Imagination is the power of internal images (lecture). Is a dream an imagination? II

Imagination can be used in various situations. You can, for example, use it to solve a problem or open up your creativity for a project. And imagination can also be used to take a mini-vacation in your mind, which will help you relax in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Steps

Use your imagination to solve a problem

Think of a scenario where there will be no failure. That is, when you think about a problem or situation, imagine that failure simply cannot happen. Think of options that you don't usually consider because they seem too risky to you. Think about what resources you would use if you could use anything, including human resources. How would you solve this problem if you had all possible options?

This experience will open you to a wide variety of solutions. You may not be able to exactly implement the option you came up with, but maybe a good replacement will come to mind that you haven't thought of before.

Challenge assumptions. Sometimes The best way to use your imagination is to come up with a creative solution to break the assumptions you have formed about the problem. But first you need to make a list of these very assumptions.

Spend some time alone with yourself. You may be tempted to bring the issue up for public discussion immediately, but sometimes it's better to take some time to think about the problem yourself. Turn off any distractions like TV and internet. Focus solely on the problem.

Stop criticizing. You are probably your own worst critic, which means you can stop yourself before you find a solution. When an idea pops into your head, don't immediately write it off as stupid. Take some time for it, think it over. Perhaps you can improve it to the best option, which will eventually become ideal solution your problem.

Think carefully about your idea. Brainstorming will help you open your imagination so you can see different solutions. It is possible to conduct a collective brainstorm in a group or think about it alone - either option will help you increase the number of ideas you come up with.

Try something new. If you keep doing the same things over and over again, you will fall into a rut of routine. But in order to unleash your creative potential, you just need to try some new techniques or look at something from a different point of view. Sometimes you just need to literally move around to do this, for example, look at your project from the floor or vice versa, putting it on the floor. In other cases, to stimulate the imagination, you need to take a different approach, for example, study new technology drawing or other embroidery method.

Focus on the process. That is, instead of banging your head against a wall to get a predetermined finished product, let the process itself determine what your project will become. It is in the process that you can explore new ideas and try new routes. If you succumb to this process, you may come up with something else - better than you expected. Another way to express this idea is: "Don't be afraid to deviate from your plan."
- Plus, even if you decide you don't like the end result, you can use what you've learned in your next project.
Let go of perfectionism. If you are a perfectionist, then you know that sometimes you can be so focused on not making a mistake that you may not finish what you started. Perhaps you are always unhappy with how things turned out. Perfectionism is a form of self-criticism and therefore can prevent you from moving forward on a project or trying something new. Therefore, you need to try to calm your inner perfectionist.

Give yourself enough time. Working under a deadline can be incredibly invigorating, which stimulates the imagination. However, when deadlines are pressed, it can make you nervous and stress can stifle your creativity. You must know how much time you personally need to work on a particular task, and give yourself enough time to complete it. Decide how much time you need so you can focus on the project only.

Our imagination can help improve our lives and achieve our goals. By using special techniques it can be developed and used for one's own well-being.

Everyone can use imagination. This exceptional ability is directly related to many aspects of life. With the help of imagination, each person will be able to translate their fantasies into reality, sending an impulse to the brain for action.

Why Imagination Is Necessary

Using the principle of realism, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to fantasize, thereby closing the path of development in many areas. There are several reasons that will help you realize the need to develop the imagination.

1. The development of fantasy contributes to the training of the brain, the development of the flexibility of the mind and makes thinking more productive. With the help of the development of the imagination, you become smarter, build logical chains faster and solve multi-way tasks.

2. Imagination contributes to the extraction of knowledge from the subconscious. With the help of fantasies, a person accumulates his own energy, directing an impulse to the brain for realization. creative ideas and ideas. Imagination builds the power for a successful and productive life through extraordinary solutions to the challenges you face.

