Understanding Concepts in Current Psychology

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29038/2227-1376-2018-32-10-22

Keywords:

understanding, cognition, comprehension, interpretation, solving tasks, explanation, experience, awareness.

Abstract

The modern psychological views on the problem of understanding are generalized in the article. It is noted that the specificity of understanding was studied in theosophy and philosophy for centuries. Recognition of the important role of the subject in the process of understanding contributed to the fact that this problem also became the subject of psychology. The primary objective of the article is to analyze and to systematize modern theories of understanding, taking into account the scientific tradition and new trends. Different methods were used for this purpose: deductive and inductive methods, analysis and synthesis, generalization, systematization and modeling as well as some interpretive methods that are based on specific principles of systemic, activity, cognitive and organizational approaches The conclusion is made as a result of systematization of the achievements of these approaches. It is concluded that six approaches to the interpretation of understanding can be accented in modern psychological literature. They are understanding as knowledge (a certain form of knowledge, process and result of cognition), understanding as comprehension (collapse and reproduction of meanings that are in all, we may only found and restored them), understanding as interpretation (matching of interpretations), understanding as a process of solving tasks (the transit process from one stage to another, from recognition to the generic concept, then the meaning of the specific concept, then the explanation), understanding as the inclusion of new knowledge in the subject’s experience (enrichment of experience, accumulation of knowledge), understanding as awareness (a function of consciousness that includes thinking, feeling, experience, relationships, etc.). In general, understanding is a complex psychic process that begins with perception and thinking, then includes other cognitive processes and the emotional and volitional sphere, reaching the level of consciousness, realized in the sense, establishing links with values and emotions. Prerequisites for understanding are sufficient prior experience and knowledge.

References

1. Schank, R. C. (1986). Explanation patterns: Understanding mechanically and creatively. Hillsdale, Nev York: Erlbaum. 264 р. [in English].
2. Avtonomova, N. S.; Filatov, V. P. (1981). Ponimaniye kak logiko gnoseologicheskaya problema [Understanding as a logical gnoseological problem]. Voprosy filosofii – Questions of philosophy, 5, 164–169 [in Russian].
3. Brudnyy, A. A. (1991). Ponimaniye i tekst [Understanding and text]. Zagadka chelovecheskogo ponimaniya – Riddle of human understanding, 114–128 [in Russian].
4. Vaganova, N. A. (2013). Psikhologicheskiye osobennosti protsessa ponimaniya det’mi novoy informatsii [Psychological features of the process of understanding children of new information]. Proceedings from All-Russian scientific conference (with foreign participation) ‘13: Vserossiyskoya nauchnoya konferentsiya (s inostrannym uchastiyem) [Idei O. K. Tikhomirova i A. V. Brushlinskogo i fundamental’nyye problemy psikhologii (k 80-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya)] – The All-Russian scientific conference (with foreign participation) «Ideas О.К. Tikhomirova and A. V. Brushlinsky and the fundamental problems of psychology (on the occasion of his 80th birthday)» (pp. 95–98). Moskva [in Russian].
5. Vinograd, T.; Flores, F. (1996). O ponimanii komp’yuterov i poznaniya [About the understanding of computers and knowledge]. Yazyk i intellekt – Language and Intellect, 185–229 [in Russian].
6. Zinchenko V. P. (1997). Rabota ponimaniya [Work of Understanding]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovaniye – Psychological Science and Education, 3, 42–52 [in Russian].
7. Zinchenko, V. P. (2009). Psikhologiya cheloveka v sovremennom mire [Psychology of man in the modern world]. Mедпортал.com. Retrieved from https://xn--80ahc0abogjs.com/akmeologiya_770/suschnostnyie-harakteristiki-ponimaniya-kak-38727.html [in Russian].
8. Znakov, V. V. (2005). Psikhologiya ponimaniya: Problemy i perspektivy [Psychology of Understanding: Problems and Perspectives]. Moscow.: Izd-vo «Institut psikhologii RAN» [in Russian].
9. Ígnatenko, N. V. (n.d.). Psikhologíchna kharakteristika tekstu y problemi yogo rozumínnya [Psychological characteristics of the text and problems of its understanding]. Library.udpu.org.ua. Retrieved from: http://library.udpu.org.ua/ library_files/psuh_pedagog_probl_silsk_shkolu/6/visnuk_19.pdf [in Russian].
10. Maksymenko, S. D. (2010). Zahalʹna psykholohiya. Navchalʹnyy posibnyk [General Psychology. Tutorial]. Kyiv: Tsentr uchbovoyi literatury [in Ukrainian].
11. Menchinskaya, A. N. (1962). Ponimaniye [Understanding]. Psikhologiya: Uchebnik dlya pedinstitutov – Psychology: A Textbook for Pedagogical Institutes, 263 [in Russian].
12. Chepelyeva, N. V.; Smul’son, M. L.; Shylovs’ka, O. M.; Hutsol, S. YU. (2007). Naratyvni psykhotekhnolohiyi [Narrative psychotechnologies]. Kyiv: Hlavnyk [in Ukrainian].
13. Nesterova, N. M. (2009). Psikholingvistika teksta, ili yest’ li smysl v tekste? [Psycholinguistics of the text, or is there any sense in the text?]. Voprosy psikholingvistiki – Questions of psycholinguistics, 9, 213–219 [in Russian].
14. Orap, M. O. (2014). Psykholohichni osnovy orhanizatsiyi movlennyevoho dosvidu osobystosti [Psychological bases of organization of the individual speech experience]. Doctor’s thesis. Lutsʹk: Lutsʹk DU [in Ukrainian].
15. Rakitov, A. I. (1986). Ponimaniye i ratsional’nost’ [Understanding and rationality]. Voprosy filosofii – Questions of philosophy, 7, 69–73 [in Russian].
16. Rapoport, G. N., Gerts, A. G. (2011). Biologicheskiy i iskusstvennyy razum: CH.1. Soznaniye, myshleniye i emotsii [Biological and artificial intelligence: Part 1. Consciousness, thinking and emotions]. Moscow: Knizhnyy dom «LIBROKOM» [in Russian].
17. Chepeleva, N. V. (2001). Psikhologicheskaya germenevtika – nauka o ponimanii [Psychological hermeneutics – the science of understanding]. Praktichna psikhologíya ta sotsíal’na robota – Practical psychology is the social work, 3, 6–10 [in Russian].

Published

2018-12-26

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Akimova, N. (2018). Understanding Concepts in Current Psychology. Psychological Prospects Journal, 32, 10-22. https://doi.org/10.29038/2227-1376-2018-32-10-22

Similar Articles

1-10 of 275

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.