Introspection - a method of self-observation, pros and cons

What is introspection

Introspection is a method of conscious self-observation. The name comes from the Latin (introspecto) and means “to look inside.” That is, this is one of the methods of increasing self-knowledge. Introspection and introspection are synonymous, and both are used in psychological research. The importance of this method can hardly be overestimated, because with its help you can learn a deep perception of reality, and then the consciousness and intuition of the individual are revealed. Schizophrenics suffer from excessive introspection, replacing the real world with their own inner world.

The method of introspection in psychology is used to observe one’s own mental processes and is carried out without the help of any tools or means, only through one’s own consciousness.

Introspection in psychology is the precise knowledge and study of one’s own thoughts, feelings, experiences, mental activity, images, attitudes, and so on. The method of introspection in psychology was founded by J. Locke.

Introspection is a subjective analysis in which a person does not strive for self-judgment, which distinguishes this method from repentance.

Introspection in philosophy is a method of introspection on which retrospective philosophy is based with the aim of achieving a reflexive liberation of consciousness and the hierarchy of feelings in the structure of the personality. Too much introspection or a tendency towards in-depth introspection can contribute to a suspicious attitude towards other individuals and the world around us. Dualistic philosophy separates material nature from spiritual nature (consciousness), therefore introspection in philosophy is the basis of psychological methodology. It was of great importance for many philosophers: J. Locke, J. Berkeley, T. Hobbes, D. Hume, J. Mill and others. They all believed that consciousness is the result of inner experience, and that the presence of feelings and experiences is evidence of knowledge.

How to write a term paper on speech therapy

07.09.2010 246868

These guidelines are compiled to help students gain an understanding of the content and structure of coursework in speech therapy.

Logopedia of pedagogical science that studies anomalies of speech development with normal hearing, explores the manifestations, nature and mechanisms of speech disorders, develops the scientific basis for overcoming and preventing them means of special training and education.

The subject of speech therapy as a science is speech disorders and the process of training and education of persons with speech disorders.

The object of study is a person suffering from a speech disorder.

The main task of speech therapy as a science is the study, prevention and elimination of various types of speech disorders.

Coursework in speech therapy is a student's scientific and experimental research. This type of educational activity, provided for by the educational and professional program and curriculum, contributes to the acquisition of skills in working with literature, analyzing and summarizing literary sources in order to determine the range of insufficiently studied problems, determining the content and methods of experimental research, processing skills and qualitative analysis of the results obtained. The need to complete coursework in speech therapy is due to the updating of knowledge concerning the content, organization, principles, methods and techniques of speech therapy work.

As a rule, during their studies, students must write two term papers - theoretical and practical.

The first course work should be devoted to the analysis and synthesis of general and specialized literature on the chosen topic. Based on this analysis, it is necessary to justify and develop a method of ascertaining (diagnostic) experiment.

In the second course work, it is necessary to provide an analysis of the results obtained during the ascertaining experiment, as well as determine the directions and content of speech therapy work, and select adequate methods and techniques of correction.

So, let’s present the general requirements for the content and design of coursework in speech therapy.

The initial and most important stage of working on a course project is the choice of a topic, which is either proposed by the supervisor or chosen by the student independently from a list of topics that are consistent with the areas of scientific research of the department.

Each topic can be modified, considered in different aspects, but taking into account a theoretical and practical approach. Having chosen a topic, the student needs to think through in detail its specific content, areas of work, practical material, etc., which should be reflected both in the formulation of the topic and in the further construction of the study. It should be recalled that the chosen topic may not only have a purely theoretical orientation, for example: “Dysarthria. Characteristics of the defect”, “Classification of dysgraphia”, but also take into account the practical significance of the problem under consideration, for example: “Speech therapy work on speech correction for dysarthria”. It should also be taken into account that when formulating a topic, excessive detail should be avoided, for example: “Formation of prosodic components of speech in preschoolers of the sixth year of life attending a preschool institution for children with severe speech impairments.”

The course work includes such mandatory parts as: introduction, three chapters, conclusion, bibliography and appendix.

The text of the term paper begins with the title page . An example of its design can be seen here.

Then the content of the work is given, in which the names of chapters, paragraphs, and sections are formulated in strict accordance with the content of the thesis. An example of its design can be seen here.

In the text, each subsequent chapter and paragraph begins on a new page. At the end of each chapter, the materials are summarized and conclusions are formulated.

The introduction reveals the relevance of the problem under consideration in general and the topic being studied in particular; the problem, subject, object, and purpose of the study are defined. In accordance with the goal and hypothesis, objectives and a set of research methods aimed at achieving the objectives must be defined.

The relevance of the topic lies in reflecting the current level of pedagogical science and practice, meeting the requirements of novelty and usefulness.

When defining the research problem, it is important to indicate what practical tasks it will help to implement in training and educating people with speech pathology.

The object of research is understood as certain aspects of pedagogical reality, perceived through a system of theoretical and practical knowledge. The ultimate goal of any research is to improve this object.

The subject of research is some part, property, element of an object, i.e. the subject of research always indicates a specific aspect of the object that is to be studied and about which the researcher wants to gain new knowledge. An object is a part of an object.

