Features of the perception of space, time and movement in psychology

52Types of perception

In human activity and behavior, perception is a necessary condition for orientation in the environment. What and how a person perceives depends on what and how he does. It is in the practical activity of a person that perception becomes an active and purposeful process of cognition of reality.

In his activities, a person uses various types of perception. In addition to the perceptions of space and time, there is also the perception of movement.

This perception is the perception of space-time movement. This assessment of movement directly depends on the perception of time intervals. For example, in industrial work, correct perception of movement is of great importance. A person perceives various aspects of movement, such as shape, direction, speed, scope. The process of perceiving movement always begins with a general, in other words, undifferentiated perception of the action being performed. At this moment, the components of the movement are not yet identified, and each of them is not assessed. In order to correctly and accurately perceive movements, one must first of all decompose a complex action into its constituent elements, and then combine these individual elements into a holistic image of movement.

Perception is divided into unintentional, or involuntary, and intentional, or voluntary. This classification depends on the degree of purposefulness of human activity. Unintentional perception is caused by the characteristics of surrounding objects (for example, their brightness and unusualness), as well as the correspondence of these objects to the interests of the individual. The main distinguishing feature of unintentional perception is that it does not have a predetermined goal.

In unintentional perception there is no volitional activity, which is why it is called involuntary. Intentional perception, on the contrary, is regulated from the very beginning by the task at hand (for example, to perceive a certain object or phenomenon, to become familiar with it). Voluntary attention is usually included in some activity (educational task, work operation), and can also have an independent nature of activity.

It is human nature to perceive complex sounds.

During this process, sounds are received and processed by the auditory analyzer. Complex sounds are very diverse; they can be divided into several groups (in particular, natural sounds and sounds of technical objects, voice sounds and speech sounds, musical sounds).

Space and time in the head

If our perceptions of space and time have similar neural correlates, a serious question arises: are space and time truly distinct in our minds, or are they the product of a generalized neurocognitive system that allows us to understand the world? Although Kant spoke more about space than time, modern cognitive neuroscientists have begun to construct complex theories that address this issue. One of the proposals of Demis Hassabis and Eleanor Maguire implies that the main function of the hippocampus is not understanding the past and future or moving through space as such.
Instead, by collaborating with a common system developed throughout the brain, the hippocampus allows us to construct a view of the world in a spatiotemporal context, allowing us to simulate past experiences to make predictions about the future, and ultimately apply that information directly to the present. However, although this role of spatiotemporal context has attracted the attention of prominent scientists over the past ten years, a discrepancy between the perception of space and time remains. For example, our perception of space remains stable, while time regularly stretches out of necessity—moments pass faster or slower depending on our preference for attention and actions in the world.

Whatever the truth, in the coming years we will undoubtedly learn more about how the mind perceives space and time and how this perception influences our understanding of the world. Now, rats, for example, do not believe in virtual reality (rats definitely know something), but why is virtual reality not space-time?

Psychoanalytic direction

Psychoanalysis

Not a single psychological movement has become as widely known outside of this science as Freudianism.3. Freud called his teaching psychoanalysis - after the method he developed for diagnosing and treating neuroses. The second name is depth psychology - this direction was named after its subject of study, because

concentrated its attention on the study of deep structures of the psyche

Freud brought to the fore vital questions that will never cease to worry people, for example, about the complexity of a person’s inner world, about the mental conflicts he experiences, about the consequences of unsatisfied instincts, about the contradictions between “desired” and “ought.”

Experiments with hypnosis have shown that feelings and aspirations can direct the behavior of the subject, even when they are not conscious of them. Further, Freud abandoned hypnosis as a method of psychotherapy in favor of the method of “free association.” He used “free association” to follow the train of thought of his patients, hidden not only from the doctor, but also from themselves.

Thus, Sigmund Freud came to some conclusions. From a structural point of view, the psyche contains, according to Freud, three formations: “I”, “Super-ego” and “It”. “I” is a secondary, superficial layer of the mental apparatus, usually called consciousness.

