Psychological nature of creativity of the person

Psychological nature of creativity of the person

Dobrovolska N.A.

At the same time, in some studies, only such things as feeling, perception, memory, thinking and idea are distinguished while disclosing features that characterize the activity of an individual as a reflection of activities [3, p. 22]. We believe that it is not enough, because, firstly, other features with the exception of thinking are typical for animals and secondly, such features as intelligence, thinking and creativity are missing with such a disclosure, as they distinguish a man from an animal and it is not possible to activate the educative process beyond them.

In the other interpretation while disclosing the traits that characterize activity of an individual, such traits that point on the education and abilities for education are absent. For example, in psychological science dictionary edited by V.I. Voitko, personality's activity is meant only as "ability for conscious work, measure of focused, systematic transformation of the environment and oneself ... which is manifested in initiative, efficiency, mental attitude for activities [4, p. 10-11]. Obviously, a necessary feature - "thinking", containing in the characterized features of the previous author, is missing in this interpretation, along with intelligence, wit and creativity.

The aim of the article is to reveal the essence of the concept "activity" and the phenomenon of an individual's activity, to identify the distinguishing features of activity between humans and animals and some of them, characterizing human activity in terms of the manifestation of educative abilities.

Presentation of the basic materials and research results. In modern psychological science there is no generally accepted point of view concerning the interpretation of the concept "activity". Among the existing interpretations, the most intensive is the information given by L.M. Friedman and E.A. Golubev. They characterize activity as both "... the interaction of the subject with the reality that surrounds him or her" and as "... the intensity, duration and frequency of the performed actions or activities of any kind" [7, p. 126, 2, p. 20]. The most concretized definition of the term has been given by S.D. Maksymenko, according to whom "activity" is, firstly, "the general characteristics of a human, dynamics of activities and source of transformation and support of vitally important links with the world of humans and the noosphere", secondly - "independent power of actions, development and a state of a human", and thirdly -"dynamic conditions of formation, implementation and changes of each kind of activity, features of its own motion" [3, p. 417].

However, in the absence of consensus concerning the interpretation of the term, one can find in these and other scientists a common point of view on the perception of activity on the one hand as a special human's feature of the nervous system in life, and an updated human vocation during any activities aimed at changing the world, but not at production or generation of a specific objective product of material or spiritual culture. It is a view that is based on the theories of a famous Russian psychologist S.L. Rubinstein [5, p. 181]. It is the perception of activity that is inherent to the object of study of psychology from a scientific point of view; the study of mental life of any individual with distinction of characteristic forms from the practical ones. In the first case, attention is drawn to the fact that the subject of psychology is the sphere of human's life, including its mental activity [3, p. 16], in the second one - to the fact that mental life in terms of psychology appears in three forms of activity - internal, existing subjectively in every person; human activity in reference to the environment and activity that manifests itself and embodies what is seen and transformed ( image, thought) into the external object or phenomenon [3, p. 22].

Thus, an important aspect of mental life is striving for activity, which manifests itself in the desire to meet needs and interests, beliefs and ideas. At the same time, as has been mentioned above, is not enough to consider only sensation, perception, memory, imagination and thinking as activity features, inherent to humans. Among these five traits only one (the last one) separates human activity from activity of animals. This scientific problem requires its solution based on a more detailed consideration of the traits that are, firstly, unique only for manifestation of human activity, and, secondly, only those features that turn a man (in a broad sense of the term) into an individual.

As in animals, needs that cause responses and actions are the source of human activity. At the same time activity of animals is behavior that is limited by instinctive and conditioned-reflex actions that are aimed at adapting to the conditions of life and satisfaction of biological and physiological needs for food, reproduction and security. A man, however, is active not only to meet these needs but also the needs of higher order based on interaction with the community during work activities. Thus, human activity manifests itself not only in adaption to life but also in achieving the goals in the business, which involves planning and control over actions, prediction of results, focus on improving operations. So, conscious activity of a man is "... a feature of human activity, which manifests itself in a system of actions aimed at achieving goals ..." [3, p. 342].

We can more specifically reveal the essence of the differences of human and animal activity due to the analysis of the results of fundamental research by eminent scientists in the field of psychology (A.V. Petrovsky and V.D. Nyebylitsyn), medical (M.O. Bernstein and V.M. Myasishchev) and biological (N.O. Thykh) sciences. Besides, A. Petrovsky pays special attention to the disclosure of the nature of human activity under influence of the motivational sides of interpersonal relations, in which interactions and relations among people, defined by goals, tasks and values of joint activity are crucial [4, p. 179]. V.D. Nyebylitsyn finds the difference in the determinants of a person's individual features, to which features as thinking, neuro- psychical activity, the ability to plan and predict intelligence - traits that animals do not have, are inherent [4, p. 328-330]. While studying the physiology and biology of activity of living beings, N.A. Brenshteyn gives the characteristic of features of human activity by analyzing reflexes ("reflex arc") associated with changes in the external environment, ability of a man to plan and predict actions, do wise, adequate actions under their influence [4, p. 121-124]. V.M. Myasishchev connects this difference with the ability of a man to choose options for a decision under the influence of rapid reflexes in order to meet one's own needs [4, p. 165-166]. In studies of N.O. Thykh characteristic traits of humans' and animals' activity are proved basing on the analysis of characteristics of communication between apes and humans, resulting from the features of excitement display, focus and ability to perform double acts [4, p. 104106]. If instinct is an animal's impulse for activity, a person, additionally, has motives, beliefs, values, attitudes - those features that help to meet one's own needs and achieve goals of life [3, p. 92-93].