3. With the help of imagination, you can reach much higher heights in your career, because thinking that can generate ideas gives you an advantage in development. own business manifestations of creative inclinations. A person with a good imagination is capable of creative fresh solutions and ideas that help quality work.

How to develop imagination

Psychologists are seriously concerned that today's children have practically no imagination and a poorly developed fantasy. In many ways, they see the fault of television programs and gadgets that do not provide an opportunity to develop the flexibility of the mind. The method of presenting simple information does not give food for thought, and this leads to the impoverishment of knowledge, making it impossible to use those parts of the brain that are responsible for creativity. The same problems are observed in adults who, for the sake of modern videos, have stopped using literature and straining their memory and brain to solve problems on their own.

In order to activate brain activity, follow simple rules, and soon you will notice positive changes that will improve your memory and intellectual capabilities.

1. One of the daily rules is the mental simulation of life situations. Imagine the plots in all the smallest details, add new details. For example, imagine you are in a certain place. Add to your imagination the quiet musical accompaniment, the aromas of dishes, the noise of the city or the sounds of nature. Such exercises will allow you to easily reproduce in your imagination many scenarios.

2. Don't forget to read. Reading develops your imagination, enriches vocabulary. Common literary devices that provoke you to read between the lines load the brain, allowing it to analyze the proposed text, see the heroes of the work, imagine them in the proposed situation. The brain is a muscle, and the more you use it, the more productive your life becomes.

3. Get yourself a diary in which you will write down your thoughts, emotions and experiences. Thoughts expressed on paper make the brain work with a vengeance, looking for Right words to describe what happened to you. This method will also help you increase your vocabulary and teach you how to express thoughts correctly.

4. Chat with people who are literally burning with a lot of ideas. Their rich imagination and energy will be transferred to you. Having plunged into the world of fantasies and new ideas, you simply cannot refuse this exciting activity.

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In the 21st century, the rapid rhythm of life inherent in industrialized centers does not leave people the opportunity to stop and take a breath. In a series of "gray" everyday life and dull everyday life, unpleasant situations often occur that become the reasons for the appearance in the mind. deal with negative energy and piled troubles can be done with the help of defense mechanisms that allow a person to step back from ongoing events. However, it is often threatened nervous breakdown accompanied by internal conflict personality. In order to eliminate the risk of malfunctions in the brain, it is important to assess the extent of the danger in time, having decided on the way to solve the indicated issue.

In this situation, imagination allows you to radically change the course of your own thoughts, with the help of which you can imagine positive options for the outcome of events. The creation of new images is invariably based on a combination of existing baggage of memories. Habitual pictures from the past are viewed from a new angle, and the expected circumstances of the future are projected in a positive format. However, not all people are endowed with imagination, so only a few can take advantage of this mental phenomenon. If you are not in a position to imagine upcoming events, do not despair. Such a skill can be developed with the help of useful recommendations from practicing psychologists and a set of effective exercises.

Variety of imagination options

Expand your horizons by being interested in the features of architecture ancient rome. Check out the theories of great philosophers, flip through illustrations on the topic of sewing machines, look documentary about wolves - the more information you have, the more colorful and richer your dreams will be.
Try yourself in creative activity. Decide to write fiction story- think over the images of the characters and the plot, do not limit your imagination. Embody your innermost desires in a story or novel.
Feel free to borrow the ideas of strangers, improving interesting thoughts and thinking them out in accordance with personal preferences. Learn to find amazing aspects in everyday things in order to regularly supply your subconscious with vivid emotions and impressions.
Minimize the presence of logic in your life. Create for mental activity as much as possible comfortable conditions to provoke the activity of thought processes.

Guided by the tips listed above, you can learn to fantasize in a short period of time, developing another function of the human psyche. Imagining a bright future and avoiding unwanted situations in dreams, you will succeed. An integral part of dreaming is a positive emotional background and positive mood, because you open up new options for the outcome of events. Knowing that circumstances directly depend on the efforts made, it turns out to increase the level of working capacity and cultivate a number of strong-willed qualities in oneself.

