"Imagination"
Completed: student of 9 "B" class
Plyshevskaya Svetlana
Teacher: Likhach Galina Vladimirovna
Gymnasium №12
Minsk, 2002
Introduction: The Importance of Imagination 3
1. Definition of Imagination 6
2. Imagination functions 9
3. Types of imagination 11
4. "Technique" of imagination 14
5. Imagination in creativity 16
6. Imagination and talent 18
7. The role of imagination in science and nature 22 Conclusion 24
References 25
Introduction: The Importance of Imagination
Imagination is a special form of the human psyche, standing apart from other mental processes and at the same time occupying an intermediate position between perception, thinking and memory.
The specificity of this form of mental process lies in the fact that imagination is probably characteristic only of a person and is strangely connected with the activity of the organism, being at the same time the most "mental" of all mental processes and states. The latter means that the ideal and mysterious nature of the psyche is not manifested in anything other than imagination. It can be assumed that it was the imagination, the desire to understand and explain it, that drew attention to psychic phenomena in antiquity, supported and continues to stimulate it today.
However, the phenomenon of imagination remains mysterious even today. Humanity still knows almost nothing about the mechanism of imagination, including its anatomical and physiological basis. Questions about where in the human brain the imagination is localized, with the work of which nervous structures known to us it is connected, have not yet been solved today. At least, we can say much less about this than, for example, about sensations, perception, attention and memory, which have been studied to a sufficient extent.
Imagination is a special form of reflection, which consists in creating new images and ideas by processing existing ideas and concepts. The development of the imagination goes along the lines of improving the operations of substituting real objects with imaginary ones and recreating imagination. The child gradually begins to create on the basis of the available descriptions, texts, fairy tales more and more complex images and their systems. The content of these images is developed and enriched. Creative imagination develops when the child not only understands some methods of expressiveness (hyperbole, metaphor), but also uses them independently. Imagination becomes mediated and deliberate.
Imagination is the most important part of our life. Imagine for a moment that a person would not have a fantasy. We would lose almost all scientific discoveries and works of art. Children would not hear fairy tales and would not be able to play many games. And how could they learn the school curriculum without imagination? It's easier to say: deprive a person of fantasy, and progress will stop! So imagination, fantasy are the highest and most necessary human ability. However, it is this ability that needs special care in terms of development. And it develops especially intensively at the age of 5 to 15 years. Scientists call this period sensitive, that is, the most favorable for the development of imaginative thinking and imagination.
And if during this period the imagination is not specifically developed, subsequently a rapid decrease in the activity of this function occurs. For example, one student asked the famous writer Gianni Rodari: “What do you need to do and how to work to become a storyteller?”, “Teach mathematics properly,” he heard in response.
Along with a decrease in the ability to fantasize, a person's personality is depleted, the possibilities of creative thinking are reduced, and interest in art and science is extinguished.
Thanks to the imagination, a person creates, intelligently plans his activities and manages them. Almost all human material and spiritual culture is a product of people's imagination and creativity.
Imagination takes a person beyond the limits of his momentary existence, reminds him of the past, opens the future. Along with a decrease in the ability to fantasize, a person's personality is depleted, the possibilities of creative thinking are reduced, and interest in art and science is extinguished.
Imagination is the highest mental function and reflects reality. However, with the help of the imagination, a mental departure is carried out beyond the limits of the immediately perceived. Its main task is to present the expected result before its implementation. With the help of imagination, we form an image of an object, situation, conditions that has never existed or does not exist at the moment.
Taking into account the importance of imagination in a person's life, how it affects his mental processes and states, and even on the body, we will specifically highlight and consider the problem of imagination.
Imagination is a special form of the psyche, which can only be in a person. It is continuously connected with the human ability to change the world, transform reality and create something new. M. Gorky was right when he said that “it is fiction that raises a person above an animal,” because only a person who, being a social being, transforms the world, develops a true imagination.
With a rich imagination, a person can live in different times, which no other living being in the world can afford. The past is fixed in memory images, and the future is presented in dreams and fantasies.
Any imagination generates something new, changes, transforms what is given by perception. These changes and transformations can be expressed in what a person, based on knowledge and experience, imagines, i.e. will create for himself a picture of what he himself has never actually seen. For example, a message about a flight into space encourages our imagination to draw pictures of a fantastic life in its unusualness in weightlessness, surrounded by stars and planets.
Imagination can, anticipating the future, create an image, a picture of what did not exist at all. So the astronauts could imagine in their imagination the flight into space and landing on the moon when it was just a dream, not yet realized and it is not known whether it is feasible.
The imagination can finally make such a departure from reality that creates a fantastic picture that clearly deviates from reality. But even in this case, it reflects this reality to some extent. And imagination is all the more fruitful and valuable, the more it transforms reality and deviates from it, yet takes into account its essential aspects and most significant features.
To study the cognitive role of imagination, it is necessary to find out its features and reveal its real nature. In the scientific literature, there are many approaches to the definition of imagination. Let us turn to some of them and define the main features of the imagination.
S. L. Rubinshtein writes: “Imagination is a departure from past experience, it is a transformation of the given and the generation of new images on this basis.”
L.S. Vygotsky believes that “the imagination does not repeat the impressions that have been accumulated before, but builds some new rows from the previously accumulated impressions. Thus, bringing something new into our impressions and changing these impressions so that as a result a new, previously non-existent image arises, forms the basis of the activity that we call imagination.
According to E.I. Ignatiev, “the main feature of the imagination process is the transformation and processing of data and materials of past experience, resulting in a new idea.”
And the "Philosophical Dictionary" defines imagination as "the ability to create new sensual or mental images in the human mind based on the transformation of impressions received from reality."
As can be seen from the definitions, the ability of the subject to create new images is considered an essential feature of the imagination. But this is not enough, because then it is impossible to distinguish between imagination and thinking. After all, human thinking (the creation of cognitive images through conclusions, generalizations, analysis, synthesis) cannot simply be identified with imagination, because the creation of new knowledge and concepts can occur without the participation of imagination.
Many researchers note that imagination is the process of creating new images, proceeding in a visual plan. This tendency relates the imagination to the forms of sensual reflection, while the other one believes that the imagination creates not only new sensual images, but also produces new thoughts.
One of the characteristics of the imagination is that it is associated not only with thinking, but also with sensory data. There is no imagination without thinking, but it is not reduced to logic either, since it always assumes the transformation of sensory material.
Thus, it is obvious that the imagination is both the creation of new images and the transformation of past experience, and that such a transformation takes place with the organic unity of the sensible and the rational.
2. Imagination functions
People dream so much because their mind cannot be "unemployed". It continues to function even when new information does not enter the human brain, when it does not solve any problems. It is at this time that the imagination begins to work, which a person cannot stop at will.
In human life, imagination performs a number of specific functions.
The first of these is to represent reality in images and be able to use them when solving problems. This function of imagination is connected with thinking and is organically included in it.
The second function of the imagination is to regulate emotional states. With the help of his imagination, a person is able to at least partially satisfy many needs, to relieve the tension generated by them. This vital function is especially emphasized and developed in psychoanalysis.
The third function of the imagination is associated with its participation in the arbitrary regulation of cognitive processes and human states, in particular, perception, attention, memory, speech, and emotions. With the help of skillfully evoked images, a person can pay attention to the necessary events. Through images, he gets the opportunity to control perception, memories, statements.
The fourth function of the imagination is to form an internal plan of action - the ability to perform them in the mind, manipulating images.
Finally, the fifth function is planning and programming activities, drawing up such programs, assessing their correctness, and the implementation process.
With the help of imagination, we can control many psycho-physiological states of the body, tune it to the upcoming activity. There are also known facts indicating that with the help of imagination, by a purely volitional way, a person can influence organic processes: change the rhythm of breathing, pulse rate, blood pressure, body temperature (Indian yoga).
3. Types of imagination
Consider now the various forms and types of human imagination.
The relation of a person to the process of imagination directly determines the existence of different levels of imagination. At the lower levels, the change of images occurs involuntarily, at the higher levels, the conscious person plays an increasingly important role in the formation of images.
