Mental cognitive processes - a brief description

Mental processes

- one of the groups of mental phenomena united by functional purpose in the holistic structure of the psyche.

The identification of mental processes is a purely conditional division of the psyche into its component elements, which appeared due to the significant influence of mechanistic concepts on psychologists during the formation of scientific psychology; This distinction can also be associated with analytical trends in science in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

All mental phenomena according to their duration can be divided into 3 groups:

1. mental processes;
2. mental states;
3. mental properties.

The peculiarity of mental processes is that they are the most short-term, fast-flowing. They are an actual response to what is happening.

In modern psychology, it is generally accepted that mental processes are closely interconnected and, strictly speaking, merge into one holistic process, a property called “psyche”. The division of consciousness into mental processes is arbitrary; it has no theoretical justification. Currently, integrative approaches to the psyche are being developed in science, and the classification of mental phenomena has rather a pedagogical and propaedeutic value, descending as science develops.

In mental processes, according to Wecker, two levels of organization can be distinguished: the first is associated with nervous processes organized at the level of neural connections; these processes are not necessarily isolated and defined in the consciousness of the individual. The second level is associated with consciousness and includes cognitive processes.

The interconnection of mental processes is expressed, for example, in the fact that perception is impossible without memory, memorization is impossible without perception, and attention is impossible without thinking.

What are mental processes and what are they like?

Definition 1
Mental processes are mental phenomena that perform their specific functions in the integral system of the human psyche.

The emergence of this concept dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when analytical views played a leading role in science. Today, modern scientists believe that mental processes should not be considered individually, since they are all interconnected and cannot exist separately.

There are three main groups of mental processes:

• cognitive (sensation, perception, reflection, speech, attention, representation, thinking, memory, imagination)
• emotional (emotions, feelings, affects, stress)
• strong-willed (struggle of motives, decision-making, goal setting)

Finished works on a similar topic

• Coursework Types of mental processes: thinking 440 rub.
• Abstract Types of mental processes: thinking 230 rub.
• Test work Types of mental processes: thinking 230 rub.

Receive completed work or specialist advice on your educational project Find out the cost

Further in the article we will talk in more detail about such a cognitive psychological process as thinking.

Phenomenology of manifestations of the human psyche.

Mental processes are the central subject of research in the science of psychology, within which knowledge is accumulated about how different manifestations of the psyche interact, form, develop, and function. But, despite the growing abundance of facts, there is no single generally accepted classification of mental processes.

Basic classification.

The works of many scientists have led to a generally accepted understanding of the psyche. These are the works of P.K. Anokhin, I.M. Sechenov, S.L. Rubinstein, B.F. Lomov. One of the very first is considered to be the division into reason, feeling, and will. But today the most complete typology is recognized by the Soviet-American psychologist Lev Wecker. He proposed to distinguish between two groups of processes:

• Cognitive (sensation, perception, thinking). With their help, a person receives and updates the necessary knowledge. In turn, they are divided into two stages. The first is sensory cognition, which a person receives when exposed to stimuli on the senses. The second is images that arise after processing primary information. The second stage provides rational knowledge of the world.
• Cross-cutting (memory, attention, imagination). Associated with nervous manifestations that are organized at the neural level, “permeate” consciousness and form the axis of psychological time. That's why they are called end-to-end.

Wecker's classification describes two axes of mental processes that, interacting with each other, help a person participate in cognition, regulate activities, acquire and practically apply knowledge, skills, and habits.

Take a mental test

Some classifications add two more groups:

• Regulatory-volitional . Thanks to volitional efforts, a person consciously controls his thoughts, feelings, impulses, behavior, and statements in order to overcome external or internal difficulties.
• Communication . Ensure the interaction of people when performing specific tasks or during communication.

The classification of psychological processes is built according to an ascending hierarchy, reflecting the stages of a person’s acquaintance with the world. First, the child is in direct contact with the environment, using the organs of perception to learn about objects, nature, and people. Sensitivity gradually develops and sensations are formed. Sensations provide basic material for ideas and complex images. Next, the results of communication with the world are recorded in memory, intelligence and speech develop. Without them, a person cannot interact with other people, play, work or study. A mature psyche operates with old images, creates new ones through imagination, cognizes the properties of the world through thinking, and includes conscious self-regulation. Sometimes perception is distorted, creating illusions, fantasies, and hallucinations.

