5.2 Drivers of mental development

The theory of the mental development of a person in Russian psychology is based on the recognition that the driving forces of its development are manifested in the contradictions between needs that are constantly changing (complicating) in human activity, and real (which do not meet new requirements) opportunities to satisfy them.

The driving forces of mental development are contradictions: between the needs of the individual and external circumstances, between her increased physical abilities, spiritual needs and old forms of activity; between new requirements of activity and unformed skills and abilities.

Overcoming contradictions in activity through mastering the appropriate methods of its implementation (skills, habits, techniques, knowledge) leads to development and is its essence. The leading role in mastering new effective ways of satisfying needs belongs to training and education. The selection, development and cultivation of needs that have social and personal value is one of the central tasks in the formation of personality. This process is long, takes place throughout the entire conscious life of a person and is characterized by a number of features.

The prerequisites for the mental development of a person are something that has a certain influence on the individual, i.e. external and internal circumstances, on which the characteristics, the level of her mental development depend. They are external and internal.

The external prerequisites for the mental development of a person are the quality and characteristics of a person's upbringing.

The internal prerequisites for the development of a personality are activity and desire, as well as the motives and goals that a person sets for himself in the interests of his improvement as a person.

Levels of mental development - the degree and indicators of the mental development of a person (child) in the process and at various stages of the formation of his personality.

The level of the actual development of the personality is an indicator that characterizes the ability of a person. perform various independent tasks. It shows what the training, skills and abilities of the individual are, what qualities they have and how they are developed. The current state of development of psychology and its experimental applied research make it possible to constantly measure and determine their most important characteristics with the help of specific equipment.

The level of proximal development of a person is an indicator of what a person can accomplish on his own, but can cope with a little help from others.

Fig.2. The driving forces of the mental development of the individual.

5.3 Conditions for the mental development of the individual. The relationship of training, education and development

Personal development is a complex process in which levels of development are constantly changing. The development of cognitive mental processes, emotions and feelings, will, needs, interests, ideals and beliefs, consciousness and self-awareness, abilities, temperament and character, skills and habits is in a complex inter-stage interaction.

The highest levels of development are born at the previous stages, but the features of the previous age stages are also manifested at the next stages. In order to contribute to the timely emergence and successful development of everything progressive, new at all stages of the formation of a child as a person, it is necessary to know the age-related features of his physical and spiritual development. Each age stage of personality development has its own anatomical, physiological and psychological features and capabilities. In accordance with these features, educational work is planned and carried out in nurseries, kindergartens and schools.

For teaching practice has great importance correct understanding and professionally competent application of the principle that affirms the leading role of training and education in the mental development of a child at all age stages (P.P. Blonsky, L.S. Vygotsky, V.V. Davydov, L.V. Zankov, A.A. Smirnov, S.L. Rubinshtein, D.B. Elkonin, etc.). L.S. Vygotsky wrote that the processes of development do not coincide with the process of learning... the processes of development follow the processes of learning, which creates zones of proximal development.

In other words, training should not be focused on the zone of actual development, i.e. not on what has already taken shape and is, in the words of L.S. Vygotsky, “yesterday”, and to the zone of proximal development - to “tomorrow”.

The zone of proximal development is determined by the content of those tasks that the child cannot yet cope with on his own, but solves with the help of an adult. This is the next step in the development of the child, for which he is already ready, and it only takes a little push to make the step. By teaching a child something new, an adult helps him to solve the very problem that he is already ready to understand and master, but has not yet coped with it on his own. L.S. Vygotsky emphasized that if a child cannot cope with a task with the help of an adult, it means that it is outside the zone of proximal development and will not have any developmental effect; at best, it will only be possible to train the child to perform such tasks or actions. The zone of proximal development, demonstrating a measure of the maturity of mental processes that is still hidden from external observation, is much more important in terms of prognosis and learning than the zone of actual development, which shows only what the child can already do.

Continuity in education and upbringing plays an essential role in the development of personality. Based on the level of development achieved by the child, nurseries, kindergartens and schools prepare the child for the development of social experience and knowledge at the next stage of education and upbringing. Kindergarten prepares the child for schooling, and the secondary school for higher education, for work.