In its lowest and most primitive forms, imagination manifests itself in the involuntary transformation of images, which takes place under the influence of little conscious needs, drives and tendencies, regardless of any conscious intervention of the subject. The images of the imagination seem to spontaneously emerge before the imagination, in addition to the will and desire of a person, and are not formed by him. In its purest form, this form of imagination is only in very rare cases at the lower levels of consciousness and in dreams. It is also called passive imagination.
In the highest forms of imagination, in creativity, images are consciously formed and transformed in accordance with goals. Using them, a person, at his own request, by an effort of will, causes in himself the corresponding images of a person's creative activity. This form of imagination is called active.
There is also a distinction between the reproducing, or reproductive, and the transforming, or productive imagination.
The task of reproductive imagination is to reproduce reality as it is, and although there is also an element of fantasy, such imagination is more like perception or memory than creativity. Thus, a direction in art called naturalism, as well as partly realism, can be correlated with reproductive imagination. It is well known that according to the paintings of I.I. Shishkin, biologists can study the flora of the Russian forest, since all the plants on his canvases are drawn with documentary accuracy.
Productive imagination is distinguished by the fact that in it reality is consciously constructed by a person, and not just mechanically copied or recreated, although at the same time it is still creatively transformed in the image. For example, the basis of the creativity of a number of masters of art, whose flight of creative imagination is no longer satisfied with realistic means, is also reality. But this reality is passed through the productive imagination of the creators, they construct it in a new way, using light, color, vibration of the air (impressionism), resorting to a dotted image of objects (pointillism), decomposing the world into geometric shapes (cubism) and so on. Even the works of such an art direction as abstractionism were created with the help of a productive imagination. We encounter productive imagination in art when the world of the artist is phantasmagoria, irrationalism. The result of this imagination is M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita", a fantasy of the Strugatsky brothers.
Imagination, as you know, is closely related to creativity (this will be discussed in more detail below). And oddly enough, this dependence is inverse, i.e. it is the imagination that is formed in the process of creative activity, and not vice versa. The specialization of different types of imagination is the result of the development of different types of creative activity. Therefore, there are as many specific types of imagination as there are types of human activity - constructive, technical, scientific, artistic, musical, and so on. But, of course, all these types constitute a kind of higher level - creative imagination.
In all these cases, imagination plays a positive role, but there are other types of imagination. These include dreams, hallucinations, daydreams and daydreams.
Dreams can be classified as passive and involuntary forms of imagination. Their true role in human life has not yet been established, although it is known that in a person’s dreams many vital needs are expressed and satisfied, which, for a number of reasons, cannot be realized in life.
Hallucinations are called fantastic visions, which apparently have almost no connection with the reality surrounding a person. Usually they, being the result of certain disorders of the psyche or the work of the body, accompany many painful conditions.
Dreams, unlike hallucinations, are a completely normal mental state, which is a fantasy associated with desire.
A dream is a form of special internal activity, which consists in creating an image of what a person would like to realize. A dream differs from a dream in that it is somewhat more realistic and more connected with reality, i.e. in principle feasible. Dreams occupy a fairly large part of a person's time, especially in youth, and for most people are pleasant thoughts about the future, although some have disturbing visions that give rise to feelings of anxiety and aggressiveness. The process of imagination is rarely immediately realized in the practical actions of a person, so a dream is an important condition for the implementation of a person's creative powers. The necessity of a dream lies in the fact that, being initially a simple reaction to a highly exciting situation, it then often becomes an internal need of the individual. The dream is very important even in primary school age. The younger the dreaming child, the more often his daydreaming does not so much express its direction as it creates it. This is the formative function of the dream.
4. "Technique" of the imagination
The transformation of reality with the help of imagination does not occur arbitrarily, it has its own regular ways, which are expressed in various ways or methods of transformation that are used by a person unconsciously. Psychology identifies several such techniques.
The first such method is agglutination, i.e. a combination or combination of different parts that are incompatible in everyday life in new unusual combinations. Combination is not a random set, but a selection of certain features, produced consciously, in accordance with a certain idea and design of the composition. It is widely used in art, science, technical invention, and especially in the monuments of ancient Egyptian art and in the art of the American Indians. An example is the classic characters of fairy tales man-beast or man-bird, allegorical figures of Leonardo da Vinci.
Another technique is to accentuate certain aspects of the displayed phenomenon. Emphasis is the underlining of features. It is often achieved by changing the proportions in different directions. Caricature uses this technique: it reproduces the features of the original, exaggerating one or another of its features. At the same time, in order to be significant, accentuation must highlight the characteristic, essential. Emphasis actively uses the change of objects by increasing or decreasing them (hyperbolization and litotes), which is widely used in a fantastic depiction of reality. The following fairy-tale characters can serve as an example: the unprecedentedly strong Svyatogor, the tiny Thumb Boy, or the gigantic Gulliver. On the one hand, the appearance of the giant, his grandiose size can make the inner strength and significance of the characters more obvious, and on the other hand, the fantastically small size can emphasize the great inner dignity of the character by contrast.
The third well-known way of creating images of the imagination is schematization. In this case, individual representations merge, and differences are smoothed out. The main similarities are clearly worked out. An example is any schematic drawing.
And the last way can be called typing, i.e. specific summary. It is characterized by highlighting the essential, repeating in some respects homogeneous facts and embodying them in a specific image. In this technique, some features are completely omitted, while others are simplified, freed from details and complications. As a result, the entire image is transformed. For example, there are professional images of a worker, a doctor, an artist, and so on.
Thus, in the imagination, naturally, there is a tendency to allegory, allegory, the use of images in a figurative sense. All means of literary creativity (metaphor, hyperbole, epithet, tropes and figures) show the manifestation of the transforming power of the imagination. And all the main forms of creative transformation of the world that art uses, in the final analysis, reflect those transformations that the imagination uses.
5. Imagination in creativity
Imagination plays an important role in every creative process, and its importance is especially great in artistic creation. The essence of artistic imagination lies, first of all, in being able to create new images that can be the bearer of ideological content. The special power of artistic imagination is to create a new situation not by violating, but by maintaining the basic requirements of vitality.
The idea that the more bizarre and outlandish a work is, the more imagination its author has is fundamentally erroneous. The imagination of Leo Tolstoy is no weaker than that of Edgar Allan Poe. It's just different. After all, the more realistic the work, the more powerful the imagination must be in order to make the described picture visual and figurative. After all, as you know, a powerful creative imagination is recognized not so much by what a person can invent, invent, but by how he knows how to transform reality in accordance with the requirements of artistic design. But the observance of vitality and reality does not, of course, mean a photographically accurate copying of what is perceived, because a real artist has not only the necessary technique, but also a special view of things, different from the view of an uncreative person. Therefore, the main task of a work of art is to show others what the artist sees, so that others can see it. Even in a portrait, the artist does not photograph the depicted person, but transforms what he perceives. The product of such an imagination often gives a deeper and truer picture than even photography can.
Imagination in artistic creativity allows, of course, a significant departure from reality, a significant deviation from it. Artistic creativity is expressed not only in a portrait, it includes sculpture, a fairy tale, and a fantastic story. Both in a fairy tale and in fantasy, deviations can be very large, but in any case they must be motivated by the intention, the idea of the work. And the more significant these deviations from reality, the more motivated they must be, otherwise they will not be understood and appreciated. Creative imagination uses this kind of fantasy, a deviation about some features of reality, in order to give imagery and clarity to the real world, the main idea or plan.
Some experiences, feelings of people in everyday life may be invisible to the layman's eye, while the artist's imagination, deviating from reality, transforms it, illuminating it brighter and more convexly showing some part of this reality that is especially important for him. To move away from reality in order to penetrate deeper into it and better understand it - such is the logic of creative imagination.
No less necessary is imagination in scientific creativity. In science, it is formed no less than in creativity, but only in other forms.
Even the English chemist Priestley, who discovered oxygen, declared that all great discoveries can only be made by scientists who give “full scope to their imagination.” Lenin also highly appreciated the role of fantasy in science, believing that “not only a poet needs it. mathematics needs it, because fantasy is the quality of the greatest value.” The specific role of imagination in scientific creativity is that it transforms the figurative content of the problem and thereby contributes to its resolution.