Components of the psyche.

The division of the psyche into mental processes is a conditional division into its component elements:

• Feeling . Mental reflection of individual properties and states of the external environment (vision, hearing, taste, vestibular, motor and tactile sensations).
• Perception . Formation of a holistic image of external objects or phenomena.
• Thinking . The highest, most complex form of cognition of the real world, built on two fundamentally different mechanisms: obtaining knowledge and one’s own conclusions.
• Consciousness . The highest level of mental development and the inner world of man.
• Speech . A verbal communication tool that helps to transmit and assimilate information, communicate, think, reflect, fantasize, and develop intelligence.
• Attention . Selective focus on the subject, concentration on the object of knowledge.
• Memory . The ability to capture, preserve, reproduce experience at the right moment, the ability to accumulate impressions, information, skills, behavior programs.
• Memorization . The ability to consolidate new information in memory, to correlate it with already acquired knowledge (this also includes forgetting mechanisms).
• Imagination . The ability to transform impressions received from previous experience, to create new images, ideas, pictures based on them.
• Sensory abstraction . The ability of the psyche to generate sensory images from the sound stream (depending on timbre, rhythm, voice volume, accents, accents).
• Associations . The ability to form new images in the mind, taking into account past experience, knowledge, and bodily sensations.
• Creation . An activity as a result of which a person creates new ideas, objects, spiritual or material values.
• Needs . A feeling of physiological or psychological deficiency in something, which manifests itself depending on the situation.
• Emotions . Special states manifested by the experience of significant situations, phenomena or events during life.
• Strength of will . The ability to organize your psychophysiological resources in such a way as to develop your personality and accumulate energy to achieve noticeable results.

Take a personality type test

Thinking as a cognitive mental process

There are several definitions of the concept of “thinking” in modern psychology. In a general sense, thinking is understood as a mental process that is built on generalization and reflection of reality with verbal participation.

Thinking is one of the main human functions. Thanks to thinking, humanity has a certain set of knowledge about the structure of the world and can transfer this knowledge to subsequent generations.

Thinking includes comparison, comparison, forecasting, analysis, information search. Thinking is the highest form of cognitive activity. Thinking has a motive, a goal, involves actions, exercises control, and has a result.

Note 1

The peculiarity and difference of thinking from other psychological processes is that thinking reflects not only the external characteristics of objects, but also internal connections and relationships. Generalization is another feature of the thinking process. In other words, thinking is symbolic in nature and is expressed through speech.

Looking for ideas for study work on this subject? Ask a question to the teacher and get an answer in 15 minutes! Ask a Question

Will

These mental processes are independent, they take on certain properties and states, but the choice is made consciously. In this case, the individual himself controls his feelings and behavior, making choices that he does not always like, but which will be useful for him or society.

The classification of volitional mental processes includes the following types:

1. The struggle of motives. This is the absence of one specific choice that would suit a person. This condition is also called intrapersonal conflict. It means the presence of absolutely equal solutions for some situation that requires a single answer.

Specifically, conscious preference can be attributed to the volitional process, since the logically correct or moral alternative is a child of the mind. It is worth noting that this develops over the years, so children have very weak willpower.

We recommend: What is mental reflection in psychology?

2. Decision making. This process is about establishing some certainty. Moreover, sometimes the choice can be elementary (eat a cutlet or pilaf, wear a yellow or green T-shirt), and sometimes it can be very difficult. Although even in simple situations we often use willpower.

Making decisions quickly and consciously is a habit of successful people. In this case, not only reason, logic and meaning may be needed, but often the same emotions and feelings.

3. Goal setting. This is a clear awareness and determination by the individual of specific desires, the fulfillment of which he wants to achieve. This approach significantly advances the individual towards the realization of a dream, because setting a goal is a serious step.

For most people, this process generates a certain motivation, which is very important for achieving any goals. In addition, such decision-making involves a conscious choice, which has a strong impact on the psyche.

