How does the animal psyche differ from the human psyche? Human psyche and consciousness
In history comparative scientific works a separate, huge layer is devoted to the study of differences in the psyche of humans and animals.
Trend research work is such that with each new block of study it becomes clear that more and more similarities are discovered between humans and animals.
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Who first called man a “social animal”?
Who defined man as a “social animal”?
Still in the works Aristotle, an ancient philosopher, whose works are still reread today by people of different nations, ages, and levels of education.
The ancient Greek thinker in his monograph “Politics” wrote that “man is a social (in another translation - political) animal.”
But this saying gained popularity many centuries later. The Persian Letters were published in 1721. Charles Montesquieu, in the 87th letter, the French master of words successfully and appropriately quoted Aristotle.
Sometimes people use the expression “social animal” as an ancient Greek combination of words roon politikon.
And the meaning of these words is that a person can only succeed as a person in society, among his own kind. Outside of society, he takes on the characteristics of an animal.
And this fundamental thought many anthropological studies.
Instincts in people
To put it simply, the human brain is divided into two functional parts.
One is responsible for thinking, and this is about 90%: for it to work, you need a lot of energy, and all the actions of this part of the brain take a relatively long time.
The remaining 10% of the brain is occupied by reptilian brain(conventional name). It is he who is responsible for a person’s base desires, for instincts.
The reptilian brain works faster, but is primitive in structure, responsible, for the most part, for the simplest instincts and simply for survival.
Reptilian-instinctive thinking, as you might guess, requires less energy. This part of the brain constantly tries to drown out the conscious part, which is responsible for logic and orderly behavior.
Consider some animal instincts, remaining in a person, can be illustrated with simple examples:
- desire for self-preservation. The animal has such an instinct, and it is clearly expressed. A person also has it - he begins to be treated when he gets sick, avoids those places and situations that threaten him with death;
- parental instinct. Most animals take care of their offspring, just like humans;
- herd instinct. It is human nature to go with the crowd, not against it;
- food instinct. Both humans and animals obtain food when they feel hungry.
Animal instincts must be subordinated to reason.
Only evolution towards the development of reason and self-control led to the emergence of altruists, highly moral people, and humanists.
Such traits move progress of society, civilization as a whole.
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The origins of the formation of lower forms of behavior and the development of higher mental functions
Psyche- This general concept, this is the name given to many subjective constants that are studied by psychological science.
Living beings, in the course of their evolutionary improvement, received an organ that took responsibility for managing important processes.
This organ is the nervous system. It is the optimization of the structure and tasks nervous system became the basic source of mental development.
The body acquires newest properties and organs during the changes that occur in the genotype: adaptation to environment, survival through mutations have become more useful in terms of life support.
Development of higher mental functions, any mental education based on the use of signs, stage by stage.
On the first (i.e. primitive stage) the operation occurs as it developed at the still primitive stages of behavior.
The second stage is called stage of naive psychology, and at the third stage a person applies the sign in an external way. On next stage external operation goes inside.
Sign systems are one of the most important inventions of mankind. The second signaling system (i.e. speech) became the most powerful tool self-government, self-regulation.
Comparative analysis
Man is an animal of the order of mammals. But it has evolved: significant differences have appeared in humans, despite the similarities in physiology and.
So, a person is distinguished from an animal:
It is worth noting the constant growth of needs. Everyone notices that human needs, are constantly growing. This is not just a feature, but a significant difference between a person and an animal.
Animals need protection from the cold, food and everything that have not changed for centuries, their psyche is not tuned to the development of needs.
But human desire for better conditions existence led to great things geographical discoveries, to the achievements of Newton and Einstein, to the highest level of medicine, to electricity, the emergence of the Internet, etc.
But the same needs lead to World Wars.
Of course, many will remember tribes, which seem to have been preserved in antiquity. They lead the same lifestyle as their ancient ancestors, they are not going to develop, etc.
Scientists have many opinions on this matter: if you read the book “Totem and Taboo” by S. Freud, you can understand some of the patterns of development of humanity and specifically humans.