The role of imagination is shown very clearly in an experimental study. The experimenter, thinking about the experiment, must, using his knowledge and hypotheses, the achievements of science and technology, imagine a situation that would satisfy all the required conditions. In other words, he must imagine conducting such an experiment and understand its purpose and consequences. One of the scientists who always "performed an experiment" with his imagination before real experience was the physicist E. Rutherford.
6. Imagination and talent
As already known, imagination is always the creation of something new as a result of the processing of past experience. No creative activity is possible without imagination, therefore creativity is a complex mental process associated with the character, interests, abilities of the individual.
Sometimes it is difficult for older people to imagine something unusual and start fantasizing, but this does not mean that they have lost the ability to imagine. Every person has an imagination, just getting older, a person trains it less and less. And to train the imagination, as psychologists advise, it is necessary from childhood.
Creative activity develops children's senses. When creating, the child experiences a whole range of positive emotions, both from the process of activity and from the result obtained.
Creativity contributes to the optimal and intensive development of such mental functions as memory, thinking, perception, attention. And they are the ones who determine the success of a child's studies.
Creative activity develops the child's personality, helps him to assimilate moral and ethical norms - to distinguish between good and evil, compassion and hatred, courage and cowardice. Creating works of creativity, the child reflects in them his understanding of life and the world, his positive and negative qualities, comprehends and evaluates them in a new way.
Creativity also develops aesthetic feelings in a child. Through this activity, the child's susceptibility to the world, the appreciation of the beautiful, is formed.
All children, especially older preschoolers and elementary and middle schoolers, love to make art. They enthusiastically sing and dance, sculpt and draw, compose music and fairy tales, perform on stage, participate in competitions, exhibitions and quizzes, etc. Because creativity makes a child's life richer, fuller, happier and more interesting.
Children are able to engage in creativity not only regardless of place and time, but, most importantly, regardless of personal complexes. An adult, often critically evaluating his creative abilities, is embarrassed to show them. Children, unlike adults, are able to sincerely express themselves in artistic activity, not paying attention to shyness.
Creative activity is of particular importance for gifted and talented children. Giftedness is a set of abilities that allow one to have special achievements in a particular field of art, science, professional or other activity. Not many children are distinguished by pronounced talent and giftedness. For a gifted child, imagination is the main characteristic quality; he needs constant activity of fantasy. Unusual approaches to solving problems, original associations - all this is characteristic of a talented child and is the result of imagination.
Giftedness and talent are closely related to advanced development. Talented children are distinguished by higher results compared to their peers, and they achieve these results much more easily. These children are more sensitive to the world around them, and in specific periods they are also characterized by a particularly high sensitivity. Psychologists call such periods “sensitive”. During these periods, a specific function (for example, speech or logical memory) is most susceptible to stimuli from the outside world, is easy to train and develops intensively, and children show special achievements in various activities. And if an ordinary child can experience a “sensitive” period for one function, then a talented child demonstrates the “sensitivity” of many functions at once.
With the help of creativity and imagination, naturally, the child forms his personality. And there is a special area of a child's life that provides specific opportunities for personal development - this is a game. The main mental function that provides the game is imagination. Imagining game situations and realizing them, the child forms a number of personal properties, such as justice, courage, honesty, a sense of humor, and others. Through the work of the imagination, there is a compensation for the still insufficient real possibilities of the child to overcome life's difficulties and conflicts.
Being engaged in creativity (for which imagination is also a priority), the child forms in himself such a quality as spirituality. With spirituality, imagination is included in all cognitive activity, accompanied by especially positive emotions. The rich work of the imagination is often associated with the development of such an important personality trait as optimism.
Of particular interest to scientists are the imaginary companions that many children construct - fictitious relatives, imaginary friends, fairies and elves, animals, dolls and other objects. One study involved 210 children; and it was found that 45 of them had imaginary companions: of this number, 21 were the only child in the family and another 21 had only one relative each. Observers noted that although the 45 children had many opportunities to play with other children, they did not. The imaginary companion is the creation of the child himself, he can in principle endow him with any properties and force the personification to treat him as he wishes. It should be noted that a game involving such companions sometimes reflects the attitudes of the parents, and there is a known case of a girl who had two imaginary companions - one endowed with all the virtues, as she understood them, and the other with all the shortcomings that she found in herself. But it must be noted that psychiatrists regard such fantasizing as symptoms of a mental disorder; from their point of view, such personifications are created to compensate for the lack of warmth and cordiality in real life.
In adolescence, when personal development becomes dominant, such a form of imagination as a dream, an image of the desired future, acquires special significance.
A teenager dreams about what gives him joy, what satisfies his deepest desires and needs. In dreams, a teenager builds the desired personal program of life, in which its main meaning is often determined. Often dreams are unrealistic, i.e. only the goal is defined, but not the way to achieve it, however, at the stage of adolescence, this is still positive, as it allows the teenager to “sort through” different options for the future in an imaginary plan, choose his own way to solve the problem .
Imagination is significant in personal terms and for an adult. People who have retained a vivid imagination in adulthood are distinguished by their talent, they are often called richly gifted individuals.
With age, most of us lose the ability to fantasize: how difficult it is sometimes to come up with a new fairy tale for a child. To preserve and develop the imagination, there are a number of exercises that are described in detail in special pedagogical literature.
7. The role of imagination in science and nature
In one of the US laboratories for the creation of artificial intelligence, scientists faced a problem: how to teach a machine to see? It would seem that everything is simple: put the camera, connect the microcircuit, and everything is in order! But no.
The task was not just to teach "see", but to make it so that the robot could perceive not only individual objects, but also entire scenes. To do this, he needs to learn a huge amount of information about the subject through the visual organs. For example, its position in relation to other objects in space, the quality of its surface, its dimensions, color characteristics, purpose, etc.
All this for the car is quite a big challenge. For example, in order to see the relative position of bodies in space, one must have stereoscopic vision, but this problem is quite solvable. It is much more important and more difficult to teach the machine to "understand" any situations or scenes. After all, scientists still do not quite understand how this process occurs in humans, what can we say about a car!
Only the goal is clear: you need to create an artificial imagination in the machine, and then, after examining several individual objects, it will be able to imagine the situation as a whole and analyze it. So, it will be possible to create artificial intelligence !!!
However, if imagination is inherent in man, its rudiments may also be present in some highly organized animals (dolphins, higher anthropoids). How does modern science answer this question?
Without a doubt (this has been proven by a number of experiments), these animal species are capable of displaying quite complex logical-intuitive thinking. This is due to the factor of their group lifestyle. When leading such a way of life, instincts cease to be the dominant guiding factor, giving way to conscious thinking. Let us recall what determined the development of imagination in the distant ancestors of modern man:
Conscious use of tools (starting with the most primitive) and cases of their atypical use
Creative expression of your ideas (rock painting, etc.)
Under laboratory conditions, the expression of these factors was recorded in a number of highly organized animals (higher primates, elephants, dolphins). So, the whole world knows the so-called "painting" of monkeys and dolphins. Similar "paintings" have been repeatedly put up for auction in many countries of the world, including Russia (in the Moscow Dolphinarium). However, is this manifestation of creative thought a conscious expression of their perception of the surrounding world?
On the other hand, it should be remembered that the way of life of the ancient anthropoids, the ancestors of the modern species Homo Sapiens, in many respects resembled the way of life of modern great apes. Therefore, the latter may have the rudiments of imagination?
Modern science cannot yet give a clear answer to this question, since there is no evidence base for the assertion that the manifestation of creative inclinations in highly organized mammals is a reflection of their vision of the picture of the world - after all, shapeless spots on a sheet of paper in the imagination of research scientists can be interpreted in any way.
Conclusion
The importance of imagination in human life and activity is very great. Imagination arose and developed in the process of labor, and its main significance is that without it any human labor would be impossible, because. it is impossible to work without imagining the final and intermediate results. Without imagination, progress in science, art, and technology would not be possible. Not a single school subject can be fully assimilated without the activity of the imagination. If there was no imagination, it would be impossible to make a decision and find a way out in a problem situation when we do not have the necessary completeness of knowledge.