Phases of mental activity

Thinking represents an action that is aimed at solving a problem. Action is a process, like any process it has certain phases in its structure. The thought process consists of the following phases:

• problem occurs
• formation of an approximate solution
• mental verification of this decision (by analysis, comparison, etc.)
• conclusion

The first phase of the thought process is the emergence of a problem, sometimes it causes surprise. When a person experiences difficulty in resolving some issue, this is the phase of the problem arising. Next, the individual realizes the presence of a problem and begins mental operations aimed at finding a solution. A person analyzes each approximately suitable solution and tests the hypothesis. After this, the person makes a conclusion as to which solution is most suitable. Problem solving is the final stage of the thinking process.

Forms of thinking

Scientists identify three main forms of the thinking process:

• concept
• judgment
• inference

When specific features of objects and phenomena, their general and particular characteristics, are reflected in the consciousness of an individual, this means that a certain “concept” is formed in his consciousness. A concept can be expressed in one or more words.

A form of thinking that has in its concept a positive or negative attitude towards the surrounding reality and the interconnections of the world is called judgment. All judgments can be divided into three groups:

• general (statements about all objects of a certain group)
• private (statements about some group objects)
• single (statement about one subject of the group)

Inference is understood as the isolation of a new judgment from several other judgments, for example, an inference can be made on the basis of a particular and general judgment (syllogism).

Factors of neuropsychic processes

There are significant factors that influence neuropsychic processes. One of them is associated with the predominance of memory from traces of internal stimuli.

From the moment of birth, the body accumulates irritations coming from internal organs, which are transmitted through the nervous system. Impulses associated with hunger, thirst, dissatisfaction, satiety and similar states of the body irritate the nerve endings of the body and transmit excitation to the centers where traces of these excitations are stored.

Internal irritation is the main causative agent of body movement and is characterized by great intensity and correlation with the satisfaction of basic human needs. Therefore, traces associated with internal excitations are significant when compared with traces accumulated by the nervous system in the process of life.

Internal stimuli and their traces serve as the most important guides for body movements. In ordinary reflexive actions, the process of nerve impulses follows a specifically defined path associated with nerve elements.

Impulses of internal irritations vary depending on the general condition of the human body. This is how the interrelation of neuropsychic processes with the same external stimuli is manifested. Traces of previous internal stimulation influence the nature of the motor reaction. It turns out that traces of external stimuli control body movements and determine the nature of irritation.

Neuropsychic processes, similar to reflex ones, are distinguished by the complexity of the phenomena.

Types of thinking

In modern psychological science there is no unified classification of types of thinking. Thinking is divided according to the nature of the tasks to be solved into: theoretical (conceptual and figurative) and practical (visually figurative and visually effective). The concept of theoretical thinking is understood as thinking that is aimed at searching for general patterns, more prone to scientists. It, in turn, is divided into conceptual and figurative thinking. Conceptual thinking is characterized by the use of certain concepts. When solving a mental problem, an individual does not search for new information, but uses ready-made concepts and conclusions of other people. During figurative thinking, an individual uses images that are extracted from memory and imagination.

As opposed to theoretical thinking, practical thinking is used to solve practical problems. It is divided into visual-figurative and visual-effective. Visual-figurative thinking is a process of imaginative problem solving. It involves visual modeling of a situation without performing practical actions. Visual-effective thinking involves actions with objects when solving problems. This type of thinking dominates in children under 3 years of age.

Depending on the degree of development and awareness, thinking can be discursive and intuitive. Discursive thinking is a process of mental activity in which various solution options are sorted out based on logic. Intuitive thinking, in turn, is a subconscious process; the individual somehow comes to a conclusion, but at the same time cannot explain by what principles he was guided in making a decision.

Based on novelty and originality, reproductive and productive thinking are distinguished. In reproductive thinking, an individual uses methods already known to him when solving problems; an example of reproductive thinking is a film remake. With productive thinking, new information, objects, and phenomena are recreated. An example of productive thinking is creating a new film.

Depending on the number of participants, thinking can be individual or collective.

Mental processes in our lives

Throughout life, a person grows, develops, masters new areas of knowledge, acquires the necessary skills, and builds relationships with others. Each of us is unique and unrepeatable. But what is the basis of our individuality?

What are the building blocks of our personality? The answer to these questions can not only satisfy our curiosity, but also help in everyday life. We can influence most mental processes, for example, train attention and memory. But such training is not easy and requires conscious volitional efforts. It is much easier to organize your life based on knowledge about the structure of our mental processes. For example, having information about the properties of memory can reduce the time spent on learning new material and increase the efficiency of memorization.