Age-related features of development are not something stable and static within the limits of age, mechanically replaced by features characteristic of the next stage of development. Directing the development of the personality, one must also keep in mind that the developmental features characteristic of a certain age do not always coincide with the passport age of the child. There are children who are ahead of their age in development or behind it. This is due to the innate anatomical and physiological characteristics of the organism, but the conditions of life and upbringing of the child are mainly the causal factor: they either contribute to development or inhibit it. The task of the educational institution and the teacher is to identify these causes, strengthen what contributes to successful development, and eliminate everything that negatively affects the upbringing of the personality of a young person.

In the formation of personality, an important role is played by the imitation of the child by adults. Children imitate both positive and negative, because they still do not have enough experience and do not have a critical attitude towards the actions and actions of adults. Imitation is especially pronounced in children. preschool age. Children of this age do not yet have their own attitude to the actions, behavior, opinions, statements of adults and mechanically repeat them. With the development of personality in adolescence and youth, with the growth of mental development and independence, children critically evaluate the actions and behavior of adults, and imitate only what corresponds to their ideals and values. If the positive experience of the surrounding reality does not become dominant in their lives and a moral and ethical attitude towards the actions of others and oneself is not formed, then bad habits and negative character traits will take root.

S.L. Rubinstein wrote that mental functions are formed in the process of functioning and essentially depend on the objective content on which they are formed. In a child, this functioning is inextricably linked with the development of the content of human culture and the system of interpersonal relations established in a given society. Mastering the content of culture is accomplished in the process of learning; development of interpersonal relations ... in the process of education, inextricably linked with learning.

The unity of development and training, development and upbringing means the interconnection and interpenetration of these processes. Development not only determines training and education, but also determines the course of maturation and development. Thus, the mental properties of the child should be considered not only as a prerequisite, but also as the result of the entire course of his development in the process of education and upbringing.

The educational environment organized by adults and in which the child lives consists of:

1) on the one hand, from the knowledge, skills, rules, activities, etc., which the child, as it were, appropriates;

2) on the other hand, from his attitude to this knowledge, skills, rules, activities, etc.;

3) from the third - from the child's relationship to himself, to his peers and adults around him, from his understanding of his place in this promised environment, his emotional self-perception in it.

This means that the effectiveness of education, and, consequently, of mental development depends on how much the means, content, methods of training and education are developed taking into account the psychological laws of age and individual development. At the same time, they not only rely on the existing opportunities, abilities, and skills of children, but also set the prospect for their further development. Adults in working with children of different ages should focus on the formation of their interest in the life around them, their interest and ability to learn, the ability to independently acquire knowledge, the need for an active attitude towards the activity in which they are involved.

Modern researchers more often use observation as a method of collecting data on initial stage. However, sometimes it is used as one of the main ones. 2.2 Experiment as a method of studying developmental psychology An experiment involves the active intervention of a researcher in the activities of the subject in order to create conditions in which a psychological fact is revealed. The researcher intentionally...

As I would like to briefly show, the role and place of psychic reality in the picture of the world is assigned to the person himself. So, what is developmental psychology and what are its main problems? So far, there have been several answers: 1. This is the science of the facts and laws of the mental development of a normal healthy person. 2. This is the concept of another person that every person who lives among people has ...

The essence of personality, as we know, is social in nature. The sources of its development are in environment. Personality is determined, determined by its social being. Personal development in this sense is the process of assimilation by a person of social experience, which comes in communication with people. As a result of this, the mental characteristics of a person are formed: his character, volitional traits, interests, inclinations and abilities.

Psychologists believe that the mental characteristics of a person are a lifetime, ontogenetic formation; the leading, decisive role in their formation is played by a person's social experience, the conditions of his life and activity, training and education.

The environment (in the broad sense of the word), purposeful training and upbringing form the psychological characteristics of a person, and are not just a condition for the manifestation of something originally given, genetically strictly determined. At the same time, the special role of purposeful education and upbringing is noted, which is defined as a conscious, purposeful process of influencing the older generation on the younger in order to form certain personality traits.

