Personal self-awareness
21.05.2015Snezhana Ivanova
Personal self-awareness is a special form of consciousness aimed at the feelings and experiences of the person himself.
Personal self-awareness is a special form of consciousness aimed at the feelings and experiences of the person himself. We can say that self-awareness is given to us in order to monitor our mental state. Self-awareness is closely related to the emotional sphere. Any development would not take place without self-awareness. A child, as soon as he is born, begins to interact with the world and gradually develops his own individual ideas about it. What he experiences becomes subjective sensations and largely determines his attitude towards himself and the people around him. Only with the help of self-awareness does it become possible to evaluate one’s own and others’ actions.
Often an adult adjusts his actions to social expectations and wants to appear in the most favorable light in the eyes of colleagues and relatives. The formation of self-awareness occurs on average upon reaching 14–17 years of age, and then it only strengthens under the influence of society. A child, being in a certain social environment, absorbs its customs, rules, orders and tries to behave in such a way as to comply with them. He has his own inner world, in which his own laws reign, but they do not always correspond with the norms of society, and therefore can bring significant experiences to the individual. With the help of self-awareness, a person also “hears” the voice of conscience.
An individual’s self-image is made up of three components: social expectations, self-image, and the opinions of others about themselves. As a result of the development of self-awareness, the individual gradually comes to an understanding of value ( read about) and the significance of its existence ( read about). Self-awareness here acts as a link between the influence of social attitudes and one’s own internal needs ( read about).
The structure of self-awareness
The structure of self-awareness includes three main elements that mutually influence each other. Based on this structure of self-awareness, each person has the opportunity to track his psycho-emotional state, understand what he is doing for the sake of others and himself.
- "I am real" Corresponds to the person’s idea of himself at the current moment in time. Personal self-awareness helps to see an objective picture of one’s own situation. Here a person evaluates himself from different positions. A single image is formed on the basis of all social roles: father, son, employee, friend. A person literally mentally asks himself the following questions: what kind of parent am I, am I a good worker, am I a talented leader? Mental responses can either satisfy or frustrate the individual. In the case of a clear discrepancy between these images, additional experiences and suffering arise, and there is a serious reason for deep reflection.
- "I am perfect" It is the second component of the structure of self-awareness and indicates the internal motives and aspirations of the individual for self-improvement. “I am the ideal” includes our desires, dreams, goals regarding ourselves in the future. It forms an idea of what needs to be done to achieve the desired result. How a person sees himself in the future reflects the level of his aspirations, self-confidence and presence. As a rule, people tend to idealize this image and underestimate the achievements in the present moment that already exist. You can imagine anything; dreaming is sometimes much more pleasant than taking active steps to change your inner reality. Self-awareness of an individual necessarily presupposes the presence of a desire for change.
- "I am the past" Represents the most dramatic part, which has a strong impact on how a person builds his life. It is possible to control self-awareness, however, the past cannot be corrected. If a person has a negative past, he will be afraid to act actively in the present and will do it with caution. The past is an invaluable experience that helps us understand our own actions and focus on future achievements.
It must be said that all components of self-awareness are inextricably linked. The structure of self-awareness is an integral system, and if a person has learned to appreciate the present, then it will be easier for him to realize himself in the future.
Functions of self-awareness
Among the main functions of self-awareness, it is customary to highlight several important components. The functions of self-awareness play the role of personality formation and its characteristic features.
Formation of individuality
Each person is unique in their own way. In order to develop individuality, it is necessary to carry out colossal internal work. You can't do this without self-awareness. Personality is formed under the influence of those events and experiences that it experiences. If all these tests had not occurred, man would have stopped in his development. Our life moves in such a way that, willingly or unwillingly, we always learn new things and make certain efforts to realize our plans and dreams. Self-awareness plays a major role. Individuality does not come cheap to anyone; it must be defended in front of colleagues and even loved ones, who in some cases may not understand our desires.
Building your own individual image, in turn, helps to form a “self-concept” that determines what a person will be like and how exactly he will achieve his goals. And all this could not have happened without self-awareness.