You can give an example of the formulation of the object, subject and problem of research:

– The object of the study is the speech activity of preschool children with phonetic-phonemic speech disorders.

– The subject of the study is the features of intonation speech of children with phonetic-phonemic speech disorders.

– The research problem is to determine effective directions for speech therapy work on the formation of intonation expressiveness of speech in the system of correctional intervention.

The purpose of the study contributes to the specification of the object being studied. The goal of any research is to solve a specific problem. The goal is specified in tasks taking into account the subject of research.

The research objectives are formulated in a certain sequence, which determines the logic of the research. The research objectives are set on the basis of a theoretical analysis of the problem and an assessment of the state of its solution in practice.

The first chapter is an analysis of literary sources, which examines the state of this problem in historical and modern aspects, and presents the most important theoretical principles that formed the basis of the study.

When writing the first chapter, you should pay attention to the fact that the text of the course work must be written in a scientific style. When presenting scientific material, it is necessary to comply with the following requirements:

– Specificity – a review of only those sources that are necessary to disclose only a given topic or solve only a given problem;

– Clarity – which is characterized by semantic coherence and integrity of individual parts of the text;

– Logicality – which provides for a certain structure of presentation of the material;

– Reasoning – evidence of thoughts (why this and not otherwise);

– Precision of wording, excluding ambiguous interpretation of the authors’ statements.

A literary review of the state of the problem being studied should not be reduced to a consistent presentation of literary sources. It should present a generalized description of the literature: highlight the main directions (currents, concepts, points of view), analyze in detail and evaluate the most fundamental works of representatives of these directions.

When writing a work, the student must correctly use literary materials, make references to the authors and sources from which the results of scientific research are borrowed. Failure to provide required references will reduce your coursework grade.

As a rule, in coursework on speech therapy, references to literary sources are formatted as follows: the number of the cited source in the general list of references is placed in square brackets. For example: General speech underdevelopment is a speech pathology in which there is a persistent lag in the formation of all components of the language system: phonetics, vocabulary and grammar [17].

When using quotations, in square brackets, in addition to indicating the source number, the page number from which this excerpt is taken is indicated, for example: Speech rhythm is based on a physiological and intellectual basis, since, firstly, it is directly related to the rhythm of breathing. Secondly, being an element that performs a communicative function, “correlates with meaning, i.e. controlled intellectually” [23, P.40].

However, course work should not be of a purely abstract nature, so you should not abuse the unreasonable abundance of citations. Quoting should be logically justified, convincing and used only when really necessary.

In the second chapter , devoted to experimental research, the organization should be described and the program of the ascertaining experiment should be presented. The survey methodology, as a rule, consists of a description of several series of tasks, with detailed instructions, visual and lexical material, the procedure for completing tasks by experiment participants, and scoring criteria. This chapter also provides a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results obtained.

When analyzing the results of an experiment, it is necessary to use a scoring system. Examples of various criteria for quantitative and qualitative assessment are presented in the following works:

– Glukhov V.P. Formation of coherent speech in preschool children with general speech underdevelopment. - M.: Arkti, 2002. - 144 p.

– Fotekova T.A. Test methodology for diagnosing oral speech of primary schoolchildren. - M.: Arkti, 2000. - 56 p.

– Levchenko I.Yu. Pathopsychology: Theory and practice. - M.: Academy, 2000. - 232 p.

In order to visually present the results obtained during the experimental study, it is recommended to use tables, graphs, diagrams, etc. Histograms can be used in a variety of ways - columnar, cylindrical, planar, volumetric, etc. An example of the design of tables, figures, and histograms can be found here.

The third chapter provides a rationale for the proposed methods and techniques and reveals the content of the main stages of correctional work.

The conclusion contains a summary of the material presented and the main conclusions formulated by the author.

The bibliography must contain at least 25 sources. The list includes bibliographic information about the sources used in preparing the work. An example of its design can be seen here.

In the application you can present bulky tables or illustrations, examination protocols, observation records, products of activity (drawings, written works of children), notes from speech therapy classes, etc.

The volume of one course work must be at least 30 pages of typewritten text.

In general, coursework in speech therapy is the basis for a future thesis, in which the study of the begun problem can be continued, but from the standpoint of a different approach or a comparative analysis of the disorders being studied in different age categories of people with different types of speech disorders.

The content and format of theses in speech therapy can be found here.

Literature:

1. How to write a term paper on speech therapy: Methodological recommendations. Educational and methodological manual / Comp. Artemova E.E., Tishina L.A. / Ed. Orlova O.S. – M.: MGOPU, 2008. – 35 p.

2. Research work of students in the system of higher professional pedagogical education (specialty 031800 - Speech therapy). Methodological recommendations for completing the thesis / Compiled by. L.V. Lopatina, V.I. Lipakova, G.G. Golubeva. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A. I. Herzen, 2002. - 140 p.

Introspection in psychology

Previously, this method was considered not only the main, but also the only one. This belief was based on two indisputable facts: the fundamental property of conscious processes being directly presentable to the subject; and the closeness of these same processes to an external observer.