Man is an active, active being, and not a passive object of environmental influences. Therefore, the external conditions of life, external influences determine the human psyche not directly, but through the process of interaction between a person and the environment, through his activity in this environment. At the same time, it is more correct to speak not about the impact of the environment, but about the process of active interaction of a person with the environment.

The development of the psyche is ultimately determined by external conditions, external influences. However, this development cannot be directly derived from external conditions and circumstances. These conditions and circumstances always pass through a person's life experience, through his personality, individual mental characteristics, his mental makeup. In this sense, external influence is refracted through internal conditions, which include the uniqueness of the individual's psyche, his personal experience. More I. M. Sechenov , putting forward the thesis about the determinism of human behavior by external influences, warned against a simplified understanding of external influences as only cash, currently acting influences, while in fact it is necessary to take into account the totality of previous influences that accumulate in the life experience of a given person.

Thirdly, a person, as an active being, can himself consciously change his own personality, that is, engage in self-education, self-improvement. The process of self-education is motivated by the environment, in the process of active interaction with which it occurs. So here, too, the influence of the environment is indirect.

From this we can conclude that the same external conditions, the same environment can have a different effect on a person. The laws of the mental development of a young person are complex because the development itself is a process of complex and contradictory changes, because the factors influencing this development are multifaceted and diverse.

Man, as you know, is a natural being. Natural, biological prerequisites are necessary for its development. A certain level of biological organization, a human brain, a human nervous system are required to make it possible to form the mental characteristics of a person. Natural features become important prerequisites for mental development, but only prerequisites, and not driving forces, factors of mental development. The brain as a biological formation is a prerequisite for the emergence of consciousness, but consciousness is a product of human social existence. The nervous system has innate organic foundations for reflecting the surrounding world. But only in activity, in the conditions of social life, the corresponding ability is formed. A natural prerequisite for the development of abilities is the presence of inclinations - some innate anatomical and physiological qualities of the brain and nervous system, but the presence of inclinations does not yet guarantee the development of abilities that are formed and developed under the influence of living conditions and activities, training and education of a person.

Natural features have a sufficient influence on the mental development of a person.

Firstly, they determine different ways and means of development of mental properties, they do not determine them. No child is naturally disposed towards cowardice or boldness. On the basis of any type of nervous system, with the right education, you can develop the necessary qualities. Only in one case it will be more difficult to do than in another.

Secondly, natural features can influence the level of human achievement in any area. For example, there are inborn individual differences in inclinations, in connection with which some people may have an advantage over others in terms of mastering any kind of activity. For example, a child who has favorable natural inclinations for the development of musical abilities will, all other things being equal, develop musically faster and achieve greater success than a child who does not possess such inclinations.

The driving forces of human mental development are complex and diverse. The direct driving forces behind the development of the child are the contradictions between the new and the old, which arise and are overcome in the process of education, upbringing and activity. Such contradictions include, for example, contradictions between new needs generated by activity and the possibilities of their satisfaction; contradictions between the increased physical and spiritual needs and the old established forms of relationships and activities; between the growing demands from society, the collective, adults and the current level of mental development.

These contradictions are typical for all ages, but acquire specificity depending on the age at which they appear. For example, in a junior schoolchild there is a contradiction between readiness for independent volitional activity and the dependence of behavior on the current situation or direct experiences. For a teenager, the most acute contradictions are between his self-esteem and the level of claims, experiencing the attitude towards him from others, on the one hand, experiencing his real position in the team, the need to participate in the team, on the other; the contradiction between the need to participate in the life of adults as a full member and the discrepancy to this of one's own capabilities.

The resolution of these contradictions occurs through the formation of higher levels of mental activity. As a result, the child moves to a higher level of mental development. The need is satisfied - the contradiction is removed. But a satisfied need creates a new one. One contradiction is replaced by another - development continues.

Mental development is not only a process of quantitative changes in properties and qualities. Mental development does not boil down to the fact that with age the amount of attention, the arbitrariness of mental processes, semantic memorization, etc. increase, children's fantasy, impulsiveness in behavior, sharpness and freshness of perception decrease. The development of the psyche is associated with the appearance in certain age periods of qualitatively new features, the so-called neoplasms, such as: a sense of adulthood in adolescents, the need for life and labor self-determination in early adolescence.