Games and exercises: developing creative imagination

At the beginning of the article, it was mentioned about effective games that allow developing imagination in a short period of time. Such a statement is not unreasonable, because the range of uncomplicated techniques developed by practicing psychologists - with which you can learn to fantasize. If you want to experience the benefits of a parallel reality by projecting situations in an illusory world yourself, then check out the following exercises:

Visualization.

Choose an item that has different colors and decorative elements on the surface. Take a thing, guided by your own preferences. Look at the product and remember it appearance. After two hours, visualize the design of the object, creating a spectrum of pictures on the subconscious. What colors dominate on the right side of the device? How is the product different from other items? What inscriptions are located on the cover? Reproduce the appearance of the thing, trying to rely solely on recent memories.

Silent movie.

An effective way to develop the imagination is watching movies or humorous programs with the sound turned off. The events taking place on the screen will not be accompanied by characters' lines, so you will have to think out your own storyline and build dialogues between actors. Reproduce the topic of conversation or use fantasy to place the movie participants in a completely unfamiliar environment. If people are chatting calmly in a bar while drinking alcohol slowly, imagine that they are talking about taking over the world with two guinea pigs. A pleasant addition to the main goal is high spirits.

Reading books.

Introduction to world literature allows not only to increase the level of intelligence, but also to develop imagination. While reading a work of fiction, you do not have the opportunity to observe the situations described in the book. The excited subconscious begins to actively reproduce the incoming information, projecting various images. Choose stories that evoke positive emotions so that fantasy does not become the cause of the formation of your fears and phobias.

Game "What if...?".

An effective exercise that is entertaining in nature. The main thing is to start a new sentence with the above question phrase. After such a phrase, come up with various formulations, giving free rein to your imagination. What if there are vampires outside the door? What if we're in space? What if people can talk to animals? What if we were meant to save the world? But what if the elixir of immortality has already been invented?

New words.

Feel free to fantasize in composing original phrases, because in the Russian language there is a variety of synonyms and literary turns - comparisons and metaphors, alliterations and assonances. Compose poems and invent songs, learn to express your own thoughts. If you expand the vocabulary, then the parallel reality will become much brighter and richer.

Dream in moderation, do not step back from real world to avoid occurrence. You must be aware of the line between dreams and the current circumstances that take place in a socialized society. Neglecting such a recommendation is an unjustified risk, accompanied by the loss of friends, family and work. If you learn to harmoniously combine illusions and everyday life, you will gain

Imagination is a thought process in a person's head that creates pictures (images) of what a person thinks about. Imagination is limitless, it has no boundaries and can contradict all the laws of reality. However, the imagination affects a. In psychology, imagination is given importance, because it allows a person to foresee pictures of the future, to calm or encourage action. Imagination develops in children. It is of several types.

The Internet magazine site calls imagination the mental activity of a person who imagines his own thoughts in the form of images. You can imagine anything: real and unreal. At the same time, images affect mood, behavior, and even in the future. decisions taken man.

Imagination is thoughts, fantasies, ideas and other things that a person has in his head. Some skeptical people do not believe that thoughts materialize. But, as life shows, these people are wrong. And not only they are mistaken, but everyone else, because they do not pay attention to one completely natural and simple process.

One day a woman couldn't understand why great mathematician, a professor of science lives on a beggarly salary, and a swindler who deceives everyone, organizes his business and makes a profit. It seems that fate should do justice: give money to a mathematician, and punish and imprison a crook. But who establishes this justice? The people themselves, not fate. The universe has its own laws. And here they are.

What does a professor of mathematics need to think about in order to achieve such a high position? About mathematics. And what does a crook need to think about in order to deceive, have his own business and still make a profit? About business and money. What's in your head, then in reality: the professor has his own mathematics, and the swindler has money. Whoever worked on what got it. It is impossible to receive money while you are studying math. But you can understand exactly how studying mathematics can help you make money, then you will receive money. If you want to have money, then you must have money in your mind. If you want to have love, then you must have love in your head.