Introspection in psychology is a method of introspection, analysis, and study of mental processes through individual observation of the functioning of one’s own psyche. Introspection as a method has some features. It can only be carried out by one person on himself, in order to find out what another person feels, you need to imagine yourself in the place of this person, see yourself in the same conditions and observe your state, your reactions and draw conclusions about the feelings, thoughts and sensations of the other person . Since self-observation is a special kind of activity, it requires long-term practice in it.

This method has many advantages and was once highly regarded. Consciousness was believed to directly indicate causality in mental phenomena, and therefore the position of psychology was considered easier, in contrast to other sciences that had yet to discover cause-and-effect relationships. Introspection presents psychological facts as they are, and in this too psychology differs greatly from other sciences.

The use of introspection was supported by an appreciation of its special merits. Psychology conducted a major experiment in the late nineteenth century to test the power of introspection. In many cases, these were not facts of consciousness in life circumstances, which is no less interesting, but laboratory experiments that were carried out under strictly controlled circumstances and conditions.

The most rigorous introspectionists supplemented their experiments with additional requirements. They focused on isolating the most elementary details of consciousness (sensations and feelings). The subjects were required to avoid terms describing external objects and speak only about the sensations caused by these objects, about the quality of the sensations caused; if the answer was in terms of sensations, this was a stimulus error. As experiments progressed, serious gaps and difficulties emerged. Everything was moving towards the recognition that such “experimental psychology” was inappropriate. Conflicting results were obtained even by the same researcher while working with completely different subjects.

The basic assumptions of psychology also began to be questioned. Such contents of consciousness were revealed, such elements that could not be decomposed into any meanings, or turned out to be the sum of these elements. The systematic application of the method of introspection also revealed extrasensory elements of consciousness, and the unconscious causes of individual phenomena of consciousness began to be discovered.

It began to seem that a crisis was growing in psychology, which has such a unique method of introspection. The reason is that the arguments in favor of the method of introspection only seemed compelling at first glance. And the possibility of split consciousness turns out to be nonsense, since close observation of the process of one’s own activity only interferes with or even destroys it. Reflection has the same destructive effect. The simultaneous performance of two different types of activities is possible in two cases: when there is a rapid transition from one type of activity to another or when one of the activities is relatively simple or automatic. From the belief that introspection is also a second activity, it follows that its capabilities are very limited.

Introspection of a complete act of consciousness is possible only when it is interrupted. The possibility of splitting consciousness also exists, but with certain restrictions; it is generally impossible with complete devotion to activity or feelings, and in any case it introduces a distorting effect. For example, when a person does something and immediately notices how it looks. It turns out that the data obtained through introspection is too vague to rely on. The introspectionists themselves realized this quite quickly. They noticed that it was necessary to observe not so much the process of running, but its fading trace. In order for traces in memory to remain even more complete, it is necessary to break down the process of observed actions into smaller parts. Thus, introspection evolved over time into “fractional” retrospection.

The attempt of this method to identify cause-and-effect relationships in consciousness is limited to isolated examples of voluntary actions among the mass of inexplicable facts (thoughts, feelings) of consciousness. This leads to the conclusion that if the causes of mental processes could be directly observed, no one would study psychology. This would be completely unnecessary. The assertion that the method of introspection demonstrates knowledge of the facts of consciousness unadulterated, as they really are, may turn out to be completely incorrect in the light of data on the introduction of introspection into the research process. By creating from memory even a momentary account of a very recent experience, the researcher inevitably distorts it, since he directs his attention only to certain aspects of it. Particularly distorting is the attention of an observer who knows exactly what he is looking for. A person usually focuses on a few facts, so that other aspects of the phenomenon, which may also be of great value, remain out of focus.

Thus, practice and deep discussion of the method of introspection have revealed a number of its fundamental shortcomings. The shortcomings turned out to be so significant that scientists questioned the entire method and even with it the subject of psychology, which at that time was inseparable from the method of introspection.

Introspection is a method in which a person’s personality itself is analyzed.

The role of introspective methods of psychological research

The widespread dissemination of the introspective method over time did not lead to further development of psychology, but, on the contrary, to a certain crisis. From the position of introspective psychology, the mental is identified with consciousness. As a result of this understanding, consciousness was self-sufficient, and, consequently, there was a separation of the mental from objective being and the subject itself. Moreover, since it was argued that a psychologist could study himself, the psychological knowledge revealed in the process of such study had no practical application. Therefore, in practice, public interest in psychology has decreased. Only professional psychologists were interested in psychology.

At the same time, it should be noted that the period of dominance of introspective psychology did not leave a mark on the development of psychological science as a whole. At this time, a number of theories arose that had a significant influence on the subsequent development of psychological thought. Among them:

• the theory of the elements of consciousness, the founders of which were W. Wundt and E. Titchener;
• psychology of consciousness processes, the development of which is associated with F. Brentano;
• stream of consciousness theory created by V. Staus;
• theory of phenomenal fields;
• Descriptive psychology of V. Dilthey.

All these theories are united by the fact that consciousness is put in the place of a real person, actively interacting with the world around him, in which the real person is dissolved.

It should also be noted the role of introspective psychology in the emergence and development of experimental methods of psychological research. Within the framework of introspective psychology, Wundt created the first experimental psychological laboratory in Leipzig in 1879. In addition, introspective psychology predetermined the emergence of other promising directions in the development of psychology. Thus, in the second decade of the twentieth century, the powerlessness of the “psychology of consciousness” in the face of numerous practical problems that arose in connection with the development of industrial production, which required the development of means of controlling human behavior, led to the emergence of a new movement in psychology, the representatives of which announced a new object of psychological science - it was not the psyche or consciousness, but behavior, understood as a set of externally observable, mainly motor reactions of the individual. This movement was called “behaviorism” and became the third stage in the development of ideas about the subject of psychology. But before considering psychology as a behavioral science, let's return to introspection and note the differences in its consideration from the point of view of the psychology of consciousness and modern psychology. First of all, it is necessary to define the terms used.

Introspection literally means “self-observation.” In modern psychology there is a method of using self-observation data. There are a number of differences between these concepts. Firstly, in what and how to observe, and secondly, in how the data obtained are used for scientific purposes. The position of proponents of introspective psychology is that observation is directed at the activities of the mind and that reflection is the only way to obtain scientific knowledge. This approach follows from the peculiar view of introspectionists on consciousness. They believed that consciousness has a dual nature and can be directed both to external objects and to the processes of consciousness itself.

The position of modern psychology regarding the use of introspection data is that introspection is considered as a “monospection”, a method of understanding the facts of consciousness, and the facts of consciousness, in turn, serve as “raw material” for further understanding of mental phenomena. The term "monospection" suggests that consciousness is a single process. Introspection, as introspection of one’s internal state, exists, but is inseparable from “extraspection” - observation of external objects and human behavior. Thus, introspection is one of the methods of modern psychological science that allows one to obtain information that is the basis for subsequent psychological analysis.

Introspection in philosophy

In philosophy, introspection is the basis of the psychological methodology of the retrospective branch of this science. The essence of Augustine's method of introspection is to free the mind and systematize the individual's feelings, which his students agreed with. Fixation on one's own emotions can interfere with normal interpersonal relationships.

Introspection is translated as “self-observation,” which in philosophy helps to calm the storm of feelings within us. Introspection as a research method in psychology underlies a person’s knowledge of his personal characteristics.

History of the development of the method

Having figured out what the term introspection means, it is necessary to say who is the author of the introspection method.

Introspection as a method of scientific research owes its appearance to R. Descartes and J. Locke. These philosophers viewed introspection as a special type of cognition. A synonymous approach can be found in F. Brentano, who used the method of internal observation in his experimental activities.

The successors of the ideas of the creators of introspection were W. Wundt, E. Titchener and the entire Würzburg school of psychology. Wundt combined introspection with laboratory experiment and various ways of conducting it.

Later in Gestalt psychology, this type of exploration of one's inner world took the form of phenomenological introspection.

In the 19th century, introspection was used as a term to describe the subjective experiences of participants in psychological studies. This meant that researchers drew conclusions about certain psychological events and phenomena not from their own introspective experiences, but from the introspective reports of their subjects.

The method of introspection has come under severe criticism from behaviorists, who argued that only the observable behavioral reactions of individuals can serve as evidence of psychological manifestations. Proponents of self-observation have been criticized for the lack of objectivity of their method.

As a result, the original concept was slightly modified: now the participant in the experiment was only required to answer the question and report changes by pressing a special button. This change allowed us to move away from subjectivity in introspection.

Later schools of objective and cognitive psychology opposed introspection due to the low objectivity of this method. Experts in these areas argued that it is possible to obtain reliable information about a person with the help of specially organized external observation.

In the early 20th century, self-observation was considered an unscientific, idealistic method whose main problem was its lack of objectivity. But at the same time, it was used in the study of the inner world and spiritual attitudes of the individual, and was followed in reflective moments of psychological and pedagogical experiments.

It is safe to say that a method such as introspection is also used in modern psychology. For example, in the methodological literature one can find references to the practical application of self-observation techniques in humanistic and transpersonal psychology to monitor changes in the course of one’s thoughts and the formation of an individual’s moral attitudes.

Method Definition

Introspection is a careful in-depth study of one’s feelings, thoughts, experiences, images, and thinking without self-judgment. This definition of introspection in psychology is close to introspection. The literal translation of the term means “look inside yourself.” The main feature of introspection in psychology is considered to be its non-judgmental nature: a person must state the fact of the presence of signs of the action of a stimulus. It is not allowed to give these sensations qualitative characteristics or express your opinion about what is happening.

The researcher's self-observation report provides the researcher with information that will need to be verified using other research methods.

The introspection method opens up the opportunity for the researcher to learn to use his own intuition for a deep understanding of the surrounding reality. Some researchers believe that introspection is the only method that provides the key to understanding a person’s inner world. Other authors dispute this claim. However, the opinions of scientists agree that introspection is a priori characteristic of any scientific research. Before the advent of experimental psychology, the characteristics of the psyche and the content of an individual’s consciousness were studied only through introspection.

Introspection in Practice

During the Soviet period, introspection was the main psychological method by which people observed the work of their own psyche. Introspection is characterized by the need for lengthy preparation. This is the only way to deal with subjectivity.

The method of introspection and self-observation made it possible to reveal the content of such elements of consciousness that cannot be decomposed into feelings. Moreover, unconscious reasons for some patterns were discovered.

However, the results of self-observation of one or another mental process were contradictory not only among different individuals, but also among the same subject. Thus, the method of introspection has given rise to a serious problem of the objectivity of introspection in psychology, undermining the subject, basic concepts and provisions of this science.

Scientists have concluded that the possibilities of such observation are limited. Over time, this method transformed into retrospection.

Functions and role

Each person experiences different feelings during his life:

Discontent

Joy

Astonishment

Disturbance

Hatred

Love

Psychologists are interested in what it is and what a person experiences when they experience it. This is an attempt to explore consciousness as a physical object.

An important function of self-knowledge is studying oneself as an individual and knowing one’s goals in life. Introspection in psychology is the study of the content of oneself (narrow meaning) and understanding of what a person wants to achieve in the future, what he is striving for (broad meaning).

Using this method in a narrow sense allows you to find out your character traits, feelings that are important at the moment, intellectual abilities, thinking characteristics (attention, memory, concentration), etc.

This is important for understanding many things, for example, for choosing a future profession. When choosing a specific profession, it is important to know how well a person has developed the personal qualities to master it. Assessing your own abilities in your chosen field will help you adjust the level of certain qualities necessary to become a professional.

Throughout life, a person has to communicate with different categories of people. His position in society largely depends on this. Therefore, the role of self-knowledge is especially important for the development of communication skills and the ability to resolve complex conflict situations. This is also important when choosing a life partner and professional partner.

In the process of self-knowledge, it is important to set specific goals for yourself and follow the principle “I want - I can - I must.” Answering the questions: “What do I want?”, “What are my capabilities?” and “What do I need to achieve what I want?”, a person expands the boundaries of self-knowledge.

Psychologists note that the goals of self-analysis can be real and unrealistic. In the first case, a person analyzes what really exists (qualities inherent in nature), in the second, he tries to grasp what does not exist.

If it turns out that a person does not possess this quality or it is not sufficiently developed, self-knowledge can serve as a step towards further work on oneself.

Have you ever had a situation when, for example, a perfumer came to your home? He strikes up a conversation with you, talks about the product he brought, and lets you listen to different aromas. Ten minutes later, you walk into your apartment and buy groceries that you don't really need.

Without even noticing it, it happens. And such instant purchases are common. Decisions made spontaneously can lead to at least regrets, and sometimes to big problems. We are constantly influenced by the people around us. And it's not just about salespeople or intrusive advertising. We become infected with negative emotions from colleagues, get upset while standing in a traffic jam or in line at the bank, and fall under the influence of the group’s opinions.

We can easily succumb to general panic. How it works? In a situation of fear and uncertainty, in conditions of limited time, we cannot, or rather do not have time to decide where to move, although adrenaline requires us to react (to hit or run away). And then one person runs. Since we are social creatures, the instinct of self-preservation tells us to follow the leader. And all the people are running after this man.

But the problem is that this person may not have the slightest idea where he is running; he gave in to fear. But in a critical situation, we do not have time to analyze all this, and we just mindlessly follow it.

But if we have developed the skill of introspection, then in a difficult situation we can analyze it. What am I doing? What do I want? Why am I listening to a salesman who talks about the uniqueness of this men's perfume? Out of politeness? I don't want to be rude? But why do I need men's perfume if I live alone?

Or in a relationship with a toxic person. What does this person want from me? What feelings accompany me when I am next to him? Why do I need it? What do I really want? Why not leave? I can not? Should I stay with such a person? Who made me do this?

The same thing happens in a panic situation. They all ran. Where did they go? Who were they running after? They simply succumbed to the herd instinct. What I feel? Fear? Anxiety? What do I want? What would be good for me? Should I follow the crowd? Or do I need to go in a completely different direction?

All these are questions of reflection, which begins with observing one’s own feelings and thoughts.

Having mastered the skill of self-observation, you will no longer succumb to momentary impulses, the manipulative influence of other people, and you will no longer react thoughtlessly to external negative stimuli. In this way, self-analysis becomes a stimulus for improvement.

Systematic introspection

Between 1901 and 1905 in Würzburg, under the leadership of Külpe, what became known as systematic introspection developed. Külpe, who like Titchener was influenced by Mach's positivism, moved from Leipzig to Würzburg with the conviction that experimental psychology should also study thinking. The new experimental psychology could deal with sensations, perceptions and reactions, and Ebbinghaus added memory to this list in 1885. Wundt said that thought cannot be studied experimentally. The positivist Külpe, however, was confident that all he had to do was find subjects willing to think under controlled conditions and then obtain from them an introductory report of their thinking processes.

This was followed by a brilliant series of works on associations (1901), written by Külpe's students: Mayer and Orth on judgment (1901), Marbe on feeling (1903), Watt on thinking (1905), Ach on action and thinking (1905). Each of these works argued that so-called classical introspection does not meet any of the above problems. Mayer and Orth described the chain of associated images in the process of thinking, but did not find any indication in introspection of how thinking is directed towards its goal. Marbe noted that although judgments are easily expressed in terms of images, introspection gives no indication of how or why they are formed. In Orth's research, emotions "resisted" introspective analysis, so he had to coin the controversial term "conscious attitude" to describe emotional life.

In his subjects, feelings, of course, did not appear in the form of sensations or images. Watt and Ach independently came to consistent conclusions. To make introspection more effective, Watt invented the technique of fragmentation: he divided psychological events into successive periods and examined each of them separately, thereby achieving a reduction in the amount of memory and inferences included in the introspective report. But the nature of thought remained elusive to him until he realized that the goal orientation of thought is given by a task or instruction (he called it a task that the subject accepted before the start of the thought process). Ach developed the concept of deterministic tendency as a guiding unconscious principle that directs conscious processes along a predetermined path to solving a problem. He also developed a partitioning procedure with chronoscopic control and formulated the method - systematic experimental introspection. Both the defining, essentially unconscious tendency and the conscious processes directed by it turned out to be impossible for Akha’s subjects in terms of classical introspection, i.e. in the language of sensations and images. For these vague, elusive contents of consciousness, Ach had to introduce the concept of consciousness, and his subjects learned to describe their consciousness in terms of unobservable experiences of consciousness.

Representatives of the Würzburg school believed that they had discovered a new type of psychic principle using the method of introspection, but the concept of consciousness did not achieve the status of being recognized in terms of sensation and image. Instead, they talked about the discovery of ugly thought by the Würzburg school, and many blamed it for this: the discovery is purely negative, even though thoughts are not images, but what is it? Titchener, however, believed that he knew the answer to this question. According to Titchener, the thoughts that Wurzburger speaks of are partly conscious relations, which are vague, fleeting patterns of sensations and images, partly meanings and judgments, which should be excluded from psychology because the task of studying them is not adequate to description.

This method has huge advantages

• With its help, everyone can know themselves better than anyone else;
• awareness of one's own level of development is epistemically reliable;
• a person can regulate his mental states.

The difference between introspection and other methods of cognition is that it gives a person direct access to the object of study.

Introspection has its advantages over other methods of self-knowledge

Method of introspection and self-observation

Reflection involves special attention to the activity of one’s own soul, as well as to the sufficient maturity of the subject. Children have virtually no reflexivity; they are mainly busy exploring the outside world. It cannot develop in an adult if he does not show a tendency to think about himself and does not pay special attention to his internal processes.

So there are two important statements.

1. There is a possibility of bifurcation, or “doubling” of the psyche. The activity of the soul can proceed, as it were, on two levels: the processes of the first level are perceptions, thoughts, desires; second-level processes are observation, or “contemplation” of these perceptions, thoughts, desires.
2. Every person, and even a child, has a first level of mental activity. The second level of mental activity requires special organization. This is a special activity. Without this, knowledge of the life of the soul is impossible. Without it, impressions from the life of the soul are like “fleeting ghosts” that do not leave “clear and lasting ideas” in the soul.

These two theses, namely the possibility of split consciousness and the need to organize special activities to understand internal experience, were accepted by the psychology of consciousness. The following scientific and practical conclusions were made:

1. a psychologist can conduct psychological research only on himself. If he wants to find out what is happening to another person, he must put himself in the same conditions, observe himself and, by analogy, deduce the content of the other person’s consciousness;
2. Since introspection does not happen by itself, but requires special activity, it must be practiced, and for a long time.

The experiments of the most strict introspectionists (E. Titchener and his students) were complicated by two additional requirements.

• Firstly, introspection should have been aimed at isolating the simplest elements of consciousness, namely sensations and elementary feelings. (The fact is that the method of introspection from the very beginning was associated with the atomistic approach in psychology, that is, with the conviction that to study means to decompose complex processes into their simplest elements).
• Second, respondents were required to avoid using terms that describe external objects in their responses, and instead talk only about their sensations caused by these objects and the characteristics of these sensations. For example, respondents could not say: “They showed me a big red apple. He should have said something like: “First I had a sensation of red color, which overpowered everything else, and then gave way to a circular sensation, followed by a slight tickling in the tongue, apparently a trace of the sense of taste. There was also a rapidly passing muscle sensation in the right arm...”

The answer in terms of external objects was called by E. Titchener the “stimulus fallacy,” a familiar term of introspective psychology reflecting its atomistic focus on the elements of consciousness.

As this type of research developed, serious problems and difficulties began to arise. Firstly, the meaninglessness of such “experimental psychology” became increasingly obvious. According to one author, those who did not consider psychology a profession turned away from it. Another unpleasant consequence was the growing contradiction in the results. The results not only did not coincide among different authors, but sometimes even among the same author when working with different subjects.

