Definition of concepts
Worldview, what is it in psychology?
Worldview is a person’s understanding of the general laws and foundations of both nature and social life, which often acts as the leading motive of his activities, the main direction.
These are beliefs and attitudes that determine direction, behavior and even choice.
A distinctive feature of this thesis is that its formation and development is carried out under the influence of various elements, including the current historical era, scientific and technical activities, promoted political ideas, and public consciousness.
We can briefly name such characteristic features of the worldview as:
- Integrity , the relationship of three basic elements: a person, the surrounding world and the relationships between them.
- Active form of knowledge , in this case it means the life position and behavior of the individual.
- Universality is based on the fact that in the process of life, under the influence of various sources, general cultural material and everyday life, one’s own view of reality is formed.
What does a worldview system mean?
The worldview system is a generalized and ordered set of views on nature, society and man himself.
That is, these are ideas in general about the existing world, as well as beliefs, assessments and norms that determine the attitude towards reality, and, consequently, choices and actions .
What are life values called?
Life values are a set of material and intangible goods that are of great importance in a person’s life. They play a significant role in shaping people's behavior. Guided by life values, we perform certain actions. Knowing how a person’s worldview and life values relate, one can predict how he will act in a specific situation.
Examples of life values include: family happiness and children, achieving great results in a career, friends, the desire for power, playing sports, entertainment and travel. Each person can have his own ideal, dream and priorities. There is nothing wrong. The main thing is that these life values do not contradict the moral standards and rights of other people.
Components
What does a worldview include?
This concept consists of complex elements that include beliefs, values, knowledge, ideals, norms, emotions and feelings.
In general, they can be divided into the following categories:
- Cognitive . Represents generalized knowledge, both everyday and professional. These are ideas about how everything works, how life arose, what a person is like, how society works, etc.
- Value-normative. These are norms, ideals and values. This includes ideas about the meaning of life, goals, good and evil, morality, religion, etc.
- Emotionally-volitional. This category includes beliefs, beliefs, and personal opinion. This implies not only the intellectual base of the individual, but also his emotional state.
- Practical . The category under consideration is understood not only as a set of knowledge, values, beliefs and personal views. It is also a real willingness to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances.
Read about psychological compatibility of temperaments here.
Types
Since the definition under consideration is influenced by the immediate surrounding world, its level of development and historical stage, the following types can be distinguished:
- Mythological. People could not explain the phenomena of social life or nature, as a result of which myths arose.
Their basic principle is the predominance of fantastic explanations of what is happening to a person.However, in mythology one can also observe moral and ethical problems and values.
- Religious . Religious teachings contain certain dogmas that followers of this teaching should adhere to. Any religion includes moral norms and their strict observance, as well as the issue of morality, good and evil, etc., on which it builds its beliefs.
- Philosophical . The basic element of this type is theoretical thinking or, in other words, generalization, systematization and logic. While the mythological type is more based on the emotions and feelings of people, the philosophical type is based on the human mind. The philosophical type presupposes free-thinking and the presence of all kinds of alternative interpretations.
- Ordinary.
The fundamental basis of this type is common sense, as well as experience gained in the process of life. Its peculiarity is that the view of reality is formed spontaneously, it cannot be systematized and predicted. - Humanistic. It is based on the fact that a person is the main value of society, he has the right to satisfy existing needs, the necessary development and self-realization. In this regard, the fundamental idea of this type is the idea that all people are equal and everyone can realize their desires and aspirations.
- Scientific _ It can be called a modern interpretation of a philosophical type. The main components also include generalization, systematization, logic and reason. The only thing is that sometimes science deviates too much from human needs, resulting in developments aimed at manipulating and intimidating people.
Worldview and its role in human life.
Worldview is a holistic idea of nature, society, and man, which is expressed in the system of values and ideals of the individual, social group, and society.
Depending on the ratio of the intellectual and emotional components in the worldview, the following elements differ.
Worldview - Emotional and psychological side of worldview: feelings, moods
Worldview Image of the world in visual representations
Worldview Cognitive and intellectual side of worldview
The following features of the worldview can be distinguished:
1. It is always historical, that is, it is closely connected with the stages of development experienced by society, the totality of those problems that directly affect society.
2. The worldview can manifest itself: - dogmatism - skepticism - reasonable criticism.
3 Worldview is always associated with conviction - a stable view of the world, ideals and principles, the desire to bring them to life through one’s actions and deeds. Worldview determines the general orientation of the individual - a set of stable motives that orient the activity of the individual and are relatively independent of the current situation.
