The problem of periodization of mental development briefly. The problem of periodization of mental development

The fundamental problem of ontogenetic psychology is the problem of periodization. mental development. It has been quite fully developed in the studies of leading domestic and foreign psychologists (Ananiev, 1968; Basov, 1928; Blonsky, 1979; Ballon, 1967; Vygotsky. 1983-1984; Elkonin, 1971; Zaporozhets, 1986; Buhler. 1962; Erikson, 1963; Gezell. 1954; Piaget, 1967; and others).

Given the complexity of the systematics of the mental development of the child and adolescent, some authors have tried to build periodization on one-sided psychological or psychoanalytic foundations. Criticism of this approach was given by L. S. Vygotsky, who, based on a generalization of studies on the periodization of mental development from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century, identifies three main groups of studies on this problem.

To the first group, Vygotsky includes representatives of biogenetic concepts that draw parallels between the development of mankind and the development of a child, as well as representatives of vulgar sociologizing theories that try to connect the categories of childhood with the stages of upbringing and education.

Researchers of the second group, according to Vygotsky, are trying to isolate the conditional criteria for individual signs of childhood. A typical representative of this trend is Charlotte Buhler, who highlights five stages in the development of a child based on the formation of his needs:

§ The first stage (the first year of a child's life) is the stage of "objectification", during which a "window to the outside world" is opened to the child, his first subjective connections with objects are formed.

§ The second stage (from 2 to 6 years) - the stage of expanding connections with the environment through speech.

§ The third stage (from 6 to 10 years) - the stage of "objectification". This stage is characterized by the child's adaptation to family conditions and the primary understanding of his dependence on real (external) circumstances.

§ The fourth stage (from 10 to 13 years old) - the stage of return to the “subjective” and the supremacy of the “I”, is distinguished by a new “distance from objectivity” of the outside world, subjective revision and criticism of what is happening.

§ Fifth stage (from the age of 13) - "the stage of differentiation in sexual development and awareness of cultural and social values."

In her scheme, S. Buhler singled out two main stages in the formation of representations of the "I" by a child. During childhood, these representations qualitatively become more complex. Thus, the author notes the dynamics in the development of consciousness and self-awareness in a child. However, the presented systematics misses many intermediate links in the development of the child's psyche.

L. S. Vygotsky, criticizing the periodization of mental development by S. Buhler, believed that its main shortcomings are subjectivism and one-sidedness. The study of the periodization of mental development, according to Vygotsky, should be based on the study of internal patterns of development.

However, despite the methodological one-sidedness, the periodization of the child's mental development by S. Buhler, in our opinion, is very valuable, since the author quite fully reveals the stages of the formation of a person's self-awareness in ontogenesis on the basis of the need-motivational sphere. This approach also has undoubted practical significance.

L. S. Vygotsky refers to the third category of studies on the periodization of mental development the attempt of some authors to move from a purely symptomatic, descriptive feature to highlighting the essential features of child development. Such an attempt was made by A. Gesell, who built his periodization based on the internal rhythm and pace of development. He highlights six stages of child and adolescent mental development:

§ The first stage (from birth to the end of the 2nd year of life) is distinguished by the child's acquaintance with his own body, the establishment of differences between acquaintances and strangers, the beginning of walking and manipulative games.

§ The second (from the end of the 2nd to the end of the 3rd year) is distinguished by the formation of the first ideas about one's personality, the development of the language and the beginning of sociability. The author called this stage the “opposition stage”.

§ The third (from the end of the 3rd to the beginning of the 5th year of life) is characterized by the presence of contradictions in the child and an increase in interest in other people.

§ The fourth (from the beginning of the 5th to the end of the 7th year) is characterized by the child's interest in cooperation and social discipline. The author called it "the stage of cooperation and social discipline".

§ The fifth stage (from 7 to 12 years) includes three main components: crises with a tendency to an extreme course of action, the assertion and formation of the "I", the awakening of interest in social life.

§ The sixth stage (from the age of 12) is characterized by the fact that the child becomes a member of a social group.

The age periodization of A. Gesell quite fully reveals the features of the relationship of the child with the outside world. However, attention is drawn to the heterogeneity, diversity of age criteria, insufficiently clear identification of the main signs of age-related maturation. Vygotsky called Gesell's periodization a "half-hearted" attempt at periodization, with a stop halfway through "the transition from the symptomatic to the essential division of age" (Vygotsky, 1983-1984, p. 258).

Criticizing his predecessors, Vygotsky developed the basic methodological principles for constructing periodization. age development child and adolescent, which are of fundamental importance in psychology. He interprets mental development as a dialectically contradictory process that proceeds not along an evolutionary path, but through "breaks in continuity", as a result of which qualitatively new formations arise. Vygotsky also introduces the concept of “age-related neoplasms” into psychology and considers them as “a new type of personality structure and activity, those mental and social changes that first occur at a given age stage and which in the most important and fundamental way determine the child’s consciousness, his attitude to environment, his inner and outer life, the whole course of his development in a given period” (ibid., p. 248).

Analyzing the dynamics of the transition from one age to another, Vygotsky singles out stable, or stable, ages, when development occurs mainly due to microscopic changes in the child's personality, and then abruptly appears in the form of some kind of age-related neoplasm. He also singles out crisis periods, or crisis ages, which are critical, turning points in development.

Further studies in developmental psychology have shown that the main significance of age-related crises in a person's life is the restructuring of the characteristics of his mental development. The activity approach of domestic psychologists to the problem of periodization of mental development suggests that each period of development of a child's personality is characterized by a certain type of leading activity. It is in the process of activity that the possibilities of the individual are most fully realized, and the formation of neoplasms occurs. Based on these provisions, D. B. Elkonin (1971) developed the concept of the psychological development of a person from birth to adulthood. He singled out certain epochs in the development, which, in turn, are divided into periods and phases.

1) assimilation and development of the motivational-need sphere of the personality;

2) assimilation of methods of action with objects, i.e., the formation of operational and technical capabilities.

Each period is characterized by a certain leading activity, which ensures the formation of either the motivational-required or the operational-technical side of development. The contradiction between these parties acts as the driving force of personality development.

BF Lomov (1984), analyzing the concept of Elkonin, emphasized that the changing connections between the motivational-need and operational-technical aspects of activity are essential for the development of the personality, but they do not reveal the development of its relationships with other people. The process of communication is an important psychological factor in the development of personality.

In the works of M. I. Lisina (1974, 1986), the stages of the formation of communication in ontogenesis and the main motives for communication in preschool age are revealed. The author showed that the need for communication in a child develops from simple forms (the need for emotional contacts) to more and more complex ones (cooperation, intimate personal communication). With the age of the child there is a change in the motives of communication.

The problem of periodization of the child's mental development is quite widely represented in the works of foreign psychologists.

For example, 3 . Freud (1995) identifies eight stages of development in childhood.

§ The first (from birth to 6 months) - "stage of primary autoeroticism."

§ The second (from 6 to 12 months) is the “oral stage”, when the child “requires” the mother’s breast, captures the object.

§ The third (from 1 year to 4 years) - "sadistic-anal stage", characterized by the opposition of external objects to the body.

§ Fourth (from 4 years old) - "phallic" or "genital" depending on the sex of the child. Its typical manifestations are the identification of "I" and the first relationship of opposing oneself to the opposite sex. During this period, the Oedipus complex develops.

§ Fifth (from 5-6 years old) - "latent phase" - the stage of organization of the mental apparatus. During this period, the child is constructing the "I", It and over I. This is the longest stage during which the social, moral and logical "I" is created.

§ Sixth (from 10 years old) - "stage of pre-puberty". It is characterized by the repression of childhood tendencies, sexual identification and the choice of the object of libido. This stage is characterized by masturbation and homosexuality.

§ The seventh (from the age of 14) - “pubertal stage”, is distinguished by an increase in libido, establishing the final choice of a heterosexual object.

§ Eighth (from the age of 15) - organizations of the social, intellectual and moral "I".

Despite the predominance of pansexualism in Freud's teachings, his age periodization deserves the attention of practical psychologists dealing with the problems of sexual development and child rearing.

Modern foreign psychologists are trying to modify Freud's psychoanalytic theory, emphasizing the importance of society in the development of the child. Thus, E. Erickson (1963) notes that social influence does not contradict the nature of the child, his vital impulses, he emphasizes the harmony of psychobiological and social factors in the mental development of the child. As the main stages of personality development, the author identifies eight stages of the psychosexual maturation of the individual.

The most progressive and profound studies of the process of development and its periodization belong to J. Piaget. The author divides all development from birth to the end of adolescence into four periods.

The first is sensorimotor (from birth to 15 months). The second is representative (from 2 to 8 years). The third is the period of concrete intellect (from 9 to 12 years). The fourth is the period of logical operations (from the age of 13). Within each period, J. Piaget singles out sub-periods, setting out in detail their meaningful characteristics. Exploring the qualitative originality of the stages of a child's intellectual development, Piaget examines them and gives them a definition from the functional and structural sides. In the functional aspect, the stages turn out to be similar to each other, but in terms of their structures they are profoundly different. This difference arises as a result of the transformation of previous structures, revealing the type of interaction of structures with the surrounding world. Piaget considers the transition from sensorimotor to operational intelligence to be the self-development of the structures of the child's individual interaction with the outside world.

The analysis shows that the difficulties of periodization of the age development of a person are due to many criteria for the development of the human psyche. These are the motivational-need sphere, intellect, psychosexual characteristics, the emotional-volitional sphere, etc.

The true process of the development of the psyche can be revealed only in the course of studying the ontogeny of the interaction of the individual with the environment in certain age periods.

In the works of B. G. Ananiev (1968) and his students, on the basis of macrochronological and microchronological analyzes, various cycles, periods, microperiods in personality development are distinguished. As a result of complex psychological research, the age characteristics of psychophysiological functions and mental processes have been revealed. Ananiev associated the changing "measures of time" with various external and internal factors of development, with changing and contradictory relationships and relationships of age, typological and individual characteristics person in the course of his life. The sequence of phases of mental development and their different durations can be due to different speeds of mental processes, the depth and complexity of their transformations.

The biological sciences have accumulated numerous data on the time difference in the origin of individual stages, the timing of reaching maturity, the optimal thresholds in the development of individual systems and their components, both in animals and humans. Not only individual functions, but even their various properties and characteristics can be in different phases of their development due to the unequal speed and pace of development.

In psychology, extensive empirical material has also been accumulated on the mismatch between the phases of development of various aspects of perception, memory, thinking, abilities, not only in the early stages, but also in late ontogenesis. Studies have shown that heterochrony in mental development is carried out in two directions: by increasing heterogeneity in the rates of passage of various phases by different systems and by complicating (accelerating or slowing down) the rate of development of the entire system as a whole. Thus, the temporal structure of mental development acts as a manifestation of the internal development of the psyche.

The theoretical developments of B. G. Ananiev and his students were confirmed by the results of numerous experimental studies in the field of psychophysiology, developmental, medical and educational psychology.

It was found that the inconsistency of the temporal structure of personality development enhances the internal inconsistency of human ontogenetic evolution. The study of micro and macrochronological characteristics makes it possible to identify qualitative neoplasms, driving forces, and temporal parameters in the mental development of a person. The study of temporal structures of personality development has a special importance in the study of mental dysontogenesis.

Answer plan:

The concept of periodization. one

Periodization classifications. one

The problem of periodization of mental development from the point of view of the activity approach 6

Age periodization of the phases of development of an adult: 7

The concept of periodization.

Mental development is a process that unfolds over time and is characterized by both quantitative and qualitative changes.

Periodization is the division of the life cycle into separate periods or age stages.

The division of the life path into periods allows a better understanding of the patterns of development, the specifics of individual age stages. The content (and name) of periods, their time boundaries are determined by the views of the author of periodization on the most important, essential aspects of development. There are many different classifications, but there is no single generally accepted one.

Periodization classifications.

L.S. Vygotsky distinguished 3 groups of periodization: according to an external criterion, according to one and several signs of development.

For group 1, periodization is based on an external but developmental criterion. Stern's periodization, created according to the biogenetic principle (ontogeny in a short and concise form repeats phylogeny, therefore the process of individual development corresponds to the main periods of biological evolution and the historical development of mankind). Rene Zazzo (the stages of childhood coincide with the stages of the system of raising and educating children).

In group 2, not an external, but an internal criterion is used - any one side of development. The development of bone tissue in P.P. Blonsky and the development of child sexuality in Z. Freud. The development of leading activity in A.N. Leontiev, which causes major changes in the mental processes and psychological characteristics of the child's personality at this stage of development.

Periodizations based on one attribute are subjective: the authors arbitrarily choose one of the many aspects of development. In addition, they do not take into account the change in the role of the selected feature in the overall development throughout life, and the value of any feature changes with the transition from age to age.

To date, it has been experimentally established that in groups of different levels of development, the leading ones are temporarily or permanently very different in content, intensity and social value types of activities. This constantly blurs the idea of ​​a “leading type of activity” as the basis for the periodization of personality development.

The personality-forming beginning at each age stage becomes a complex of interdependent activities, and not the dominance of one type of activity, mainly responsible for the successful achievement of development goals. Meanwhile, as a result of psychological analysis, each individual can be identified the leading type of activity inherent in him, which makes it possible to distinguish him from many others.

In the 3rd group of periodizations, an attempt was made to identify periods of development on the basis of the essential features of this development. This is the periodization of L.S. Vygotsky and D.B. Elkonin. They use 3 criteria: the social situation of development, the leading activity and the central age-related neoplasm.

Thus, Vygotsky, as a criterion for age periodization, considered mental neoplasms characteristic of a particular stage of development.

The age periodization of L.S. Vygotsky has the following form:

Neonatal crisis - infancy (2 months - 1 year);

Crisis of 1 year - early childhood (1 - 3 years) - crisis of 3 years;

Preschool age (3 - 7 years);

Crisis 7 years - school age (8 - 12 years);

Crisis of 13 years - puberty (14 - 17 years) - crisis of 17 years.

Key points: the existence of stable and crisis stages of development.

D.B. Elkonin formulates the law of periodicity in the following way: “A child approaches each point of his development with a certain discrepancy between what he has learned from the system of relations man - man, and what he has learned from the system of relations man - object. It is precisely the moments when this discrepancy assumes the greatest magnitude that are called crises, after which the development of the side that lagged behind in the previous period takes place. But each side prepares the development of the other.” Each age is characterized by its own social situation of development; leading activity, in which the motivational-need or intellectual sphere of the personality develops predominantly; age-related neoplasms that form at the end of the period, among which the central one stands out, the most significant for subsequent development. Age boundaries are crises - turning points in the development of the child. Periodization by D.B. Elkonin is the most common in Russian psychology.

The periodization proposed by D.B. Elkonin includes 7 periods:

1. infancy (from birth to 1 year)

2. early childhood (from 1 year to 3 years)

3. junior and middle preschool age (from 3 to 5 years)

4. senior preschool age (5 - 7 years)

5. junior school age (7 -11 years old)

6. adolescence (11 - 14 years old)

7. early adolescence (14 - 17 years old)

Each of these stages requires its own style of communication, the use of special methods and techniques of training and education. Traditionally, it is customary to divide the process of child development into 4 stages:

Preschool childhood;

Junior school age (6 - 11 years);

Middle, teenage (11 - 15 years);

Senior school (15 - 17 years).

A.V. Petrovsky in 1984. A psychological concept of age periodization of personality development was proposed, which is determined by the type of activity-mediated relations of an individual with the most referential groups for him. For each age period, he singled out 3 phases of entry into the reference community: adaptation, individualization, integration, in which the development and restructuring of the personality structure take place.

These classifications describe mainly the stages of child development and, as a rule, end adolescence or high school age.

E. Erickson traced the integral life path of a person, from birth to old age. Personal development in its content is determined by what society expects from a person, what values ​​and ideals it offers, what tasks it sets for him at different age stages. But the sequence of stages of development depends on the biological principle. Personality, maturing, goes through a series of successive stages. At each stage, it acquires a certain quality (personal neoplasm), which is fixed in the structure of the personality and persists in subsequent periods of life. Crises are inherent in all age stages, these are “turning points”, moments of choice between progress and regression.

each personal quality that appears at a certain age contains a deep attitude towards the world and oneself. This relationship can be positive progressive development personality, and negative, causing negative shifts in development, its regression. One has to choose one of two polar attitudes - trust or distrust in the world, initiative or passivity, competence or inferiority, etc. When the choice is made and the corresponding quality of the personality, say, positive, is fixed, the opposite pole of the relationship continues to exist hidden, and can manifest itself much later, when a person encounters a serious life failure.

Development periods

Period Infant Early Childhood Preschool School

Leading activity Emotional communication Objective activity Game activity Educational activity

Psychodynamic periodization of mental development

Z.Freud oral anal phallic genital

E. Erickson Trust versus closeness Autonomy versus dependence Initiative versus guilt Diligence versus feelings of inferiority

E.Bern, Litvak You +/- Me +/- They +/- Labor +/-

V.Shuts connection control openness

Periodization of cognitive development

Developmental stages according to Piaget Sensorimotor Preoperative Specific operations Formal operations

Type of thinking Object-effective Visual-figurative Theoretical or abstract (verbal-conceptual)

Type of reflection Concrete - sensual Abstract - generalized

Components of mental strategy

introversion Rationality/

irrationality Ethics/

(left hemisphere) Sensory/

Intuition

(right hemisphere)

V.S. Lazarev “Problems of understanding mental development in the cultural-historical theory of activity”. Questions of psychology. 1999. No. 3. p.18 - 27

The problem of periodization of mental development from the point of view of the activity approach

Understanding the driving forces and mechanisms of mental development leads to the identification in the theory of activity of qualitatively unique periods of this development, the criterion for distinguishing which is a change in the type of leading activity. The concept of “leading activity” was introduced by A.N. Leontiev as such an activity “in connection with which the most important changes occur in the child’s psyche and within which mental processes develop that prepare the child’s transition to a new, higher stage of his development.” The currently existing periodizations of mental development, built on the basis of the principle of leading activity by D.B. Elkonin and V.V. Davydov, testify to the productivity of this principle as applied to the initial periods of a person’s life. However, as we move to older ages, questions arise that, relying on this principle, become more difficult to answer or fail to answer at all.

Let us take the period when labor activity becomes the leading one for a person. This is a large part of life in which a person continues to change qualitatively. Creating a family, becoming a parent, raising children and then grandchildren, engaging in social work, a person, simultaneously with labor activity, carries out other types of activities and changes in them. Either we will have to, following the principle of leading activity, assert that only those changes that occur in connection with labor activity are important, and the rest do not matter, or we will recognize that the principle used is insufficient for constructing a detailed periodization, at least after entering adulthood.

The existence of a leading activity does not mean that all other activities are unimportant for development. As a person grows older, the system of his activities becomes more and more diverse. Neoplasms are formed not only in the leading activity, but also in other activities.

Consistently implementing the activity approach, we must consider not just the change of one leading activity by another, but the development of a system of activities. Leading activity is the central formation of this system. But while maintaining the same leading activity, the system can qualitatively change due to the formation and development of its new components or the emergence of new links in the structure of the system.

Thus, the criterion for periodization should be a qualitative change in the system of human activities. In the early periods of development, when this system is not developed and, in fact, coincides with the leading activity, the periodization built on the proposed principle will coincide with its existing variants, and at older ages it will be different.

Ananiev B.G. "On the problems of modern human knowledge" St. Petersburg. 2001.

Age periodization of the phases of development of an adult:

The accumulation of scientific data (experimental, biographical, demographic) about the individual phases of an adult's life contributed to the construction of various comparative characteristics of these phases and the identification of some general principles periodization of the life cycle of a person, with the help of which maturity changes were delimited from youth, on the one hand, and old age, on the other. Some Soviet anthropologists call the beginning of maturity youth. For example, according to V.V. Ginzburg, this period for men covers the time from 16 - 18 to 22 - 24 years, for women - from 15 - 16 to 18 - 22 years. VV Bunak believes that early youth is limited to 17-20 years, and late youth covers the period from 20 to 25 years. The opinions of foreign scientists also differ: D. B. Bromley calls early adulthood the period from 21 to 25 years, D. Birren combines youth and early adulthood into one common period - from 17 to 25 years.

The characteristics and time limits of middle age or middle adulthood are even more uncertain: from 20 to 35 years old (D. Wexler), 25 - 40 (D. B. Bromley), 25 - 50 (D. Birren), 36 - 60 (according to international classification of ages). Birren designates the entire range of development between youth and old age as periods of maturity; D. Bromley - as periods of adulthood, in V.V. Ginzburg and V.V. Bunak, the early period is called maturity and adulthood, and the late (40 - 55 years) - maturity. The German anthropologist G. Grimm does not divide adulthood into separate periods and calls this entire range of life phases the working age, as is customary in demography.

Sklyarova T.V.

The systems of dividing human life into age segments that exist in psychology differ greatly from each other, depending on what is considered as a development criterion. In the aspect of this criterion, tAU, whether it is the maturation of the intellect or social relations of a person, the features of the formation of the human psyche are being considered. In general, any psychological theory, with the help of which this or that process is studied, gives the researcher a certain V-angle of vision. And then the researcher perceives the person through the prism of the theory used. Let's look at some examples. So, in psychoanalysis, the main task is to identify and study the subconscious sphere that controls a person. In the psychological concepts of behaviorism (behavior (English) behavior), the emphasis is on specific actions and actions of a person, studying the impact of the environment on a person. The humanistic direction in psychology places at the center of its methodology the inner world of a person, his “phenomenal field” or “selfhood”, which is considered as a person’s ideas about himself, based on past experience, present data and future expectations. At the same time, each of these theories has accumulated a rich arsenal of observations, on the basis of which certain regularities have been revealed. These regularities reflect both the reality of a person's mental life in general, and the mental reality of the author of the theory himself, expressed in his manner of thinking. Thus, in any scientific theory There is an object and ways of describing it. And if the subject of tAU is a real-life phenomenon, then the methods of description, no matter how accurate they are, remain a kind of “flat” projection of this “big-volume” phenomenon. Therefore, it can be assumed that the use of psychological theory becomes a way of thinking, due to the worldview of the researcher, this way depends on his cultural, religious or gender identity. In the proposed article, the concepts of age periodization are selected for consideration, which, in the author's opinion, can be applied to education in the light of Orthodox anthropology. In this regard, we consider it necessary to stipulate the fact that we are describing only one aspect of the richest scientific heritage of each of the psychologists under consideration.

L.S. Vygotsky

VYGOTSKY Lev Semenovich (1896-1934) TAF Russian psychologist. He developed a cultural-historical theory of the development of the psyche in the process of mastering the values ​​of human culture and civilization by an individual. He distinguished between VlnaturalV (given by nature) mental functions and VlculturalV functions (acquired as a result of internalization, i.e. the process of mastering cultural values ​​by an individual).

A number of basic concepts used in developmental psychology were introduced by L.S. Vygotsky in his theory of the development of the human psyche. L.S. Vygotsky introduced into science a categorical analysis of the problem of age, its structure and dynamics. The basis for the age periodization was the internal logic of the child development of the tAU process of self-movement, the emergence and formation of a new one in the psyche. A new type of personality structure and its activities, mental and social changes that first occur at a given age stage and determine the child's consciousness and his attitude to the environment, is called the neoplasm of age. At each age stage there is a central neoplasm, partial neoplasms adjoin it, which relate to the aspects of the child's personality, to neoplasms of previous ages. The age structure includes central and side lines of development. The central lines of development include those processes that are associated with the main neoplasm of the age, and other partial processes belong to the side tAU. For example, the development of speech in early childhood is associated with the central line of development, and in adolescence, tAU with side ones. By the beginning of each age, a specific relationship develops between the child and the reality surrounding him, which is called the social situation of development. The basic law of age dynamics is the recognition that the forces that drive the development of the child lead to the denial of the very basis of the development of age and the disintegration of the existing social situation of development. At each age stage there is a zone of intellectual imitation, which is associated with the real level of development of the child and is called the zone of proximal development. What a child does today with the help of an adult, tomorrow he will be able to reproduce on his own. Each child has their own individual zone of proximal development. The activity associated with the central neoplasm of age is called the leading activity. This is not the activity on which the most time is spent, but the one in which the child is maximally manifested as a person. Age-related changes can occur abruptly, critically, and can occur gradually, lytically.

Epochs or stages of development end with developmental crises. The crisis is the dismemberment of the previously unified element, which is associated with the dynamics of the transition from one age to another. This is the process of the appearance of new aspects in the psyche, the restructuring of the connection between the objects existing in the psyche. Describing the crisis, Vygotsky writes that at this time the whole child changes, in general, the boundaries of the crisis are blurred, and the culmination is obligatory, at this time children are difficult to educate, even compared to themselves in stable periods of their development, the crisis is caused by the internal logic of the development process itself. rather than external conditions. In a crisis, new interests and activities do not arise.

The periods of a child's life, lytically separated from each other, constitute the phases of development.

L.S. Vygotsky analyzed the processes of a child’s mental development in different age periods and developed a general scheme that makes it possible to observe the causes of a change in ages. According to this scheme, each age opens with a crisis. The crisis causes the formation of a new social situation of development. It has internal contradictions, which develop a neoplasm in the child's psyche. The emerging neoplasm carries the prerequisites for the destruction of this social situation of development and the brewing of a new crisis.

L.S. Vygotsky substantiated the age periodization of child development, which ends with a consideration of the crisis of 17 years. It looks like this:

neonatal crisis

Infant age (2 months - 1 year).

One year crisis

Early childhood (1 TAU 3 years)

Crisis of three years

Preschool age (3 to 7 years old)

Crisis of seven years

School age (8 TAU 12 years old)

Crisis of thirteen years

Pubertal age (14-18 years old)

The Crisis of Seventeen

D. B. Elkonin

Elkonin Daniil Borisovich (1904 - 1984) TAF Soviet psychologist, creator of the concept of periodization of mental development in ontogeny, based on the concept of taL leading activitytL. Developed the psychological problems of the game, the formation of the personality of the child.

The ideas of L. S. Vygotsky about the socio-cultural conditioning of age-related development were developed by Elkonin D. B. He proposed a different understanding of children's mental development. According to his concept, the change in the stages of development depends on the degree of interaction between the child and society. According to Elkonin, the child's personality is formed within the systems "Vlchild - a public subject" and "Vlchild - a public adult". The child, getting acquainted with the world around him, realizes his specific needs, motives and tasks (child-adult) and masters the cultural methods of action with the objective world (the child is an object). Considering the peculiarity of the social situation of development and leading activity in each age period, D.B. Elkonin revealed the following regularity - first, the child orients himself in the basic meanings of human activity, and only then masters socially developed methods of acting with objects. These two lines of assimilation cannot be considered in isolation, as they complement each other. But in each age period, one of the tendencies is predominant. The first trend is the development of the motivational-required sphere, the second is the development of operational and technical capabilities.

D. B. Elkonin singled out six periods in childhood, each of which corresponds to its own type of leading activity.

The first period is tAU infancy (0-1 year). The leading activity of tAU is direct-emotional communication, personal communication with an adult within which the child learns objective actions. The motivational-required sphere dominates.

The second period of tAU is early childhood (1 tAU 3 years). The leading activity of tAU is object-manipulative, within which the child cooperates with an adult in mastering new activities. The operational and technical sphere prevails.

The third period of tAU preschool childhood (3 tAU 6 years). TAU Leading Activities role-playing game, within which the child is oriented in the most general sense of human activity, for example, family and professional. The motivational-required sphere dominates.

The fourth period is tAU junior school age (7 tAU 10 years). The leading activity of TAU is study, children learn the rules and methods of educational activities. In the process of assimilation, motives also develop. cognitive activity. But the operational and technical sphere prevails.

The fifth period of tAU is adolescence (10 to 15 years). The leading activity of TAU is communication with peers. Reproducing the interpersonal relationships that exist in the world of adults, adolescents accept or reject them. In this communication, the semantic orientations of the teenager to his future, to relationships with people are formed, tasks and motives for further activity appear. The motivational-required sphere dominates.

Sixth period tAU early youth (15 tAU 17 years). The leading activity of TAU is educational and professional activity. During this period, the development of professional skills and abilities takes place. Operational activity prevails.

Thus, mental development is carried out in the process of a regular change in the leading type of activity. Transitions from one period to another are accompanied by significant difficulties in the relationship between adults and children, as the child declares about his new needs or skills. These transitional periods are called crises of age development.

Defining age as a relatively closed period of child development, D.B. Elkonin characterized each such period (age) as the main indicators of the social situation of development, the leading type of activity, and the main mental neoplasms.

Piaget Jean (1896-1980) TAF Swiss psychologist, founder of the Geneva School of Genetic Psychology. In the initial period of his activity, he described the features of children's ideas about the world. Later, J. Piaget turned to the study of the development of the intellect, in which he saw the result of the internalization of external actions and put forward the concept of the phasic development of the psyche.

One of the most famous systems belongs to Jean Piaget, who based his system on the analysis of the development of thinking. According to Piaget, the intellect, as a living structure, grows, changes and adapts to the world. The differences between children and adults are due not only to the fact that children know less, but also to the fact that the way children learn is different from that of adults. Piaget suggested that children have some cognitive (thinking) limitations. As a person grows and acquires more knowledge, the ways of processing information in his cognitive structures become more complicated. The scientist identified three main periods in the mental development of the child, several stages are distinguished within each period. All children go through periods and stages of development in a certain sequence, each new stage is based on the previous one, and this order is the same for all children.

The first period of development is called sensorimotor by Piaget, because at the age of 0 to two years, children get to know the world mainly through the sensations of looking at, grasping, sucking, biting, chewing, etc.

The second period of tAU of specific operations includes two stages of tAU - preoperative and operational.

The first stage of tAU is preoperative, typical for the age from 2 to 6 years. At this age, children form concepts and use symbols, but do so based on their experience. Unlike adults, children can only see things from their own perspective (egocentrism) and focus on one relationship at a time (centration). Often the child cannot think through the consequences of a particular chain of events. At the beginning of this stage, children take names so seriously that sometimes they cannot separate their literal meaning from the essence of this thing. So, the child can call the water in the mug "Water," and the water in the bathroom with another word, which means in his lexicon "Walk." In cases where the phenomenon that is happening does not fit into the child's experience, he can resort to "magical" ideas about the causes and effects of tAU, for example, attempt to spell the bus so that he will come sooner. Also, the thinking of children of this age is characterized by Vlanimism (anima from the Latin soul), as the animation of surrounding objects, for example, a child may decide that the elevator was angry with him and therefore slammed the door on the floor of his coat. At this stage, the child often has difficulty classifying objects and concepts.

At the second stage of the tAU of the operating room (from 7 to 11-12 years old), children begin to use logic in their thinking, to classify objects according to several criteria. The child's thinking at this stage takes into account the hierarchy of classes tAU so "Vlmashina" is a large group, within which there are subgroups of Vlbrand cars", and within these subgroups there may be even smaller subgroups. Logical operations are successfully applied to actions with specific objects.

The third period of tAU formal operations, from 12 years or a little later. The adolescent's thinking develops to such an extent that he is able to operate with abstract concepts that are not based on visual images. Teenagers are not only able to think and talk about freedom, love, justice; they can build their conclusions and put forward hypotheses, reason by analogy and metaphorically, generalize and analyze their experience.

In the theory of cognitive development created by J. Piaget, the differences between the form and content of cognition are indicated. The content of children's knowledge of TAU is everything that is acquired through experience and observation. The form of cognition is a special structure of human mental activity. As Piaget says, man assimilates what surrounds him, but he assimilates it according to his mental chemistry. Cognition of reality always depends on the dominant mental structures. One and the same knowledge can be of different value depending on what mental structures it relies on. The most important pedagogical principle for Piaget is the recognition of the child as an "active explorer" who comprehends the world according to his own mental structure.

Studying the development of thought, Piaget pointed to the interaction of the moral sense with the developing mental structures and the gradually expanding social experience of the child. The development of the moral sense according to Piaget is carried out in two stages. At the stage of moral realism, children are sure that the existing moral prescriptions are absolute and the degree of violation of these prescriptions is directly proportional to the quantitative assessment of what happened. So, following the example of Piaget, the child will consider the girl who set the table and accidentally broke 12 plates as more guilty than the girl who intentionally broke 2 plates in a fit of anger at her sister. Later, children reach the stage of moral relativism. Now they understand that the existing rules in some situations can be significantly adjusted and the morality of an act depends not on its consequences, but on intentions. This Piagetian theory of two stages of moral development was developed considerably by Lawrence Kohlberg.

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927 tAF 1987) tAF American psychologist. Author of the concept of moral development. Based on it, he singled out a number of signs for diagnosing the stages of moral development, summarized in the form of an evaluation scale.

Exploring the development of the image of moral judgment in children, adolescents and adults, L. Kolberg offered them a series of short stories, each of which had a certain moral dilemma. The subjects had to make a choice how to act in the described situation and justify their choice. Based on Piaget's ideas that the development of the intellect is subject to certain patterns, L. Kohlberg asked himself the question: "If the intellect develops over the years, then the moral judgments in children are formed in a certain sequence?" Testing this hypothesis of his, he offered a huge number of subjects of different ages and intellectual development a series of brief moral dilemmas, i.e. situations that do not have a unique solution. For example, one of Mr. N's common dilemmas was that his wife fell seriously ill. A medicine that is sold in a single pharmacy in the city can help her. But the pharmacist, knowing that he alone possesses such a medicine VlzalomilV, for him the price is several times higher than the real cost of this medicine. Mr. N also knows about this and therefore he decides to STEAL this medicine in order to save his wife. Is Mr. N doing the right thing and why? In order to test the hypothesis, L. Kolberg was interested not so much in the answers as in their motivation, i.e. How do respondents explain their choice? Or what mental structure a person relies on when making a decision. Analyzing these answers, L. Kohlberg revealed a certain pattern - the development of moral judgments often depends on age. In this regard, the psychologist suggested that moral attitudes in the human psyche, developing, go through certain stages. Since the whole variety of answers of the subjects as a whole was distributed in six directions, these six stages were designated. Their analysis made it possible to conclude that in their moral judgments a person is guided either by the principles of his own psychological comfort tAU of avoiding punishment or obtaining benefits - (L. Kohlberg called this level pre-conventional), or the principles of the "visible" agreement tAU in order to feel comfortable in society (conventional level), or by the formal moral principles of TAU, moral judgments are based on a certain ideology (post-conventional level). Thus, the stages of moral development can be represented as follows:

I. Pre-Convention moral level.

The first stage of tAU is an orientation toward punishment and obedience.

The second stage of tAU is the naive hedonic orientation.

II. Conventional moral level.

The third stage of tAU is the orientation towards the behavior of a good girl / good boy The fourth stage of tAU is the orientation of maintaining social order.

III. post-convention morale.

The fifth stage of tAU is the orientation of the social agreement.

The sixth stage of tAU is the orientation towards universal ethical principles.

The age at which a child moves to the next level is individual, although there are some patterns. Children studying in primary school tend to be on a pre-conventional moral level. They are guided by authority, believe in the absoluteness and universality of values, so they adopt the concepts of good and evil from adults.

Approaching adolescence, children tend to move to the conventional level. At the same time, the majority of adolescents become Vlconformists": the opinion of the majority for them coincides with the concept of good.

The negative crisis experienced by adolescents is not considered a moral degression of tAU, it shows that the adolescent is moving to a higher level of development, which includes the social situation in his attention. At the same time, some adolescents are at the stage of being a good boy, while others reach the stage of maintaining social order.

However, there are situations when even in adolescence (and sometimes later!) a person does not reach the conventional level, he continues to be guided by the principles of his own psychological comfort only. This happens due to various reasons, more often than a whole complex of tAU underdevelopment of the intellectual sphere, underdevelopment of communication skills, etc. The studies conducted by Frondlich in 1991 based on the materials of L. Kolberg showed that 83% of teenage offenders did not reach the conventional level of development.

The transition to the third, according to L. Kolberg, level of moral development, for the most rapidly developing children, occurs at 15 to 16 years old. This transition seems at first to be a regression of conscience. The teenager begins to reject morality, assert the relativity of moral values, the concepts of duty, honesty, kindness become meaningless words for him. He argues that no one has the right to decide how another should behave. Such teenagers often experience a crisis of loss of life meanings. The result of the ongoing crisis is the personal acceptance of some tAU values. At the same time, it should be noted that not all people in their lives reach this level of autonomous conscience. Some people are at the conventional level of development until their death, some do not even reach it.

Further Research on the Psychological Determinants of Moral Consciousness

The cultural relativity of dilemmas often makes it impossible to adapt them as diagnostic techniques. In addition, most tests assessing morality often evaluate knowledge of morality, rather than real moral attitudes and beliefs. Therefore, the use of the method of moral dilemmas is more effective in those cases when they reveal gaps in the public consciousness, affect the pain points of the development of society. To study the moral judgments of our compatriots, Malyugin D.V. dilemmas were selected that are relevant and topical for modern Russian reality, realistic for the subjects, formulated as clearly as possible and at the same time, do not have unambiguous answers. Here are some of the dilemmas used.

1. One of the members of a terrorist group is captured. The remaining members of the group are at large and are preparing new terrorist acts. Do you think it is necessary and possible to apply any interrogation methods to the captured terrorist or to act only legally?

2. You ended up in a city that is foreign to you without money. The only way to satisfy the hunger of the TAU is to steal and eat food in the supermarket. Will you go for it?

3. Your loved one suffers from an incurable disease and asks you to help him die quickly and without pain. The doctor treating him says that he/she is so weak that a small increase in the dose of pain medication will lead to death that will look like a completely natural one. Will you go for it?

4. You are married and looking forward to the birth of your first child. The medical prognosis shows that your child is likely to be born with a disability due to a congenital disease. How will you do it?

5. Will you agree to wiretapping your phone if it can help prevent many dangerous crimes?

The research conducted by D.V. Malyugin allowed him to draw a number of relevant conclusions. At present, there are two main directions in the study of the moral choice of tAU - the study of the moral norms themselves, judgments and actions, their typology; and a second TAU study of factors associated with and influencing moral behavior. The main determinant of choice in a situation of moral uncertainty is the value orientations of a person, which have existential significance for him and are associated with the search for the meaning of life or with the degree of meaningfulness of his life.

E. Erickson

Erickson, Eric Gomburger (1902-1994) - American psychologist and psychotherapist, one of the founders of ego psychology, author of one of the first psychological theories life cycle, creator of the psychohistorical model of social cognition. In his psychology, he was based on the postulate of the sociocultural conditioning of the human psyche. Developed the concept of psychosocial identity as the main factor in mental health. He created the theory of stage development of personality, which assumes that a person goes through eight stages of development.

One of the few concepts of age periodization of a person's entire life, and not just childhood, is the epigenetic concept of Erik Erickson.

E. Erickson considered the development of a person in connection with his relationship with loved ones. Examining the styles of maternal behavior, the scientist showed that they are determined by what exactly the social group to which he belongs expects from the child in the future. According to Erickson, at each stage of age development, society puts forward certain expectations for a person. Thus, each age is characterized by a specific task. However, the success of solving this problem depends both on the level of development of the individual and on the spiritual atmosphere of society and the living conditions of this person (hence the name tAU - the psychosocial model of personality development). Considering the development of personality as a dynamic process that continues from birth to death, Erickson believed that ordering and integrating one's own life experience (tAU synthesis of the ego) is of paramount importance for the human psyche. A cross-cutting task that penetrates the whole life of a person is the acquisition of identity.

TAU identity is the identity of a person to himself. This is a holistic image of oneself firmly learned and accepted by the person himself in a variety of life circumstances. The identity of tAU is, first of all, an indicator of a mature (adult) personality, the origins and secrets of the organization of which are associated with previous stages of development. The acquisition of identity, as the integrity of one's VlYaV, occurs between the two poles of the development of tAU positive and negative. The development of the personality of tAU is the struggle of these extreme possibilities.

At each age, a person must make a choice between two alternative phases of solving age-related and situational tasks of his development. If the productive direction wins, then the person develops his strong qualities or the basic ability of self-identity. If a person develops in a destructive direction, then a pathology of a given age arises, weakening the sense of self-identity, a person becomes less and less adequate to himself.

Erickson singled out eight stages of a person's life and presented the Vlpolyus V, characteristic of each stage, between which a personality is formed.

At the first stage, tAU is infancy (0 tAU 1-1.5 years). According to what kind of care a baby receives at this age, he makes a decision for himself whether this world deserves trust or not? If trust develops (as opposed to distrust), then the first basic quality of the psyche of tAU hope is born in the baby. Otherwise, the child decides that life is unpredictable and untrustworthy. Poles: trust tau distrust.

The second stage of tAU early age (1.5 tAU 4 years). At this stage, the child solves the problem of forming his independence (autonomy and independence). The child learns to control his behavior. A negative option for the development of tAU is either overprotection or lack of support and trust from adults, leading the child to self-doubt, doubt in his actions. If close adults show reasonable permissiveness, do not rush the child, support his desire for independence, then the problem of age is solved positively. From the opposition of autonomy and doubt, will is born.

The third stage of tAU is childhood (4 tAU 6 years). At this stage, the alternative between initiative and guilt is decided. Children at this age learn how the world works and how you can influence it. If their exploratory activity is encouraged by adults, then the child acquires a sense of initiative. If adults limit the child's abilities, severely criticize and punish him with tAU, then he gets used to feeling guilty. E. Erikson calls purposefulness a positive acquisition of this age.

The fourth stage of tAU school age (6 tAU 11 years). The main question is Can I become skilled enough to survive and adapt to the world? At this age, children develop numerous skills and abilities at school, at home and among their peers. In the negative version, if a child does not enjoy work and study, does not feel proud that he can do at least something well, if his zeal is not supported by adults, he realizes himself inept and useless. From the opposition of industriousness and a sense of inferiority, a positive acquisition of this level of tAU skill, competence should be born.

Fifth stage tAU adolescence (11 tAU 20 years). Before this age, a person has learned a number of different roles of tAU - student, son, friend, athlete, etc. At this age, it is important to understand all the diversity of one’s manifestations and integrate them all into one identity, tAU Who am I? V, Vl What are my views, beliefs, positions? V. For such integration, it is necessary to find some grounds that would cover all these roles. In an adolescent identity crisis, all the critical moments of development that have been passed are re-emerging, and the teenager consciously decides whether previous ages are significant for him. Then social trust in the world, independence, initiative create a new integrity of the personality - tAU identity. By accepting identity as opposed to role confusion, one gains loyalty.

The sixth stage of tAU is youth (21-25 years). The main tasks of the tAU age are the search for a life partner, the desire for close cooperation with other tAU Vl Can I completely give myself to another person? В» A young man confident in his identity shows psychological intimacy, warmth, understanding, trust. A person who is not sure of his identity avoids close relationships, his relationships with others become impersonal and stereotyped, he comes to isolation. By accepting intimacy versus isolation, one finds love.

The seventh stage of tAU maturity (25 tAU 50-60 years). This stage of life is connected with the solution of the contradiction between the ability to develop and the personal stagnation of tAU VlWhat can I offer future generations? Rising above the level of identity, paying more attention to the needs and problems of other people, a person positively solves his task of development. Failures in resolving previous conflicts often lead to self-absorption: excessive concern for one's health, the desire to satisfy one's needs without fail, to preserve one's peace. In this case, personal devastation occurs. In opposition to creativity and stagnation, positive quality tau care.

The eighth stage of tAU is old age (over 60). If a person, looking back at his life, realizes the deep meaning of what was, he accepts his life as a whole, as it is. But if life seems to him a waste of energy and a series of missed opportunities, he has a feeling of despair. From the opposition of wholeness (integration) and disappointment (despair), wisdom must be born.

The periodization scheme proposed by E. Erickson is called an epigenetic ensemble, in which all ages co-exist simultaneously. The transition from one age to another causes identity crises. Crises, according to E. Erickson, are turning points, moments of choice between progress and regression, integration and delay. Not a single age lived by a person passes without a trace, since not a single crisis contradiction of age can be finally resolved in one's lifetime.

Describing the development of the human psyche, E. Erickson recognizes the inexhaustibility of this reality by scientific methods and therefore does not attach the nature of a rigid frame to his concept. So, he writes that the sequence of ages and the order of their change is not an immutable law of the development of each person. Firstly, at every point in development there is the possibility of age regression or "vegetative" existence (it is not without reason that we speak of eternal youths and gray-haired babies). Secondly, a personal biography, which obviously does not coincide with the normative idea of ​​development, opens up opportunities not only for stopping and regressing development, but also for transcending one’s own age, going beyond life’s ideas about age (that’s why we sometimes talk about the adult responsibility of other youths). or gray-haired young men in an instant). Each age is not characterized by certain norms, but the highest natural possibilities of achievement for a given age are indicated.

Zenkovsky

Zenkovsky Vasily Vasilyevich (1881-1962). Master of Philosophy, Moscow University (1915). Professor of Psychology at Kyiv University (1915-1919). Member of the Ukrainian Church Council (1919). Professor of Philosophy at Belgrade University (1920-1923). Director of the Pedagogical Institute in Prague (1923-1926). Professor at the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris (1926-1962), taught the history of philosophy, psychology, apologetics and the history of religions. Ordained in 1942. Dean of the Theological Institute (1944-1947, 1949-1962). Doctor of Church Sciences (1948). Editor of the almanac "Issues of Religious Education and Education" (Parts I-III) (Paris, 1927-1928) and the Bulletin of the Religious Pedagogical Cabinet.

The age periodization of childhood, proposed by psychology professor V.V. Zenkovsky (since 1942, TAU father Vasily Zenkovsky) is based on the consideration of the influence of the spiritual principle in a person on the development of the soul and body, which Zenkovsky calls empiricism. Defining the image of God in a child as the spiritual beginning of his personality, Zenkovsky shows how this divine spark manifests itself in different ways at each age. According to Zenkovsky, the change of ages is connected precisely with the change in the manifestations of the maturing spirit in its empiricism. The source of development is the aspiration of the spiritual principle to be expressed in the material life of a person, which is subject to the ways of the spirit. In the ratio of these two spheres in each period of earthly life, the unique fate of each person, his cross, is determined. The path of a person is determined not by a simple conjugation of the spirit and the psychophysical side, but it reveals its own TAU for each person, a special TAU regularity, which is called VlsudboiV, which in Christianity is called VlkrestV. In the depths of the personality, the reason for its originality, its uniqueness is hidden, however, its cross is also hidden, which, formally speaking, is nothing more than the logic of the spiritual development of a given person. Each person brings with him into the world his tasks, which he must solve in his life; and these tasks, connected with the spiritual characteristics of a person, remain the same, regardless of the conditions in which a person lives - in other words, they can and must be solved in any conditions of life. The logic of life is connected not with external events, but with internal tasks, with the spiritual side of life. In the biography of each person, it is necessary to be able to see through the external chain of events in a person's life that last depth in which the VkrestV of a person is revealed - his spiritual tasks, the logic of his spiritual path. The reality of our freedom does not remove the power of this givenness to us, we are free in whether we undertake to fulfill our task, but the indispensability of the Cross inscribed in us is the limit of our freedom, it is a witness of our dependence on God, who gives him the cross to everyone.

Denoting that each person is not only given, but also given his personality, Zenkovsky writes that, usually by adulthood, a person begins to realize the general coherence and internal consistency of his life. Definition of the internal tasks of my own life, understanding how they can be solved in the given conditions of my existence

Watching along with it.

The problem of age in psychology. Categories: age, growth, development. Regulatory status of the category of age, concepts of acceleration and deceleration. Main structural components age.

Developmental psychology is a special branch of knowledge. Considering the process of child development, she characterizes different age periods and operates with such concepts as age and childhood.

The concept of age ambiguous and includes a number of aspects. First of all, there are:

1. Chronological age, determined by the life expectancy of a person (according to the passport);
2. Biological age - a set of biological indicators, the functioning of the body as a whole.

3. Psychological age - a certain level of development of the psyche, which includes: mental age (an indicator of intelligence); psychosexual age (level of erotic interests); recreational age (spending free time).

In real life, the individual components of age do not always coincide. Psychological age may not match the chronological age of an individual child, recorded on their birth certificate and then on their passport.

There is another approach to the concept of age:

Age or age period- this is a cycle of child development, which has its own structure and dynamics.

The age period has certain boundaries. But these chronological boundaries can shift, and one child will enter a new age period earlier, and the other later. The boundaries of adolescence, associated with the puberty of children, "float" especially strongly.

Child psychology differs from any other psychology in that it deals with special units of analysis - this is age, or the period of development. It should be emphasized that age is not reduced to the sum of individual mental processes, it is not a calendar date. Age, according to L. S. Vygotsky, is a relatively closed cycle of child development, which has its own structure and dynamics. The duration of the age is determined by its internal content: there are periods of development and in some cases "epochs" equal to one year, three, five years. Chronological and psychological age do not coincide, Chronological or passport age is only a reference coordinate, that external grid against which the process of the child's mental development and the formation of his personality takes place.

Acceleration or acceleration (from lat. acceleratio - acceleration) - the accelerated development of a living organism. Commonly used to describe accelerated human physiological development

Growth- quantitative aspect of development processes. The main difference between development and growth is that growth comes down to quantitative changes, while development is characterized by qualitative transformations, the emergence of neoplasms, new mechanisms, processes, and structures.
Development- the process of transition from one state to another, more perfect, the transition from the old qualitative state to a new qualitative state, from simple to complex, from lower to higher.
The development of the psyche is a regular change in mental processes over time, expressed in their quantitative, qualitative and structural transformations.
It is important to distinguish between the concepts of development and maturation. For a number of foreign theories of developmental psychology, maturation is the most important developmental factor that causes certain achievements.

The problem of age in psychology. Periodization of mental development.

Periodization - the division of ontogenesis into separate periods in accordance with the general law for the entire ontogenesis - is a problematic field of childhood psychology. L.S. Vygotsky in his work "The Problem of Age" (1932-1934) analyzes ontogeny as a regular process of changing stable and critical ages. The scientist defines the concept of "age" through the idea of ​​the social situation of development - a specific, unique relationship between the child and the reality surrounding him, primarily social. The social situation of development, according to L.S. Vygotsky, leads to the formation of age-related neoplasms. The ratio of these two categories - the social situation of development and neoplasm - sets the dialectical nature of development in ontogenesis. The idea of ​​the social situation of development is meaningfully revealed in the theory of activity, represented by the names of A.N. Leontiev, S.L. Rubinstein, V.V. Davydova, D.B. Elkonin.

When defining the concept of "age" A.N. Leontiev notes: "The change in the place occupied by the child in the system of social relations is something that should be noted when trying to answer the question about the driving forces behind the development of his psyche." In the works of A.N. The Leontief stage of personality development is determined by the following points: the place of the child in the system of social relations and the leading type of activity.

In cultural-historical theory (L.S. Vygotsky), age is determined by the relationship of the social situation of development and neoplasms (the structure of personality, consciousness), and in activity theory, by the relationship of the child’s place in the system of social relations and leading activity.

In 1971 in the article "On the problem of periodization of mental development in childhood" by D.B. Elkonin generalizes ideas about the driving forces of child development, based on the theory of activity. The condition for development is the "child-society" system, in which D.B. Elkonin distinguishes two subsystems: "the child is a public adult" and "the child is a public object". Age is first presented consistently in the logic of the activity approach. Studying the problems of age-related periodization of development, modern domestic psychology relies on several basic principles:

1. The principle of historicism, which makes it possible to consistently analyze the problems of child development that arose in different historical periods of time.

2. The biogenetic principle, which makes it possible to systematically study the most important problems of child development, taking into account the interrelationships of the driving forces and factors of mental development in each age period.

3. The principle of analysis of the development of the main aspects of human life - the emotional-volitional sphere, intellect and behavior.

Let us designate the main problems of age periodization of mental development:

1. The problem of organic and environmental conditioning of the mental and behavioral development of a person.

2. The influence of education and upbringing on the development of children.

3. The ratio of inclinations and abilities.

4. Comparative influence of evolutionary, revolutionary, situational changes in the psyche and behavior of the child.

5. The ratio of intellectual and personal changes in the overall psychological development of the child.

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The problem of periodization of mental development in childhood, early youth. Views of L. S. Vygotsky on the periodization of mental development. Modern periodizations of the development of the child's personality by A. V. Petrovsky, D. I. Feldstein. age crises. Sensitive periods in child development.

Periodization of mental development in childhood is a fundamental problem of developmental psychology. D. B. Elkonin wrote that its development is of great theoretical importance, since through the definition of periods of mental development and through the identification of patterns of transitions from one period to another, the problem of the driving forces of mental development can be solved. The strategy of building a system of education and training of the younger generations largely depends on the correct solution of the problem of periodization. The division of a child's life path into periods allows a better understanding of the patterns of child development, the specifics of individual age stages. The content (and name) of periods, their time limits are determined on the basis of criteria that the authors of periodization consider the most important and essential aspects of development.

In the process of ontogenesis - from birth to adulthood - a person goes through several age periods, or stages, which have their own characteristics. And the first thing that should be indicated in connection with the psychological characteristics of a personality at a particular stage of its development, according to A. N. Leontiev, is the place that the child objectively occupies in the system of human relations in the course of his development and under the influence of specific circumstances. .

L. S. Vygotsky distinguished three groups of periodization proposed by both foreign and domestic psychologists at the beginning and first half of the 20th century.

Part I Theoretical problems of age psi chology

Those ma 2.

I. The first group included attempts to periodize childhood not by dividing the very course of the child's development, but on the basis of a "stepwise" construction of other processes, one way or another connected with child development.

L. S. Vygotsky classifies this group, for example, as periodizations of child development based on the biogenetic principle, where the stages of phylogenetic development are taken as the basis. For example, the concept of the American psychologist Grenville Stanley Hall.

Investigating the mental development of the child, Hall came to the conclusion that it is based on the biogenetic law formulated by Darwin's student E. Haeckel. However, Haeckel said that the embryos in their embryonic development go through the same stages as the entire genus during its existence. Hall, on the other hand, extended the action of the biogenetic law to man, proving that the ontogenetic development of the child's psyche is a brief repetition of all stages of the phylogenetic development of the human psyche.

In the one he created recapitulation theories Hall argued that the sequence and content of the stages of development are genetically predetermined, and therefore the child cannot avoid or bypass any stage of his development.

Hall's Apprentice Getchinson based on the theory of recapitulation created a periodization of mental development, the criterion in which was the method of obtaining food. At the same time, the actual facts that were observed in children of a certain age were associated with Hall's idea and explained by a change in the method of obtaining food, which is (according to Getchinson) leading not only for biological, but also for mental development. He identified 5 main phases in the mental development of children, the boundaries of which were not rigid, so that the end of one stage did not coincide with the beginning of the next.

1. From birth to 5 years - stage of digging and digging. At this stage
children love to play in the sand, make cakes and manipulate
with bucket and scoop.

2. From 5 to 11 years old - stage of hunting and capturing. At this stage, children
begin to be afraid of strangers, they become aggressive, cruel
bone, desire to fence off from adults, especially outsiders,
and the desire to do many things in secret.

3. From 8 to 12 years old - pastoral stage. During this period, children
rush to have their own corner, and they build their own
shelters are usually in yards or in a field, in a forest, but not in a house. They are

they also love pets and try to get them so that they have someone to take care of and patronize. Children, especially girls, at this time have a desire for affection and tenderness.

4. From 11 to 15 years old - agricultural stage, which is associated with
teres to the weather, natural phenomena, and also with love to sado
vodstvo, and for girls and floriculture. At this time, children have
observation and discretion.

5. From 14 to 20 years old - stage of industry and commerce, or a hundred
diya modern man. At this time, children begin to realize
the role of money, as well as the importance of arithmetic and other exact
Sciences. In addition, the guys have a desire to change different
items.

Hutchinson believed that from the age of 8, that is, from the pastoral stage, the era of a civilized person begins, and it is from this age that children can be systematically taught, which is impossible at previous stages. At the same time, he proceeded from Hall's idea that learning should be built on top of a certain stage of mental development, since the maturation of the body prepares the basis for learning.

Both Hall and Hutchinson were convinced that the passage of each stage is necessary for normal development, and fixation on one of them leads to the appearance of deviations and anomalies in the psyche. Based on the need for children to experience all stages of the mental development of mankind, Hall developed a mechanism that helps the transition from one stage to another. This mechanism is the game.

Here is how one of the supporters of the theory of recapitulation describes the development of the child V. Stern, the periodization of which can also be attributed to the first group: the child in the first months of his life is at the stage of a mammal; in the second half of the year it reaches the stage of the highest mammal - the monkey; then - the initial stages of development of primitive peoples; starting from entering school, he assimilates human culture - first in the spirit of the ancient and Old Testament world, later (in adolescence) the fanaticism of Christian culture, and only towards maturity rises to the level of culture of the New Age.

Conditions, occupations of a small child become echoes of bygone centuries. A child digs a hole in a heap of sand - he is attracted to the cave just like his distant ancestor. He wakes up in fear at night - it means that he felt himself in a primeval forest full of

Part I

Topic 2 The problem of age periodization of mental development

dangers. Oi draws, and his drawings are similar to rock carvings preserved in caves and grottoes.

In the same group, according to L. S. Vygotsky, periodization of childhood can be attributed in accordance with “the stages of upbringing and education of the child”, with the dismemberment of the system of public education adopted in this country (preschool age, primary school age, etc. .).

The concept of mental development of the child, created by /!. Wallon, interesting in that it outlines the stages of personality development.

The first forms of the child's contact with the environment are of an affective nature. During this period, the child is completely immersed in his emotions, and thanks to this, he merges with the corresponding situations that cause these reactions. The child is not able to perceive himself as a being different from other people, from each individual person. The behavior of the child during this period shows that he is constantly busy with something: he communicates with other children and adults, plays, constantly changing roles with a partner. But at the same time, he still cannot distinguish the actions of his partner in the game from his own. All these actions for the child remain for the time being only two parts of one whole, fitted to each other. A. Vallon illustrates this with numerous examples. Such, for example, as "rolling the ball", "cuckoo", "hide and seek".

To three years old the fusion of the child and the adult, according to A. Vallon, suddenly disappears, and the personality enters a period when the need to assert and win its independence leads the child to many conflicts. Child opposes himself to those around him, involuntarily insults them, because he wants to experience his own independence, his own existence. This crisis, according to A. Vallon, is necessary in the development of the child, and if they try to smooth it out, it can manifest itself in the child in mild condescension or a certain sense of responsibility. If strongly opposed, it can lead to discouraging indifference or surreptitious vengeance. By gaining victories too easily, the child becomes prone to self-praise, as if forgetting the existence of others and noticing only himself. A. Vallon cites exceptionally interesting observations indicating that from this moment the child begins to become aware of his inner life.

The phase of opposition to the environment is followed by a phase of more positive personalism, manifested in two different periods, which are characterized by the child's interest in himself ("age

grace") and a deep, irreversible attachment to people. Therefore, the upbringing of a child at this age "should be saturated with sympathy." If at this age a child is deprived of attachment to people, then “he may become a victim of fears and anxious experiences, or he will experience mental atrophy, the trace of which persists throughout his life and is reflected in his tastes and will.”

Period seven to twelve to fourteen years leads the individual to even greater independence. Since that time, children, along with adults, have been striving to create a kind of equal society. Now the child is not assessed on any one criterion that gives him a permanent place in a certain group of people. On the contrary, the child constantly moves from one category to another. And this is not just a factual position, as it was before, but a position fixed in the concept and realized. The child recognizes himself as the focus of various possibilities. The child's awareness of his personality, according to A. Vallon, is in the "categorical phase".

In adolescence, a person, as it were, goes beyond himself. The individual tries to find his meaning and justification in the various social relations that he must accept and in which he seems insignificant. She compares the significance of these relationships and measures herself by them. Together with this new step in development, the preparation for life that constitutes childhood comes to an end.

The mental development of the child, passing from stage to stage, is a unity both within each stage and between them.

Another example is periodization. Rene Zazzo. In it, the stages of childhood coincide with the steps systems of upbringing and education of children. After the stage of early childhood (up to 3 years), the stage of preschool age (3-6 years) begins, the main content of which is education in the family or preschool. This is followed by the stage of primary school education (6-12 years), at which the child acquires basic intellectual skills; the stage of education in secondary school (12-16 years), when he receives a general education; and later - the stage of higher or university education. Since development and upbringing are interrelated, and the structure of education was created on the basis of extensive practical experience, the boundaries of the periods established according to the pedagogical principle almost coincide with turning points in child development.

II. The second group consists of concepts that try to single out one of the signs of child development (not external, but internal) as a conditional criterion for age periodization.

.. ,.,..,„. ....

Part I

Topic 2

These include attempts P.P. Blonsky build a periodization of child development on the basis of dentition, i.e., the appearance and change of teeth. Therefore, childhood is divided into three epochs: toothless childhood (from 8 months to 2-2.5 years), childhood of milk teeth (up to approximately 6.5 years), childhood of permanent teeth, which ends with the appearance of the third posterior molars (teeth " wisdom").

The libidinal energy, which is associated with the life instinct, also serves as the basis for the development of the personality, the character of a person, and, based on the laws of its development, 3. Freud created his own periodization. He believed that in the process of life a person goes through several stages, differing from each other in the way of fixing the libido, in the way of satisfying the life instinct. At the same time, Freud paid great attention to exactly how fixation occurs and whether a person needs foreign objects in this case. Based on this, he singled out three large stages, which are divided into several stages.

First stage - libido-object - characterized by the fact that the child needs a foreign object for the realization of libido. This stage lasts up to a year and is called the oral stage. The erogenous zone is the mucous membrane of the mouth and lips. The child enjoys when he sucks milk, and in the absence of food - his own finger or some object. Fixation at this stage occurs if the child cannot realize his libidinal desires, for example, he was not given pacifiers. This type of personality is characterized, in terms of Freud a certain infantilism, dependence on adults, parents, even in adulthood. Moreover, such dependence can be expressed both in conformal and negative behavior.

Second phase- libido-subject, which lasts until the onset of puberty, is characterized by the fact that the child does not require any external object to satisfy his instincts. Sometimes Freud also called this stage and narcissism believing that all people who have been fixed at this stage are characterized by self-orientation, the desire to use others to satisfy their own needs and desires, and emotional isolation from them. The stage of narcissism consists of several stages. Stages of development are associated with a shift in erogenous zones - those areas of the body, the stimulation of which causes pleasure.

A stage that lasts up to about three years - anal. The erogenous zone shifts to the intestinal mucosa. The child not only learns certain toilet skills, but also begins to develop a sense of ownership. Fixation at this stage leads

to the appearance of an anal character, which manifests itself in stubbornness, often rigidity, accuracy and thrift.

From the age of three, the child moves on to the next, phallic the stage at which children become aware of sexual differences. The genitals become the leading erogenous zone. Freud considered this stage critical for girls, who for the first time begin to realize their inferiority due to their lack of a penis. it the discovery, he believed, could lead to later neuroticism or aggressiveness, which is generally characteristic of people who are fixed at this stage. This is largely due to the fact that during this period there is growing tension in relations with parents, primarily with the parent of the same sex, whom the child is afraid of and jealous of the parent of the opposite sex. If until now children's sexuality was directed at themselves, now children begin to experience sexual attachment to adults, boys to their mother (Oedipus complex), girls to their father (Electra complex).

Tension subsides by the age of six, when latent stage in the development of the sexual instinct. During this period, which lasts until the onset of puberty, children pay great attention to study, sports, and games.

The third stage is called libido object,So how a person needs a partner to satisfy the sexual instinct. This is the last stage characteristic of adolescence. This stage is also called genital, because in order to discharge libidinal energy, a person is looking for ways of sexual life that are characteristic of his gender and his personality type.

III. The third group of periodization of child development, according to L. S. Vygotsky, is associated with the desire to move from "a purely symptomatic and descriptive principle to highlighting the essential features of child development itself." It's periodization Lev Semenovich Vygotsky and Daniil Borisovich Elkonin.

L. S. Vygotsky based his periodization on two criteria: dynamic and meaningful. From the point of view of the dynamics of development, he divided childhood into critical and lytic periods, and gave a qualitative description of crises. On the these On the grounds, he built the following periodization:

Crisis Newborn™;

Infancy (2 months - 1 year);

Crisis of one year; early childhood (1-3 years);

24__________________ Part I Theoretical problems of developmental psychology

Crisis 3 years;

Preschool age (3-7 years);

Crisis 7 years;

School age (7-13 years)

Crisis 13 years;

Pubertal age (14-17 years);

crisis of 17 years.

The stable periods are most childhood. They usually last for several years. And age-related neoplasms, which are formed so slowly and for a long time, turn out to be stable, fixed in the personality structure.

L. S. Vygotsky gave crises great importance and considered the alternation of stable and crisis periods as the law of child development. Crises, unlike stable periods, do not last long, a few months, under unfavorable circumstances stretching up to a year or even two years. These are brief but turbulent stages during which significant developmental shifts occur and the child changes dramatically in many of its features. Development can take on a catastrophic character at this time.

The crisis begins and ends imperceptibly, its boundaries are blurred, indistinct. The aggravation occurs in the middle of the period. For the people around the child, it is associated with a change in behavior, the appearance of "difficult-to-educate ™", as L. S. Vygotsky writes. The child is getting out of the control of adults, and those measures of pedagogical influence that used to be successful are now no longer effective. Affective outbursts, whims, more or less acute conflicts with loved ones - a typical picture of the crisis, characteristic of many children. Schoolchildren's working capacity decreases, interest in classes weakens, academic performance decreases, sometimes painful experiences and internal conflicts arise.

However, different children have crisis periods in different ways. The behavior of one becomes difficult to bear, and the second almost does not change.

The main changes that occur during crises are internal. The child's interests and values ​​change.

From the point of view of content, L. S. Vygotsky divided childhood on the basis of the neoplasms of each period, that is, from those mental and social changes that determine the consciousness and activity of children of a certain age.

Topic 2 The problem of age periodization of mental development

D. B. Elkonin in his periodization uses three criteria:

1. Social situation of development- this is the one system relationships, in
which the child enters into society, and then, how he orients in it
rummages.

2. Main, or leader, type of activity child during this period
determining the main direction of development in one way or another,
age.

3. Basic psychological neoplasms development, i.e. that
the ability that develops in the child during the implementation
leading activity.

D. B. Elkonin, based on the classical principles of periodization, subjected to a thorough analysis of the content-subject side of activity and came to the conclusion that the process of a child’s life in society, which is unified in nature, bifurcates in the course of historical development, splits into two sides:

Assimilation of the motivational-need sphere of personality (acquisition
the world of communication);

Assimilation of the operational-technical sphere (assimilation of the subject
nogo world).

D. B. Elkonin discovered the law of alternation, periodicity different types activities: at a certain stage, the child’s activity is aimed at learning relationships with people, the type of activity is communication, then the stage of learning the ways of using objects comes, the type of activity is object-manipulative. Each time, contradictions arise between these two types of activity, which become the cause of development. Crises development are called transitions from one leading activity to another. A crisis is a kind of behavioral indication of a child's need for change: changes in the system of relations with adults, the emergence of a new object of joint activity with adults, that is, a new leading activity. Moreover, each era of child development is built on the same principle. It opens with activities in the field of communication.

Taking into account the law of periodicity, D. B. Elkonin explains the content of development crises in a new way. Yes, 3 year and 12 years - crises of relations, after them an orientation in human relations; 1 year and 7 years - crises that open orientation in the world of things.

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This is how the periodization of the mental development of D. B. Elkonin appears in general (Table 1).

Table 1. Periodization of mental development according to D. B. Elkonin

The era of early childhood (up to 3 years)

1. Infancy(before 1 of the year). Here the leading activity is
emotional communication. At 2-2.5 months, the child develops comp
lex revival to the appearance of an adult: a smile, a motor reaction
communication, etc. By 6 months, this activity of communication develops, the child
recognizes mom. Adults develop the child's hand: give him a toy,
include it in communication through the subject, leading to actions with
metom. By the age of one, the child begins to need verbal
nom communication.

At the border of infancy and early age, there is a transition to proper objective actions, to the beginning of the formation of the so-called practical, or sensorimotor intelligence.

2. Early age(actually early childhood) (1-3 years). Here
leading activity - object-manipulative. Child
opens and closes the door, pours sand, etc. He takes possession
actions with a spoon, pencil, bucket, handkerchief, etc. This
operational-technical phase.

During this period of time, objective actions serve as a way for the child to establish interpersonal contacts. Communication, in turn, is mediated by the child's objective actions and is practically not separated from them. But by the age of 3, the child begins to compare himself with adults and declare "I", "I myself".

Topic 2 The problem of age periodization of mental development tiya

Age of childhood (3-11 years old)

1. preschool childhood (3-7 years). Striving for independence
you take the baby out password game, imitating human relationships
in the course of labor. Thanks to the game techniques, the child takes on
themselves the role of an adult and models in the game their interpersonal relations
niya. Thus, the role-playing game, combining communication and subject
activities, ensures their joint influence on the development of children
ka. He needs to take a new social position,
and by the end of this period, the child has a desire for something
learn, he wants to get the result of his activity as
assessments, is drawn to learning.

2. Junior school childhood(7-11 years old). This is the operational phase
technical activities, mainly educational activities. Rebbe
Nok learns to read and write. In the process of learning, intellects are formed
lectual and cognitive abilities, the system develops
child's relationship with others - his own practice
relationships with other people. But the time comes and he wants under
imitate the behavior of adults; wants to be treated equally.
The next era is coming.

The era of adolescence (11-17 years old)

1. Younger adolescence (11-14 years old). A new thing appears
validity - activity of intimate-personal, emotional
communication with peers, there is an association with equals
children age, leaders appear. There is a "feeling grown up
sti” is a special form of new formation of consciousness, through which
the germ compares itself with others, finds role models,
reshaping their activities and relationships.

Here it is important that the child's social circles do not get out of the control of adults - "difficult age", "tipping age".

2. Youth - older adolescence(14-17 years old). The child has
the need for self-knowledge reappears, self-knowledge is formed
consciousness, the tasks of self-development, self-improvement,
self-actualization. Carried out professionally and personally
new self-determination, it is important for him to know who he will be. Leading action
validity - educational and professional(again operational-tech
nic phase), during which the worldview is formed,
professional interests, ideals.

Periodization by D. B. Elkonin is the most common in Russian psychology.

Part I Theoretical problems of developmental psychology

Topic 2 The problem of age periodization of mental development

Of the other modern periodizations of child development, the periodizations of A. V. Petrovsky and D. I. Feldstein deserve attention.

A. V. Petrovsky considers the development of personality as a process of integration in various social groups.

In the periodization of A. V. Petrovsky, periods of early childhood, kindergarten childhood, primary school age, middle school age and senior school age are distinguished. The first three form the era of childhood, in which the process of adaptation prevails over the process of individualization. For the era of adolescence (the period of middle school age), the dominance of the process of individualization over the process of adaptation is characteristic, for the era of youth (the period of senior school age) - the dominance of the process of integration over the process of individualization.

Thus, according to A.V. Petrovsky, childhood is basically the child's adaptation to the social environment, adolescence is a manifestation of one's individuality. In youth, integration into society must occur.

The formation of personality is determined by the characteristics of the child's relationship with members of the reference group. The reference group is the most significant for the child in comparison with the rest, he accepts precisely its values, moral norms and forms of behavior. At each age stage, he is included in a new social group, which becomes the reference. First it's a family, then a group kindergarten, school class and informal teenage associations. Each group has its own activities and a particular style of communication. It is precisely the "activity-mediated" relationship of the child with the group that influences the formation of his personality.

When a child enters a new stable group, he, first of all, adapts to it - learns the norms in force there, masters the forms and means of activity that its other members own. This is the first phase of personality formation in a social group - adaptation phase. It involves the loss of the child's individual traits. The growing contradiction between the achieved result of adaptation - the fact that he became like everyone else in the group, and the child's unsatisfied need for the maximum manifestation of his individual traits, gives rise to the second phase - individualization. The child begins to look for ways to express his individuality in the group. The third phase is what happens integration personality into a group: the child retains only those individual traits that meet the needs of the group

development and their own need to make a significant “contribution” to the life of the group, and the group to some extent changes its norms, having adopted personality traits valuable for its development.

Each phase of personality development in a group has its own specific difficulties. If the child fails to overcome the difficulties of adaptation, he may develop such personal qualities as conformity, lack of initiative, timidity, self-doubt. If the difficulties of the second phase are not overcome and the group rejects the individual traits of the child, this can lead to the development of negativism, aggressiveness, and inappropriately high self-esteem.

Disintegration in the group leads either to the fact that the child is forced out of the group, or to his isolation in the group from which he cannot leave. On the contrary, successful integration in a group of a high level of development - a team - contributes to the formation of collectivism in him as a personality trait.

The child can be included in the pro-social and anti-social groups. In the latter case, he develops corresponding antisocial traits.

D. I. Feldstein determines the position of the “I” in society as the main criterion for the development of a child’s personality from birth to early adolescence.

He identifies two blocks of social development of the individual. These blocks can be designated as phases of formation personality. In the first phase (from 0 to 10 years) - the phase of childhood itself - the formation of a personality takes place at the level of an undeveloped self-awareness. In the second phase (from 10 to 17 years) - the phase of adolescence - there is an active formation of the self-consciousness of a growing person, acting in the social position of a socially responsible subject. The identified phases cover certain cycles of personality development, fixing the result of this form of social development - the formation of the child's position in the system of society and the implementation of this position.

Infancy (0-1 year). Direct emotional communication arises, which at this age is the leading activity of the child. This basic activity of the infant is determined by the very nature of man as a social being. Child in that the period is focused on establishing social contacts.

Early childhood (1-3 years). The child has a need in social behavior and at the same time there is no ability to act socially. Comes to the fore and becomes the leader prev* metno-manipulative activity, during which the child

Part I Theoretical problems of developmental psychology

Topic 2 The problem of age periodization of mental development

he masters not only the form of human communication between people, but, above all, socially developed ways of using all the things around him.

Preschool age (3-6 years). Having learned in constant contacts with adults the operational and technical side of activity, the child goes beyond the limits of directly everyday relations. Leading in this period is the developed gaming activity. Play acts, firstly, as an activity in which the child is oriented in the most general, functional manifestations of people's lives, their social functions and relationships. Secondly, on the basis of play activity, the child develops and development of imagination and symbolic function.

Junior school age (6-10 years). Educational activity becomes the leading activity, i.e., social activity in the assimilation of theoretical forms of thinking. This activity is characterized by the assimilation of initial scientific concepts in certain areas of knowledge; children form the foundations of orientation in theoretical forms of reflecting reality. With the full development of this activity, children develop the necessary arbitrariness of mental processes, an internal plan of action and reflection on their own actions, on their own behavior as the most important features of theoretical consciousness.

Adolescence (10-15 years). Children are included in a qualitatively new system of relationships, communication with friends and adults at school. In a child of this age, the scope of activity expands significantly, and most importantly, the nature of this activity changes qualitatively, its types and forms become much more complicated. Adolescents participate in many different types of activities: in educational work, in socio-political, cultural and mass work, in physical culture and sports activities, in organizational work, etc. A change in the social position of a child in adolescence, his desire to occupy a certain place in life, in society, in relationships with adults are reflected in a sharply increased need for a teenager to evaluate himself in the system “I and my usefulness for society”, “I and my participation in society”. It is this activity that becomes leading in this age period. In expanded prosocial activity, the need of adolescents to build new relationships with adults, the realization of independence is most optimally satisfied.

Senior school age (15-17 years). The most important feature of this age lies in the fact that here the leading activity again becomes educational activity, actively combined with a variety of labor, which is of great importance both for choosing a profession and for developing value orientations. The main psychological neoplasm of this age is the ability of a schoolchild to make his own life plans, look for means of their implementation, develop political, aesthetic, moral ideals, which indicates the growth of self-awareness. Actively combined with socially recognized work, socially oriented educational and professional activities not only develop the cognitive and professional orientation of older students, but and provides a new level of their self-determination, associated with the transformation of the "internal position" of a high school student (the awareness of one's "I" in the system of real-life relationships) into a stable life position, in accordance with which life plans are oriented to the needs of society.

Finishing the conversation about the criteria for periodization of child development, it should be noted that in each period there are optimal opportunities for the most effective formation and development of certain psychological and behavioral properties and qualities. This is the so-called age-related sensitivity, i.e., increased sensitivity for the development of this property of the psyche. Each child in his development goes through periods of increased sensitivity to certain influences, to the development of this or that type of activity.

So, in fact, early childhood (2-3 years) is the most favorable age for the development of a child's speech; at 5-7 years old, the child is most ready to master reading; in middle and older preschool age, children enthusiastically play role-playing games and discover extraordinary abilities for reincarnation; primary school age is sensitive for the development of learning skills and abilities and etc.

It is important to note that these periods of special readiness to master special types of activity end sooner or later, and if some function has not received its development in a favorable period, then later its development turns out to be extremely difficult: difficult or completely impossible.

It is during the period of highest sensitivity that amplification, i.e. skillful saturation of age with what it needs for the development of the functions needed at that moment. But you can not use artificial acceleration(acceleration). If a 4-5-year-old child has

Part I Theoretical problems of developmental psychology

betsk to develop logical intelligence, then it is almost impossible to achieve results. At this time, it is necessary to saturate his vocabulary, develop imagination, figurative intelligence.

Basic concepts

Amplification - saturation of the age with the content necessary

for the development of functions.

Acceleration - acceleration of development.

Age-related neoplasms are mental and social changes that determine the consciousness and activity of children of a certain age.

Age crises are turning points in development that separate one age stage from another.

Sensitive periods - periods of increased sensitivity for the development of this property of the psyche.

The social situation of development is the system of relations into which the child enters in society, and how he orients himself in it.

Bibliography

1. Wallon A. Mental development of the child. - M., 1968.

2. Vygotsky L.S. The problem of age periodization of children
development. // Vygotsky L. S. Questions of child psychology. -
1972. № 2.

3. Kulagina!!. YU. Age-related psychology. - M., 1999.

4. Martsinkovskaya T.D. History of child psychology. - 1968.

5. Obukhova L. F. Child psychology: theories, facts, problems. -
M, 1995.

6. Shaglaeva O. A. Child psychology. - M., 2001.

7. ElkoninD. B. On the problem of periodization of mental development
I in childhood / Questions of psychology. - 1971. No. 1.

The psychoanalytic direction appeared earlier than others. His subject is human emotions and interpersonal relationships. The founder of the psychoanalytic direction and the author of the theory of psychosexual development was Sigmund Freud.

Numerous observations that Freud made led him to the conclusion that human thoughts and behavior are largely unconscious in nature. Most often they occur as a result conflict between reality-bound consciousness, on the one hand, and subconscious sexual or aggressive urges, on the other. According to Freud, these impulses (or inclinations) are due to instincts inherent in Man, and, above all, repressed desires, the satisfaction of which is prohibited at the level of consciousness and which are forced out into the subconscious. These desires act without our knowledge and are manifested in slips of the tongue, mistakes, dreams, involuntary deviations from adequate behavior and can influence the choice of profession or human creativity.

The origins of behavior are seen by Freud in the conflict between three psychological structures: "It", "I", "Super-I".

"It" - the most primitive component - a set of biological drives and needs, subject to the pleasure principle. This is part of the child's hereditary baggage when he is born, primarily instincts. Sexual urges (libido) - the source of energy associated with the life instinct exists within the "It", in addition, the basis of the "It" includes the needs

Topic 3.

In food, water, warmth, etc., which are called organic, or bodily.

"I" - a mental structure guided by reality principle, allowing him to assess at any time the appropriateness or feasibility of actions motivated by the needs of the id. "I" takes into account the peculiarities of the situation, properties and relations of the external world.

"Super-I"- this structure is the bearer of moral norms and plays the role criticism and censor. It is formed under the influence of the social environment and its prohibitions, and every act of a person, planned by his “I” under the pressure of “It”, evaluates from the point of view of good and evil. Therefore, if the “I” decides to satisfy any need in favor of the “It”, but in opposition to the “Super-I”, then the “I” will experience a feeling of guilt, pangs of conscience, a feeling of “sin”. And since the requirements for the “I” from the side of the “It”, “Super-I” and reality are incompatible, conflicts and tension inevitably arise, from which the personality is saved with the help of “defense mechanisms”. Freud identifies the following defense mechanisms: substitution, suppression, projection, rationalization, sublimation, etc.

Substitution - replacing an unattainable goal with another, quite achievable one. So, a person who has returned from work, where he meekly endured the boss’s discontent and claims all day long, kicks the dog or takes out his anger on people close to him.

Suppression - displacement of desires or a conflict situation into the subconscious area, “forgetting” this: “It was far and for a long time, as if not with me. It also develops to contain the emotions of fear, the manifestation of which is unacceptable for a positive self-perception: fear of flying in an airplane, of public speaking, etc.

Projection - transferring one's own feelings to other people and experiences that are unacceptable from the point of view of the "Super-I". "Why don't you love me anymore?" - such a person asks his wife, whom he subconsciously wants to leave himself.

Rationalization - search for convenient reasons to justify the impossibility of doing some act or, conversely, to justify unacceptable behavior. “This girl is too stupid to waste time on her,” says the young man, whose courtship does not evoke a response. "Green grapes" - according to Aesop, in the fable "The Fox and the Grapes", when the animal cannot get the berries.

Sublimation - a kind of repression, one of the mechanisms by which a forbidden sexual or other instinctive

share energy is transferred in the form of activity acceptable for a person and for the society in which he lives. Favorite business in this case is a kind of substitute for the satisfaction of mental urges blocked in childhood.

Of course, the mechanisms of mental protection can only partially alleviate anxiety and tension for a while until a person finds a more rational way to solve the problem.

However, if a person resorts to psychological protection too often or distorts reality too much, a condition may develop. neurosis. Separation from reality sometimes resulting from repression and the exit of "It" from the control of "I" and "Super-I" leads a person to "withdrawal from the world", which is typical for psychosis.

So, personality, according to Freud, it is an interplay of mutually motivating and restraining forces. In accordance with the above ideas about the structure and genesis of the main power components of the personality, Freud developed the concept of the psychosexual development of the child, in which all stages of mental development are characterized by a certain way of manifestation (or non-manifestation) of libido through the erogenous zones inherent in a particular age.

German-born American psychologist Eric Erickson, graduated from the Vienna School of Psychoanalysis and emigrated from fascist Europe to the United States, continued to develop Freud's theory. Based on ideas about the psychosexual development of a person in the 50s. XX century, he developed a theory that focuses on the social aspects of development, on the problems of human adaptation to the social environment.

Erickson's concept is called epigenetic because in his views he adhered to the principle of genetic predetermination of the stages that a person necessarily goes through in his personal development from birth to old age.

The central concepts in Erickson's periodization are identity and self-identity (ego-identity). To be oneself in the eyes of significant others, including in one's own eyes, acting in a variety of life circumstances - this is the "spring", the driving force of development, which underlies Erickson's periodization.

The child enters into a new relationship with the world in the process of life, expands the radius significant people and more or less unconsciously makes a choice and resolves crisis contradictions of this type from

wearing, which determines the direction of development at each age level. This direction can be productive, and then the child develops positive neoplasms that correspond to a given age, leading to a strengthening of self-identity. But this direction can go along an anomalous line, and then destructive formations develop that destroy the sense of self-identity (integrity).

Erickson singled out and described eight life psychological crises (stages of the life path) that inevitably occur in every person, while stages 3. Freud are not rejected, but are included in periodization at certain stages. At each stage, the child experiences a specific crisis, the essence of which is the conflict between opposite states of consciousness, the psyche. If these conflicts are resolved successfully, then the crisis does not take on acute forms and ends with the formation of certain personal qualities, in the aggregate constituting one or another type of personality.

Like Freud, Erickson believed that only a healthy adult is able to satisfy his needs for personal development, the desires of his own "Ego" ("I") and meet the requirements of society. For example, if a person is young and healthy, then he should choose a profession that would be interesting for him and at the same time necessary for society.

The child experiences the first crisis in the 1st year of life. It is associated with the satisfaction of the basic physiological needs of the child by the person caring for him. The significant adult is the mother. With the positive development of the child, trust in people is formed.

If the child is weaned too early, as a result of neglect of the child, mistreatment, his emotional isolation, there is a distrust of people, avoiding communication.

The second crisis is connected with the first learning experience, with the child being taught to be clean. If significant adults - parents who understand and accept the child, help him control the natural functions, he gets the experience of autonomy, acquires independence, self-confidence. The child sees himself as an independent person, but still dependent on his parents.

On the contrary, too strict or inconsistent external control develops shame and self-doubt in him. He feels his

unsuitability, afraid of losing control over his own body, he develops a strong desire to hide his inferiority from others.

The third kr and s and s corresponds to preschool childhood. This is where the self-assertion of the child takes place. He shows curiosity and activity in studying the world around him, imitates adults, engages in sex-role behavior, constantly makes plans and tries to implement them. All this contributes to the development of a sense of initiative. With abnormal development, experiences of repeated failures form a sense of guilt, passivity, envy of other children, depression and evasiveness, and the absence of signs of gender-role behavior.

The fourth crisis occurs at school age. Here, teachers and the school become significant adults. Depending on the atmosphere hovering in the school and the methods of education, the child develops a taste for work or, conversely, a sense of his own inferiority. In the first case, diligence, a sense of duty, the desire to achieve success are formed, skills and abilities are developed. In the case of abnormal development - avoidance of difficult tasks, situations of competition with other children, conformism, a sense of the futility of the efforts made, doomed to remain mediocre all his life.

The fifth crisis corresponds to adolescence and early youth. It is experienced by children of both sexes in search of identification - the assimilation of patterns of behavior of significant other people, which are, first of all, peer groups. There is an active search for oneself, life self-determination, the solution of the question “who to be?” and experimentation in different roles. The formation of a worldview. A clear gender differentiation in interpersonal behavior. With abnormal development - confusion of roles, concentration of mental strength on self-knowledge, the desire to understand oneself to the detriment of the development of relations with the outside world and people, shyness. Decrease in labor activity. Confusion in worldview attitudes, negativism.

The sixth crisis - early adulthood (20-40 years old) - is associated with the search for intimacy with a loved one, with whom one has to complete the cycle "work - the birth of children - rest" and ensure the proper development of children. Satisfaction with personal life. The desire to connect with people. Significant others: friends, sexual partners, employees, rivals. In case of abnormal development -

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Topic 3. Theories of child development in foreign psychology

Avoidance of people, especially close, intimate relationships with them. Difficult character, unpredictable behavior. Rejection, isolation. The appearance of the first symptoms of mental disorders, allegedly arising under the influence of hostile forces.

The seventh crisis - the crisis of 40-60 years - is characterized by the development of generativity, a sense of the preservation of the family, expressed in interest in the next generation and its upbringing. Feeling proud of your children. This is a period of high productivity, creativity in various fields. Mature, full, varied life. With abnormal development - stagnation, selfishness, egocentrism, unproductiveness at work, exceptional self-care, impoverishment of interpersonal relationships in the family.

The eighth crisis - aging - is the completion of the life path, and its resolution depends on how this path was passed. Summing up, a calm, balanced assessment of the past, awareness of the integrity of the life lived, its completeness and usefulness, the ability to come to terms with the inevitable, the understanding that death is not terrible. Significant others - "my kind" - all of humanity. With abnormal development - despair. The feeling of a life lived in vain, the meaninglessness of existence, the loss of faith in oneself and others, the fear of death and the inability to start life anew.

So, E. Erickson created, of course, a psychoanalytic concept about the relationship between the “I” and society, but it allows us to appreciate the importance of the childhood period in the entire process of personal development and gives the key to understanding this process.

These 8 stages people go through at different speeds and with varying degrees of success. Unsuccessful resolution of the crisis at one of them leads to the fact that, moving to a new stage, a person carries with him the need to resolve contradictions inherent not only in this, but also in the previous stage. However, in this case it is much more difficult.

The cognitive direction is represented by the theories of J. Piaget, J. Bruner, L. Kohlberg, which appeared in the 60s. 20th century

French psychologist Jean Piaget a new concept of intellectual development was proposed. He showed that the thinking of children is essentially different from the thinking of adults and that children are active subjects of their own mental development. J. Piaget emphasizes the fact that thinking takes shape even before it becomes speech, and expresses the opinion that speech is just one of the symbolic activities that is formed in communication.

development of cognitive processes and giving the child the opportunity to "document" the progress made.

The basis of Piaget's concept of the intellectual development of the child is the process interactions between the organism and the environment. And its main idea is that intellectual operations are carried out in the form of holistic structures (or schemas). These structures are formed by balance towards which evolution is striving.

From his point of view, the development of cognitive processes is the result of the individual's constant attempts to adapt to environmental changes that unbalance him and, thereby, compensate for these changes. Thus, the main goal of rational human behavior and thinking is adaptation to environment, and external influences force the body either to modify existing structures (or schemas) actions if they do not meet the requirements of adaptation, or develop new schemes. Schemas refer to the repetitive organization of actions in typical situations.

Adaptation, according to Piaget, occurs through two mechanisms:

1) assimilation - actions with new objects in accordance
with already established skills and abilities;

2) accommodation - the desire to change the skills themselves
according to changing conditions.

J. Godefroy gives this example: when a child is first spoon-fed, he has to learn to adapt to the new situation. If the child tries to suck on a spoon (assimilation), then soon he will be convinced that such behavior is ineffective, and will be forced to modify, modify the movements of the lips and tongue (accommodation), to take food from a spoon.

As a result of accommodation in the psyche and behavior of the child, the disturbed equilibrium and the discrepancy between the existing skills and the new conditions for performing actions is removed.

These processes function throughout a person's life and stimulate his cognitive development.

Piaget singled out 3 main stages of a child's intellectual development from birth to 15 years of age. Stages are levels (or steps)

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development, successively replacing each other, and a relatively stable balance is achieved at each level.

I. Sensorimotor stage (from 0 to 1.5-2 years). It is characterized by the formation and development of sensitive and motor structures, the knowledge of oneself as a subject of action. The child looks, listens, touches, smells, tastes, manipulates, etc. This stage includes 6 substages.

1. inborn reflexes(0-1 month) - sucking, grasping and etc.
They are caused by external stimuli and, repeating, become more and more
more efficient.

2. motor skills(from 1 to 4 months) - grasping the bottle
with a pacifier, sucking movements at the sight of this bottle, etc.
They are formed as conditioned reflexes as a result of interaction
child's interactions with the environment.

3. Circular reactions(from 4 to 8 months) - grasping the rope, you
calling a rattle to make it rattle.
A consequence of the development of coordination between perceptual and mo
torny systems.

4. Coordination (differentiation) of means and goals(from 8 to 12 months
tsev) - moving the adult's hand away in order to get the hidden
a toy for her. Actions are getting more deliberate
nym.

5. Discovery of new funds(from 12 to 18 months) - pulling up
tablecloth, takes out a toy lying on the table. The effect reaches
Xia accidentally, but causes the child to form a connection between
his actions and their results.

6. Invention of new means(from 18 to 24 months) - looking for a way
open the box to get a candy or something to put in
her. This is the first manifestation of the "internalization of thought as a result of
tat combinations of existing schemes to find a new solution
problem (such as insight).

By the end of stage I (by the age of 2), the child psychologically separates himself from the outside world and assimilates enough elements to begin symbolic activity. Volitional control of one's own behavior begins to take shape.

II. Stage of specific operations(from 2 to 11 years). Here actions are gradually internalized and turn into operations- mental actions that have reversibility. Reversibility means

Topic 3. Theories of child development in foreign psychology _____________4J.

for the child the opportunity, having performed the corresponding action, to return to its beginning by performing the opposite action. For example, by folding a house out of cubes, you can destroy it, and then fold it again in the same or some other form.

On the preoperative level(from 2 to 5 years old) language acquisition, presentation of objects and their images in words; actions are constantly internalized, thinking develops. At first, thinking wears egocentric character and focused on what the child sees and knows. In most cases, he considers objects and phenomena as they are given by his direct perception:

The child thinks that the moon follows him when he walks: runs when he runs away, stops when he stops. Two plasticine balls of equal weight cease to be equal for him as soon as one of them is rolled out in the form of a sausage: “The sausage is longer, which means it is larger,” the child says.

It is especially difficult for him to take the position of another person, to see objects and phenomena through his eyes. Piaget describes this conversation with a child:

Do you have a brother?

Arthur, answered the child.

Does he have a brother?
-Not.

How many brothers do you have in your family?

Do you have a brother?

Does he have brothers?

It doesn't have at all.

Are you his brother?
-Yes.

Does he have a brother then?

The speech of the child is also egocentric, since he speaks only from his own point of view, without trying to stand on the point of view of the interlocutor. When two small children discuss something, each of them talks about his own and about himself. Everyone he meets is an interlocutor, and only the appearance of interest in his words is important, although he may have the illusion that he is being listened to and understood.

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psychology

Topic 3. Theories of child development in foreign psychology

Verbal egocentrism reaches its greatest value (75% of all spontaneous speech) at the age of 3 years. Then there is a decrease to 5-6 years. And at the level of specific operations, after 7 years, according to Piaget, egocentric speech disappears.

The emergence of elementary logical reasoning in relation to objects and events also belongs to this time. He begins to understand that the form and amount of a substance do not depend on each other, he can arrange objects according to various criteria (height or weight), he can classify objects on separate grounds. By the age of 7, he also has the ability to understand flexible and reversible operations corresponding to logical rules.

At the end of this period (by the age of 11), the child increasingly understands the relationship between the features of objects, gets an idea about the conservation of mass and volume, about time, speed, about measurements using a standard and etc. This allows him to solve mathematical and physical problems and forms logical thinking.

III. Formal operations stage (from 11 before 15 years). At this stage, the child is able to think logically, using abstract concepts, reasoning, formulating and testing hypotheses. His conceptual thinking is fully developed, allowing him to imagine numbers as far from concrete experience as a billion, facts of the distant past, to assimilate complex classifications.

L. S. Vygotsky, having become interested in the facts of child development revealed by J. Piaget, explains them differently. But, above all, he conducts a study of egocentric speech. In his experiment, the child encounters a difficulty in his activity, for example, when drawing, he at some point does not find the right colored pencil. When difficulties arise, egocentric statements double in number. What is the child talking about?