Moreover, the foundations of psychology began to shake and develop further. Psychologists began to find contents of consciousness that cannot be decomposed into individual sensations or presented as their sum. They said: take the melody and put it in another key; Every sound in it will change, but the melody will remain. Melody, therefore, is determined not by individual sounds, not simply by their sum, but by a special quality associated with the relationships between sounds. It is the quality of the overall structure (gestalt), not the sum of the elements.

Moreover, the systematic use of introspection began to reveal the non-sensory, or non-substantial, elements of consciousness. These include, for example, “pure” movements of thought, without which the thinking process cannot be reliably described. Thus, instead of the triumph of science with such a unique method, a crisis situation arose in psychology.

This is because the arguments put forward in defense of the method of introspection have not been thoroughly tested. These were statements that only at first glance seemed true.

In psychology, in particular, the question of the possibility of simultaneous occurrence of two types of activities has been studied. This has been shown to be possible either when there is a rapid transition from one activity to another, or when one of the activities is relatively simple and performed "automatically". For example, you can knit and watch TV, but knitting stops at the most interesting moments.

If we apply all this to introspection, we must admit that its capabilities are very limited. Introspection of a real, full-blooded act of consciousness can only be accomplished by interrupting it. Admittedly, introspectionists realized this quite quickly. They noticed that it is necessary to observe not so much the ongoing process as its disappearing trace. And in order for memory traces to remain as complete as possible, the process must be broken down (by acts of introspection) into smaller parts. Thus, introspection turned into “fractional” retrospection.

Let us dwell on the following statement - about the supposed possibility of identifying cause-and-effect relationships in the sphere of consciousness with the help of introspection.

Thus, the practice of application and in-depth discussion of the introspection method have revealed a number of its fundamental shortcomings. They were so significant that they undermined the method as a whole, and with it the subject of psychology - a subject with which the method of introspection was inextricably linked and the postulation of which was a natural consequence.

In modern research, the opposite is true. The main burden falls on the experimenter, who must show ingenuity. He organizes the selection of special objects or special conditions for their presentation; uses special equipment, selects special items, etc. On the other hand, the experimenter is obliged to give the usual answer under normal conditions.

The theory of introspection in psychology is one of the leading methods of self-analysis

Analytical introspection

Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927), a student of Wundt, considered representations (“traces of previous sensations”) to be elements of consciousness in addition to sensations and feelings. He proposed a more rigorous method of introspective analysis - the method of analytical introspection. In this type of introspection, the subject had to learn to distinguish the sensory mosaic of consciousness without committing a “stimulus error”, which is very characteristic of “naive subjects” and should not occur in real professional psychologists who study consciousness as the sum of states of consciousness.

According to E. Titchener, the stimulus error means that the observer, instead of describing the states of his own consciousness, usually begins to describe an external object (stimulus) as such: “We are so accustomed to living in a world of objects, we are so accustomed to putting thought into popular terms that it is difficult for us to assimilate a purely psychological view of the intensity of feeling and to consider consciousness as it is, regardless of its relation to the objective world.” “A purely psychological view” means, according to E. Titchener, that the subject should not say: “I see a book or a lamp,” but should describe only the sensations that arise in consciousness when perceiving an external object - a book or a lamp (light, darkness, etc.). The subject must be trained to recognize a sensory mosaic of images (Titchener assumed that this would increase objectivity in scientific studies of the subjective world). From sensations, like from bricks, the entire content of our mental life is formed, including more complex thought forms. He called his version of introspective psychology structuralism (the understanding that structure is actually the sum of subjective elements in the mind).

A “two-stage” flow, the upper “stage” of which includes fig. 5. Model of consciousness, clear contents of consciousness, and the lower level includes unclear ones. Titchener suggested that in this flow there is a continuous process of transition of certain states of consciousness from the upper level to the lower and vice versa.

This is one of the models of consciousness proposed within the framework of introspective psychology. The basis of this school of thought was the Cartesian-Lockean concept of consciousness, in which consciousness was viewed as a self-sufficient world of subjective phenomena. For W. Wundt and E. Titchener, consciousness was the object of their investigation. It was studied with the help of a peculiar and subtle introspection, which broke consciousness into elements. In this case, the conscious was identified with the mental (the existence of unconscious mental processes was denied). Moreover, structuralism (like Wundt’s concept) is characterized by a clearly expressed elementary approach, i.e. the desire to decompose consciousness into elements, i.e. indivisible “atoms” of consciousness, and assemble more complex contents from them. However, since these elements were sensory in nature, this school of introspective psychology was characterized by pronounced sensationalism (there are no processes of consciousness that cannot be derived from sensations and reduced to them). The presence of other - non-sensory - content in consciousness was not recognized. Sensations arise on their own without any activity on the part of the subject, as soon as the object appears before the eyes (this position can be called mechanistic). This mechanism is also obvious when explaining complex phenomena of consciousness that arise from simple ones through their associative linking. In concept B. However, in order to understand the essence of these connections, it is necessary to turn to the history of the emergence of these concepts in psychology. Sokolova. E. E. Introduction to general psychology: a textbook for students of higher educational institutions.