Worldview plays a significant role in a person’s life.
Gives a person guidelines and goals for his practical and theoretical activities. Allows people to understand how best to achieve their goals and objectives, equips them with methods of cognition and activity. Provides an opportunity to determine the true values of life and culture
The most important sign of a mature human personality is the presence of a worldview - an established system of views on the world, oneself and one’s own place in this world. In the human sciences, there are many types of worldviews, for example:
scientific (recognizes the decisive importance of scientific knowledge in understanding the world, denies everything not recognized by science, for example, UFOs, aliens, the “Loch Ness monster”, etc.);
parascientific (suggests the existence of another world - the world of spirits, higher powers, in which astrological forecasts, magic and witchcraft are possible);
religious (based on one of the religions - belief in the supernatural, in God, basing its actions and actions on one of the holy books);
atheistic (denies the existence of higher, unnatural forces).
Scientists distinguish a humanistic worldview (recognizing the value of all people on earth) and its opposite - misanthropic (it is distinguished by contempt for other people, nations, propaganda of national exclusivity, wars, bloodshed), revolutionary (advocating sharp, radical transformations of society) and conservative (with distrust related to any innovations and preferring everything traditional, established). We can name many other types of people's worldviews.
Spiritual guidelines of the individual: morals, values, ideals.
Morality is a form of social consciousness, consisting of a system of values and requirements that regulate people's behavior. Morality is a set of rules of behavior derived from people’s ideas about good and evil, justice and injustice, good and bad, the implementation of which is a consequence of a person’s inner conviction or the influence of the force of public opinion on him.
Elements of morality: norms, ideals, values, categories (the most general concepts).
An ideal is perfection, the highest goal of human aspirations, an idea of the highest moral requirements.
Values are what is most precious and sacred both for one person and for all humanity.
Values reflect a person’s attitude to reality, to other people, and to himself. On the basis of values, people build their relationships, determine what is most important in their lives, and put forward goals for their activities.
Moral values are associated with moral categories. Moral categories are pair-relative (bipolar) in nature.
Good is everything that is considered moral and ethical.
Evil is the collective meaning of immoral, immoral.
Human spirituality includes three main principles: cognitive, moral and aesthetic. They correspond to three types of spiritual creators: the sage (knowing, cognizant), the righteous (saint) and the artist. The core of these principles is morality. If knowledge gives us the truth and shows the way, then the moral principle presupposes the ability and need of a person to go beyond the limits of his egoistic “I” and actively affirm goodness.
The peculiarity of spiritual values is that they have a non-utilitarian and non-instrumental character: they do not serve for anything else; on the contrary, everything else is subordinated and acquires meaning only in the context of higher values, in connection with their affirmation. A feature of the highest values is also the fact that they form the core of the culture of a certain people, the fundamental relationships and needs of people: universal (peace, the life of mankind), communication values (friendship, love, trust, family), social values (ideas of social justice, freedom, human rights, etc.), lifestyle values, personal self-affirmation. The highest values are realized in an infinite variety of situations of choice.
Activity as a way of human existence.
Activity is a human form of an active relationship to the world around us, associated with purposeful change and transformation of both the external world and the person himself.
Activity structure.
Structure of human activity:
The subject, with his goals, motives and needs, interests, knowledge and skills. An object is something towards which an activity is directed.
In the structure of any activity, it is customary to distinguish an object, a subject, a goal, means of achieving it and a result.
The object is what the activity is aimed at; the subject is the one who implements it. Before starting to act, a person determines the goal of the activity, that is, he forms in his mind an ideal image of the result that he strives to achieve. Then, when the goal is determined, the individual decides what means he needs to use to achieve the goal. If the means are chosen correctly, then the result of the activity will be exactly the result that the subject was striving for.
Motives of activity.
The main motive that motivates a person to act is his desire to satisfy his needs. These needs can be physiological, social and ideal. Conscious to one degree or another by people, they become the main source of their activity. People’s beliefs about the goals to be achieved and the main paths and means leading to them also play a huge role. Sometimes in choosing the latter, people are guided by stereotypes that have developed in society, that is, by some general simplified ideas about any social process (specifically, about the process of activity). Constant motivation tends to reproduce similar human actions and, as a consequence, a similar social reality.
Activities.
There are practical and spiritual activities. Practical activities are aimed at transforming objects of nature and society that exist in reality. The content of spiritual activity is a change in people's consciousness.
Types of human activity:
1) Material activity.
2) Social transformative activities (political and legal activities regulating the social life of people).
3) Spiritual.
Communicative (communication process).