Thus, the main driving force of human activity is a conscious and deliberate attempt to achieve goals in life. We believe such activity characterizes a human consciousness, the level of which depends on the "accumulated knowledge, ideology, ideological and moral beliefs, attitude towards others and oneself" [3, p. 24]. Definition of consciousness as a characteristic feature of a person that determines his or her ability to be active, is based on the results of basic research of a psychologist, famous scientist and philologist A.A. Leontiev, the essence of which is in the following statements [4, p. 9]: consciousness is a necessary feature of the structure of activities (work activities) of a human; the higher level of consciousness is, the more productive activities are and the result is got more quickly. People need to act in accordance with changing conditions and means of labor based on their own experience to obtain such results. Therefore, we can say that the level of consciousness is defined by knowledge and experience of a person; it has a direct impact on the qualitative aspect of work and any other useful activities to meet their own needs.

Thus, defining a qualitative side and usefulness of activities, we deliberately characterize a person as an individual, who can increase one's own activity to meet the needs and achieve life goals based on accumulated knowledge. It is knowledge that is an opportunity for an individual to manifest cognitive, intellectual and creative activity. The development of these types of activities in the educational, employment and any other useful activities is based only on features that are unique for an individual unlike "a man" in the broad sense of the term. Namely these are will and initiative.

Therefore, these kinds of activities that are necessary for a person's education, in the course of which such a personality is brought up, who is able to satisfy one's own needs, getting the benefits of work, and socialize in the community as a worthy member, require more detailed studies.

Firstly, it's cognitive activity, the nature of which, in our opinion, is in the desire of an individual to accumulate knowledge in the process of cognitive activity to get useful results and meet one's needs. If we consider the cognitive activity of an individual in terms of its manifestation in the educative process in higher education institution (hereinafter - HEI), the usefulness of the results can be measured by the level of knowledge, and satisfaction of one's own needs by gained skill level and opportunity to find a sphere of application of one's work, corresponding to this qualification on this basis, and respectively - a decent level of payment of one's work.

Secondly, it is intellectual activity. According to D.B. Bogoyavlenskaya, intellectual activity is "a continuation of unstimulated outside thinking..., purely personal feature, the unity of cognitive and motivational factors..., measured by intellectual initiative, which is perceived as a continuation of mental activity beyond situational instruction that is not caused by either practical needs, or external or subjective assessment of unsatisfactory work" [1, p. 22-35]. I completely agree with this definition. We can note that intellectual activity is a higher form of mental activity of an individual than cognitive. In our opinion, the essence of intellectual activity is the desire of an individual to expand the boundaries of manifestation of their accumulated knowledge and change the environment to familiarize the society with one's own products of intellectual work by one's own intelligence. If we consider the intellectual activity of an individual in terms of its manifestation by a student in the educative process at HEI, the desire of students to participate in competitions of scientific works, contests of professional disciplines, print scientific publications, participate in conferences and, therefore, "bring" their intelligence in the social environment, can be an example.

Thirdly, it is creative activity, which we believe is the highest form of displaying of individual's conscious activity, than cognitive and intellectual ones. Unlike intellectual activity, approval in society is not decisive for creative motive, which we can see from the results of research by D.B. Bogoyavlenska [1, p. 166-167]. Thus, according to this scholar, there are also contradictions between cognitive and creative activity, caused by various motives: cognitive is the result that is evaluated; creative is the process of finding new, creative, going beyond the process of education but at the same time, based on accumulated knowledge. Scientific discoveries in a particular field of knowledge, development of interesting and useful patterns and printing of original research papers that have a certain novelty in the field of science can be manifestations of creative activity of students at HEI.

Thus it can be concluded that psychological nature of an individual's activity in the educative process is not only an effort to learn the course material, get the appropriate training and find a decent sphere for its application - as the main motive of cognitive activity.

Intelligent and creative activities are higher types of manifestation of psychological activity in the educative process. They help to realize intellectual and creative abilities on the basis of accumulated knowledge.

There is a difference between the motives which lead to the manifestation of a particular type of activity of an individual in the educative process, as well as between the motives that encourage an animal, a human and a personality to manifest a certain type of activity. First of all it is determined by needs to active actions.

Based on the content theory of motivation of Abraham Maslow [6, p. 366367], we grouped kinds of activity with distinction of common and distinctive features of its manifestation by an animal, a human and a personality, based on the level of the needs hierarchy.

Thus, a primary need for both animals and humans and for an individual is satisfaction of physiological needs, i.e. an instinct is the primary push for an activity, which is natural for any living creature. Unlike in an animal, in a person (in the course of work activities and socialization) activity is influenced by the desire to meet social needs, that is, to be involved in society, a certain groups; have a feeling that you are perceived as a worthy member of the group; have a sense of social interaction, support and involvement, and the need for respect and recognition on the part of society and colleagues for working results, accomplishment in the process of useful activities. These are secondary needs.

But only an individual, in case of meeting the above-mentioned needs, is characterized by display of cognitive, intellectual and creative activity to meet the needs of the highest category in the hierarchy of A. Maslow - self-expression, which manifests itself in an effort to realize potential and grow as a person.

We believe that only in the educative process one may form individual's ability to exercise these kinds of activities. Thus, determination of socio-psychological factors (motivators and demotivators) as those that affect cognitive, intellectual and creative activity of the individual in the educative process can be prospects for promising for further research in this area.

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