ready to perform a reproductive function. Cases of homosexuality are also found in the same bonobos, white-faced capuchins and brown bears.

Dolphins have sex for more than just procreation!

The example of dolphins is indicative in yet another way. Animals in captivity have been seen attempting to bond closely with members of other species. Scientists have noticed that dolphins can "offer" sex to their neighbors. Our smaller brothers also practice oral sex. Scientists have documented this behavior in the already mentioned brown bears, primates, goats, cheetahs, bats, lions, spotted hyenas and sheep.

Man VS animal: who will win?

As we see, animals are not yet able to create culture and create for their own pleasure. Or do we just not know about it? Science is developing, researchers are discovering more and more amazing details from the life of our neighbors on the planet. For example, the behavior of octopuses, fish, dolphins and cetaceans has long been a mystery. All because the technology did not allow to observe them in natural environment and just as the scientists wanted.

But time passes, technologies are improved, and now researchers can look into the most hidden corners of the universe. Even attach tiny cameras to bird tails, as happened with New Caledonian ravens. Three out of five myths about the difference between people and animals have already been dispelled. Who knows, maybe the revolutionary news that will smash the remaining two to smithereens will appear tomorrow? Who knows. And is it really that important?

Every year, scientists learn more about the mind of animals.

It is unlikely that any of us will be fundamentally better and more perfect. Man has mastered the nearest outer space - and at the same time is powerless in the face of a superbug that arose due to the thoughtless use of antibiotics by himself. People have come up with the most perfect weather stations - and continue to die from tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, although animals learn about the upcoming disaster much earlier and manage to escape. The most complex structure of human relations is still unable to compete with the ideal hierarchy built by bee colonies and anthills.

Man is just a part of the animal world. So, perhaps, the most reasonable would be to consider Homo sapiens as a component of natural diversity. Perfect, beautiful and deserving of existence and development - but no more than a blue whale or the smallest caterpillar deserve it. Because it is diversity that ensures stability and continuation of life on Earth. And plants, animals, and people aspire to this. The basic instinct has not yet been canceled.

A person has no innate reflex, a cat. would direct and determine the activity.

In the animal: each object appears only to those saints, a cat. capable of satisfying the needs of the animal. These saints are signal triggers. + imprinting mechanism.

The need of a person does not know that object. will satisfy her. And the animal knows from birth, this subject is genetically predetermined.

A person has a mechanism that allows you to get rid of any need - a personal mechanism.

A person has an unlimited set of needs, unlike an animal.

The principle of self-development of activity. Regulations on the role of contradictions in the system of activity. Hierarchy of needs. The concept of the leading motive, leading activity.

Asmolov.

Methodological ideas about the self-promotion of activities determined the general strategy for searching for specific psychological phenomena and mechanisms of this self-propulsion. A.N. Leontiev emphasized that the sources of both self-development and the preservation of the stability of activity should be found in it itself. To solve this problem, and thus answer the question of how a new activity is born, V.A. Petrovsky made an attempt to detect and experimentally investigate the excess activity that occurs in the course of the movement of activity, this kind of “driver” of activity. Based on the material of the analysis of the phenomenon of "disinterested risk", which manifests itself in a situation of danger, he showed that a person has a clearly non-adaptive in nature tendency - a tendency to act, as it were, contrary to adaptive urges above the threshold of internal and external situational necessity. The basis of the phenomenon of "disinterested risk", in particular, and the basis of the emergence of any new activity, is the source generated by the development of the activity itself - "supra-situational activity". Studies of the phenomenon of "disinterested risk" bring to the fore the idea of ​​a non-adaptive, non-pragmatic nature of the subject's activity, his self-development, and thus lay the foundation for a new problematic field of personality analysis.

One of the phenomena illustrating the existence of manifestations of supra-situational activity was demonstrated back in the 1940s. V.I.Asnin's experiments. In these studies, children aged 3 and 4 were asked to retrieve, for example, a chocolate bar from a table. A barrier was placed between them and this chocolate bar, for example, a line was drawn, that is, they were made so that they could not directly approach and get the desired thing. For example, a small stick was placed next to the child, with which you can get this chocolate bar. Children 3-4 years old by the method of "trial and error" after a while moved this chocolate to themselves. After that, they were satisfied that they had achieved the goal that had been set for them. Then the experience was reproduced already with children of 9 years old. A 9-year-old child, who, it would seem, should instantly solve this problem, suffers, walks from side to side, does not pay any attention to this convenient stick lying next to him, with which he can get a chocolate bar.