Philosophers at the end of the 19th century proposed the phrase “imagining man” as one of the specific characteristics of modern man, along with “reasonable man”.
And in general, without imagination there would be no dream, but how boring life would be if people could not dream!!!
List of used literature
1. Vygotsky L.S. "Development of higher mental functions". - Publishing house "Enlightenment", Moscow, 1950
2. Korshunova L.S. Imagination and its role in cognition. - Moscow, 1979
3. Krushinsky L.V. "Do animals have intelligence?" .- "Young naturalist" No. 11, st. 12-15, Moscow, 1980.
4. Rubinstein S.L. "Fundamentals of General Psychology". - Publishing house "Piter", Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk, 1999
5. Subbotina L.Yu. "Development of imagination in children" - Yaroslavl: Academy of Development, 1996.
6. Philosophical Dictionary, edited by M.M. Rosenthal, P.F. Yudina - Political Literature Publishing House, Moscow, 1968
7. Shibutani T. "Social psychology" - Publishing house "Progress", Moscow, 1969
Essays on a free topic (grades 5-11)
An essay on a work on the topic: Imagination is the engine of progress and the salvation of mankind (essay)
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
Everything that mankind has achieved over the centuries in science, technology and culture has been achieved thanks to the imagination. Neither Tsiolkovsky, nor Yuri Gagarin, nor the first American cosmonauts on the moon would have been possible without the first dreamer who imagined himself flying like a bird. His jump from the bell tower with makeshift wings on his hands foreshadowed the space age of mankind. Russian Icarus was not alone. It is known that on his sketch of the first aircraft, Leonardo da Vinci wrote the prophetic words: “Man will grow wings for himself.” The renaissance artist's flying machine could indeed fly several feet, but the church labeled it "devil's instrument."
Thus, the collective imagination contributes to the rapid development of progress. I would especially like to note the importance of the imagination of creative individuals. Science fiction writers from all over the world have created an amazing country that is not on the geographical map, but it is marked in the soul of every person who knows how to dream. This is a FANTASTIC country. She lives by her own laws and regulations. All wishes come true and all dreams come true. But the land of Fantasy is not so surreal. Recall Jules Verne: submarines migrated from the area subordinate to him to the real world, and our scientists argue that the flying spacecraft drawn by the writer is very similar to the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft. The collective world imagination also feeds the work of such wonderful science fiction writers as Ivan Efremov, Arkady and Boris.
We have published a whole “Library of Modern Fiction”. Even a cursory acquaintance with it will make the reader convinced of the desire of the authors to continue the tradition of scientific foresight. But even if there are no specific scientific discoveries in the works of modern science fiction writers, they still work for the progress of mankind. For example, the work of the Strugatskys “The Beetle in the Anthill” poses moral problems that, as it were, prepare humanity for psychological balance among ultra-modern devices on earth and in space. I believe that the problem is not only to form in thoughts what has not yet been in the physical world, but also in how a person will use this miracle of technology. Mistakes of this kind led to atomic explosions in Japan. Humanity still lives in fear of nuclear and other ultra-modern weapons of mass destruction.
The work of science fiction writers is a spontaneous protest against social relations that disfigure and cripple the human soul. It is for this reason that the greatest achievements of science and technology today are perceived by many people as an insurmountable evil, as a means of further enslavement of mankind. Writers create works in which fantasy is only a background against which the tragedy of insoluble contradictions between a human and a cybernetic robot is played out.
For example, in the story of the Australian science fiction writer Lee Harding “Search”, a certain Johnston is looking for a corner of real nature outside the “giant cities that cover the entire planet with armor made of metal and plastic. After a long search, he manages to find a beautiful park. Birds, grass, the scent of flowers delight Even the caretaker lives in a wooden house there. The hero intends to stay there forever, but the caretaker dissuades him: "You must remember, Mr. Johnston, that you are part of an equation. A monstrous equation that helps municipal cybers keep the world process running smoothly." Ignoring the warning, Johnston stays in the park, picks a rose from a bush and is horrified to be convinced that the flower is synthetic. real.But all the blood flows out, and the hero does not die.And only the patrol robot kills him with a beam of ions.
I would like to hope that someday it will be impossible to use creative imagination against a person, but only to solve world problems. The American writer Robert Anthony said it well: “We should never think of a situation as hopeless or insoluble. The belief that we are on the path to self-destruction is simply a delusion.” I completely agree with the American writer. Our creative imagination is the key to our future.
- (37 words) Gogol's story "Portrait" also shows the influence of real art on a person. The hero spends his last money on a painting that strikes his imagination. The portrait of the old man does not let go of the new owner, even outside. Such is the power of culture over human consciousness.
- (43 words) In Gogol's story "Nevsky Prospekt" Piskarev is influenced by his vocation - painting. That is why all life for him is painted in colors unknown to ordinary people: in a public woman, for example, he sees a muse and a wife, does not hesitate to help her. This is how true art ennobles the individual.
- (41 words) Real art always makes a person more sublime and noble. In Ostrovsky's play The Forest, the actor who knows Schiller by heart also has the notion of honor embedded in literature. He gives all his money as a dowry to an unknown girl Aksyusha, demanding nothing in return.
- (46 words) In Dostoevsky's novel Poor Folk, real art helps Varya not to lose her virtue, despite all life's hardships. The student taught her to read Gogol and Pushkin, and the girl became stronger in character and stronger in spirit. At the same time, kindness, sensitivity and a special inner beauty developed in her.
- (50 words) Real art is always dedicated to people, it is “created” from a big heart. In the story "The Freak" the hero only paints the stroller, but he does it not only beautifully, but also with love. They did not understand his gesture, but this situation reminded us, the readers, of the fate of all the persecuted creators who embodied their goodness in works of art.
- (38 words) Pushkin's poem "The Prophet" clearly expresses the calling of true art - to burn people's hearts. The poet does it with a verb, the artist with his brush, the musician with his instrument, and so on. That is, their works always excite and stun us, forcing us to think about eternal questions.
- (39 words) Lermontov's poem "Prophet" raises the theme of non-recognition of the creators. The author writes how people began to despise his "pure teachings". It is obvious that real art is not necessarily proclaimed as such, on the contrary, it sometimes overtakes its time and becomes misunderstood among conservative people.
- (49 words) The theme of real art was close to Lermontov. His poem "When Raphael is inspired" describes the process of creating art, when "heavenly fire" burns in the sculptor, and the poet listens to the "enchanting sounds of the lyre." This means that culture does not even come from people, but from something sacred and mysterious, which is beyond our understanding.
- (30 words) In Chekhov's story "Student", the hero tells ordinary women a biblical story. Even in the form of a retelling, real art evokes conflicting feelings and sincere feelings in people: Vasilisa cries, and Lukerya is embarrassed.
- (58 words) In Mayakovsky's poem "To the Other Side", the theme of art is central. The author says that it serves people, inspires them to change, that poets “throw themselves under their feet”, go to the front line for the people. And even when “the holiday will be behind the pain of battle”, people will also need art to cheer them up and make them happy. Thus, it is indispensable and very important to us.
- (40 words) I realized the impact of real art when I got into playing the guitar. I began to listen carefully to the music, looking for chords, riffs and interesting tricks. When I listened to the playing of meters, I got a real pleasure, comparable only to the euphoria at a concert.
- (46 words) My sister became my guide to the world of art. She showed me old engravings and frescoes in large and beautiful books, and once even took me to the museum with her. There I experienced such an uplifting spirit, such a keen curiosity about life, that I will never be the same again.
- (50 words) True art has drawn me to itself since childhood. The craving for him led me to the bookshelves, where I found the book "Richard the Lionheart." I remember that it flew by in one breath, I read even at night, and in the rare hours of sleep I imagined tournaments and balls. Thus, culture enriches human life.
- (38 words) I remember how art inspired my grandmother. She did not miss a single theatrical performance and always returned in such joyful excitement that she twittered to the whole house, and I did not feel her age: she seemed young and blooming to me.