Game activity.
Activities to serve people.
Human spiritual activity and all other types of activity include creativity, i.e. constructive and productive activity to create something new that has never existed before in human culture.
That is, the main types (methods) of activity are teaching (study), play and work. This group also includes communication. However, it is not possible to clearly separate them: a person studies, gets to know the world and himself in the process of communication, as well as in work and in play.
Activities and communication.
Communication as a type of activity. Often, in order to achieve a goal and obtain the desired result, it is necessary to interact with other subjects and communicate with them.
Communication is the process of exchanging information between equal subjects of activity.
The subjects of communication can be both individual people and social groups, layers, communities and even all of humanity as a whole. There are several types of communication:
communication between real subjects (for example, between two people); communication of a real subject with an illusory partner (for example, a person with an animal, which he endows with some unusual qualities); communication of a real subject with an imaginary partner (this means communication of a person with his inner voice);
communication of imaginary partners (for example, literary characters).
The main forms of communication are dialogue, exchange of opinions in the form of a monologue or remarks.
The question of the relationship between activity and communication is debatable. Some scientists believe that these two concepts are identical, since any communication has signs of activity. Others believe that activity and communication are opposite concepts, since communication is only a condition for activity, but not the activity itself. Still others consider communication in connection with activity, but consider it an independent phenomenon.
It is necessary to distinguish communication from communication.
Communication is the process of interaction between two or more entities for the purpose of transmitting some information.
In the process of communication, in contrast to communication, the transfer of information occurs only in the direction of one of its subjects (the one who receives it), and there is no feedback between the subjects.
Principles of a person’s worldview
As we have already found out, a person’s worldview represents a whole complex of ideas of a given person about the world around him and himself.
Based on this definition, the following principles :
- it includes knowledge that justifies the attitude towards the world and is necessary for self-determination,
- develops not as a result of assimilation of various knowledge and bringing it into the system, but as a result of expanding the area of self-determination of the individual and giving them special value,
- its formation is carried out due to dissatisfaction with one’s interests , thoughts and actions, their instability and banality,
- cannot be formed immediately in finished form;
the creation process is gradual throughout life. Reflection and theoretical thinking are helpful. - is distinguished by its individual and creative character . That is, these are not internalized mass stereotypes.
Developing Self Awareness
Self-awareness appears in a child in early infancy, and by adolescence it is fully formed. However, this does not mean that you do not need to engage in self-perception throughout your life.
Changes occur in the objective world and subjective characteristics. These changes require observation and self-knowledge.
The first step is to analyze the current external and internal situations and re-recognize yourself and your attitude to changes. For example, with age, the body begins to age and our attitude towards it, formed in early periods, will also change. On the one hand, it is required to take greater care of physical health, on the other hand, to be able to accept age-related changes without unnecessary worries, with dignity.
It is also important to bring self-esteem to an adequate (normal) state. Throughout life, the level of love and self-respect may change due to external reasons or the attitude of loved ones. You cannot allow circumstances to sow doubts about your self-confidence.
And lastly, it is necessary to promptly adjust needs and actions according to life changes. It is impossible to stop at knowing about yourself; taking the same actions that do not lead to success is not constructive. Therefore, the process of self-awareness is permanent and ends only after the physical death of a person.
Meaning
Worldview undoubtedly matters more in human activity.
This is due to the fact that it is with its help that the inner world is directly formed , as well as the main values and norms that represent the foundation of its existence throughout life.
In his everyday life, a person not only tries to understand the world around him and its logic, but also tries to evaluate reality, to understand the meaning of his own existence.
Thanks to this, people are able to divide the world into good and bad, beautiful and ugly, truthful and deceptive, fair and unfair, and so on.
As a result, universal human values become criteria for the degree of spiritual and social development of an individual . For self-determination, an individual will not turn to scientific treatises, although they can be characterized as a necessary basis for ideas about the world around him.
Advantages and disadvantages
Despite the many advantages of everyday thinking, it also has a number of disadvantages:
The advantages of an ordinary worldview:
- helps you navigate the present
- allows you to understand a difficult life situation (predict the development of events, find a way out, anticipate possible consequences),
- helps to objectively assess the achievability of set goals,
- allows you to determine the desired development of events,
- helps to make forecasts for the future.
The disadvantages include:
- the experience and knowledge gained are often subjective in nature, since they are transmitted from the immediate environment with their individual beliefs and opinions,
- attitudes obtained on the basis of habits, superstitions, subjective experience often contradict scientific facts,
- the experience gained, which a person continues to rely on, may become irrelevant.