Many will say, they say, "we are all taught that you need to make money on what you love to do." This is true. Love for your work provokes you to develop your skills and your knowledge. But money cannot be earned if you do not connect your hobby, interest, passion with money. For example, a travel lover finally realized that it is possible to combine business with pleasure, and opened his own tourist agency(travel + money). Do you like to cook food? Then open your own restaurant or get a job as a chef (cooking + money). As long as you only have travel or cooking in your head, you will not earn money. You will have what you think. But as soon as you ask yourself the question “How can I do what I love and still benefit other people so that they pay me money for what I do?”, here you have many options, how not just “learn math” , but also make money on it (become, for example, a trader or financier).

What's in your head is what's in reality. And this is much more fair than the human understanding of justice, when you first need to suffer, and then reap the laurels of your torment. Everyone gets what he thinks about, what he keeps in his head. And this is fair. Therefore, only you are responsible for what you have and what you do not have.

What is imagination?

Imagination is visual-figurative, during which a person presents specific images in his head. They may be of a different nature.

There are images-memories, when a person returns to what happened to him, he again scrolls in his head what happened to him.
There are images-dreams - when a person imagines in his head the desired pictures of the future in which he would like to be.
There are images of oneself when a person begins to imagine or try to understand who he is.
There are images of the real world, when a person simply remembers what he saw or heard.
There are fantasy images when a person begins to create new objects or phenomena that do not yet exist in nature.

Imagination becomes multifaceted and multifunctional. It allows you to predict further development events based on previous experience. It helps to create where main point it becomes the creation of something new and unusual. It allows you to influence your mood and even motivate yourself. Often imagination allows you to understand how to act in a situation in order to achieve the desired result.

Imagination uses the memory of a person who has certain experiences, knowledge and memories. Creative thinking is also used, which may include the ability of a person to think of things they have never seen or heard. In psychology, the following functions of imagination are distinguished:

Cognitive - imagination helps to systematize information, to better understand it and highlight something new for yourself.
Forecasting - a person is able to imagine in his head how events will unfold, what the final result will be.
Understanding - by imagining, a person can guess what another individual is thinking and feeling.
Self-development - a person fantasizes and predicts, which makes him stronger and more self-confident.
Protection - if a person can predict events, then he can prepare for them.
Memories - the ability to reproduce what a person has already experienced.

Imagination manifests itself in various forms. The most famous are:

- the creation of new forms, objects, phenomena on the basis of really existing ones, which a person transforms in his mind.
Emphasis - fixing attention on a particular characteristic of an object.
Typification is the selection of certain features in several subjects.

Types of imagination

Imagination is divided into the following types:

Involuntary (passive) - when a person simply thinks about something, even without always taking a conscious part in it. This often happens in a state of half-asleep or drowsiness.
Arbitrary (active) - a person consciously turns on the process of imagination and imagines some images.
Dreams are a vision of a desired future.
Recreation - when a person reproduces in his head what really exists.
Creativity - when a person actively creates a certain phenomenon, object or image in his head, which is not in reality.

“Dreaming is harmful” - why? Surely you have once heard a similar expression from a person who, firsthand, experienced failure from constant dreams. Why is it bad to dream? Little children dream all the time, and at the same time live happier and feel calmer than adults. It turns out that dreaming is not harmful. Something else hurts, and this is connected with dreams.

Just dreaming about something is not harmful. If you decide to cheer yourself up or calm down, then imagining what you want or just looking at pictures of something pleasant is a useful activity. You improve your mood - what could be harmful in this? Dreaming in and of itself is not harmful. Therefore, it would be more correct to pose the question: when is it harmful to dream?

Imagine a situation (remember from your experience): you dreamed about something, but your dream did not come true. You even tried to do something for realization, you didn’t succeed, you gave up - and the dream remained a dream. And now the question is: what do you feel, experience, what emotions overwhelm you when you realize that the dream has not come true? Bitterness, sadness, anger, emptiness, etc. In other words, you suffer because you failed to realize your desire.

So when is it bad to dream? Answer: when you understand that you will not do anything to make it a reality.

Firstly, the dream does not come true in itself, but you do it. The chair itself cannot materialize if you only imagine it. Someone has to make it, someone has to bring it. The first thing that hurts is not the dream itself, but your unwillingness to realize it.
Secondly, it is not the dream itself that harms you, but those emotions, sensations, experiences that cover you when you do not achieve what you want. It’s unpleasant for you to realize that your dream has remained a dream, so you (out of habit without seeing your own guilt) choose not to dream about anything so that you don’t experience negative emotions again.
Thirdly, dreaming is useful and even necessary. But you should understand whether you want to realize your desire or agree to leave it unfulfilled, but simply be content with it in your ideas. The dream inspires and inspires you, but the realization that you are not doing anything to realize it hurts. Agree with yourself in advance whether you will embody your desire or not and leave it just a dream.

Imagination and creativity

Imagination is a creative process, if a person needs to create a new object, imagine new look find a new solution to the situation. From time to time, each person is faced with the need to take an extraordinary approach to solving everyday problems. Creativity goes through three stages:

A fuzzy image that appears in a person's head in the form of an idea.
Carrying an idea, its transformation, clear understanding, correction.
Implementation of the plan.

Creative thinking is very important for a person, and it develops from childhood. A person must allow himself to think outside the box, which helps reading literature and watching science fiction. It is also good to travel and encounter the previously unknown, which causes new impressions and emotions.

Development of the imagination

Imagination develops between the ages of 2.5 and 5 years. It is during this period that the child gradually improves his imagination, it has fantastic properties in him. The child has a fairly developed imagination, which helps watching cartoons, reading books, playing games of various kinds, drawing, modeling or thinking through role-playing stories.

Parents should encourage in a child creativity because it encourages imagination.

Outcome

At the same time, a person should not forget that imagination is just thoughts. For ideas to become real, they need to be implemented. Live, don't dream! While you are wasting time on your dreams, your life is passing by and you don't even have time to enjoy it. Therefore, you should remember that time passes, and your life is what you spend this time on.

Why is it better to live than to dream? Of course, no one forbids sometimes immersing yourself in fantastic representations of your past or future, but this should be done as rarely as possible. The majority of people currently prefer to live somewhere in the unreal world, in the virtual (on the Internet), forgetting that outside the window is raging real life. What's bad about it? By and large, this does not threaten anything bad, except for the absence of any memories of this period of life. Now you are dreaming about one thing, in 3 months you will start dreaming about another, and in 10 years you won’t even remember this time - it will be empty for you, since you lived it in fantasies that evaporated, leaving a clean field of your life.

Have you ever wondered why older people spend so much time reminiscing about their past years? The answer is very simple: they have come to terms with their old age, making this stage something that no longer deserves to live. In other words, they stopped living in the present, because they believe that nothing new and interesting will happen to them, because of which they plunged into the memories that they acquired.

The same thing happens with modern man, who either lives in his dreams as a hero or a super beauty, or lives in a virtual world. If a person does this in his youth, then what will he be able to remember when he is old? Most likely, apart from the name of the game he played on the Internet, he will not remember anything else. And such empty memories do you want to have?

Our fantasies and dreams are able to paint life with new colors. Without them it is difficult to imagine our daily existence. Images that arise in the head, a kaleidoscope of pictures and dreams not only give a mood, but also develop Creative skills and unconventional thinking.

Imagination in psychology

The human brain is able not only to perceive and remember information, but also to perform all kinds of operations with it. In ancient times, primitive people were at first completely similar to animals: they got food and built primitive dwellings. But human abilities have evolved. And one fine day, people realized that it is much more difficult to hunt an animal with bare hands than with the help of special devices. Scratching their heads, the savages sat down and invented a spear, a bow and arrows, an axe. All these objects, before they were created, were embodied in the form of images in human brain. This process is called imagination.

People developed, and at the same time the ability to mentally create images, completely new and on the basis of existing ones, improved. Not only thoughts, but also desires and aspirations were formed on this foundation. Based on this, it can be argued that imagination in psychology is one of the processes of cognition of the surrounding reality. This is an imprint of the outside world in the subconscious. It allows not only to imagine the future, to program it, but also to remember the past.

In addition, the definition of imagination in psychology can be formulated in another way. For example, it is often called the ability to mentally represent an absent object or phenomenon, manipulate it in one's mind, and retain its image. Often imagination is confused with perception. But psychologists argue that these cognitive functions of the brain are fundamentally different. Unlike perception, imagination creates images based on memory, and not on the outside world, and it is also less real, as it often contains elements of dreams and fantasy.

Imagination functions

It is difficult to imagine a person who has no imagination at all. If you think about it, then in your environment there are people who are pragmatic, as if down to earth. All their actions are dictated by logic, principles and arguments. But to say that they have absolutely no creative thinking and imagination is impossible. It's just that these cognitive processes are either underdeveloped or are in a "dormant" state.

It's a bit of a pity for such people: they live boring and uninteresting, they do not use the creative possibilities of the brain. After all, as he claims general psychology, imagination gives us the opportunity to be individual, unlike the "gray mass". With its help, a person stands out, occupies his niche in society. Imagination has several functions, using which, each of us becomes a special person:

Cognitive. With the help of imagination, we expand our horizons, gain knowledge, acting in an uncertain situation based on our conjectures and ideas.
Prediction function. The properties of the imagination in psychology are such that they help us to imagine the result of an unfinished activity. This function also shapes our dreams and daydreams.
Understanding. With the help of imagination, we can imagine what the interlocutor has in his soul, what feelings he experiences. We understand his problem and behavior, conditionally putting ourselves in his place.
Protection. By predicting possible future events, we can thereby protect ourselves from trouble.
Self-development. The properties of imagination in psychology allow us to create, invent, fantasize with its help.
Memory. We remember the past, which is stored in our brain in the form of certain images and ideas.

All of the above functions of the imagination are developed differently. Each person is dominated by a separate property, which often affects his behavior and character.

The main ways of creating images

There are several of them, but each of them characterizes the concept of imagination in psychology as a rather complex, multi-level process.

Agglutination. Evaluating and analyzing the qualities, properties and appearance of an object, we create in our imagination a new, sometimes bizarre image, far from reality. For example, in this way the fairy-tale character Centaur (a human body and horse legs), as well as Baba Yaga's hut (a house and chicken legs), an elf (a human image and insect wings) were invented in this way. As a rule, a similar technique is used when creating myths and legends.
Accent. Isolation in a person, object or activity of a single dominant characteristic and its hyperbolization. This method is actively used by artists during the creation of caricatures and cartoons.
Typing. The most complex method, based on highlighting the features of several objects and creating a new, composite image from them. So come up literary heroes, characters of fairy tales.

These are the basic techniques of imagination in psychology. Their result is already existing material, but transformed and modified. Even scientists in their seemingly boring and dry field of activity also actively use imagination. After all, they have developed new types of medicines, inventions and various know-how at the expense of already existing knowledge and skills. Having learned from them something special and most importantly, they create a completely new product. Thus, we can conclude: without imagination, humanity would never know what progress is in all activities.

active imagination

Usually there are such types of imagination in psychology: active and passive. They differ not only in their internal content, but also in the main forms of their manifestation. Active imagination is the conscious construction of various images in your mind, solving problems and recreating connections between subjects. One of the ways it manifests itself is fantasy. For example, an author writes a script for a film. He invents a story based on real facts, embellished with fictional details. The flight of thought can lead so far that in the end what is written turns out to be phantasmagoric and virtually impossible.

An example of fantasy is any action movie in cinema: the elements real life here are present (weapons, drugs, criminal authorities) along with exaggerated characteristics of the characters (their invincibility, the ability to survive under the onslaught of hundreds of attacking hooligans). Fantasy manifests itself not only during creativity, but also in ordinary life. We often mentally reproduce human capabilities that are unrealistic, but so desirable: the ability to become invisible, fly, breathe underwater. Imagination and fantasy in psychology are closely interconnected. Often they result in productive creativity or ordinary dreams.

A special manifestation of active imagination is a dream - the mental creation of images of the future. So, we often imagine what our house by the sea will look like, what car we will buy with the accumulated money, what we will name the children and what they will become when they grow up. It differs from fantasy in its reality, earthiness. A dream can always come true, the main thing is to apply all your efforts and skills to this.

passive imagination

These are images that visit our consciousness involuntarily. We do not put any effort into this: they arise spontaneously, have both real and fantastic content. by the most a prime example passive imagination are our dreams - an imprint of what was previously seen or heard, our fears and desires, feelings and aspirations. During "night movies" we can see possible scenarios for the development of certain events (a quarrel with loved ones, a disaster, the birth of a child) or absolutely fantastic scenes (an incomprehensible kaleidoscope of unrelated images and actions).

By the way, the last type of visions, provided that a waking person sees it, is called a hallucination. This is also passive imagination. In psychology, there are several reasons for this condition: severe head trauma, alcohol or drug intoxication, intoxication. Hallucinations have nothing to do with real life, they are often completely fantastic, even insane visions.

In addition to active and passive, one can also distinguish the following types of imagination in psychology:

Productive. Creation of completely new ideas and images as a result of creative activity.
Reproductive. Recreating pictures according to existing schemes, graphs and illustrative examples.

Each of these types of imagination is capable of influencing real events, activities and even the future of the individual.

The role of imagination in human life

If it seems to you that you can live without it, then you are greatly mistaken. Imagination has its embodiment in practice in the form of a certain activity, and this is not always creativity. For example, with its help we solve mathematical and other logical tasks. By imagining the condition mentally, we find the correct answer. Imagination also helps to control and regulate emotions and relieve tension in relationships between people. Imagine the following situation: the husband says that he is going to the bathhouse with his friends, but promises to compensate for his absence with a romantic trip to a restaurant. Angry and resentful at first, the wife, anticipating beautiful candles, foaming champagne and delicious seafood, suppresses her anger and avoids a quarrel.

Imagination in psychology is closely connected with thinking, therefore it has a direct impact on the knowledge of the world. Thanks to him, we can mentally perform actions, manipulate the images of objects, simulate situations, thereby developing analytical mental activity. Imagination even helps regulate physical state organism. There are known facts when only by the power of thought a person changed blood pressure, body temperature or pulse rate. It is these possibilities of imagination that are the foundation of auto-training. And vice versa: by inventing the presence of various diseases, a person really begins to feel the symptoms of ailments.

The ideomotor act is also a practical embodiment of the imagination. It is often used by illusionists when they are trying to find objects hidden in the hall. Its essence is that by imagining movement, the magician provokes it. The artist notices microchanges in the look or grip of the audience's hands and unmistakably determines who has the thing he needs.

Development of the imagination

Mental activity is inseparable from images. Therefore, thinking and imagination in psychology are closely related. The development of logic and analytical skills helps us to improve our fantasies, creativity and latent abilities. The main types of development of imagination with the help of thinking are:

Game activity. Especially the modeling of life situations, role-playing scenes, the creation of a number of associations, as well as modeling, origami and drawing.
Reading literature, as well as an independent attempt at writing: writing poems, stories, essays. It is also effective to describe what you read verbally and with the help of images.
The study geographical maps. During this lesson, we always imagine the landscapes of a particular country, the appearance of people, their activities.
Drawing graphs, diagrams, diagrams.