Formation of self-defense
Living in society, from the first years of life a person must learn to structure his behavior in such a way as to experience as little negative influence as possible. It is no secret that society does not like those who somehow stand out from the crowd, demonstrate extraordinary abilities, or have a different, distinctive view on things that have been known for a long time. The functions of self-awareness would be incomplete without this important element. An internal feeling of peace and security contributes to personal maturation and the formation of an idea of individual capabilities. Some people have the right to be proud of their self-awareness.
What kind of personality can be called truly holistic? Only one who can imagine herself as completely independent, complete, and self-awareness plays not the least role in this process. Psychologists recommend learning to imagine yourself as a dense “balloon” that no one can “catch onto.” This approach makes you feel happy.
Self-regulation of behavior
It is only through self-awareness that a person is generally able to control his own behavior. Self-awareness regulates the internal mechanisms and experiences of the individual. A person has the ability to improve his mood, change his way of thinking or concentration ( read about attention) on a specific object. Once in society, a child learns to manage his behavior, recognize what is good and what is bad, how he can behave and how he should not.
Social norms of etiquette must also be adhered to, so the individual is forced to adapt to them, listening to his self-awareness. Often, performing the necessary activity is mandatory, but this becomes possible only with the internal “permission” of the individual himself.
Self-awareness is constantly developing and undergoing significant changes. If a person stops at something, he begins to move backward.
Self-awareness and self-esteem
It is hardly possible to diminish the importance of self-awareness for the individual. A lot in his life depends on the level of aspirations a person sets for himself: the degree of fame, self-confidence, and the desire for new achievements. An important role is played by , which, in turn, is also formed thanks to self-awareness. Self-awareness and self-esteem of an individual have a mutual influence on each other.
Why do some people have low self-esteem and others have low self-esteem? It’s all about what experience a person received in childhood, adolescence from the environment, how society saw her. If a small child is often made to feel guilty, then in adulthood this person will demonstrate extreme constriction, he will remain afraid of doing something wrong, of disappointing his loved ones. In the case when the child is allowed everything and any whims are immediately fulfilled, a person comes into life who has not learned to accept refusals. Such a person remains infantile and dependent on others for a long time.
A person's self-awareness directly affects his self-esteem. The more confident a person is, the less he will allow society to invade his private life and direct it. The one who takes responsibility for the fulfillment of individual aspirations almost always has adequate self-esteem, that is, he knows his strengths and weaknesses, but does not engage in self-flagellation at every opportunity.
Individual self-awareness and social behavior
Consciousness and self-awareness are faithful assistants to the individual in understanding the surrounding reality. His interaction with the people around him depends on how consciously a person leads a life, how frank he is with himself. Many people are unaware of their self-awareness. As a rule, society loves people who are open and willing to communicate. Respect is achieved by benevolent individuals who are ready to share positive emotions and give joy.
The way a person behaves in society shows whether the people around him are pleasant and how confident he is. Notice that when we have achievements that are considered commendable in society, there is a desire to demonstrate our successes more often. A person who feels at his best straightens his shoulders, straightens his posture, and becomes louder in his voice.
A violation of self-awareness can manifest itself in the fact that a person does not want to take responsibility for his actions, is in no hurry to grow up and take constructive actions. When a person is not ready to calculate his steps and does not look into the future, he cannot be called mature. Consciousness and self-awareness of the individual is a very deep topic, affecting various aspects of the individual.
Professional identity
Professional self-awareness is a set of ideas of an individual about himself as a specialist in a particular field. It is extremely important that a person develops a positive self-image during the development of professional skills. A feeling of satisfaction promotes further development. This image is single and consists of several important components.
- Creating a standard for a specific profession. Helps an individual build a very clear vision of what a professional of a certain category should be. Includes norms, rules, and behavior patterns. For example, when studying to become a doctor, a future specialist already knows that he needs to be attentive to people and strives to do everything possible to restore them to a healthy state. Often a young student idealizes his profession; it is difficult for him to imagine all its aspects without enough practice. But it is this image that helps him advance in his learning and learn new significant details. All this is achieved through self-awareness.