Then V.I. Asnin did the following: he explained to a four-year-old child that in no case should he tell his older friend how to get a chocolate bar, but at the same time he should be in the room. In other words, the situation is outwardly very similar, only in the room next to the nine-year-old there is a four-year-old child and the experience is repeated. A nine-year-old child again cannot solve the problem. Finally, a four-year-old child cannot stand it, breaks the barrier, which acts as an adult's prohibition, and says: "You take a stick, then you will get a chocolate bar." Then the nine-year-old boy replies: "Everyone can do it."

Behind the phenomenon of "intellectual initiative" (V.I. Asnin), behind the phenomenon "risk for the sake of risk" (V.A. Petrovsky) is the supra-situational non-adaptive activity of the subject. It manifests itself in the setting of “super tasks” inherent in a person as a member of a particular social community (K. S. Stanislavsky).

The emergence and manifestation of excessive supra-situational activity that transforms social norms owes its origin to the way of life of the individual as an active "element" of various social groups, inclusion in which ensures the emergence of potential redundant qualities that were not previously inherent in the "elements", waiting in the wings, that is, the emergence of a problem-conflict situation. AT similar situations these systemic qualities of the personality of a person can play an important role both in the individual life of a person and in the life of that social system, the manifestation of which they ultimately are. Adaptive and non-adaptive manifestations of personality behavior, behind which are tendencies to preserve and change social systems, are a prerequisite for the development of a person's personality, mastery of socio-historical experience.

Methodological ideas about the "independent force of development" led to the identification of the principle of self-development of the personality as the initial one in the study of the motivation for the development of the personality and determined the general strategy for searching for specific psychological phenomena and mechanisms of the driving forces of personality development. This strategy is characterized, firstly, by highlighting the position on the role of the struggle of opposites, the contradictions and harmony of these opposites as the driving force of personality development (L.I. Antsyferova, B.V. Zeigarnik); secondly, the position on the existence of a source of self-development of activity in the very process of movement of activity (A.N. Leontiev, S.L. Rubinshtein).

How were both these provisions concretized in Russian psychology? The first productive underestimated attempt to find the source of the development of activity in itself belongs to the classics of Russian psychology D.N. Uznadze. Criticizing the hedonistic ideas about the motivation of K. Buhler, D.N. Uznadze introduces ideas about the functional tendency as a source of behavior development. He writes: “The concept of a functional tendency... makes it clear that a function, an inner force, can be activated not only under the pressure of need, but also independently, autonomously...”8. And then he continues: “... if it (pleasure) arises only as a result of the activation of a function, it is fundamentally impossible to consider it as a motor activity: after all, there must be sometime in the life of an organism a case of such an activation of a motor function, when it still had unfamiliar fun function. But what then determined the fact of activation of this function? There is no doubt that the function of movement in itself contains an impulse of activation: the function, so to speak, in itself tends to activity, itself tends to function. It is the functional tendency, according to D.N. Uznadze, that is the source of such forms of personality behavior as gaming, creative and sports activities.

Introduction D.N.Uznadze's idea of ​​a functional tendency as a source of self-development can serve as a theoretical basis for specific developments of the problem of the driving forces of the development of a child's personality, carried out by L.I. Bozhovich and M.I. Lisina. In the works of L.I. Bozhovich, ideas were developed about the need for impressions as the driving force behind personality development. M.I. Lisina and her colleagues successfully develop ideas about the need for communication as a specifically human driving force in the development of the individual. These works, which actually implement the principle of self-development in the study of motivation for development, are the case in the development of science when new ideas are dressed in old terminological clothes. The fact that the needs for communication, impressions do not arise in the form of an impulse from inside or outside, are not adaptive and homeostatic in nature, but have as their motivating source the very fact of the interaction of the subject with the world, allows us to assume with certainty that we are not dealing with with needs in the orthodox sense of the word, but precisely with functional tendencies.

