Psychological science is currently undergoing one of the key stages in its development: for the first time in its history, the level of generalisation of theoretical and empirical data it has achieved makes it possible to model a unified system of psychological knowledge. This may involve the creation of a new paradigm of psychological science, which will form the basis for its further progressive development. The concept of verbal reflection of reality, which contains information about the structure, functions, mechanisms, and patterns of formation of the corresponding psychological reality, can serve as the theoretical and methodological basis for the creation of an integral paradigm of psychology. Within the framework of this concept, information containing knowledge about the stages of ontogenesis of this formation of the human psyche acquires serious significance.
An analysis of general scientific and psychological approaches to the phenomenon of mental reflection allows us to define verbal reflection of reality (VRO) as an integral mental formation that reproduces the structure of the subject's life experience through a system of verbal subjective meanings and, on this basis, determines the nature of the deployment of their internal and external activity.
In structural and functional terms, verbal reflection of reality includes four interrelated blocks:
- Dynamic block — a system of meanings of biological, psychological, and social images of human needs
- Structural-content block — including the meanings of the 'image of the self,' 'image of the other,' and 'generalised image of the objective world'
- Axiological block — a system of value meanings resulting from the internalisation of various social norms by the individual
- Meaning-forming block — a system of meanings of ideal and material objects independently developed by the subject
Verbal reflection of reality has its own system of functions that determine its status as an independent semantic formation of the human psyche. The general functions of verbal reflection of reality are: synthesis of products of different levels of mental reflection, communication between different levels of mental reflection, determination of a person's subjective priorities based on the hierarchy of meanings of mental images, correlating a person's past experience with current objects of reality, ensuring the internal autonomy of the subject and maintaining its connections with objective reality, creating a consistent model of reality that ensures a person's adaptation to objective reality, forming conscious subjectivity, as well as determining the behaviour and activity of the subject.
In psychological terms, the verbal reflection of reality should be considered through the triad of 'process - state - property' traditional for world psychology. Thus, this formation acts as a triad of processes, states and properties unique to each person, formed in their psyche on the basis of the reflection of objective reality.
Three interrelated levels are distinguished in the verbal reflection of reality, reflecting its qualitative characteristics:
- The level of processes — the mechanism of the emergence of meanings of images of perception, characterised by their short-term nature and instability
- The level of states — the mechanism of the emergence of meanings of images-representations associated with the work of long-term memory and distinguished by a sufficient degree of permanence and stability
- The level of properties — the mechanism of the emergence of values of value and meaning images associated with the work of abstract thinking, characterised by a high degree of stability and capable of remaining unchanged throughout a person's life
The system of relationships between the emotional, cognitive, value and meaning values of images of material and ideal objects and phenomena of objective reality forms the structure of verbal reflection of reality, and the change in the relationships between values is the main mechanism of its development at different stages of ontogenesis: at the affective stage of the image of the world (from birth to 6–7 years), at the cognitive stage of the picture of the world (from 6–7 to 14–15 years), at the value stage of worldview (from 14–15 to 18–19 years old) and at the semantic stage of subjective worldview (after 18–19 years old).
The image of the world is the first emotionally coloured stage of the development of verbal reflection of reality, the chronological boundaries of which lie from birth to 6-7 years (infancy, early childhood and preschool age). The basic block of verbal reflection of reality at the stage of development of the image of the world is a dynamic block that reflects the biopsychological (emotional-motor) level of development of the corresponding phenomenon. The intellectual basis for the development of the image of the world is sensorimotor and preoperational intelligence, and its leading content units are the verbal meanings of perceptual images. The main mechanism for the formation of a child's worldview can be considered the process of speech development, and the central task of this stage of the development of verbal reflection of reality is the adaptation of the child to the physical and primary social (family) environment surrounding them, as well as to themselves as a psychophysiological being.
The worldview is a cognitive stage in the development of verbal reflection of reality, the chronological framework of which lies in the period from 6–7 to 14–15 years (primary school and adolescent age). The cognitive nature of the worldview is manifested in the fixation of the child's knowledge of the surrounding reality, which forms the basis of their life experience. Knowledge about oneself, other people and the world, conveyed in a system of verbal categories, primarily determines the behaviour of the individual at this stage of ontogenesis, and the main mechanism for the development of verbal reflection of reality here is the general psychological mechanism of internalisation of verbal meanings.
The leading role in the stage of development of the worldview is played by the structural-content block, which includes the subjective meanings of the image of the self, the image of the 'Other' and the generalised image of the objective world, formed on the basis of the child's mastery of the scientific picture of the world (SPW) and the content of a particular culture. The main content unit of the worldview is the meaning of the cognitive image-representation, and the leading motivational unit is, respectively, the cognitive semantic attitude. The dominant factor at this stage of the development of verbal reflection of reality is the process of upbringing, and its basic goal is for the child to learn social rules and moral norms of behaviour (primary socialisation).