- Awareness of important qualities. This means that through personal self-awareness, everyone who is preparing to become a professional in their field, at some point begins to try on the role of a specialist. A person realizes the presence or absence of specific character qualities necessary in the profession, and compares himself with other colleagues. As a result of these comparisons, professional self-esteem is formed. With the participation of self-awareness, a person prepares himself for activity, strives for professional growth and improvement.
Developing Self Awareness
Personal self-awareness begins with the discovery of one's own individuality. This process, of course, does not happen in one moment, but can last for years until clarity of self-awareness is formed. This is how a person gradually comes to understand his uniqueness and originality. With the help of self-awareness, the ability to correct one’s own actions and actions increases. The following elements contribute to the development of individual self-awareness.
- Discovering your individuality. It starts with separating yourself from the world around you. A child who grows up in a particular family eventually begins to understand that other people do not always feel the same way as he does. The awareness of one's uniqueness is accelerated if one has clear talents that can be demonstrated to relatives. In this case, the baby will form a positive opinion about himself. Self-awareness of an individual begins at about three years of age and is completely completed by the time he enters adolescence.
- Formation of attitude towards yourself. It largely depends on the child’s parents. The development of self-awareness will be more successful if the family tries to notice even the small achievements of their child and celebrate his successes. Children are very attentive and sensitive to any assessments about themselves. They are sensitive to criticism and some of them take it too seriously. The individual’s self-awareness awakens gradually, under the influence of stimulating factors.
- Revisiting past events. With the help of self-awareness, you can sometimes change your attitude towards those events that cannot be corrected. Self-awareness can be talked about as a miracle medicine that can heal wounded souls. What needs to be done? Stop focusing on experiences that cause severe anxiety and mental pain. You can overcome anything with your own self-awareness.
- Self-love. You need to value yourself because no one else will make you happy. Only you can make this decision yourself. And in many ways, the influence of self-awareness will help you in this. Learn to value yourself simply for what you are, and not for some great achievements.
- Developing self-awareness does not happen painlessly. This process always requires you to completely immerse yourself in deep experiences. Speaking about the development of self-awareness, it is worth noting that the leading role here belongs to the person himself.
Thus, personal self-awareness in psychology is a topic that attracts a lot of attention. Personal self-awareness is closely related to developmental and developmental psychology and affects certain branches of pedagogy and sociology. Many modern scientists are turning to self-awareness to make scientific discoveries.
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is a complex psychological structure, which includes as special components, according to V.S. Merlin, firstly, consciousness of his identity, secondly, consciousness of his own “I” as an active, active principle, thirdly, awareness of his mental properties and qualities, and fourthly, a certain system of social and moral self-esteem. All these elements are related to each other functionally and genetically, but they are not formed at the same time. The beginnings of consciousness of identity appear already in an infant, when he begins to distinguish between sensations caused by external objects and sensations caused by his own body, the consciousness of “I” - from about three years old, when the child begins to correctly use personal pronouns. Awareness of one's mental qualities and self-esteem acquire the greatest importance in adolescence and young adulthood. But since all these components are interconnected, the enrichment of one of them inevitably modifies the entire system.
A.G. Spirkin gives the following definition: “self-awareness is a person’s awareness and assessment of his actions and their results, thoughts, feelings, moral character and interests, ideals and motives of behavior, a holistic assessment of himself and his place in life. Self-awareness is a constitutive feature of personality, formed along with the formation of the latter.”
Self-consciousness has consciousness as its subject, and therefore opposes itself to it. But at the same time, consciousness is preserved in self-awareness as a moment, since it is focused on comprehending its own essence. If consciousness is a subjective condition for a person’s orientation in the surrounding world, knowledge of others, this self-awareness is a person’s orientation in his own personality, a person’s knowledge of himself, this is a kind of “spiritual light that reveals both oneself and the other.”
Through self-awareness, a person becomes aware of himself as an individual reality, separate from nature and other people. He becomes a being not only for others, but also for himself. The main meaning of self-consciousness, according to A.G. Spirkin, should be considered “simply the consciousness of our existing existence, the consciousness of one’s own existence, the consciousness of oneself, or one’s “I.”
Self-awareness is the crown of development of higher mental functions; it allows a person not only to reflect the external world, but, having distinguished himself in this world, to cognize his inner world, experience it and relate to himself in a certain way. Awareness of oneself as some stable object presupposes internal integrity, the constancy of the personality, which, regardless of changing situations, is capable of remaining itself.
Structure and forms of self-awareness
What is self-awareness? In psychological science, the following definition has been adopted: “The set of mental processes through which an individual recognizes himself as a subject of activity is called self-consciousness, and his ideas about himself are formed into a certain “image of “I”.
“The image of “I” is not just an individual’s idea or concept of himself, but a social attitude, the individual’s attitude towards himself. Therefore, in the image of “I” three components can be distinguished:
1) cognitive (cognitive) - self-knowledge, self-awareness;
2) emotional - evaluative - value attitude towards oneself;
3) behavioral - features of behavior regulation.
Self-awareness is a dynamic, historically developing formation that appears at different levels and in different forms.
Its first form, which is sometimes called well-being, is an elementary awareness of one’s body and its fit into the world of surrounding things and people. It turns out that the simple perception of objects as existing outside a given person and independently of his consciousness already presupposes certain forms of self-reference, i.e. some kind of self-awareness. In order to see this or that object as something existing objectively, a certain mechanism must be “built in” into the process of perception itself, taking into account the place of the human body among other bodies - both natural and social - and the changes that occur with the human body in contrast to what happens in the outside world.
The next, higher level of self-awareness is associated with awareness of oneself as belonging to one or another human community, one or another social group.
The highest level of development of this process is the emergence of the consciousness of “I” as a completely special formation, similar to the “I” of other people and at the same time unique and inimitable in some way, capable of performing free actions and being responsible for them, which necessarily implies the ability to control your actions and evaluate them. Here it is necessary to highlight such an aspect as consciousness. Consciousness is characterized primarily by the extent to which a person is able to realize the social consequences of his activities. The greater the place in the motives of activity occupied by the understanding of social duty, the higher the level of consciousness. A person is considered conscious if he is able to correctly understand reality and, in accordance with this, control his actions.
Consciousness is an integral property of a mentally healthy human personality. The ability to understand the consequences of an action is sharply reduced and even completely absent in children, as well as in mentally ill people. Consciousness is a moral and psychological characteristic of a person’s actions, which is based on consciousness and assessment of oneself, one’s capabilities, intentions and goals.
However, self-awareness is not only the various forms and levels of self-knowledge. It is also always about self-esteem and self-control. Self-awareness involves comparing oneself with a certain ideal of “I” accepted by a given person, making some self-evaluation - as a result, the emergence of a feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with oneself. The “mirror” in which a person sees himself and with the help of which he begins to relate to himself as a person, that is, develops forms of self-awareness, is the society of other people. Self-awareness is born not as a result of the internal needs of an isolated consciousness, but in the process of collective practical activity and interpersonal relationships.
As already mentioned, the image of “I” is not a static, but an extremely dynamic formation of the personality. The image of “I” can arise as an idea of oneself at the moment of the experience itself, usually designated in psychology as the real “I”. This “I” changes all the time, for example, the “I” before the competition and after the competition, the “I” before the exam and after the exam will be different. At the same time, the image of “I” is the ideal “I” of the subject, i.e. what he should become in order to meet social norms and the expectations of others. This is what a person strives for, what he wants to become in the future. The existence of a fantastic “I” is also possible. In this case, a person looks at himself through the prism of his own desires, without taking into account his real capabilities. Usually the fantastic “I” is accompanied by the words “if”, which means what the subject would like to become if it were possible for him.
All “I” coexist in a person at the same time. And if one of the “I”s prevails over the others, this may affect his personality. The degree of correctness of the image of “I” is clarified by studying one of its most important aspects - self-esteem of the individual, i.e. a person’s assessment of himself, his capabilities, qualities and place among other people. This is the most significant and most studied aspect of a person’s self-awareness in psychology.
Self-esteem is an indispensable companion of our “I”. It manifests itself not so much in what a person thinks or says about himself, but in his attitude towards the achievements of others. With the help of self-esteem, the behavior of an individual is regulated.
Self-awareness is studied in psychology, philosophy and many other sciences. Of course, each of them answers in its own way the question of what self-consciousness is, what is its place and role in the structure of personality. And within the same discipline, there are conflicting views on this mental phenomenon.
