Сборник материалов международной научной конференции студентов, магистрантов, аспирантов
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Ю.Д. ПотапенкоРеспублика Беларусь, Брест, БрГУ имени А.С. Пушкина Научный руководитель – И.Н. Бахур TRENDS OF PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS DEVELOPMENTPsychology is both applied and scientific field of knowledge that studies the mind and behaviour of people. The research in psychology concentrates on understanding and explanation of how we think, act and feel. The practical application of psychology includes treatment of psychological disorders, improvement of performance, self-help, ergonomics and many other areas which affect health and daily life. The roots of psychology are in philosophy and biology. The word “psychology” comes from the Greek word “psyche”, which means “soul” or “consciousness”. The emergence of psychology as a separate and independent field of study actually happened when Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental psychological laboratory in Leipzig (Germany) in 1879. Psychology is the science that is necessary to consider from different sides. It is divided into a number of branches; the most significant of them will be discussed below. Behaviourism was the leading theoretical concept in psychological science in the first half of the 20th century, as well as the methodological basis of empirical research that is why behaviouristically oriented courses, theory and experimental facts were taught at the universities at that time. In the second half of the 20th century behaviourism was subjected to serious criticism and became much less popular among psychologists. The main reason for this was the exclusion of a psychological component from the analysis of behaviour, ignoring the cognitive processes, simplified approach to learning. This was contrary to the essence of psychology as a science of inner psychic phenomena. In modern psychology there are only a few supporters of behaviouristic approach. Therefore, behaviourism takes a much more modest place in the training courses and is considered only as one of the methodological perspectives of psychology. Cognitive psychology began developing intensively in the 1960s and became the dominant trend of modern scientific psychology. The study of the cognitive processes in a human brain by analogy with the study of operations that occur in a computer proved to be a very useful research and gave a lot of new data for understanding the mechanisms of human mental activity. In this connection the universities often give special training courses in cognitive psychology. The data received by cognitive psychology occupy an increasingly prominent place in the teaching of other disciplines. However, the computer has no emotions or motivations, that is why it cannot be considered as a model of the human psyche. Since the 1990s the researchers began to show great interest in the study of emotions, motivation and self-regulation of human activity. The number of papers and publications in this field of psychology has increased significantly. Respectively, this theme became the subject of some training courses. In modern psychology humanistic psychology acquired much popularity. Humanistic psychology is based on the philosophy of existentialism and humanism. It is focused on the entire personality, on self-consciousness of Man, on belief in the humanistic motives and on the individual abilities of Man. The central concepts of this psychological direction became self-concept, love, satisfaction of basic needs, the highest values, self-actualization and creativity. Humanistic psychology promoted the development of personality theories, the practice of psychotherapy, psychological counselling, and education. Thanks to its practical orientation, currently it has a significant influence; it is of interest to students and has become widely applied in training courses. However, scientists criticize humanistic psychology because it does not have sufficient empirical basis and does not adhere to scientific methodology. In the second half of the 20th century the role of applied and practical psychology increased significantly. They developed into separate areas of psychology. The study of mental activity common mechanisms, general theoretical and methodological problems of psychology have lost former significance. The need to solve specific problems of society and professional activity leads to the development of applied research aimed at solving practical problems. People expect immediate help from psychology; they hope that psychology will help them solve everyday problems. It stimulates the development of practical psychology. It is reflected in the lists of courses that are taught and in their content. Applied and practically oriented courses occupy much space in the modern educational programs. A characteristic feature of the development of scientific psychology in the second half of the 20th century was the gradual blurring of boundaries between different research schools and trends. In the 20th century psychology became an arena of confrontation of the conflicting methodological approaches and concepts. Accordingly, the teaching of psychology, which was carried out by scientists, was the means of spreading relevant ideas. A student’s psychological education was determined by the fact where and with whom he was studying. Modern psychological theories are difficult to classify and clearly attribute to any traditional theoretical concept. Modern psychological theories and empirical research are integrating knowledge from different psychological theories: behaviourism, Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, genetic psychology, humanistic psychology and cognitive psychology. Psychology is gradually becoming a unified scientific discipline. Accordingly, psychological education becomes more versatile and complex. The modern trend in psychology is significant differentiation of psychological knowledge and branches of psychological science. The newly-formed branches of psychology are based on the research methods they use, on the objects and the problems that they are studying, on the connection between psychology and other sciences. Different researchers point out from 50 to 100 relatively independent spheres of psychological research or psychological practice. Psychology has become a very extensive science, and specialists in one branch of psychology can no longer be sufficiently competent in another area of psychological knowledge and research. Moreover, many scientists are so deeply immersed in their own scientific problems that they have completely lost interest in other areas of psychological research and psychology in general. As a result, psychology has begun to lose its unity and integrity. English is becoming the language of international scientific communication and it is one more significant trend of modern psychology. In the second half of the 20th century the number of translations of scientific works from one language into another increased significantly. It enriches psychological education and prevents national isolation of specialists. Currently English is becoming the language of international communication of psychologists. It greatly facilitates and accelerates the exchange of scientific ideas and results of empirical research. We can notice a significant increase of students’ interest in the study of psychology. In recent years there has been such point of view that the 21st century will be the century of psychology. Many universities, institutes and colleges report that psychology is becoming one of the most popular academic disciplines studied at universities. Students of many other departments and pupils want to study psychology. So it is obvious that the 21st century may be the century of psychological education.
В статье раскрываются проблемы развития психологии и её направлений. Также речь идёт о значительном возрастании интереса у студентов к изучению психологии. В последнее время нередко высказывается мнение о том, что XXI век будет веком психологии. Yüklə 1,51 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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