- (45 words) True art is most clearly manifested on the stage. When I first went to the theater, I watched Woe from Wit with delight and rapture. I tried to remember every word, every gesture, as if a miracle was being played out before me, and I, the chronicler, must pass on its splendor to posterity.
- (45 words) I didn't have much interest in art until I discovered music festivals. There, the sound is different, and the atmosphere, in a word, is not like in ordinary studio recordings. I was paralyzed by such lively, sincere, strong music and made me realize myself, love and feel my essence.
- (56 words) Art makes people more cultured. My mother worked in a museum and was a very polite woman. She really loved and understood her exhibits, which she looked at, and this elevated feeling made her better. Not once did she even yell at me, but her quiet, weighty word was like thunder for me, because I was not afraid, but respected her.
- (48 words) Art has played a decisive role in my life. I had a dark period in my life, I didn’t want anything, when suddenly my great-grandmother’s old oil paintings caught my eye. They crumbled in order, I decided to try to revive them. Then I found a calling - painting. With my talent, I continued the family tradition.
- (34 words) Real art makes a person better. My brother, for example, was withdrawn, it was difficult to get along with people, but as soon as he developed a passion for painting, he became a very interesting conversationalist, and society itself reached out to him.
- (41 words) Art is the source of culture. I noticed that people who are interested in art are much more polite and tactful than those who do not notice it. For example, I'm mostly friends with guys from a music or art school, as they are versatile and pleasant to talk to. Interesting? Save it on your wall!
Real life examples
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
Everything that mankind has achieved over the centuries in science, technology and culture has been achieved thanks to the imagination. Neither Tsiolkovsky, nor Yuri Gagarin, nor the first American cosmonauts on the moon would have been possible without the first dreamer who imagined himself flying like a bird. His jump from the bell tower with makeshift wings on his hands foreshadowed the space age of mankind. Russian Icarus was not alone. It is known that on his sketch of the first aircraft, Leonardo da Vinci wrote the prophetic words: “Man will grow wings for himself.” The renaissance artist's flying machine could indeed fly several feet, but the church labeled it "devil's instrument."
Thus, the collective imagination contributes to the rapid development of progress. I would especially like to note the importance of the imagination of creative individuals. Science fiction writers from all over the world have created an amazing country that is not on the geographical map, but it is marked in the soul of every person who knows how to dream. This is a FANTASTIC country. She lives by her own laws and regulations. All wishes come true and all dreams come true. But the land of Fantasy is not so surreal. Recall Jules Verne: submarines migrated from the area subordinate to him to the real world, and our scientists argue that the flying spacecraft drawn by the writer is very similar to the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft. The collective world imagination also feeds the work of such remarkable science fiction writers as Ivan Efremov, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
We have published a whole “Library of Modern Fiction”. Even a cursory acquaintance with it will make the reader convinced of the desire of the authors to continue the tradition of scientific foresight. But even if there are no specific scientific discoveries in the works of modern science fiction writers, they still work for the progress of mankind. For example, the work of the Strugatskys “The Beetle in the Anthill” poses moral problems that, as it were, prepare humanity for psychological balance among ultra-modern devices on earth and in space. I believe that the problem is not only to form in thoughts what has not yet been in the physical world, but also in how a person will use this miracle of technology. Mistakes of this kind led to atomic explosions in Japan. Humanity still lives in fear of nuclear and other ultra-modern weapons of mass destruction.
The work of science fiction writers is a spontaneous protest against social relations that disfigure and cripple the human soul. It is for this reason that the greatest achievements of science and technology today are perceived by many people as an insurmountable evil, as a means of further enslavement of mankind. Writers create works in which fantasy is only a background against which the tragedy of insoluble contradictions between a human and a cybernetic robot is played out.
For example, in the story “The Search” by Australian science fiction writer Lee Harding, a certain Johnston is looking for a corner of real nature outside the gigantic cities that cover the entire planet with armor made of metal and plastic. After a long search, he manages to find a beautiful park. Birds, grass, the scent of flowers delight him. There even the watchman lives in a wooden house. The hero is going to stay there forever, but the watchman dissuades him: “You must remember, Mr. Johnston, that you are part of the equation. A monstrous equation that helps municipal cybers keep the global process running smoothly.” Ignoring the warning, Johnston stays in the park, picks a rose from a bush and is horrified to be convinced that the flower is synthetic. Everything in the park is artificial, and even the watchman turns out to be a robot. Desperate, the hero opens his veins, experiencing the last joy that at least his blood is real. But all the blood flows out, but the hero does not die. And only the patrol robot kills him with an ion beam.
I would like to hope that someday it will be impossible to use creative imagination against a person, but only to solve world problems. The American writer Robert Anthony said it well: “We should never think of a situation as hopeless or insoluble. The belief that we are on the path to self-destruction is simply a delusion.” I completely agree with the American writer. Our creative imagination is the key to our future.
Essay on literature on the topic: Imagination is the engine of progress and the salvation of mankind (essay)
Other writings:
- Imagination is a gift that nature has given to man. With it, he can dream, fantasize, dream. But, more importantly, imagination helps a person transform the world - after all, he is able to translate his fantasies into reality and, thereby, improve the life around him. So Read More ......
- The Bible was repeatedly burned and exalted, rewritten and canonized, interpreted and reinterpreted. Is it worth talking about it again, is it possible to approach its interpretation in a modern way? After all, the Bible, some parts of which were created more than three thousand years ago, is written very Read More ......
- Reality exists for people who have no imagination Artemy Lebedev In our time, society in various parts of the world has plunged into a new vast information environment - the Internet. Until now, many people believe that the Internet is still a kind of laboratory, Read More ......
- In the 19th-20th centuries, scientific and technological progress acquired great importance in the life of mankind, but at the same time people began to notice its negative impact. This impact affected both the state of the environment and the inner world of man. Nowadays, mechanized, inanimate Read More ......
- The future of humanity is in space! K. Tsiolkovsky This year the whole world celebrates a significant date - 50 years since the first manned flight into space. On April 12, 1961, a new milestone began in the life of planet Earth - it became clear that Read More ......
- Truth and lie…. Two opposite poles connected by a non-breaking thread. What is more necessary for a person? It is strange to ask such a question. Indeed, since childhood, we are taught the concept of truth as a positive quality, and of lies as a negative one. Under normal circumstances, Read More ......
- The tragic events of the revolution and the fratricidal Civil War were reflected in Russian literature from different points of view. Proletarian writers portrayed this era as the struggle of the people for their happiness, writers who did not share Bolshevik views viewed it as a national tragedy. The same author's position Read More ......
- No, I don't value rebellious pleasure, sensual rapture, madness, frenzy... A. Pushkin Love has always been the main driving energy force of mankind on the way to the harmony of life. Many works of art dedicated to love have been created. This seemingly very intimate feeling influenced Read More ......
"Imagination"
Completed: student of 9 "B" class
Plyshevskaya Svetlana
Teacher: Likhach Galina Vladimirovna
Gymnasium №12
Minsk, 2002
Introduction: The Importance of Imagination 3
1. Definition of Imagination 6
2. Imagination functions 9
3. Types of imagination 11
4. "Technique" of imagination 14
5. Imagination in creativity 16
6. Imagination and talent 18
7. The role of imagination in science and nature 22 Conclusion 24
References 25
Introduction: The Importance of Imagination
Imagination is a special form of the human psyche, standing apart from other mental processes and at the same time occupying an intermediate position between perception, thinking and memory.
The specificity of this form of mental process lies in the fact that imagination is probably characteristic only of a person and is strangely connected with the activity of the organism, being at the same time the most "mental" of all mental processes and states. The latter means that the ideal and mysterious nature of the psyche is not manifested in anything other than imagination. It can be assumed that it was the imagination, the desire to understand and explain it, that drew attention to psychic phenomena in antiquity, supported and continues to stimulate it today.
However, the phenomenon of imagination remains mysterious even today. Humanity still knows almost nothing about the mechanism of imagination, including its anatomical and physiological basis. Questions about where in the human brain the imagination is localized, with the work of which nervous structures known to us it is connected, have not yet been solved today. At least, we can say much less about this than, for example, about sensations, perception, attention and memory, which have been studied to a sufficient extent.
Imagination is a special form of reflection, which consists in creating new images and ideas by processing existing ideas and concepts. The development of the imagination goes along the lines of improving the operations of substituting real objects with imaginary ones and recreating imagination. The child gradually begins to create on the basis of the available descriptions, texts, fairy tales more and more complex images and their systems. The content of these images is developed and enriched. Creative imagination develops when the child not only understands some methods of expressiveness (hyperbole, metaphor), but also uses them independently. Imagination becomes mediated and deliberate.
Imagination is the most important part of our life. Imagine for a moment that a person would not have a fantasy. We would lose almost all scientific discoveries and works of art. Children would not hear fairy tales and would not be able to play many games. And how could they learn the school curriculum without imagination? It's easier to say: deprive a person of fantasy, and progress will stop! So imagination, fantasy are the highest and most necessary human ability. However, it is this ability that needs special care in terms of development. And it develops especially intensively at the age of 5 to 15 years. Scientists call this period sensitive, that is, the most favorable for the development of imaginative thinking and imagination.
And if during this period the imagination is not specifically developed, subsequently a rapid decrease in the activity of this function occurs. For example, one student asked the famous writer Gianni Rodari: “What do you need to do and how to work to become a storyteller?”, “Teach mathematics properly,” he heard in response.
Along with a decrease in the ability to fantasize, a person's personality is depleted, the possibilities of creative thinking are reduced, and interest in art and science is extinguished.
Thanks to the imagination, a person creates, intelligently plans his activities and manages them. Almost all human material and spiritual culture is a product of people's imagination and creativity.
Imagination takes a person beyond the limits of his momentary existence, reminds him of the past, opens the future. Along with a decrease in the ability to fantasize, a person's personality is depleted, the possibilities of creative thinking are reduced, and interest in art and science is extinguished.
Imagination is the highest mental function and reflects reality. However, with the help of the imagination, a mental departure is carried out beyond the limits of the immediately perceived. Its main task is to present the expected result before its implementation. With the help of imagination, we form an image of an object, situation, conditions that has never existed or does not exist at the moment.
Taking into account the importance of imagination in a person's life, how it affects his mental processes and states, and even on the body, we will specifically highlight and consider the problem of imagination.
Imagination is a special form of the psyche, which can only be in a person. It is continuously connected with the human ability to change the world, transform reality and create something new. M. Gorky was right when he said that “it is fiction that raises a person above an animal,” because only a person who, being a social being, transforms the world, develops a true imagination.
With a rich imagination, a person can live in different times, which no other living being in the world can afford. The past is fixed in memory images, and the future is presented in dreams and fantasies.
Any imagination generates something new, changes, transforms what is given by perception. These changes and transformations can be expressed in what a person, based on knowledge and experience, imagines, i.e. will create for himself a picture of what he himself has never actually seen. For example, a message about a flight into space encourages our imagination to draw pictures of a fantastic life in its unusualness in weightlessness, surrounded by stars and planets.
Imagination can, anticipating the future, create an image, a picture of what did not exist at all. So the astronauts could imagine in their imagination the flight into space and landing on the moon when it was just a dream, not yet realized and it is not known whether it is feasible.
The imagination can finally make such a departure from reality that creates a fantastic picture that clearly deviates from reality. But even in this case, it reflects this reality to some extent. And imagination is all the more fruitful and valuable, the more it transforms reality and deviates from it, yet takes into account its essential aspects and most significant features.
To study the cognitive role of imagination, it is necessary to find out its features and reveal its real nature. In the scientific literature, there are many approaches to the definition of imagination. Let us turn to some of them and define the main features of the imagination.
S. L. Rubinshtein writes: “Imagination is a departure from past experience, it is a transformation of the given and the generation of new images on this basis.”
L.S. Vygotsky believes that “the imagination does not repeat the impressions that have been accumulated before, but builds some new rows from the previously accumulated impressions. Thus, bringing something new into our impressions and changing these impressions so that as a result a new, previously non-existent image arises, forms the basis of the activity that we call imagination.
According to E.I. Ignatiev, “the main feature of the imagination process is the transformation and processing of data and materials of past experience, resulting in a new idea.”
And the "Philosophical Dictionary" defines imagination as "the ability to create new sensual or mental images in the human mind based on the transformation of impressions received from reality."
As can be seen from the definitions, the ability of the subject to create new images is considered an essential feature of the imagination. But this is not enough, because then it is impossible to distinguish between imagination and thinking. After all, human thinking (the creation of cognitive images through conclusions, generalizations, analysis, synthesis) cannot simply be identified with imagination, because the creation of new knowledge and concepts can occur without the participation of imagination.
Many researchers note that imagination is the process of creating new images, proceeding in a visual plan. This tendency relates the imagination to the forms of sensual reflection, while the other one believes that the imagination creates not only new sensual images, but also produces new thoughts.
One of the characteristics of the imagination is that it is associated not only with thinking, but also with sensory data. There is no imagination without thinking, but it is not reduced to logic either, since it always assumes the transformation of sensory material.
Thus, it is obvious that the imagination is both the creation of new images and the transformation of past experience, and that such a transformation takes place with the organic unity of the sensible and the rational.
2. Imagination functions
People dream so much because their mind cannot be "unemployed". It continues to function even when new information does not enter the human brain, when it does not solve any problems. It is at this time that the imagination begins to work, which a person cannot stop at will.
In human life, imagination performs a number of specific functions.
The first of these is to represent reality in images and be able to use them when solving problems. This function of imagination is connected with thinking and is organically included in it.
The second function of the imagination is to regulate emotional states. With the help of his imagination, a person is able to at least partially satisfy many needs, to relieve the tension generated by them. This vital function is especially emphasized and developed in psychoanalysis.
The third function of the imagination is associated with its participation in the arbitrary regulation of cognitive processes and human states, in particular, perception, attention, memory, speech, and emotions. With the help of skillfully evoked images, a person can pay attention to the necessary events. Through images, he gets the opportunity to control perception, memories, statements.
The fourth function of the imagination is to form an internal plan of action - the ability to perform them in the mind, manipulating images.
Finally, the fifth function is planning and programming activities, drawing up such programs, assessing their correctness, and the implementation process.
With the help of imagination, we can control many psycho-physiological states of the body, tune it to the upcoming activity. There are also known facts indicating that with the help of imagination, by a purely volitional way, a person can influence organic processes: change the rhythm of breathing, pulse rate, blood pressure, body temperature (Indian yoga).
3. Types of imagination
Consider now the various forms and types of human imagination.
The relation of a person to the process of imagination directly determines the existence of different levels of imagination. At the lower levels, the change of images occurs involuntarily, at the higher levels, the conscious person plays an increasingly important role in the formation of images.
In its lowest and most primitive forms, imagination manifests itself in the involuntary transformation of images, which takes place under the influence of little conscious needs, drives and tendencies, regardless of any conscious intervention of the subject. The images of the imagination seem to spontaneously emerge before the imagination, in addition to the will and desire of a person, and are not formed by him. In its purest form, this form of imagination is only in very rare cases at the lower levels of consciousness and in dreams. It is also called passive imagination.
In the highest forms of imagination, in creativity, images are consciously formed and transformed in accordance with goals. Using them, a person, at his own request, by an effort of will, causes in himself the corresponding images of a person's creative activity. This form of imagination is called active.
There is also a distinction between the reproducing, or reproductive, and the transforming, or productive imagination.
The task of reproductive imagination is to reproduce reality as it is, and although there is also an element of fantasy, such imagination is more like perception or memory than creativity. Thus, a direction in art called naturalism, as well as partly realism, can be correlated with reproductive imagination. It is well known that according to the paintings of I.I. Shishkin, biologists can study the flora of the Russian forest, since all the plants on his canvases are drawn with documentary accuracy.
Productive imagination is distinguished by the fact that in it reality is consciously constructed by a person, and not just mechanically copied or recreated, although at the same time it is still creatively transformed in the image. For example, the basis of the creativity of a number of masters of art, whose flight of creative imagination is no longer satisfied with realistic means, is also reality. But this reality is passed through the productive imagination of the creators, they construct it in a new way, using light, color, vibration of the air (impressionism), resorting to a dotted image of objects (pointillism), decomposing the world into geometric shapes (cubism) and so on. Even the works of such an art direction as abstractionism were created with the help of a productive imagination. We encounter productive imagination in art when the world of the artist is phantasmagoria, irrationalism. The result of this imagination is M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita", a fantasy of the Strugatsky brothers.
Imagination, as you know, is closely related to creativity (this will be discussed in more detail below). And oddly enough, this dependence is inverse, i.e. it is the imagination that is formed in the process of creative activity, and not vice versa. The specialization of different types of imagination is the result of the development of different types of creative activity. Therefore, there are as many specific types of imagination as there are types of human activity - constructive, technical, scientific, artistic, musical, and so on. But, of course, all these types constitute a kind of higher level - creative imagination.
In all these cases, imagination plays a positive role, but there are other types of imagination. These include dreams, hallucinations, daydreams and daydreams.
Dreams can be classified as passive and involuntary forms of imagination. Their true role in human life has not yet been established, although it is known that in a person’s dreams many vital needs are expressed and satisfied, which, for a number of reasons, cannot be realized in life.
Hallucinations are called fantastic visions, which apparently have almost no connection with the reality surrounding a person. Usually they, being the result of certain disorders of the psyche or the work of the body, accompany many painful conditions.
Dreams, unlike hallucinations, are a completely normal mental state, which is a fantasy associated with desire.
A dream is a form of special internal activity, which consists in creating an image of what a person would like to realize. A dream differs from a dream in that it is somewhat more realistic and more connected with reality, i.e. in principle feasible. Dreams occupy a fairly large part of a person's time, especially in youth, and for most people are pleasant thoughts about the future, although some have disturbing visions that give rise to feelings of anxiety and aggressiveness. The process of imagination is rarely immediately realized in the practical actions of a person, so a dream is an important condition for the implementation of a person's creative powers. The necessity of a dream lies in the fact that, being initially a simple reaction to a highly exciting situation, it then often becomes an internal need of the individual. The dream is very important even in primary school age. The younger the dreaming child, the more often his daydreaming does not so much express its direction as it creates it. This is the formative function of the dream.
4. "Technique" of the imagination
The transformation of reality with the help of imagination does not occur arbitrarily, it has its own regular ways, which are expressed in various ways or methods of transformation that are used by a person unconsciously. Psychology identifies several such techniques.
The first such method is agglutination, i.e. a combination or combination of different parts that are incompatible in everyday life in new unusual combinations. Combination is not a random set, but a selection of certain features, produced consciously, in accordance with a certain idea and design of the composition. It is widely used in art, science, technical invention, and especially in the monuments of ancient Egyptian art and in the art of the American Indians. An example is the classic characters of fairy tales man-beast or man-bird, allegorical figures of Leonardo da Vinci.
Another technique is to accentuate certain aspects of the displayed phenomenon. Emphasis is the underlining of features. It is often achieved by changing the proportions in different directions. Caricature uses this technique: it reproduces the features of the original, exaggerating one or another of its features. At the same time, in order to be significant, accentuation must highlight the characteristic, essential. Emphasis actively uses the change of objects by increasing or decreasing them (hyperbolization and litotes), which is widely used in a fantastic depiction of reality. The following fairy-tale characters can serve as an example: the unprecedentedly strong Svyatogor, the tiny Thumb Boy, or the gigantic Gulliver. On the one hand, the appearance of the giant, his grandiose size can make the inner strength and significance of the characters more obvious, and on the other hand, the fantastically small size can emphasize the great inner dignity of the character by contrast.
The third well-known way of creating images of the imagination is schematization. In this case, individual representations merge, and differences are smoothed out. The main similarities are clearly worked out. An example is any schematic drawing.
And the last way can be called typing, i.e. specific summary. It is characterized by highlighting the essential, repeating in some respects homogeneous facts and embodying them in a specific image. In this technique, some features are completely omitted, while others are simplified, freed from details and complications. As a result, the entire image is transformed. For example, there are professional images of a worker, a doctor, an artist, and so on.
Thus, in the imagination, naturally, there is a tendency to allegory, allegory, the use of images in a figurative sense. All means of literary creativity (metaphor, hyperbole, epithet, tropes and figures) show the manifestation of the transforming power of the imagination. And all the main forms of creative transformation of the world that art uses, in the final analysis, reflect those transformations that the imagination uses.
5. Imagination in creativity
Imagination plays an important role in every creative process, and its importance is especially great in artistic creation. The essence of artistic imagination lies, first of all, in being able to create new images that can be the bearer of ideological content. The special power of artistic imagination is to create a new situation not by violating, but by maintaining the basic requirements of vitality.
The idea that the more bizarre and outlandish a work is, the more imagination its author has is fundamentally erroneous. The imagination of Leo Tolstoy is no weaker than that of Edgar Allan Poe. It's just different. After all, the more realistic the work, the more powerful the imagination must be in order to make the described picture visual and figurative. After all, as you know, a powerful creative imagination is recognized not so much by what a person can invent, invent, but by how he knows how to transform reality in accordance with the requirements of artistic design. But the observance of vitality and reality does not, of course, mean a photographically accurate copying of what is perceived, because a real artist has not only the necessary technique, but also a special view of things, different from the view of an uncreative person. Therefore, the main task of a work of art is to show others what the artist sees, so that others can see it. Even in a portrait, the artist does not photograph the depicted person, but transforms what he perceives. The product of such an imagination often gives a deeper and truer picture than even photography can.
Imagination in artistic creativity allows, of course, a significant departure from reality, a significant deviation from it. Artistic creativity is expressed not only in a portrait, it includes sculpture, a fairy tale, and a fantastic story. Both in a fairy tale and in fantasy, deviations can be very large, but in any case they must be motivated by the intention, the idea of the work. And the more significant these deviations from reality, the more motivated they must be, otherwise they will not be understood and appreciated. Creative imagination uses this kind of fantasy, a deviation about some features of reality, in order to give imagery and clarity to the real world, the main idea or plan.
Some experiences, feelings of people in everyday life may be invisible to the layman's eye, while the artist's imagination, deviating from reality, transforms it, illuminating it brighter and more convexly showing some part of this reality that is especially important for him. To move away from reality in order to penetrate deeper into it and better understand it - such is the logic of creative imagination.
No less necessary is imagination in scientific creativity. In science, it is formed no less than in creativity, but only in other forms.
Even the English chemist Priestley, who discovered oxygen, declared that all great discoveries can only be made by scientists who give “full scope to their imagination.” Lenin also highly appreciated the role of fantasy in science, believing that “not only a poet needs it. mathematics needs it, because fantasy is the quality of the greatest value.” The specific role of imagination in scientific creativity is that it transforms the figurative content of the problem and thereby contributes to its resolution.
The role of imagination is shown very clearly in an experimental study. The experimenter, thinking about the experiment, must, using his knowledge and hypotheses, the achievements of science and technology, imagine a situation that would satisfy all the required conditions. In other words, he must imagine conducting such an experiment and understand its purpose and consequences. One of the scientists who always "performed an experiment" with his imagination before real experience was the physicist E. Rutherford.
6. Imagination and talent
As already known, imagination is always the creation of something new as a result of the processing of past experience. No creative activity is possible without imagination, therefore creativity is a complex mental process associated with the character, interests, abilities of the individual.
Sometimes it is difficult for older people to imagine something unusual and start fantasizing, but this does not mean that they have lost the ability to imagine. Every person has an imagination, just getting older, a person trains it less and less. And to train the imagination, as psychologists advise, it is necessary from childhood.
Creative activity develops children's senses. When creating, the child experiences a whole range of positive emotions, both from the process of activity and from the result obtained.
Creativity contributes to the optimal and intensive development of such mental functions as memory, thinking, perception, attention. And they are the ones who determine the success of a child's studies.
