In history comparative research papers A separate, huge layer is devoted to the study of differences in the psyche of man and animals.
The tendency of research work is such that with each new unit of study it turns out that there is more and more in common between man and animals.
Who first called man "public animal"?
Who defined man as a "social animal"?
Still in the writings Aristotle, an ancient philosopher, whose works are still re-read by people of different nations, ages, levels of education.
The ancient Greek thinker in his monograph “Politics” wrote that “man is a public (in a different translation version - political) animal”.
But the popularity of this saying has gained through many centuries. In 1721 the Persian Letters were published. Charles Montesquieu, in the 87th letter the French master of the word successfully and to the place quoted Aristotle.
Sometimes people use the expression "public animal" in the form of an ancient Greek combination of words roon politikon.
And the meaning of these words is that a person is only able to be a person as a person, in a medium of his own kind. Outside of society, he acquires the features of an animal.
And this underlying thought many anthropological studies.
Instincts in humans
Simply put, in humans, the brain is divided into two functional parts.
One is responsible for thinking, and this is about 90%: in order for it to work, you need a lot of energy, and all the actions of this part of the brain take a relatively long time.
The remaining 10% of the brain takes reptile brain (conditional name). It is he who is responsible for the base desires of a person, for instincts.
The reptile brain works faster, but is primitive in its structure, is responsible, for the most part, for the simplest instincts and simply for survival.
Reptilist-instinctive thinking, as it is easy to guess, requires less energy. This part of the brain is constantly trying to drown out the conscious part, responsible for the logic and harmony of behavior.
Consider some animal instincts, remaining in a person, you can by simple examples:
- desire for self-preservation. The animal has such an instinct, and it is pronounced. The man also has it - he begins to heal when he falls ill, avoids those places and situations that threaten him with death;
- parental instinct. Most animals take care of their offspring, just like humans;
- herd instinct. It is human nature to follow the crowd, not against it;
- food instinct. Both man and animal get food when they feel hunger.
Animal instincts need to obey the mind.
Only evolution towards the development of reason and self-control led to the emergence of altruists, highly moral people, humanists.
Such traits move progress of society, civilization in general.
The origins of the formation of lower forms of behavior and the development of higher mental functions
Psyche - This is a general concept, so called many subjective constants, which is studying the psychological science.
In the course of their evolutionary improvement, living beings received a body that took responsibility for managing important processes.
This organ is the nervous system. It is the optimization of the structure and tasks of the nervous system that has become the basic source of mental development.
The body acquires newest properties and organs in the course of changes that occur in the genotype: adaptation to the environment, survival due to mutations have become more useful in terms of life support.
The development of higher mental functions, any mental education, based on the use of signs, is staged.
At first (i.e. primitive stage) the operation occurs as it has developed at the still primitive stages of behavior.
The second stage is called stage naive psychology, and in the third stage, the person applies the mark in an external way. At the next stage, the external operation goes inside.
Sign systems are one of the most important inventions of mankind. The second signaling system (that is, speech) has become a powerful tool of self-regulation, its own regulation.
Comparative analysis
Man is the animal of the mammal order. But it evolved.: a person has significant differences, despite the similarity of physiology and needs.
So, a person is distinguished from an animal:
- Thinking. This is the main basic difference. The human brain, though not the biggest, is unique. Its developed structure allows a person to perform complex mental functions - he can meditate, apply memory, be aware, explore, create.
- Speech - this is a gift (or a natural acquisition, each interprets in its own way), which distinguishes man from animals. More than three hundred thousand years ago, man acquired the hyoid bone. This is a unique bone that is not articulated with other bones: because a person has an articulate speech. Even our closest relative, the chimpanzee, has a larynx very low, but he still cannot speak.
- The animal can act within only the situation that is perceived clearly. It does not know how to abstract. A person owns sign systems, can take an abstract situation, think in images.
- Man creates and preserves tools. The animal is not capable of such creation.
- A person can transmit public experiencebut the main thing is that he can assign it.
- Only man has a developed ability empathize with another's grief and rejoice over another person.
It is worth noting the constancy of growth needs. Everyone can see that human needs are constantly growing. This is not just a feature, but a significant difference between man and animal.
Animals need protection from the cold, food and all the basic needs that do not change for centuriestheir psyche is not tuned to the development of needs.
But human desire for better living conditions led to great geographical discoveries, to the achievements of Newton and Einstein, to the highest level of medicine, to electricity, the emergence of the Internet, etc.
But the same needs lead to the World Wars.
Of course, many will remember tribeswhich seemed to be conserved in antiquity. They lead the same way of life as their old ancestors, are not going to develop, etc.
Scientists have many opinions about this: if you read the book “Totem and Taboo” by Z. Freud, you can understand some of the patterns of human development and specifically of a person.
Perhaps such tribes are needed to balance the historical process, at least there are such theories.
But the following are curious: some African tribes resemble Potemkin villages. They perfectly create a performance in front of tourists, while they themselves have cell phones, can drive a car, etc.
How is human activity different from animal behavior?
Human activity has a consciousness, i.e. she is goal oriented. A person is clearly aware of the goal, assesses the ways to achieve it, plans, perceives risks.
Differences of human activity:
- Productive nature, focused on creativity and creation. The activity of animals is built on consumerism.
- Human activity is associated with things. spiritual as well as material culture, that are involved in the form of items to meet their own needs. For an animal, human instruments of labor simply do not exist.
- Human activities are inherent transformative nature: it changes him, his needs, conditions of existence. The activity of animals does not change them much, and conditions of life transform insignificantly.
- Human activity is considered historical product, but the activity of animals is considered a consequence of their bioevolution.
- Subject human activity is not given to him initially. But she given by the cultural functionby using surrounding objects. It needs to be shaped, improved.
The activity of animals was given to them initially, it is determined by the genotype, develops according to the physiology of maturation of the organism.
Expression of emotions
In 1872 Charles Darwin wrote the work "The expression of emotions in humans and animals."
And this publication was a revolution in the understanding of the similarities of the mental and biological.
Darwin singled out three principlesexplaining gestures and expressions that are unwittingly used by humans and animals:
- the principle of useful associated habits;
- principle of antithesis;
- principle of action, explained by the structure of the National Assembly, they are initially independent of the will.
The first difference between human emotions and animal emotions is that the emotions of the last depend only on his biological needs. Human emotions are dependent on social and higher needs.
Following difference: a person has a mind, he gives control to emotions, evaluates them, hides, simulates. Another difference - it is human nature to learn, therefore, his emotions change.
It is worth saying in the end that the highest moral feelings are peculiar to man, but there are no such animals in animals.
But there are similarities: both man and animal are capable of experiencing interest, joy, aggression, disgust, fear, etc.
Comparison of man and animal is a deep, fundamental topic.
Pavlov, Ukhtomsky, BekhterevBehavioral scientists continued the work of their predecessors and discovered new laws of psychology and physiology.
But far from all the mysteries of the universe, including the anthropological theories, man has found the key to understanding. That and more interesting further - evolution cannot be stopped.
Types of mental structure, or how a person differs from an animal:
