Characteristics of the main methods of psychology
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The observation method is the main method of modern psychology, the essence of which is that scientific facts are collected through not interference in the life of an object, but passive contemplation of this fact
Observations can be carried out both short-term and long-term. Therefore, these types of observations are the cross-sectional method (short-term) and longitudinal (long-term)
The researcher can play the role of a passive observer (detached observation), or can actively interact with the object of study while simultaneously observing him (participant observation)
Observation can be both selective and general, of the subject and the object. For example, general of the object - observation is carried out over all members of the team. Selective of the object - only individual members of the team are included in the observation. General on the subject - all manifestations of the psyche are examined in the object of observation ( character, temperament, will) Selective by subject - only one problem (thinking or memory) is studied for the entire array (in the Object).
The use of surveillance is subject to the following conditions:
1) purposefulness - defining the goal, task of the study;
2) natural conditions - typical observation conditions (so that persons do not know that they are being monitored);
3) having a plan;
4) precise definition of the object and subject of observation;
5) limitation by the researcher of the signs that are the subject of observation;
6) development by the researcher of unambiguous criteria for assessing these characteristics;
7) ensuring clarity and duration of observation
The observation method is used not only by scientists, but also by students, for example, when accumulating data for writing psychological characteristics of a person
Experiment is the main method of psychology, which consists in the fact that facts are obtained by creating special conditions in which the object could most clearly demonstrate the subject being studied
There are experiments: laboratory and natural, ascertaining and molding
Laboratory testing is carried out in special psychological laboratories using appropriate equipment
A natural experiment is carried out under normal activity conditions for the person under study. A natural experiment, like a laboratory one, is carried out according to a specific program, but in such a way that the person does not know that it is being studied and the solutions to the problem are solved calmly, at a pace that is usual for her.
A constitutive experiment is aimed at fixing the existing psychological characteristics of a person, a shaping experiment is aimed at stimulating the desired mental manifestations
Conversation is a method of obtaining information based on verbal (verbal) communication, includes questions and answers
The conversation can be diagnostic (detects), corrective (forms)
The conversation method can produce valuable results under the following conditions:
1) a clear definition by the researcher of the purpose of the conversation;
2) clear planning of the system of questions;
3) the system of questions must correspond to the age and individual characteristics of the subjects, be dynamic, i.e. contents of the following
the question should depend on the content of the answer to the previous one, etc.;
4) the conversation should be relaxed and friendly
Questioning is a method of socio-psychological research using questionnaires, the content of questions and the method of answers in which are planned in advance
The reliability of questionnaire data is checked in two ways:
1) a repeated survey of the same persons using the same procedure;
2) control of questionnaire data by other methods:
— survey of third parties;
- observation;
— analysis of available documents
The questionnaire method can be used in absentia, a relatively economical method of data collection. It allows you to analyze and process data using statistics. This method is used in mass surveys.
Interview is a method that is used to collect primary information in psychological, sociological and pedagogical research.
Sociometry (from Lat.
societas - society metreo - measure) - developed by J Moreno
This method is used to derive or formulate a working hypothesis in the early stages of research; data collection, addition, clarification, expansion, control of data obtained by other methods Interview as a method of three types:
1) a standardized interview, in which the wording and sequence of questions are determined in advance;
2) a non-standard interview, in which the person conducting it is guided only by a general survey plan and formulates a question in accordance with a specific situation;
3) writing a standard interview containing a certain number of possible questions
Test (from
English test - test) Tests are small in volume and time to complete a task, the same for all subjects
The choice of types of interviews depends on the content of the study, the level of study of the problem, and the training of the researcher
Testing is one of the auxiliary methods of psychology, the use of which can serve to identify:
1) the level of development of certain mental functions (observation, memory, thinking, imagination, attention, etc.);
2) the presence or absence of certain knowledge, abilities, skills, mental qualities, good breeding, etc.);
3) the degree of suitability or readiness of a growing individual or adult for a certain profession;
4) mental illness;
5) interests, opinions, abilities of a person
Analysis of activity products is one of the auxiliary methods of psychology. It includes the analysis of drawings and certain images
Social and psychological adaptation of children to school
How can you understand that a child’s adaptation to a new environment, peers and school has been successful?
The first sign of well-being is physical health. However, you need to understand that a child (especially if he did not go to kindergarten) in a large group of children will encounter many viral infections. Therefore, frequent colds in the first months of attending school are common.
The socio-psychological adaptation of first-graders is considered unsuccessful if the following conditions last longer than two to three months:
- the child complains that the teacher does not like him, shouts at him and scolds him;
- before going to school, he complains of pain - headaches or in the stomach, forgets half of his things and does everything to avoid going to school;
- cannot remember lessons or quickly forgets what he has already learned, although he has not complained about his memory before;
- does not want and does not like to talk about school and peers, comes home depressed;
- Throws hysterics.
Program for socio-psychological adaptation of children from the perspective of system-vector psychology
Like kids who take quite a long time to get used to sudden changes in their lives (but once they get used to it, it will last for a long time), these children may have a hard time dealing with the fact that they will have to part with their favorite kindergarten, their favorite teacher and their kindergarten friends.
What can be done to speed up such a child’s adaptation to school? Create a positive image in him about his new place of study in advance. Tell your child about how the educational institution and school activities work. How to behave with a teacher. What rules of behavior are established during lessons: is it possible to chat with friends during classes, talk on the phone, leave the classroom, and so on.
Children with an anal vector are the most obedient, and they will not create problems for teachers. However, it is worth explaining all the rules to them in advance - so that they have time to memorize and assimilate them.
Your personal program for adapting children with an anal vector may also include games - “to school”, “teacher and student” and so on. It is important that in games you are able to reproduce the environment that awaits your child at school. Having felt himself in a new role, he will gradually get used to this feeling, and he will go to school as if he were going to a familiar place, without fears and embarrassment.
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1) The main research methods in psychology, as in a number of other sciences, are empirical methods that make it possible to obtain specific data regarding the nature of mental phenomena, the main of which are observation and experiment. Observation is a scientific method of research, not limited to simple recording of facts, but scientifically explaining the causes of a particular psychological phenomenon. It is divided into everyday observations, which are limited to the registration of facts that are random and unorganized in nature, and the scientific method of observation - the transition from describing a fact to explaining its internal essence. An experiment is the active intervention of a researcher in the activities of a subject in order to create conditions in which a psychological fact is revealed. A laboratory experiment takes place under special conditions using special equipment. A natural experiment takes place under normal conditions and is used to study cognitive capabilities at different age stages. A formative experiment (teaching and educational) models some aspects of human activity.
2) This technique will help you determine the level and nature of anxiety in children of primary and secondary school age.
School anxiety is the broadest concept, including various aspects of persistent school emotional distress. It is expressed in excitement, increased anxiety in educational situations, in the classroom, in anticipation of a bad attitude towards oneself, negative evaluation from teachers and peers. The child constantly feels his own inadequacy, inferiority, and is not sure of the correctness of his behavior.
Instructions. Guys, now you will be asked a questionnaire, which consists of questions about how you feel at school. Try to answer sincerely and truthfully, there are no right or wrong, good or bad answers. Don't think about the questions for too long. When answering a question, write down its number and the answer “+” if you agree with it, or “-“ if you disagree.
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1) Observation is a descriptive psychological research method consisting in the purposeful and organized perception and recording of the behavior of the object being studied.
TYPES OF OBSERVATIONS . As a research method, in psychology and the humanities (ethnography, sociology, pedagogy, etc.) 4 types of (non-experimental) exterospective observation are used, which are distinguished and differentiated from the point of view. the relationship between the observed people (or animals) and the observer.
External observation (observation from the outside) - the observer records the activity of the group being studied from the outside, without taking part in this activity. Such an observation could be: 1) explicit (in which case it is often called “ordinary”) or 2) hidden (for example, using a translucent mirror).
Participant observation (participant observation) - the observer takes part in the activity of the group, becoming its member. At the same time, his role as a researcher-observer could also be 3) explicit, known or 4) hidden, unknown to members of the observed group.
This classification implies that the researcher has minimal or no impact on the reality being studied. More precisely, he does not actively influence it; its possible influence is considered as a kind of forced error.
However, often the researcher is not satisfied with a passive position: then he himself creates situations in which the behavior of people (or animals) is of interest to him. Whenever possible, such artificial situations are disguised as reality. Sociologists call this method experimental observation, while psychologists call it a natural experiment. Even in the laboratory one can achieve skillful camouflage “as reality” (at K. Levin’s school this art was brought to perfection). It is obvious that in experimental observation the same 4 types discussed above can be distinguished.
In addition, V. n. can be differentiated by other characteristics: for example, by the use (or non-use) of recording, recording, measuring equipment; according to duration, frequency, etc. characteristics. Of fundamental importance in psychology is the division into external (exterospective) and internal (introspective) observation. See Introspection, Objective Observation Method, Psychology, Self-Observation. (B.M.)
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In many ways , the methods of practical psychology are determined by the fact that psychological facts, unlike, for example, physical phenomena, can only be understood in the context of other connections and events. As a rule, a visit to a psychologist is caused by the presence of some problem, a difficulty that a person cannot cope with on his own. And very often the psychologist is presented with only a “façade” of the problem. For example, it is said that a small child is aggressive, hits his younger sister and is rude to his grandmother, but is silent about the fact that the child’s father suffers from alcoholism and, when intoxicated, completely loses control over his behavior. That is why it is necessary to conduct additional inquiries in order to establish what the true causes and purpose of the violation that worries parents are. For example, if a child has developed an aggressive reaction in response to his father’s behavior, he diverts emotional stress onto himself and shifts the mother’s anxiety from the father back to himself: after all, it is psychologically easier for adults to decide to work on the behavior of a little boy than to seriously cure alcoholism.
It is clear that the true client in this case is the family, and not the child: such a family “needs” children’s problems, because otherwise you will have to look into the eyes of the phenomenon where
more significant and terrifying.
Let’s imagine that the work of a psychologist at the request of parents was crowned with “success”: what will an absolutely peace-loving child do in conditions of external aggression? His defenselessness will only lead to the appearance of neuroses based on suppressed aggression - fears, stuttering and others.
Thus, it is not easy to understand the true content of the problem, and this happens within the framework of such a method of practical psychology as psychodiagnostics - the science and practice of making a psychological diagnosis, which contains a conclusion about which functions and skills a person has are well developed and which are insufficient.
Based on the results of a psychodiagnostic examination, which can be carried out using a conversation, tests or test tasks (for example, a proposal to assemble a pyramid, take an object with one hand, etc.), the psychologist clarifies the content of the problem. And although these tasks may sometimes look somewhat unusual, a professional always uses them intelligently. For example, a mother complains about the shyness of her five-year-old son, and a psychologist invites her visitors to build a house out of blocks together. Even a five-minute observation helps to understand how roles are distributed, how critical the mother is in relation to her son, whether she consults with him or is limited solely to instructions - in short, to determine the style of maternal upbringing.
The first meeting with the client, and sometimes several meetings (because both children and adults are “fast” and “slow”) are always devoted to clarifying the content and causes of the difficulty that worries the client. Then the psychologist gives a conclusion, which contains a brief summary of what he sees as the true problem. The conclusion can be oral or written, must be understandable to the client and have “psychotherapeutic optimism” - that is, contain an indication of how much the problem can be solved and what steps need to be taken to achieve this.
In addition to the above, the methods of practical psychology are characterized by the fact that as such there is no single method of working with a person - outstanding specialists in the field of psychotherapy believe, not without reason, that each client should have his own psychotherapy. Therefore, depending on the individual characteristics of the person, the preferences of the psychologist and the content of the problem, work to solve it can take place in various forms - in a group, individually, in pairs, by phone or even through regular or email letters.
It also happens that two psychologists work with members of one family at once - this is very effective, but requires high qualifications and teamwork. So, for example, if there is an impression that the child’s shyness is a response to pressure from the mother, who does not provide him with freedom of behavior at all , the psychologist will most likely “let go” of the child for a while and invite the mother to a conversation in order to establish the possible reasons for her excessive severity. Whether this is due to the fact that the mother has an abusive boss and she holds a low-level position, or she is simply repeating her own mother's parenting methods, which seem to her to be an expression of love and care, these interpretations require a different approach. It is possible that another specialist will work with the child at the same time, but it can also be assumed that the child's difficulties will disappear on their own as a result of working with the mother, who will change her parenting style.
After the psychodiagnostic “cut”, the stage of influence begins, the first step of which is the conclusion of an agreement between the psychologist and the client, which includes
mutual expectations and obligations - both professional and economic. For example, a psychologist promises to remove the student’s fear of answering at the blackboard during ten individual lessons, and the child’s parents undertake to pay for these lessons, not miss them, and warn in advance about cancellation for a good reason. Both parties can also stipulate such conditions as, for example, the opportunity to call a psychologist in the evening, ask for an urgent meeting, and the like - all this is very important, because psychologists, although they work in irregular hours, still remain living people and they are not always happy to be introduced into their personal time and space.
If a professional task seems too complex, the psychologist’s duty is to highlight stages in it that can be realistically solved so that the client does not experience disappointment in the future. The contract may be oral or written, with varying degrees of commitment: for example, both parties may be satisfied with the psychologist's willingness to “try to start the work if it works out.”
Brief history of practical psychology and psychodiagnostics
I.V. Loseva, L.B. Bychkova
The origins of psychology can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. More than two thousand years ago, philosophers debated approximately the same issues that still occupy psychologists today. However, the formal birth of psychology as an independent discipline took place in 1879 - this year in Leipzig, Germany, Wilhelm Wundt founded the first laboratory for the experimental study of mental phenomena. In subsequent years, psychology experienced a period of rapid growth throughout the world. Many different conceptual models have been developed to help design scientific research and interpret experimental data.
Practical psychology is a symbiosis of experimental and clinical psychology. Since the 19th century, it was in these branches of psychology that the issues of psychodiagnostics, advisory psychology with diagnostic control, training and simulator rehabilitation were considered, in addition, it includes many achievements of industrial psychology, cognitive, social and child psychology. The main advantage of practical psychology is its 100% practical applicability. This section of psychology emerged as a separate branch in the late 30s of the 20th century. The methods used in practical psychology always take into account three main approaches to personality research: anthropometric characteristics, typology of thinking and functional tasks. This provides the methods with high reliability and validity (consistency of results during initial and repeated use, the main parameters of the client, stability, consistency of various methods with different behavior patterns of a specialist, which other types of psychology cannot boast of). It is the triple approach, both in dynamics and during training and simulator work, that gives the maximum result in changing behavioral skills and selecting an individual model of behavior.
The main goal of today's psychology is to explain from a scientific perspective why people behave the way they do. Another goal of psychology is to help people make full use of their resources and gain satisfaction in life.
Scientific psychology, like any other scientific discipline, has two approaches: static and dynamic. Concrete reality, as it is given to us in experience, is changeable, diverse and complex. These properties of reality are the main reasons for the difficulty of its scientific knowledge. Therefore, initially in any science a static approach is developed. This is the consideration of each complex phenomenon, breaking it down into a series of simple steps and considering each of them separately, assuming that it (the phenomenon) is in itself, independent of other processes. On this basis, “first wave” theories emerge that explain certain aspects. The most striking theories in psychology of this kind are the following theories: Gesell's theory of maturation, Bowlby and Ainsworth's theory of human attachment, Piaget's theory of cognitive development, Pavlov's theory of classical conditioning.
The static approach made it possible to consider many psychological phenomena, outside the categories of their changes over time, without taking into account the influence of the external environment on them and considering them in isolation from their physiological basis. Therefore, from a certain point in the development of psychology, research includes a dynamic approach that arises at the “junction of sciences”; it, as it were, “absorbs” various theories of other sciences and uses them as a “tool” for research in its field. An example of this approach in psychology is: Werner’s comparative theory, developmental psychology, social learning theory (of which Albert Bandura is a prominent representative), cognitive psychology (L.S. Vygotsky), Chomsky’s theory of language development, psychological anthropology (S.V. Lurie) .
Based on these two approaches to the study of psychology, the diagnostic component is also developing, as a result of which subjective diagnostic methods appear and are actively developing - tests, questionnaires, static personality models and objective diagnostic methods - calculated, based on the use of knowledge obtained by a variety of sciences.