Creative activity develops the child's personality, helps him to assimilate moral and ethical norms - to distinguish between good and evil, compassion and hatred, courage and cowardice. Creating works of creativity, the child reflects in them his understanding of life and the world, his positive and negative qualities, comprehends and evaluates them in a new way.
Creativity also develops aesthetic feelings in a child. Through this activity, the child's susceptibility to the world, the appreciation of the beautiful, is formed.
All children, especially older preschoolers and elementary and middle schoolers, love to make art. They enthusiastically sing and dance, sculpt and draw, compose music and fairy tales, perform on stage, participate in competitions, exhibitions and quizzes, etc. Because creativity makes a child's life richer, fuller, happier and more interesting.
Children are able to engage in creativity not only regardless of place and time, but, most importantly, regardless of personal complexes. An adult, often critically evaluating his creative abilities, is embarrassed to show them. Children, unlike adults, are able to sincerely express themselves in artistic activity, not paying attention to shyness.
Creative activity is of particular importance for gifted and talented children. Giftedness is a set of abilities that allow one to have special achievements in a particular field of art, science, professional or other activity. Not many children are distinguished by pronounced talent and giftedness. For a gifted child, imagination is the main characteristic quality; he needs constant activity of fantasy. Unusual approaches to solving problems, original associations - all this is characteristic of a talented child and is the result of imagination.
Giftedness and talent are closely related to advanced development. Talented children are distinguished by higher results compared to their peers, and they achieve these results much more easily. These children are more sensitive to the world around them, and in specific periods they are also characterized by a particularly high sensitivity. Psychologists call such periods “sensitive”. During these periods, a specific function (for example, speech or logical memory) is most susceptible to stimuli from the outside world, is easy to train and develops intensively, and children show special achievements in various activities. And if an ordinary child can experience a “sensitive” period for one function, then a talented child demonstrates the “sensitivity” of many functions at once.
With the help of creativity and imagination, naturally, the child forms his personality. And there is a special area of a child's life that provides specific opportunities for personal development - this is a game. The main mental function that provides the game is imagination. Imagining game situations and realizing them, the child forms a number of personal properties, such as justice, courage, honesty, a sense of humor, and others. Through the work of the imagination, there is a compensation for the still insufficient real possibilities of the child to overcome life's difficulties and conflicts.
Being engaged in creativity (for which imagination is also a priority), the child forms in himself such a quality as spirituality. With spirituality, imagination is included in all cognitive activity, accompanied by especially positive emotions. The rich work of the imagination is often associated with the development of such an important personality trait as optimism.
Of particular interest to scientists are the imaginary companions that many children construct - fictitious relatives, imaginary friends, fairies and elves, animals, dolls and other objects. One study involved 210 children; and it was found that 45 of them had imaginary companions: of this number, 21 were the only child in the family and another 21 had only one relative each. Observers noted that although the 45 children had many opportunities to play with other children, they did not. The imaginary companion is the creation of the child himself, he can in principle endow him with any properties and force the personification to treat him as he wishes. It should be noted that a game involving such companions sometimes reflects the attitudes of the parents, and there is a known case of a girl who had two imaginary companions - one endowed with all the virtues, as she understood them, and the other with all the shortcomings that she found in herself. But it must be noted that psychiatrists regard such fantasizing as symptoms of a mental disorder; from their point of view, such personifications are created to compensate for the lack of warmth and cordiality in real life.
In adolescence, when personal development becomes dominant, such a form of imagination as a dream, an image of the desired future, acquires special significance.
A teenager dreams about what gives him joy, what satisfies his deepest desires and needs. In dreams, a teenager builds the desired personal program of life, in which its main meaning is often determined. Often dreams are unrealistic, i.e. only the goal is defined, but not the way to achieve it, however, at the stage of adolescence, this is still positive, as it allows the teenager to “sort through” different options for the future in an imaginary plan, choose his own way to solve the problem .
Imagination is significant in personal terms and for an adult. People who have retained a vivid imagination in adulthood are distinguished by their talent, they are often called richly gifted individuals.
With age, most of us lose the ability to fantasize: how difficult it is sometimes to come up with a new fairy tale for a child. To preserve and develop the imagination, there are a number of exercises that are described in detail in special pedagogical literature.
7. The role of imagination in science and nature
In one of the US laboratories for the creation of artificial intelligence, scientists faced a problem: how to teach a machine to see? It would seem that everything is simple: put the camera, connect the microcircuit, and everything is in order! But no.
The task was not just to teach "see", but to make it so that the robot could perceive not only individual objects, but also entire scenes. To do this, he needs to learn a huge amount of information about the subject through the visual organs. For example, its position in relation to other objects in space, the quality of its surface, its dimensions, color characteristics, purpose, etc.
All this for the car is quite a big challenge. For example, in order to see the relative position of bodies in space, one must have stereoscopic vision, but this problem is quite solvable. It is much more important and more difficult to teach the machine to "understand" any situations or scenes. After all, scientists still do not quite understand how this process occurs in humans, what can we say about a car!
Only the goal is clear: you need to create an artificial imagination in the machine, and then, after examining several individual objects, it will be able to imagine the situation as a whole and analyze it. So, it will be possible to create artificial intelligence !!!
However, if imagination is inherent in man, its rudiments may also be present in some highly organized animals (dolphins, higher anthropoids). How does modern science answer this question?
Without a doubt (this has been proven by a number of experiments), these animal species are capable of displaying quite complex logical-intuitive thinking. This is due to the factor of their group lifestyle. When leading such a way of life, instincts cease to be the dominant guiding factor, giving way to conscious thinking. Let us recall what determined the development of imagination in the distant ancestors of modern man:
Conscious use of tools (starting with the most primitive) and cases of their atypical use
Creative expression of your ideas (rock painting, etc.)
Under laboratory conditions, the expression of these factors was recorded in a number of highly organized animals (higher primates, elephants, dolphins). So, the whole world knows the so-called "painting" of monkeys and dolphins. Similar "paintings" have been repeatedly put up for auction in many countries of the world, including Russia (in the Moscow Dolphinarium). However, is this manifestation of creative thought a conscious expression of their perception of the surrounding world?
On the other hand, it should be remembered that the way of life of the ancient anthropoids, the ancestors of the modern species Homo Sapiens, in many respects resembled the way of life of modern great apes. Therefore, the latter may have the rudiments of imagination?
Modern science cannot yet give a clear answer to this question, since there is no evidence base for the assertion that the manifestation of creative inclinations in highly organized mammals is a reflection of their vision of the picture of the world - after all, shapeless spots on a sheet of paper in the imagination of research scientists can be interpreted in any way.
Conclusion
The importance of imagination in human life and activity is very great. Imagination arose and developed in the process of labor, and its main significance is that without it any human labor would be impossible, because. it is impossible to work without imagining the final and intermediate results. Without imagination, progress in science, art, and technology would not be possible. Not a single school subject can be fully assimilated without the activity of the imagination. If there was no imagination, it would be impossible to make a decision and find a way out in a problem situation when we do not have the necessary completeness of knowledge.
Philosophers at the end of the 19th century proposed the phrase “imagining man” as one of the specific characteristics of modern man, along with “reasonable man”.
And in general, without imagination there would be no dream, but how boring life would be if people could not dream!!!
List of used literature
1. Vygotsky L.S. "Development of higher mental functions". - Publishing house "Enlightenment", Moscow, 1950
2. Korshunova L.S. Imagination and its role in cognition. - Moscow, 1979
3. Krushinsky L.V. "Do animals have intelligence?" .- "Young naturalist" No. 11, st. 12-15, Moscow, 1980.
4. Rubinstein S.L. "Fundamentals of General Psychology". - Publishing house "Piter", Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk, 1999
5. Subbotina L.Yu. "Development of imagination in children" - Yaroslavl: Academy of Development, 1996.
6. Philosophical Dictionary, edited by M.M. Rosenthal, P.F. Yudina - Political Literature Publishing House, Moscow, 1968
7. Shibutani T. "Social psychology" - Publishing house "Progress", Moscow, 1969