In psychology, there are general tendencies, patterns of mental development, but they are secondary in relation to the influence of the environment (in the broad sense of the word), since their originality depends on the conditions of life, activity and upbringing. These general laws include, first of all, the unevenness of mental development, which lies in the fact that under any even the most favorable conditions for training and education, various mental functions, mental manifestations and personality traits are not at the same level of development. In certain periods of the child's development, the most favorable conditions arise for the development of the psyche in one direction or another, and some of these conditions are of a temporary, transient nature. Apparently, there are optimal terms for the formation and growth of certain types of mental activity. Such age periods, when the conditions for the development of certain mental properties and qualities will be optimal, are called sensitive ( L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev ).

The reason for this sensitivity is both the laws of organic maturation of the brain and the fact that some mental processes and properties can be formed only on the basis of other mental processes and properties that have been formed (for example, mathematical thinking can be formed on the basis of the ability to abstract thinking that has formed to a certain extent), and life experience. For example, for the development of speech, the period from 1 to 5 years is sensitive, for the formation of motor skills - primary school age, for the formation of mathematical thinking - 15–20 years.

Another pattern is the integration of the psyche. As the human psyche develops, it acquires more and more value, unity, stability, constancy. Small child, according to N. D. Levitov, mentally is a poorly systematized combination of mental states. Mental development is the gradual development of mental states into personality traits.

The third pattern is plasticity and the possibility of compensation. I. P. Pavlov pointed out the greatest plasticity of the nervous system, noting that everything can be changed for the better, if only the appropriate actions were carried out. This plasticity is the basis for the possibility of a purposeful change in the psyche of a child, a schoolchild in the conditions of education and upbringing. Plasticity opens up opportunities and compensations: with weakness or defective development of one mental function, others develop intensively. For example, weak memory can be compensated for by the organization and clarity of activity, visual defects are partly compensated by the heightened development of the auditory analyzer, etc.

So, the development of a child is a complex dialectical process. It has its own quality features at different stages. In psychology, the following periods of development of a child and a schoolchild are distinguished: newborn (up to 10 days), infancy (up to 1 year), early childhood (1–3 years), pre-preschool (3–5 years), preschool (5–7 years), junior school age (7-11 years old), adolescence (11-15 years old), early adolescence, or senior school age (15-18 years old).

Each period is distinguished by its essential features, needs and activities, characteristic contradictions, qualitative features of the psyche and characteristic mental neoplasms. Each period is prepared by the previous one, arises on its basis, and in turn serves as the basis for a new period. The age characteristic is determined by: a change in the position of the child in the family and school, a change in the forms of education and upbringing, new forms of activity and some features of the maturation of his body, that is, age is not only a biological, but also a social category. In this regard, in psychology there is a concept of the leading type of activity. Each age is characterized by different types of activities, there is a need for each of the types: in the game, learning, work, communication. But in different periods of development, this need is different, and the corresponding types of activity are filled with specific content. The leading type of activity is one that, at a given age stage, causes the main, most important changes in the psyche of a child, schoolchild, in his mental processes and personality traits, and not the one that the child, schoolchild is more often engaged in (although these characteristics usually coincide).

For preschool age, the leading activity is the game, although preschoolers in the forms accessible to them are engaged in educational and labor activities. IN school age teaching becomes the leading activity. role increases with age labor activity. Yes, education itself is undergoing significant changes. During the 10-11-year period of schooling, its content and nature change, the requirements for the student increase every year, and the independent, creative side of educational activity plays an increasingly important role.

Within each age, large individual differences are observed as a result, firstly, of individual variants of living conditions, activities and upbringing, and, secondly, natural individual differences (in particular, in the typological properties of the nervous system). The specific conditions of life are very diverse, as well as the individual characteristics of the individual. Therefore, we can say that age characteristics, although they exist as fairly typical for a given age, are revised from time to time in connection with the so-called acceleration (acceleration) of development. This is due to changes in living conditions, an increase in the amount of information received by the child, etc.