Currently, there are several dynamic computational diagnostic tools. Our diagnostic center uses and continues to develop the socio-physiological direction, which is based on the work of psychologists L.S. Vygotsky, Ernst Schechnel, Abraham Noam Chomsky, Larry A. Hjelle, Daniel J. Ziegler, David Martin, A.R. Luria and S.V. Lurie, etc. and anthropologists Clark Wissler, Margaret Mead, Geza Roheim, Abram Kardiner, Ann Smalla, Bradd Shore, A.D. Alexandrova, K.F. Snezhinsky, as well as physiologists, neurobiologists, psychiatrists, ethnologists, criminologists.
The result of the “fusion” of these methods and the serious research and statistical work of a huge team of specialists in these fields has become a method based on the dynamic approach in psychology. This is what we use in our work. The main sections of practical psychology are psychological diagnostics, trainings with diagnostic control, consultations using diagnostics and simulators. But the dynamic approach implies a constant expansion of interscientific connections, the use of various, objective techniques in the study of the human psyche, which is what we actually do, being adherents of practical psychology and using dynamic methods of human research.
To contents
Basic methodological principles of psychology:
a) the principle of determinism. Its essence: mental phenomena are mediated by cause-and-effect relationships, have some cause lying outside (culture, social environment, etc.) or inside the human body (experiences, expectations, relationships, needs, etc.);
b) the principle of systematicity. Its essence is: individual mental phenomena, uniting into a certain integrity, form a system, the characteristic features of which cannot be reduced to a mechanical sum of the features of the elements that make up the system. The system acquires new properties that individual elements do not have;
c) the principle of development, indicating that the human psyche is continuously developing, obeying the laws of development. In development, it becomes possible to identify and describe certain types, stages and stages that have characteristic features.
There are two types of mental development - phylogenetic and ontogenetic (the terms were introduced in 1866 by E. Haeckel):
a) phylogenetic – the development of man as a species; b) ontogenetic - the development of the psyche during the life of an individual person.
E. Haeckel and others formulated the theory of recapitulation, establishing a connection between phylogeny and ontogenesis. It was suggested that biological ontogeny in a compressed form repeats the main stages of phylogeny. However, the mental development of a child, repeating in general terms the main stages of the phylogenesis of mental development, is characterized by much greater flexibility and is in direct connection with the characteristics of the social environment and upbringing.
Psychology operates with its own categorical apparatus. Leading categories: image, motive, experience, activity, communication, personality.
An image is understood as a form of reflection of the phenomena of the world in human consciousness, objective in its source - the reflected object - and ideal in its way of existence. At the sensory level of cognition, images are sensations, perceptions, and ideas; at the level of thinking - concepts, judgments, concepts, theories. The most important for a person are the image of the world and the image of the self. Images are the content of consciousness and act as a signal that stimulates human behavioral activity.
Motive is understood as a conscious or unconscious reason that determines the direction of a person’s activity and the choice of ways to achieve the goal of the activity.
Experiences are a person’s emotional responses to phenomena in the external world, or to his own activity or mental images. They guide and regulate behavior.
Activity is understood as the manifestation of an active, conscious attitude towards the world around us. Activity includes the goal, means, conditions, result and the process of activity itself. Vectors of activity can be directed outside and inside a person.
A person cannot exist and develop outside the social environment. That is why the category of communication is the focus of psychology. However, the characteristic features of communication depend on a large number of factors: on the individual characteristics of the people entering into communication, their cultural background, and the characteristics of the social environment against which the communication takes place.
The central place in the conceptual apparatus of psychology is occupied by the category of personality. It has relatively recently come to the fore, although the tasks of studying the essence of man, the peculiarities of the development of his ideas about his own self, were put forward by the philosophers of antiquity. In modern psychology, personality is understood as a stable self-organizing system of socially significant traits of an individual formed in the process of social practice, which characterize him as a representative of a particular society or community. In contrast, the concept of individuality implies unique originality, hereditary and acquired characteristics of a given person, as opposed to the typical, general, inherent in all or most members of a society or community.