The stage of worldview development begins in early adolescence, and its upper conditional boundary lies in young adulthood, upon reaching which a person formally achieves a level of physical, psychological and social maturity. The leading role in the stage of worldview development is played by the axiological block of verbal reflection of reality, which is formed on the basis of the mechanism of internalisation: the personality appropriates a system of external social (ideological and state) values. Another mechanism of ontogenesis of verbal reflection of reality at the stage of worldview is personal reflection, which allows a person to determine their place in the general structure of social reality.
The process of education is of dominant importance here, and the basic goal of this stage is the development of a person capable of benefiting their country through the implementation of one or another professional activity. The leading block of the subjective worldview is the meaning-forming block — a system of verbal meanings independently developed by a person as internal determinants of their behaviour and activity. Verbal meanings could have existed in humans at earlier stages of ontogenesis, but only at the stage of the subjective universe did they begin to play a leading role in the verbal reflection of reality, forming a coherent system. The main role at this stage is played by the process of conscious self-development, and its basic goal is to form the foundations of integral — subjective, planetary — maturity in humans.
The conceptual model of the structure, functions, mechanisms of functioning, and stages of ontogenesis of verbal reflection of reality, which forms the basis of the psychological concept of the corresponding mental phenomenon, can be presented as the empirical basis of the psychological concept of verbal reflection of reality in adolescents. Adolescents are only on the threshold of adult life, and the system of markers of their worldview does not yet have sufficient value (worldview) or semantic (subjective world) certainty and stability.
The second moment in the lives of adolescents can be interpreted as the subjective present of adolescents, associated with the desire for self-affirmation in various spheres of life and professional career. The subjective significance of various types of social activity for modern adolescents indirectly confirms the idea of socially useful activity as the leading activity for adolescence. Reflecting the self-awareness of adolescents is the significance of the subjective future, associated with the need to start professional training soon.
It is interesting that in the adolescent worldview, the concepts of professional career and professional self-realisation fall into different clusters, demonstrating a peculiar gap between the 'present' aspiration for a professional career and the 'future' aspiration for professional activity. This situation is characteristic only of the worldview level and is related to the fact that adolescents have not yet decided on a profession — they have ideas about some professions, but no profession has a definite value and meaning status for them. At mature levels of verbal reflection of reality, everyday moments are inextricably linked to each other, acting as external values and internal meanings.
Experiences of the meaningfulness of existence and harmony with the world go beyond a single standard deviation, which indicates their displacement from the worldview of adolescents. The isolated nature of such a moment, on the one hand, reflects the general crisis-ridden nature of adolescence; on the other hand, it demonstrates the cognitive essence of this marker at the stage of development of the worldview: the verbal meaning of the image of representation is unable, due to age characteristics, to perform a value or meaning function.
In the future, we will see a deeper meaning at the level of the development of the subjective world, conveying the essential nature of the highest level of development of verbal reflection of reality. The presence of this factor in the structure of the cognitive block of verbal reflection of reality in adolescents confirms the hypothesis that moral development is one of the most important processes in the development of the cognitive worldview, anticipating its transformation into a worldview as a system of personal value orientations. Thus, we can observe the moment of the emergence of internal verbal-subjective prerequisites for the transition from one type of activity to another, which determines the psychological development of the individual at the corresponding stage of ontogenesis.
An existential attitude towards the world is one of socially desirable values: they are demonstrated only to make a good impression on others. The semantic constructs of the psychological past and future of adolescents are associated with the concept of love, which at this stage acquires the character of meaning as an internal value of the personality: the predominantly external locus of control, characteristic of the stage of development of the worldview, has been replaced at the stage of development of the subjective worldview by a predominantly internal locus of control.
The 'feeling of experiencing the meaningfulness of existence and harmony with the world' enters the level of one standard deviation and acquires the status of a separate meaning of life for the subject. The presence of this factor in the subjective worldview emphasises the specificity of the highest stage of development of verbal reflection of reality — the subject's life experience gradually crystallises into a structure of independently developed meanings of life, which begin to determine the subject's behaviour and activities.
A characteristic feature in this regard is the presence of the construct 'good and loyal friends' at the negative pole — external norms of evaluating reality, characteristic of the stage of worldview development, fade into the background, and their place is taken by a meaningful system of self-regulation. The social flexibility of the verbal reflection of reality by people at the stage of developing a subjective worldview, the desire for self-realisation inherent in people the process of verbal reflection of reality in which has reached the highest stage of its development, comes into conflict with the conservative social environment surrounding them, as a result of which they develop a tendency towards conformism, which performs an adaptive function.
It is interesting that the negative pole of sensations is made up of variables that, at the stage of developing a worldview (adolescence), formed the factor of moral normativity. Thus, we are witnessing a kind of 'revaluation of values' that took place within the verbal reflection of reality over a number of ages. The general pattern of the development of verbal reflection of reality is, thus, a transition from rigid external structures of regulation of behaviour and activity of the individual to flexible internal semantic formations that underlie the process of self-regulation of behaviour and activity of the subject.
Unlike the stage of worldview development, this factor is devoid of the negative pole associated with the verbal constructs of 'love' and 'family life,' which emphasises the harmonious combination of the meanings of personal and social life at the level of the subjective worldview.