Further deepening of ideas about the mechanisms of self-development of activity is carried out in the works of V.G. Aseev (1978) and V.A. Petrovsky. Thus, V.G. Aseev suggests that the condition for initiating development is the presence of some unused reserve zone of functional capabilities, which potentially contain a source of personality development. In A. Petrovsky, based on the material of the experimental analysis of "disinterested risk", ideas are introduced about "supra-situational activity" as the source of the emergence of any new activity of the individual. These studies show that a person has a tendency that is clearly maladaptive in nature, manifested in the formulation of various kinds of super-tasks, which is called "supra-situational activity". Studies of supra-situational activity are directly related to works in which ideas about attitudes are introduced as mechanisms that determine the stability of the dynamics of activity and its development. If the mindsets seem to be trying to keep the activity within predetermined boundaries, ensuring its sustainable nature, then supra-situational activity, breaking these mindsets, brings the personality to new levels of solving life problems. The contradiction between "supra-situational activity" and attitude acts as one of the possible mechanisms for the development of personality activity. Thus, the provisions developed in line with various areas of psychology about tendencies to communication, perception, search activity as sources of motivation that arise in the very process of interaction of the subject with the world, preliminary hypotheses about the mechanisms of the process of development of personality activity lay the foundations for analyzing the motivation for human development in personogenesis.

Transforming the activity that unfolds according to one or another social “scenario”, choosing various social positions in the course of a life path, a person more and more sharply declares himself as an individuality that interferes with his “personal actions” (D.B. Elkonin), deeds and deeds into culture, sometimes defending oneself in culture, and sometimes losing oneself in it.

Manifestations of personality activity do not arise as a result of any first impulse caused by certain needs. The search for the “engine” that gives rise to the activity of the individual must be sought in those contradictions that are born in the process of the flow of activities, which are driving force personality development.

It is the contradiction, and sometimes the conflict, between the motives of the personality that are in a certain hierarchical relationship that acts as a mechanism for a special internal movement in the individual consciousness: on the contrary, they sink to the position of subordinates or even completely lose their meaning-forming function. The formation of this movement expresses the formation of a coherent system of personal meanings - the formation of personality "

A. Maslow identifies different hierarchical levels of needs as a central characteristic of a person. He conveys the ratio of these levels using the following scheme:

self-esteem needs

needs for love and acceptance

security needs

physiological needs (thirst, hunger, sex)

In the context of the factorial strategy of researching the organization of the personality, Guilford identifies the following levels of "motivational factors" in the behavior of the individual.

A. Factors corresponding to organic needs: hunger (not found in factor studies); sexual urge; general activity.

B. Needs related to the conditions of the environment: the need for comfort, a pleasant environment.

B. Job related needs: general ambition; perseverance.

D. Needs related to the position of the individual: the need for freedom (nonconformism).

D. Social needs: the need to be among people; aggressiveness.

E. Common interests: the need for risk or, conversely, for security.

Initially, in the activity approach to the study of the child's psyche, it was noted that the beginning of the beginnings in the development of the child's personality is his place in the system of social relations, which determines one or another leading activity, and thereby the new formations of the personality generated in the process of this activity.

social position has great importance in a child's life. However, the social position does not in itself determine the mental makeup of the child, but through the development of his leading activity. How are the social position and its dynamic expression related? social role- with the activities of the individual? To answer this question, it is necessary to recall the old and true formula of L.S. Vygotsky: “play is a role in development”. L.S. Vygotsky wrote about the game, but the connection of a social position with the game as a kind of school of socially typical behavior of an individual is only a special case of the connection between a social position and any other leading activity. It most characteristically shows that the leading activity is a social position, or, more broadly, the social attitude of a person in his development, in his individualization.

A specific feature of genuine sense-forming values ​​and motives is that all these interests are strung on the core of the leading sense-forming motive, the leading line of life (A.N. Leontiev). What has been said should by no means be understood in such a way that the ideals of the individual are lined up in a line ideally fitted to the chosen goal. They can be combined with it or, on the contrary, come into conflict, conflict, but they must necessarily appear on the court, at which it will be asked what they mean for the individual.

Gippenreiter.

Where do goals come from? What motivates a person to set goals and achieve them?

To answer these questions, you need to turn to such concepts as needs and motives.

Need- This is the original form of activity of living organisms. The analysis of needs is best to start with their organic forms. The states of an organism's objective need for something that lies outside it and constitutes a necessary condition for its normal functioning are called needs. These are the needs for food, water, oxygen, etc. When it comes to the needs with which a person (and not only a person, but also higher animals) is born, then at least two more must be added to this list of elementary biological needs. This is, firstly, the need for contacts with their own kind, and primarily with adult individuals. Need in social contacts, or in communication, remains one of the leading in humans. Only with the course of life does it change its forms. The second need, with which a person is born and which is not related to organic, is the need for external impressions, or, in a broad sense, the cognitive need. The cognitive need also develops along with the growth of the child. The need for contacts and the cognitive need are at first closely intertwined with each other. Both discussed needs are the necessary conditions formation of a person at all stages of his development. They are necessary to him in the same way as organic needs. But if these latter only ensure its existence as a biological being, then contact with people and knowledge of the world turn out to be necessary for its formation as a human being.

Two stages in the life of every need. The first stage is the period until the first meeting with the subject that satisfies the need; the second stage - after this meeting. At the first stage, the need, as a rule, is not presented to the subject, not “deciphered” for him. He may experience a state of some kind of tension, dissatisfaction, but not know what caused this state. On the part of behavior, the need state during this period is expressed in anxiety, search, enumeration of various objects.

In the course of search activity, the need usually meets its object, which ends the first stage in the “life” of the need. The process of "recognition" by the need of one's object is called need objectification.

In its elementary forms, it is known as the "mechanism of imprinting" (i.e. imprinting). An example of imprinting is the awakening of the following reaction in a newborn caterpillar at the sight of any object moving past it, including an inanimate one: it begins to follow it like a mother (K. Lorenz's experiments).

In the process of objectification, one discovers two important features needs. The first is initially very a wide range items to meet this need. The second feature is the quick fixation of the need on the first object that satisfied it.

So, at the moment the need meets the object, the objectification of the need takes place. In the act of objectification, a motive is born. motive and is defined as object of need. If we look at the same event from the side of need, we can say that through objectification, the need receives its concretization. Concerning motive is defined in another way - as an objectified need.

It is important to realize that the very act of objectifying the need changes, transforms. It becomes already another, definite, need, a need in this particular subject.

The object and methods of satisfying a need form this need itself: a different object and even a different method of satisfaction mean a different need!

Following the objectification of a need and the appearance of a motive, the type of behavior changes dramatically. If before this

Since the moment, as we have already said, the behavior was non-directional, search, now it acquires a “vector”, or direction. It is directed towards the object or away from it - if the motive is negatively valent.

A set, or "nest", of actions that gather around one object is a typical sign of a motive. After all, according to another definition, motive is what the action is for. “For the sake of” something, a person, as a rule, performs many different actions. And this one set of actions, which are caused by one motive, and are called activities, and more specifically, a special activity or special kind of activity.

Special activities are well known. Examples are usually played, educational,

labor activity. However, the same concept can be applied to a host of other human activities, such as taking care of raising a child, playing sports, or solving a major scientific problem.

The definition of motive as an object of need should not be taken too literally, imagining

an object in the form of a thing that can be touched by hands. The "subject" can be ideal, for example, the same unsolved scientific problem, artistic concept, etc.

The activity level is clearly separated from the action level. The fact is that the same motive can

be satisfied, generally speaking, with a set of different actions. On the other hand, the same action can

driven by different motives.

If we take one particular subject, then usually his actions are prompted by several motives at once. Polymotivation of human actions is a typical phenomenon.

In terms of their role or function, not all motives “converging” on one activity are equivalent. As a rule, one of them is the main one, the others are secondary.

main motive called leading motive, secondary - motives-incentives: they do not so much “start”, but additionally stimulate this activity.

Motives give rise to actions, i.e., lead to the formation of goals, and goals, as you know, are always realized. The motives themselves are not always understood. As a result, all motives can be divided into two large classes: the first includes conscious motives, the second - unconscious ones.

Examples of first-class motives are large life goals, which direct human activity during long periods of his life. These are motives. The existence of such motives is characteristic of mature individuals. The other class includes unconscious motives. This class is much larger, and up to a certain age, almost all motives appear in it.

If motives are not recognized, does this mean that they are not represented in consciousness in any way? No, it doesn't.

They appear in consciousness, but in a special form. There are at least two such forms. it emotions and personal meanings.

Emotions arise only about such events or results of actions that are associated with motives.

If a person is worried about something, then this “something” affects his motives.

In activity theory emotions defined as reflection of the relation of the result of activity to its motive. If, from the point of view of the motive, the activity is successful, there are, generally speaking, positive emotions if unsuccessful - negative emotions. Emotions are a very important indicator and, therefore, the key to unraveling human motives (if the latter are not realized). It is only necessary to note the occasion for which the experience arose and what its properties were.

personal meaning- another form of manifestation of motives in the mind. personal meaning- this is the experience of increased subjective significance of an object, action or event that is in the field of action of the leading motive. Only the leading motive acts in the meaning-forming function. Secondary motives, incentive motives, which, playing the role of additional stimuli, give rise only to emotions, but not to meanings.

The phenomenon of personal meaning is well revealed in the "transitional processes", when a previously neutral object suddenly begins to be experienced as subjectively important.

It is known that human motives form a hierarchical system. If we compare the motivational sphere of a person with a building, then this “building” will have very different shapes for different people. In some cases, it will be like a pyramid with one vertex - one leading motive, in other cases there may be several vertices (ie, meaning-forming motives). The whole building can rest on a small foundation - a narrowly selfish motive - or rely on a broad foundation of socially significant motives that include the fate of many people and events in the circle of human life. This building can be high or low, depending on the strength of the leading motive, etc.

The motivational sphere of a person determines the scale and nature of his personality. Usually the hierarchical relationships of motives are not fully realized. They become clearer in situations of conflict of motives.

In the analysis of activity, the only way to move is from need to motive, then to goal and action (P-M-C-D). In real activity, the reverse process is constantly taking place: in the course of activity, new motives and needs (D-M-P) are formed.

In the theory of activity, one mechanism for the formation of motives is outlined, which is called the mechanism for shifting a motive to a goal (another version of its name is the mechanism for turning a goal into a motive).

The essence of this mechanism lies in the fact that the goal, previously impelled to its implementation by some motive, eventually acquires an independent motivating force, that is, it becomes a motive itself.

It is important to emphasize that the transformation of a goal into a motive can only occur if positive emotions are accumulated: for example, it is well known that it is impossible to instill love or interest in a business by punishments and coercions alone.

So, an object cannot become a motive to order, even with a very ardent desire. He must go through a long period of accumulation of positive emotions.

Zaitsev.

motive appears precisely when a person's need is objectified. At the same time, the motive itself gives rise to new motives (that is why humanity does not stand still, but develops).

Figuratively speaking, motive is a matter of need. But the motives of objects are very different (from an apple to symphonic music).

Where does the goal come from? As soon as the need is objectified, a person begins to strive for it. And he sets himself a goal: to achieve (“I want sweets!”) An ordered activity of a person appears (before that it was chaotic - “I want I don’t know what”). "Does this mean that the motive is always recognized?" The child is aware of all needs for quite a long time (99.9%). Then the law comes into force, according to which the unconscious begins to form in h-ka).

Note: the unconscious is not the absence of consciousness! The unconscious of a person has a social (human) nature. In a child whose consciousness has been formed (Mowgli did not possess consciousness, but possessed a psyche), the unconscious already appears, since he is in a certain environment, which is permeated with rules. Morality, morality, worldview dictate to us (people) what is possible and impossible, good and bad. Some of these rules conflict with physiological needs.

Early Freud singled out only one need, which conflicts with culture - eros. Later, he also singled out thanatos - the desire for death (to kill another or kill oneself). The whole existence of a h-ka is dictated by the struggle between these two poles. The desire to die or survive can also be subconscious. The eros-thanatos scale is contrary to the norms of culture (it is "shameful"). Therefore, Freud singled out 3 I: "I", "it" and "superya".

I am everything that enters the human mind. Ch. assimilates these norms and rules and assimilates them. Ch. first learned about these norms, and then internalized them and began to be guided by these rules and norms (this became the "super-self"). So svurhya is 100% cultural.

But it is then that a person delimits himself, bringing some of his needs (physiologically conditioned) into the sphere of the unconscious. A boundary appears in the mind, dividing the h-ka into the conscious and the unconscious. Beyond this boundary (into the area of ​​the unconscious) everything that contradicts the superego is forced out. Drives that contradict the superself have not disappeared from the person, but have simply been forced out into the area of ​​the unconscious. These motives and needs are not realized by a person. A person spends huge energy efforts to maintain this artificially created border. There are 3 mechanisms by which the unconscious breaks into the sphere of consciousness: 1. Physiological reactions (reddening of the cheeks, galvanic skin reaction, on the basis of which the lie detector operates); 2. Reservations and omissions; 3. Dreams.

So, not all of our motives are recognized. The more restrictions society imposes on a person (the more conformal society is), the more motives are forced into the unconscious.

The question arises: "Motives and needs are extremely numerous. How do motives begin to control our needs? Why do we not begin to vacillate between the satisfaction of various needs?"

There is a so-called hierarchy of needs and motives (Leontiev). There is a certain leading need and a leading motive and subordinate motives and needs.

It is the leading motive that governs our activity. Outwardly, the activity may have a certain form (for example, training) is of the same nature, but is motivated in different ways (studying at a university as a means of informal communication with one's own kind, as a means of starting a career, as an opportunity to gain invaluable knowledge, etc.)

The mechanism of emotions. For a long time the psychological nature of the emotions was incomprehensible. Leontiev gave a theoretical justification for emotions. Emotions characterize us how the result of our activity correlates with the leading motive. negative emotions arise if the current activity contradicts the main motive, positive - if it coincides. In order for an emotion to arise, the result (or process) of an activity must come into conflict with the inner worldview.

personal meaning. The reality in which we exist is painted with semantic colors. Either something takes on a special meaning, or it (something) is neutral. As soon as a certain object acquires a special meaning, personal meaning (personal meaning) arises. At the same time, it is not the object itself that is important, but its ability (possibility) to satisfy the leading motive. Personal meaning is always individual, unique and has a rigid binding to the object. All psychological testing aimed at identifying "it" affects precisely personality-colored phenomena. color test Luscher: Specially selected 7 colors. A person chooses from them the most pleasant for him. By the sequence in which a person removes colors, you can tell a lot about his current state. This test has been in the making for over 20 years. The Luscher test has its own very significant (in particular cultural) limitations (it does not work for northern peoples, because their world is monochromatic).

It is the mechanisms of emotions and personal meanings that help us to adjust our activities to the main motive.

From a dictionary.

Leading activity- a term put forward by A. N. Leontiev to refer to the activity with which the emergence of the most important mental neoplasms is associated. The concept of leading activity was later used by D. B. Elkonin to build a periodization of the development of the psyche, based on the successive change of leading activity, in one age period, ensuring the predominant development of the motivational-need, and at the next stage, the development of the operational-technical sphere.

At the same time, it was assumed that each period corresponds to a clearly fixed leading activity for it:

1) direct-emotional communication of an infant with an adult;

2) object-manipulative activity, characteristic of early childhood;

3) plot- role-playing game, characteristic for preschool age;

4) educational activity schoolchildren;

5) intimate-personal communication of adolescents;

6) vocational and educational activities characteristic of the period of early adolescence.

It is believed that the leading activity does not arise immediately in developed form, but goes through a certain path of formation, and the emergence of a new leading activity does not mean the disappearance of the one that was leading at the previous stage. A critical examination of ideas about the role of leading activity in age development does not imply a denial of its significance, however, it casts doubt on the idea of ​​rigid fixing of any one leading activity, a priori identified in each age stage (A.V. Petrovsky). Depending on the social situation of development in groups of different levels and composition (students, military, juvenile delinquents, etc.), various types of activity can take on a leading character, mediating and shaping interpersonal relationships.

At the same time, it is proposed to distinguish between the leading activity, which is designed to form socially valuable mental neoplasms(pedagogical approach to the problem of leading activity), and leading activity that actually forms these new formations (psychological approach).