As we can see, imagination and thinking, imagination and creativity, psychology studies are inseparable from each other. Only their common functionality and complementarity make us truly unique individuals.

We have already seen that psychology considers the development of the imagination in parallel with the progress of thinking. His close connection with the activity is also proven, as evidenced by one story that happened to a certain violinist. For a petty crime, he was imprisoned for several years. Of course, he was not given an instrument, so every night he played an imaginary violin. When the musician was released, it turned out that not only did he not forget the notes and works, but now he mastered the instrument much better than ever.

Inspired by this story, doctors from Harvard Medical School decided to conduct a unique study. They divided the subjects into two groups: one played a real piano, the other a fictitious one. As a result, those who imagined the instrument only in their thoughts showed good results. They not only mastered the basic pieces of music, but also demonstrated a good physical form. It turned out that their fingers were trained as if they were practicing on a real piano.

As you can see, imagination is not only fantasies, daydreams, dreams and the game of the subconscious, it is also what helps people to work and create in real life. Psychologists say that it can be controlled and thus become more educated and developed. But sometimes you have to be afraid. After all, the false facts that the imagination palms off on us can push us to commit a crime. One has only to remember Othello to understand what trouble our flight of fancy can cause.

Healing with Imagination

Psychologists say that the best way to become healthy is to imagine yourself as such. blooming and full of energy the image in our mind quickly becomes real fact and the disease recedes. This effect is described in detail by both medicine and psychology. The topic "Imagination and its impact on oncology" was studied in detail by Dr. Cal Simonton, a leading specialist in cancer diseases. He claimed that meditation and auto-training helped even those patients who were diagnosed with the last stage of the disease to recover.

For a group of people diagnosed with throat cancer, the doctor suggested, in parallel with drug treatment use a course of so-called relaxation therapy. Three times a day, the patients relaxed and presented a picture of their complete healing. Patients who could no longer swallow on their own imagined how they had a delicious dinner with their family, how food freely and painlessly penetrated through the larynx straight into the stomach.

The result amazed everyone: after a year and a half, some patients did not even have traces of the disease. Dr. Simonton is sure that positive images in our brain, will and desire can work wonders. Imagination is always ready to be embodied in a real form. Therefore, where there is war, it is worth imagining peace, where quarrels are harmony, where illness is health. A person has many hidden abilities, but only imagination gives us the opportunity to rise above all limitations, overcoming space and time.

The level of imagination in different people

To determine it, you need to contact a specialist. He will prompt you to take an imagination test. Psychology, its methods in the form of questions and answers are able to analyze the level and possibilities of this mental state specifically in you. It has already been proven that women have better imagination than men. The representatives of the stronger sex are naturally more activated in the left hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for logic, analysis, and language abilities. Therefore, imagination often plays a small role in their lives: men like to operate with specific facts and arguments. And women are influenced by the right hemisphere of the brain, which makes them more sensitive, intuitive. Imagination and fantasies often become their prerogative.

As for children, their fantasies and dreams often amaze adults. Toddlers are able to go far from reality, hide in a fictional world. But this does not mean that their imagination is more developed: because of the small life experience their brains do not have in their stock such a gallery of images as adults have. But, even with insufficient experience, children are sometimes able to amaze with the revelry of their imagination.

Astrologers have another interesting version. They argue that everything unconscious, including the imagination, is controlled by the Moon. The sun, on the contrary, is responsible for specific actions and actions of a person. Since Cancers, Scorpios, Pisces, Aquarius and Sagittarius are under the great influence of the Moon, their imagination is richer and more multifaceted than that of other signs of the Zodiac. Be that as it may, you can always develop your fantasies and creative inclinations. The processes of imagination, indicated in psychology, can be easily improved. Thanks to them, you become a separate person, unlike the "gray mass" of people and clearly stand out from the crowd of the same face.