Forms of self-awareness, its features, self-awareness, consciousness and levels of self-awareness - in specialized literature this topic is addressed in many complex issues. Our task is not to fully illuminate these problems. Let's touch only on the main points.
Definition and its features
Let's start with a definition. So, human self-awareness is defined as a complex of mental processes through which a person recognizes himself as a subject of activity. In other words, this is awareness of one’s own appearance, needs, emotions, behavior, relationships with others.
Despite its apparent simplicity, the concept of self-awareness hides many deep meanings and gives rise to a large number of questions. Self-awareness allows a person to give a holistic assessment of himself and form an idea of \u200b\u200bhis “I”, separating him from the world and other people in it - all this contains a short definition.
Self-awareness is a constant dynamic, a continuous study and evaluation of one’s actions, thoughts and feelings. After all, throughout life a person himself changes, and therefore his view of himself. Factors in the development of self-awareness can be different. Most often they are divided into internal (for example, self-observation) and external (evaluation of others, communication). The characteristics of self-awareness also differ in each age period.
How do self-awareness and personality relate? Some scientists tend to equate one term with another, but others share them and believe that self-awareness is included in the structure of personality and, therefore, its development is not a separate process, but one of the aspects of personality development.
The American psychologist and philosopher William James divided the “I” into two such entities. He believed that the “I” is the unity of two components, its two sides - the empirical and the “pure”. The first element is the object of knowledge, and the second is the subject.
James also called the empirical “I” “Mine,” meaning that it includes everything that a person can call belonging to him, in the broadest sense: body, material property, products of creative activity, circle of relatives and friends, character traits … The empirical “I” has a three-part structure.
- Material “I” - objects, things, belonging to a person, his own body.
- The spiritual “I” is the inner world of the individual, its characteristics, inclinations and abilities.
- Social “I” is an image formed by surrounding people. As James believed, the number of social “I” of a person coincides with the number of social groups whose opinion is valuable to him.
The relationship between self-awareness - an internal, deep process - and external human activity is also complex because internal mechanisms are very difficult to separate from them. Only in artificially created conditions (if, for example, a person is isolated from others) do internal processes begin to clearly manifest themselves. A person can talk to himself, his own thoughts seem alien to him. In mental disorders, such symptoms are even more clearly visible.
Functions and structure
What does self-awareness consist of? We have already touched on this topic, but now we will look at it in more detail. Different scientists have looked at different components of self-awareness.
Thus, identity begins to be recognized already in infancy, when the child acquires the ability to distinguish between sensations that come from the outside and relate to his own body. At about three years old, a child already masters the skill of using personal pronouns - we can talk about awareness of his “I”.
Awareness of one’s own mental qualities, as well as the formation of self-esteem, occurs during adolescence and adolescence. Of course, these stages of development of self-awareness are very approximate; moreover, you need to understand that due to the close interconnection of all components, an increase in the volume of one of them will inevitably entail changes in the entire structure.
The development of self-awareness begins with the establishment of a person’s affiliation with the name given to him, which occurs at a very early age. Later, the child discovers that some of his actions evoke the approval of others, and some - the opposite. Through the desire for recognition, a child develops a sense of self-esteem and self-esteem.
The next link in development is gender identification, when a person becomes aware of the characteristics inherent to his sex (social, physical and psychological). The subjectively organized psychological time of an individual is associated with a comparison of the present self with oneself in the past and future. Finally, social space is made up of culture and style of communication and interaction with society.
Thus, self-knowledge is the first part of the structure, reflecting a person’s multifaceted ideas about himself and the process of obtaining them. Self-esteem and self-acceptance (or rejection) represent the second component. Finally, the third element includes specific actions in which self-knowledge and self-esteem are visible. The main functions of self-consciousness also follow from the self-concept.
- Regulation of behavior, self-control in various activities.
- Accumulation of information about yourself.
- Formation of self-esteem and assessment of others.
- Maintaining consistency in your own image and behavior.
The list can be continued and supplemented. The role of self-awareness in personality development is truly difficult to overestimate. Author: Evgenia Bessonova
3. Self-awareness
Consciousness as a product of social development exists only in the form of mental activity. The psyche is a special form of reflection of reality. This approach allows us to highlight other properties of consciousness. It is important that, reflecting reality, it itself is included in the concept of reality. Consciousness is a dual reflection in which the unity of subject and object is recorded.
This property of consciousness is more fully revealed by the concept of reflection, which expresses the form of human theoretical activity aimed at understanding (awareness) of one’s own actions. This is also an activity of self-knowledge that reveals the spiritual world of a person. The significance of reflection is that through it the development of culture and the active capabilities of a person is achieved.
Consciousness not only reflects reality, but allows us to express a certain attitude towards it. This property allows a person to take one or another position in relation to objects of inanimate and living nature, in specific life conditions and circumstances. That is, we are talking about the fact that the presence of consciousness gives human behavior a value-based and personal aspect.
Finally, consciousness includes creativity, which opens up for a person the possibility of transforming the world and improving natural inclinations. Only a creative person is capable of being a free person.
A conversation about the nature of consciousness involves the use of concepts such as individual and personality. They are partially touched upon in the chapter devoted to man, but here they are considered from the point of view of the formation of self-awareness. When we are talking about an individual subject (not about a species, group, community), we use the term individual. But if it is necessary to emphasize certain qualities that distinguish an individual from other representatives of the species, we use the term individual.
An individual is characterized by qualities that arise already in the early stages of his ontogenesis. This is primarily indivisibility. All organs, being elements of the individual, form its integrity, but only by interacting with each other as separate parts (with their inherent morphological and functional special properties), they become one and whole. Finally, the individual has certain diverse morphological features that make it possible to distinguish him from the mass of other individuals or individuals.
An individual is the result of a long evolution, during which not only differentiation takes place (a clearer manifestation of certain properties, qualities, abilities, shortcomings), but also integration. The latter is a property of the body that allows you to smooth out and level out certain properties of the individual. This is especially important for such properties that could become a factor reducing the viability of an individual. An individual manifests itself primarily as a genotypic formation, but the role of ontogenesis is no less important. The higher an individual rises on the evolutionary ladder, the more complex his organization becomes, in other words, individuals become individualized.
Unlike the concept of individual, the word “personality” is used only in relation to a person. Moreover, only from a certain stage of its development, since only man has consciousness. The concepts of consciousness and personality are inseparable. Only the presence and manifestation of consciousness allows one to perceive and evaluate a person as a person. In this case, all the individual qualities of a person, no matter how significant and expressive they may be, fade into the background. From what point in human ontogenesis consciousness manifests itself is a controversial issue. Educators and psychologists believe that personality traits are laid down from the moment of birth, but their development can either be stimulated by the conditions of upbringing or inhibited.
Psychopathology also indicates a split personality, meaning a split consciousness. And this is by no means a verbal trick. However, we note that there is never any talk about the splitting of the individual.
Personality – a relatively late product of socio-historical and ontogenetic development. In the specialized and philosophical literature there are two understandings of personality. One is when innate (inherited) abilities gradually crystallize as a person. Another assumes that the formation of personality does not directly coincide with the process of lifetime changes in natural properties, in other words, specific stages of ontogenesis do not necessarily correspond to a certain level of personality development.
Personality is a purely human formation. Human personality is not derived from adaptive activity. Therefore, it is difficult to predict how a child’s personality will develop even in cases where he has certain birth defects. Or, on the contrary, he is born full-fledged, physically healthy. No exclusivity of an individual unambiguously predetermines his formation as a personality. Because personality is a product of the integration of processes that carry out the life relationships of the subject. At the same time, the characteristics of the individual are preserved.
Motives and emotions play an important role in the development of personality.
Motive – it is an incentive to action. In human life, motives manifest themselves in different forms - instinctive impulse, biological attraction, various interests and desires. A motive is a set of internal psychological states that encourage a person to take one or another action. Such an action presupposes the presence of a goal. However, it should be taken into account that the same motives give rise to actions with different goals, while similar actions can be caused by different motives. At different stages of personality development, different motives arise. A person is faced with the necessity, in his quest to satisfy them, to give preference to some, discard others, and postpone others for some time. How it will be possible to resolve the contradiction that arises during the collision of various motives depends on the level of personal development.
Depending on the degree of awareness of a person’s motives, drives and desires are distinguished. Attraction – This is a poorly differentiated, not clearly recognized need. Attraction often arises in a person in the form of a vague image, confused, fleeting thoughts. Wish as a motive it is characterized by a fairly strong, stable awareness of the need. At the same time, not only the objects of need are realized, but also the ways to achieve it. Desire is accompanied by a constant thought about some thing, object, or specific person. It is reinforced by the volitional desire to possess the object of desire.
A person experiences various emotional states. Emotion(from the Latin “emoveo” - shock, excite) - this is the experience of sensations, a special mental state associated with the manifestation of instincts and motives. Emotions perform a certain regulatory function in human behavior: positive ones contribute to more active activity, negative ones reduce and inhibit activity and initiative. Again, depending on the level of personality development, a person can manage his emotional state. Thus, one of the social assessments of a person is the recognition of his ability to “not succumb to emotions”, “to cope with emotions”. Sometimes this is not easy, since the simplest emotional processes are genetically predetermined and are expressed in organic, motor and secretory changes. Everyone has experienced states generated by emotions: pleasure, displeasure, fear, joy.
In the course of cultural and spiritual development, emotions are freed from instinctive nature (although not completely) and form a wide range of higher emotional processes - social, intellectual, aesthetic. Thus, the main content of a person’s emotional life increasingly gravitates into the sphere of his spiritual life.
A person lives in a world of his diverse emotions. He does not always manage to cope with them, to subordinate their manifestation in the desired direction. Modern life has introduced the word stress. In the early 70s. of the current century, the Swedish scientist G. Selye developed the theory of adaptation syndrome, according to which stress is understood as a state of emotional tension caused by danger associated with the work performed, emergency situations, increased responsibility, nervous overload as a result of lack of time and many, many other factors.
Experiences generated by motives and emotions are concentrated in human needs. Need – This is a state of an organism, an individual, a social group and society as a whole, which expresses dependence on the objective content of the conditions of their existence and acts as a source of various forms of their activity. The problem of needs has an important social significance, the relevance of which has increased more than ever before in modern conditions.
There are natural and artificial needs. Every person is born endowed with them. However, during the course of life, his needs undergo a significant transformation. This does not happen at the whim of the individual. The form and nature of needs changes as the personality develops. It is clear that a person cannot completely get rid of natural needs, for example, the need for food, clothing, shelter. But satisfaction of his needs is possible only in the process of activity.
Achieving happiness is one of the main goals of human existence. Happiness is an inescapable need of every person. And here antiquity provides an example of one of the first attempts to understand this problem.
A person acts because he wants. The problem of human desire has always attracted philosophical attention. Thus, the concept of hedonism (from the Greek word - pleasure) has long been known. According to this teaching, the highest good in life is pleasure, and the pursuit of it is the most important principle of behavior. Hedonism became widespread in ancient Greek philosophy. Representatives of the Cyrenaic school declared pleasure as the goal of life, preached the pursuit of pleasure, immoderation and licentiousness in behavior. But even at that time, not all philosophers shared such views. Epicurus (341–270 BC), on the contrary, called for moderation in pleasures, drawing attention to the fact that excessive sensual pleasures lead to satiety and even turn into suffering. Hence, Epicurus saw happiness not in sensual pleasure, but in the absence of suffering. Life will be happy when it leads to ataraxia - a state of equanimity and serenity.
At the same time, and in close connection with hedonism, eudaimonism arises - the doctrine of the pursuit of happiness as the basis of moral life.
The ancient ideas about the nature of needs evolved in the course of the development of philosophical thought. As we penetrated into the human psyche, it became increasingly clear that subjective desires are not motives of behavior, because they are not capable of giving rise to directed activity.
To summarize what has been said, we note that the variety of emotional phenomena accompanying human life is an essential factor in the formation of consciousness. Not every emotion has an impact on the process of generation and strengthening of consciousness. The so-called meaning-forming emotions are of primary importance here. As a person is trained and educated and becomes involved in public life, a hierarchy of motives develops. Their awareness occurs. A person learns and prepares himself to build his behavior in accordance with motives, the implementation of which helps to establish him as an individual. His claims are increasingly correlated with value systems for achieving socially significant results.