The theory of human behavior proposed by Abraham X. Maslow, according to which a person is motivated by five natural needs, and each of the subsequent needs has an increasing priority. In order of priority, these are physiological needs (food, water, air), needs security, needs social(social status, sex), needs self-esteem and needs self-expression. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, if higher-priority needs are not met, then lower-priority needs are not motivated. For example, a hungry person is more motivated to get food than to occupy a higher social position.

Elkonin.

In a brief review, we could present only the most important facts concerning the content and subject characteristics of the leading types of activity identified so far. These characteristics make it possible to divide all types into two large groups:

1) activities within which there is an intensive orientation in the basic meanings of human activity and the development of tasks, motives and norms of relations between people. These are activities in the "child - public adult" system. Of course, the direct-emotional communication of an infant, role-playing and intimate-personal communication of adolescents differ significantly in their specific content, in the depth of the child's penetration into the sphere of tasks and motives of adult activity, representing a kind of ladder for the child's consistent mastering of this sphere. However, they are common in their main content. In the implementation of this particular group of activities, the predominant development of the motivational-need-to-need sphere occurs in children;

2) activities within which there is an assimilation of socially developed methods of action with objects and standards that single out certain aspects of objects in objects. These are activities in the "child - a public subject" system. Of course, different types this group differ significantly from each other. The manipulative-objective activity of a young child and the educational activity of a younger schoolchild, and even more so the educational and professional activity of older adolescents, outwardly bear little resemblance to each other. Indeed, what is there in common between mastering an objective action with a spoon or a glass and mastering mathematics or grammar? But what they have in common is that they all act as elements of human culture. They share a common origin and common place in the life of society, representing the result of previous history. On the basis of the assimilation of socially developed methods of action with these objects, the child becomes more and more deeply oriented in the objective world and the formation of his intellectual forces, the formation of the child as a component of the productive forces of society.

It must be emphasized that when we talk about the leading activity and its significance for the development of a child in a particular period, this does not mean at all that development in other directions is not carried out simultaneously. The life of a child in each period is multifaceted, and the activities through which it is carried out are diverse. In life, new types of activity arise, new relationships of the child to reality. Their emergence and their transformation into leaders do not cancel those that existed before, but only change their place in the general system of the child's relations to reality, which are becoming ever richer.

If we arrange the types of children's activities we have identified into groups in the order in which they become leading, we get the following row:

1) direct-emotional communication - the first group,

2) object-manipulative activity - the second group,

3) role-playing game - the first group,

4) educational activity - the second group,

5) intimate-personal communication - the first group,

6) educational and professional activities - the second group.

Thus, in child development, there are, on the one hand, periods in which there is a predominant development of tasks, motives and norms of relations between people and, on this basis, developed motivational-need areas, on the other hand, periods in which there is a predominant development of social developed methods of actions with objects and, on this basis, the formation of the intellectual and cognitive forces of children, their operational and technical capabilities.

Consideration of the successive change of some periods by others allows us to formulate a hypothesis about the periodicity of the processes of mental development, which consists in a regularly repeated change of some periods by others. Following the periods in which the predominant development of the motivational-need sphere takes place, periods naturally follow in which the formation of the operational and technical capabilities of children takes place. Following the periods in which the primary formation of the operational and technical capabilities of children takes place, periods naturally follow the periods of the predominant paradise of the development of the motivational-need sphere.

All three eras (the era of early childhood, the era of childhood, the era of adolescence) are built on the same principle and consist of two naturally connected periods. The transition from one era to the next occurs when there is a discrepancy between the operational and technical capabilities of the child and the tasks and motives of activity on the basis of which they were formed. Transitions from one period to another and from one phase to another within a period. poorly studied in psychology.

The practical significance of the hypothesis lies in the fact that it helps to approach the solution of the question of the sensitivity of individual periods of child development to a certain type of influence, helps to take a new approach to the problem of the connection between the links of the existing system. educational institutions. According to the requirements arising from this hypothesis, where there is a gap in the system (preschool institutions - school), there should be a more limited connection. On the contrary, where there is now continuity ( elementary grades- middle classes), there should be a transition to a new educational system.

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