Types of introspection in psychology

Over time, several variants of introspection have been identified in psychology. These include:

1. Phenomenological introspection is a method of Gestalt psychology. Its goal is to describe mental phenomena in all their completeness and immediacy in order to extract basic feelings and sensations. This type of introspection later found application in descriptive and humanistic psychology.
2. Introspective psychology or self-knowledge. This direction was developed by R. Maharshi. The researcher's experiments were aimed at studying his own feelings and determining their causes.
3. Analytical introspection, the founder of which is E. Titchener. The scientist's experimental activities were aimed at decomposing the sensory image into component parts that were resistant to the influence of a stimulus. This method became the basis of structuralism.
4. Systematic self-observation is a method of mental analysis used in the Würzburg School. It focuses on the control of mental activity and is based on retrospective reporting.

Introspection in everyday life

Anyone can use this method in everyday life to find harmony with themselves. If you listen closely to your feelings and emotions in certain situations, you can identify areas for self-development. If you combine introspection with meditation, you can develop your emotional-volitional sphere. For example, using the method of introspection, you can fight auto-aggression (causing moral or physical harm to yourself).

In addition, systematic practice, working with your own inner world, develops observation, helps to cope with absent-mindedness and raise self-esteem. People who have mastered this method look at the world differently: they notice details inside, learn to notice changes in the mood of the interlocutor and read his emotions by facial expressions. Their ability to work with information improves.

However, teaching children this method is an almost impossible task, since their psyche is flexible and it is very difficult for them to focus on their own feelings, thoughts and emotions.

How to learn introspection

In practice, self-observation is not so simple. Not all people master this method, and children, up to a certain age, are not capable of either introspection or reflection. Although any adult can acquire the skill of self-observation. How to start? It's not that complicated.

It’s just that now, at this moment in time, you need to stop, breathe out and start an internal dialogue with yourself. What am I doing now? Why am I doing this? What I feel? What do I get from these emotions?

It is best to train the skill of self-observation in a calm environment, when you have free time, when nothing distracts you. It’s easier to start by writing down all your feelings and thoughts on paper, writing an expressive letter to yourself. It may not seem so easy at first.

Giphy

Holding an empty blank sheet of paper in front of you, it may seem like there is nothing in your head. No thoughts, no feelings. But after taking a couple of exhalations, you will understand that a lot is happening inside you - a whole life of emotions, experiences, thoughts, ideas, doubts and desires is boiling in your soul. Write down everything that comes to mind. Don't think about the meaning, concentrate on the process of self-discovery.

Over time, you will master this skill so much that you no longer need a piece of paper - these thoughts will form in a stream in your mind.

Having learned to observe yourself in a calm environment, you will understand that in more difficult situations this flow does not stop. And this is where introspection opens up for you from a practical point of view.

Advantages and disadvantages of the method

The advantages of this method are as follows

• This method is based on the study of one’s own inner feelings and personal attitudes (no one else can know these qualities better than the person being studied);
• Often helps to get out of a state of frustration;
• it represents mental facts as they exist.

These advantages of this method, however, do not make it ideal. As a method of psychological research, self-observation has significant disadvantages:

• High degree of subjectivity;
• the experimenter cannot be sure of the respondent’s honesty and self-criticism;
• It cannot be used in a group form of experimentation;
• the experimenter has no way to check whether the person taking the test understood the instructions correctly;
• the method was used mainly in artificial conditions; in the natural environment, the results of laboratory tests were not confirmed;
• non-reproducibility of the results of the method, even for the same participant after some time;
• The method can provide some information about a person, but it cannot be quantified or assessed qualitatively;
• If the experimenter conducts experiments on himself, then there is a high probability of distortion of the thought process and falsification of the results due to the initial attitude and duality of the researcher;

History of the study

The date of the first use is difficult to determine, since initially this practice was used simply to observe one’s own behavior without correcting it.

The first mention of introspection as a psychological method can be found in the works of R. Descartes. Another researcher, John Locke, divided all human experience into external and internal.

Wilhelm Wundt combined the practice of introspection with instrumental, laboratory methods. After this, introspection became one of the main methods for studying mental states.

With the development of psychology, the technique began to quickly lose popularity. By the beginning of the 20th century, most scientists agreed that introspection is an unscientific, subjective, idealistic method that has no right to exist.

By the end of the 20th century, these judgments softened, the method of introspection began to be used again, but most experts still believe that introspection cannot exist as a separate practice due to the falsity of the information received. It can only be used in combination with other methods of psychic research.

The problem of self-observation

In the course of numerous tests, it turned out that the self-observation method does not meet such criteria as repeatability and the ability to accurately record results. This was due to the fact that the participants were ordinary people who were distracted during the experiment and did not always provide accurate and timely feedback to the experimenter.

Thus, introspection turned out to be a method of studying not the mental processes themselves, but the traces that these processes leave in the human mind.

Another problem with using this method is its limitations: the results of self-observation establish the presence of a sign, but do not explain it. It can only be used to study perception, associations and feelings.