Developing the ability to achieve these results is a long process and covers all stages that a person experiences from birth to adulthood and, inevitably, death.
The formation of personality begins with a biological connection - during the relationship between the child and the mother. Of course, these connections are socially mediated. The so-called society enters a child’s life as a world of many (or, on the contrary, meager and limited) objects, things, toys. Images of the first objects, which are imprinted by the child’s thoughtless, always surprised gaze, often accompany a person throughout his life. During the game, the child finds out and learns the functional meaning his things and toys. Surprisingly, he masters speech in a natural way. And at first, oral language imparts an ever-accelerating rhythm to the maturation of individual consciousness. The grain of the relationships that shape the personality crystallizes.
Gradually, connections of motives are formed that allow one to consciously relate to desires and the choice of means to achieve them. Identity knots are tied. All this happens against the background of the development of will - one of the main elements of personality. Further development of personality is accompanied by the process of goal formation. The problem of purpose is one of the most complex and ancient in the history of philosophy. Without going into its discussion, we note that in the question of consciousness, a distinction is made between a specific goal of activity - a certain ideal image of the object (or result) of a person’s practical activity and an abstract goal of aspiration, in other words, an idea of a certain ideal to achieve which this activity is carried out.
From the moment expedient relationships are introduced into a person’s life, his actions and actions, taking on diverse forms, become increasingly enriched. A person acquires traits that allow him to be judged as a person. Personality maturation proceeds differently for each person. Experts in the field of developmental psychology have identified the boundaries of crises that a person goes through and which are, in one way or another, characteristic of most people. Everyone involved in raising children knows how important it is to catch changes in the mood, relationships, behavior of a three-year-old, seven-year-old child, and how difficult and sometimes unpredictable the teenage period is. The final stage of personality formation falls during the period of maturity, the time boundaries of which are also very individual.
In general, the process of formation of consciousness is accompanied by a shift of motives to goals, a change in their hierarchy, the birth of new motives with their subsequent repression and replacement. The opinion has become widespread that personality is born twice. For the first time, when a child discovers many motives and a subordination of his actions appears. And the second time is when individual consciousness arises.
The most important personality trait is its ability to self-awareness. Having an idea of thinking and consciousness, we see that these are not identical phenomena. Consciousness differs from thinking in the presence of interests, beliefs, and value orientations. A person’s consciousness contains not only an image of an external object, but also an image about this image. This property of consciousness is called self-awareness. Self-consciousness is an essential moment of consciousness insofar as the subject of consciousness is not only the external world, but also the person himself. Self-awareness can be defined as a person’s awareness and assessment of his knowledge, moral character, inherent ideals, and motives of behavior. In other words, within the framework of self-awareness, a person is able to give a holistic assessment of himself as an actor, as a creator, that is, self-awareness acts as a measure of a person’s development. It was already said above that self-awareness is closely related to reflection.
The manifestation of self-awareness is noted at different levels, since it is characteristic not only of the individual. A person is aware of his place in the family, the attitude towards him from his relatives and friends, he is also aware of how he himself relates to those with whom he is connected by family ties and friendly attachments. Self-awareness plays a very important role in clarifying a person’s place in a team - in a student group, in a work environment, in the structure of a company. Depending on how correctly an individual evaluates himself in terms of his contribution to the common cause of the team, whether he overestimates (or, on the contrary, underestimates) his abilities and capabilities, not only a successful career depends, but, no less important, the mental state, moral and the physical health of the individual.
Self-awareness reaches its highest manifestation at the level of large social groups - local societies, peoples and nations, the state, humanity as a whole.
In modern conditions, the problem of national identity is manifesting itself with all its severity. It has not only philosophical and theoretical, but also practical significance.
Security questions
1. Consciousness as the highest level of human spiritual activity.
2. Biological and individual prerequisites for consciousness, the laws of its formation.
3. Conscious and unconscious in human activity.
4. Consciousness and self-awareness.
5. Individual, social consciousness. National identity.