What about other processes? When learning, the speed of acquiring skills depends on the personality traits of the student

: attention, memory, thinking and imagination. To understand your chosen field, you need to acquire new skills. A professional relies on ready-made solutions developed by others, has a perfect understanding of the variety of techniques necessary for work, and is aware of the latest achievements in his field. The master develops his own ways and methods of work. At all three stages - training, professionalism, mastery - a person is faced with the need to master new information, develop new skills, and respond to changes. To always stay “in shape” you need to take care of yourself and use your abilities most effectively.

As for relationships with other people, knowledge of the structure of psychological defenses significantly saves nerves when communicating with others and allows you to better understand yourself. For example, that it’s not “the grapes are sour,” but “I can’t reach it.” The action of psychological defenses is based on the same mental processes, which will be discussed below.

Higher mental processes include

: perception, attention, memory, thinking, imagination, emotions and speech. They all have a number of common features. The most important of which is that the mental process itself and its result are related to different objects: the first - to the organ in which it occurs; the second - to external objects that are in no way connected with this organ.

For example, the results of the perception of an object can be described only through the properties of this object: color, size, volume, hardness, etc.; the results of thinking are in the characteristics of objects, the connections between which it reflects; emotions - in relation to the events that caused them.

Another important feature is that we do not feel the physiological components of mental processes. Those. We only have access to the result of the activity of the psyche - the jacket is green, the stone is heavy, the rain is cold, and the changes that have occurred in the work of the central nervous system to ensure the desired result are not perceived by us at all. A contradiction arises: we feel the properties of things that are outside, but we do not feel what is happening inside us, in our brain.

However, the most amazing property of higher mental processes is “spontaneous activity” (L.M. Wekker). Starting from the simplest actions to manifestations of rationality and morality, mental activity does not directly depend on the physiology of the body or on external influences. To put it simply, the same event will cause different reactions in different people, and it is impossible to say in advance how a person will react to something with complete certainty. The principle of freedom of higher mental processes lies in the absence of a rigidly predetermined and fixed program of action in all details.

However, there is a “fly in the ointment” here too. Long-term observations of identical twins showed that their fates were largely the same, even if they were separated in early childhood. The life story of a pair of twins separated at birth is known - one of them stayed with his mother in France, and the other went with his father to America. None of them knew that he had a brother until they were 50 years old. At the same time, both discovered an aptitude for physics and mathematics, went in for similar sports, became electrical engineers, and were fond of collecting stamps all their lives. Both got married at 24, at 25 each of them became a father, at 29 they both had a second child. At 49 they fell ill with tuberculosis and died almost simultaneously, when they were 59 years old.

There are many more similar examples. Johann Sebastian Bach's father was no different from his twin brother even in music - they could replace each other during the intermission of a concert and no one would notice the difference. Identical twins often see the same dreams, make the same grammatical mistakes, if one gets sick, the other will soon get sick, even if they live in different areas. The similarities between fraternal twins are much less pronounced. So, the difference in life expectancy for the first is about 3 years, and for the second – more than 12.

These and many other observations speak in favor of the existence of innate inclinations of not only physical characteristics, but also psychological properties

. Which poses the question of whether mental processes develop at all during human life or whether hereditarily given qualities simply manifest themselves sequentially? There are different opinions. Representatives of Gestalt psychology believe that mental processes do not develop throughout life, but manifest themselves sequentially. With this point of view, the question of the formation of abilities in children is not even raised; we are talking only about identifying what was inherited by the child.

Scientists of another direction, the founder of which is Jean Piaget, have substantiated through numerous experiments and observations that there is also intravital development of higher mental functions, but they limit this process to adolescence, when the morphological maturation of the body ends. However, domestic scientists, successors of the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky, developed another concept, according to which the development of mental functions continues throughout life, without denying that it is associated with both heredity and the influence of the environment in which a person lives from birth. But how is this possible – continuation of development when physiologically everything is already completed? A.A. Ukhtomsky also answered this question by proposing the idea of ​​functional organs that are formed during learning. When a skill is developed, different centers in the nervous system work harmoniously and connections are formed between them. The more training, the faster nerve impulses pass between these centers - the speed of action increases. As a result, strong and easily accessible connections are formed between all participants in the system, which allows it to function as a single whole. This is comparable to building a road - imagine how fast you can drive on a rural road? What if we turn it into a highway? And even if you don’t use some paths for a long time, the opportunity to “drive” along them remains for a long time. For example, people who have lost their sight do not lose the ability to visualize the objects they touch for many years.