Perhaps such tribes are needed for balance historical process, at least there are such theories.
But the following are also interesting: some African tribes reminiscent of Potemkin villages. They they create a great show for tourists, while they themselves have mobile phones, know how to drive a car, etc.
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How does human activity differ from the behavior of animals?
Human activity has consciousness, i.e. she goal-oriented. A person clearly understands the goal, evaluates the ways to achieve it, plans, and perceives risks.
Differences in human activity:
The activity of animals is given to them initially, it is determined by the genotype, and develops according to the physiology of the maturation of the organism.
Expressing emotions
In 1872 Charles Darwin wrote the work “The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals.”
And this publication became a revolution in understanding the similarities between the mental and the biological.
Darwin isolated three principles, explaining gestures and expressions that are unwittingly used by humans and animals:
- the principle of useful associated habits;
- the principle of antithesis;
- the principle of actions explained by the structure of the NS, they are initially independent of the will.
First difference human emotions from the animal's emotions is that the latter's emotions depend only on his biological needs. Human emotions are dependent on and.
Next difference: a person has a mind, he gives control to emotions, evaluates them, hides them, feigns them. Another difference— It’s human nature to learn, and that’s why his emotions change.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that man is characterized by the highest moral feelings, but animals don’t have those.
But there are also similarities: both humans and animals are capable of experiencing interest, joy, aggression, disgust, etc.
The comparison between man and animal is a deep, fundamental topic.
Pavlov, Ukhtomsky, Bekhterev, continued the works of their predecessors and discovered new laws of psychology and physiology.
But man has not found the key to understanding all the secrets of the universe, including anthropological theories. The more interesting it is further - evolution cannot be stopped.
Types of mental structure, or how a person differs from an animal:
A.V. Petrovsky identifies the following significant differences between the psyche of animals and humans:
Differences in the thinking of humans and animals. Many experiments have proven that higher animals are characterized only by practical thinking. Human behavior is characterized by the ability to abstract from a given specific situation and anticipate the consequences that may arise in connection with this situation. The “language” of animals and the language of humans are different and this also determines the difference in thinking.
The second difference between man and animal is his ability to create and preserve tools. Outside specific situation the animal never singles out a tool as a tool, does not retain it for use. Man creates a weapon according to a pre-planned plan.
The third difference is in feelings. Both animals and humans do not remain indifferent to what is happening around them. However, only a person is able to empathize in grief and rejoice at another person.
The most important difference between the animal psyche and the human psyche lies in the conditions of their development. The development of the psyche of the animal world followed the laws of biological evolution. The development of the human psyche itself, human consciousness, is subject to the laws of historical development. But only a person is capable of appropriating social experience, which develops his psyche to the greatest extent.
3.4. Consciousness as the highest level of the psyche
A qualitatively new level of development of the psyche was the emergence of human consciousness. Consciousness - highest level man's reflection of reality. The main condition for the emergence and development of human consciousness is the joint instrumental activity of people mediated by speech. Consciousness is interpreted in Russian psychology as the highest form of mental reflection of reality inherent only to humans in the light of historically established social relations and sociocultural experience. Along with sociocultural conditioning, consciousness is characterized by activity, intentionality (direction towards a specific object), varying degrees of clarity, motivational-value character and the ability for reflection - introspection and reflection of one’s own contents.
The sphere of scientific interests of psychology includes two fundamental problems of consciousness: 1) the socially conditioned nature of the formation of consciousness in ontogenesis; 2) dynamic relationship between conscious and unconscious substructures in the whole system human psyche.
The psychological structure of consciousness includes the following most important characteristics: the first characteristic of consciousness is already given in its name: consciousness is knowledge about the world around us. A person gains knowledge through cognitive processes; the second characteristic of consciousness is the distinction between subject and object enshrined in it, i.e., that which belongs to the “I” of a person and his “not-I”; the third characteristic of consciousness is ensuring goal-setting human activity; the fourth characteristic is the presence of emotional assessments in interpersonal relationships.
The characteristics of consciousness are formed in the speech activity of people.
Unconscious
Not all mental phenomena are realized by a person. Some phenomena of reality that a person perceives, but is not aware of this perception, are recorded by the lower level of the psyche, which in turn forms the unconscious. The unconscious is understood as a specific form of reflection of reality, in which an account of the actions being performed is not given, the completeness of orientation in time and place of action is lost, and speech regulation of behavior is disrupted. The unconscious principle is represented in almost all mental processes, properties and states of a person. The sphere of the unconscious includes all mental phenomena that arise in sleep; some pathological phenomena; human reactions that arise in response to sensations that actually affect a person, but are not felt by him; movements that were conscious in the past, but through repetition have become automated and therefore no longer conscious.
For the first time, the unconscious in the structure of personality was identified by S. Freud. According to his theory, the personality structure includes three spheres: the unconscious (id - “it”), consciousness (ego - “I”), superego (“super-I”). In the development of mental states, S. Freud identified a number of mechanisms, which he called the defense mechanisms of the “I”. These include mechanisms of denial, repression, projection, rationalization, inclusion, compensation, identification, sublimation. Psychological defense mechanisms work in combination.
At present, the question of the relationship between the unconscious and the conscious remains complex and is not resolved unambiguously.
Some similarities can be seen in the psyche of humans and animals. For example, the ability to experience different emotions is common. Nevertheless, what is characteristic of man is something that remains inaccessible even to the highest, most developed animals. What is the advantage of people, and how does the human psyche differ from the animal psyche? Let's try to find the answer to these questions.
General concept of the psyche
The term "psyche" refers to special aspect, present in the life of such highly organized creatures as animals and humans. This aspect lies in the ability to interact with the surrounding reality and reflect it with one’s states.
Among the processes and phenomena associated with the psyche are: perception, sensations, intentions, emotions, dreams, etc. The psyche acquires its higher form in the form of consciousness. Only man, of all living beings, has consciousness.
Comparison
Cognitive abilities
Both people and animals perceive what is happening and remember information. But a person has a special perception - objective and meaningful. There is debate about the imagery of perception in higher animals. Memory only in humans can be voluntary and indirect.
For animals, knowledge of reality only ensures adaptation to environmental conditions. And those who have adapted better survive. A person knows how to see existing patterns and compare facts. Thanks to this, he can predict events and even influence their course. In addition, people have the ability to self-knowledge, which allows them to control themselves and engage in self-education and self-improvement.
Features of thinking
Creatures of both species possess at least basic practical thinking. But the difference between the human psyche and the animal psyche is that only people think about and plan upcoming affairs, set goals and picture the expected result in their heads. An animal can create something that is striking in its correctness (for example, a honeycomb), but there is no talk of presenting the result.
An animal, performing any actions, is not able to go beyond the existing situation. It thinks specifically, based on what it sees and feels in this moment. A person, being in certain situation, can break away from it in his mind, calculate the steps and consequences. In other words, he is endowed with the ability to think abstractly. In addition to this, human thinking is capable of taking a verbal-logical form, while animals have no access to either logical operations or understanding of words.
Emotions and feelings
It is common for both humans and animals to experience emotions. And they can manifest themselves in a similar way. But man is the only creature that also has feelings. This is expressed in people’s ability to empathize, regret something, be happy for another, enjoy the sunset, etc. If emotions are given by nature, then moral feelings are cultivated precisely in social conditions.
Language
People communicate using speech. This instrument contributes to the transmission of social experience, which has a very long history. Thanks to speech, a person has the opportunity to obtain information about phenomena that he has never encountered personally. Animals make vocal signals. Such signals can only be associated with phenomena limited to the present situation or emotions experienced at the moment.
Development conditions
You can see what the difference is between the human psyche and the animal psyche by analyzing what is required for its formation in each case. Thus, the mechanisms of development of the animal psyche do not go beyond the biological framework, and in human society any individual will manifest itself only as an animal. A person becomes a personality and his psyche develops only among other people, when communicating with them, assimilating the experience of all mankind. In this case, the socio-historical factor is decisive.
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