The domestic approach allows us not to give up in situations where we do not have the abilities that we would like to acquire, even if the most favorable age for their formation has been missed

. But, of course, we should not forget about inherited inclinations. Also, it would be appropriate to think about the fact that often in our society old age is unfairly treated as an age when the main peak of mental activity is already behind us.

Returning to higher mental processes, let us turn to the general points in their development: immersion, coagulation and arbitrariness

.

The development of higher mental functions is best seen by observing a child. At first, he is forced to realize every impulse motorically in order to solve the problem facing him. Its actions are extensive and contain a large number of visible components. Gradually they change: they are qualitatively transformed and there are fewer actions. This process is called coagulation

. If we look into the encyclopedia and read the article about the formation of vision, we will see that a child’s eye makes many chaotic micromovements to recognize what he sees, while an adult’s eye makes much fewer micromovements, orienting them mainly along the contour of the object in question. A.V. Zaporozhets and his colleagues showed that a similar developmental path is also typical for consciously learned movements at any age. First, you need a detailed sequence of actions, control over each muscle. As a result of collapsing, movements gradually become smooth and economical, and only general control remains.

Dive

– the disappearance of external actions and their transformation into mental ones. For example, when a child learns to count, he first uses sticks and fingers, then the movement of his eyes is enough for him, and only then does he learn to count “in his head.” If a child who can only count on his fingers is prohibited from moving his arms, he will not be able to count anything. The principle of immersion makes it possible to act in the imagination. Athletes have long known about the so-called. “virtual training” – mental execution of real actions. If an athlete performs it mentally before a difficult exercise, the result will be better. Many athletes, after imaginary training, feel almost the same fatigue as if they were training in reality, which suggests that internal efforts require appropriate activity and expenditure of strength and energy. And experiences and suffering, regardless of what caused them, are very real experiences. So, openly slow actions are gradually transformed into lightning-fast mental operations.

Arbitrariness

– an important general feature of mental functions. A person can control his behavior thanks to the ability to break the stimulus-response link and insert another link there. The result is a stimulus – a psychological tool – a reaction. The use of psychological tools allowed a person to rebuild his mental activity in the same way as the use of tools gave new opportunities for external actions. Examples of psychological tools are language, counting, and algebraic symbols. Mastering a sign is carried out in several stages. Initially, it is needed to understand others and communicate with them. Then it becomes an external means of controlling one’s mental processes. And only then does the transformation of the external sign into the internal structure of thinking occur. Let's take speech. Even if you don’t turn to childhood experience, you can remember how learning a foreign language occurs. First comes learning words, then communication becomes possible, and at some point you may catch yourself starting to think in another language. A person can use artificially created stimuli that do not have a direct connection with the situation. Everyone is familiar with such a simple thing as drawing lots - the opportunity to determine one’s reaction using an artificial stimulus that is not related to the situation. At a certain stage in the development of mankind, the lot became the beginning of an active change in the situation by man. Knotted writing has also been used since that time. By tying a knot for memory, a person builds the process of memorization, forcing an external object (knot) to remind himself of something (for example, remember to take the keys), as if taking the memorization process outside, turning it into an external activity. During voluntary memorization, a person introduces a sign (the same knot) between the object and the reaction to it, which allows him to change the direction of the process. Thinking is also indirect in nature (an intermediate link between event and action). It is the introduction of another link, a sign, that allows a person to control his behavior. All higher mental processes develop from hereditary inclinations and go through stages, starting from expanded external actions to immersion and collapse; in addition, they can be arbitrary, in accordance with the desire of a person. The role of a sign (speech) is not only to master one’s behavior through voluntariness, but also to introduce oneself to human culture. Thanks to the signs, a qualitative restructuring of mental processes occurs, expanding a person’s capabilities.