The last two systems are localized in the layer of the primary mental process - in the unconscious. “It” is the place of concentration of two groups of drives: a) the drive to life, or eros, which includes sexual drives and the drive to self-preservation of the “I”; b) the drive to death, to destruction - thanatos.

Jung's Analytical Psychology

S. Freud had a decisive influence on the scientific views of C. Jung. Jung, unlike Freud, argued that “not only the lowest, but also the highest in personality can be unconscious.” Disagreeing with Freud, Jung considered libido to be a generalized psychic energy that can take various forms.

No less significant were the differences in the interpretation of dreams and associations. Freud believed that symbols are substitutes for other, repressed objects and drives. In contrast, Jung was sure that only a sign, consciously used by a person, replaces something else, and a symbol is an independent, living, dynamic unit. The symbol does not replace anything, but reflects the psychological state that a person is experiencing at the moment.

Therefore, Jung was against the symbolic interpretation of dreams or associations developed by Freud, believing that it was necessary to follow a person’s symbolism into the depths of his unconscious. In short, there was a lot of disagreement.

Jung expanded on Freud's model of the psyche. Along with the individual unconscious, he postulates the presence of a collective unconscious. In the collective unconscious, all human experience is recorded in the form of archetypes. Archetypes are inherited and are universal for all representatives of the human race.

Jung identified two types of psychological orientation of the individual: introverted (toward the inner world) and extroverted (toward the outer world) and created a doctrine of eight psychological types.

Adler's individual psychology

Alfred Adler became the founder of a new, socio-psychological direction. It was in the development of these new ideas that he diverged from Freud. His theory has very little connection with classical psychoanalysis and represents a holistic system of personality development.

Adler denied the positions of Freud and Jung about the dominance of individual unconscious instincts in a person’s personality and behavior, instincts that contrast a person with society and separate him from it. Not innate instincts, not innate archetypes, but a sense of community with people, stimulating social contacts and orientation toward other people, is the main force that determines human behavior and life, Adler believed.

A. Adler, generally accepting the structural model of the psyche developed by Z. Freud, replaces the extremely abstract driving forces of personality Eros and Thanatos with more concrete ones. He suggested that human life is determined by the struggle between two basic needs: the need for power and superiority and the need for affection and belonging to a social group. The concept of “compensation” became central to Adler’s concept.

String theory

Quantum physics is currently the main scientific support. With its help, we can argue that time is an obsessive illusion that is firmly entrenched in people's minds. According to this scientific statement, each particle, be it an atom, a cell or a living being such as an animal or a person, can simultaneously be in more than 11 spaces. Note that the term space-time continuum is not used here, and all because such a concept simply falls out of string theory. It doesn't fit into any formula. And this is quite understandable. A single particle cannot be in 11 (!!!) places at the same time at the same second. It is reasonable to assume that there is simply no time. It is determined by our subjective perception of space and movement within it.

Imagination

Imagination is the ability of a person’s consciousness to create and manage ideas, ideas and images. It plays a major role in mental processes such as planning, modeling, play, memory and creativity. This is the basis of a person’s visual-figurative thinking, which allows him to solve certain problems and understand the situation without practical intervention. A type of imagination is fantasy.

There is also a classification of imagination:

By degree of direction - active and passive imagination;
According to the results - reproductive and creative imagination;
By type of images – abstract and concrete;
According to the degree of volitional effort - unintentional and intentional;
Techniques: typification, schematization, hyperbolization, agglutination.

Mechanisms of imagination:

Typing;
Accenting;
Schematization;
Agglutination;
Hyperbolization.

Imagination is directly related to creativity. Sensitivity to emerging problems, ease of combining things, and observation skills contribute to finding creative solutions. The characteristics of imagination can be considered accuracy, originality, flexibility and fluency of thinking.

Read more about imagination in psychology in the article “Mental processes: types and brief description.” In addition, the lesson “Development of Creative Imagination” from our course on creative thinking is devoted to the problems of developing imagination.

The problem of time in psychology

The problem of studying the very concept of time in psychology rests on the inconsistency of various concepts and hypotheses. Despite the fact that time perception has been widely studied, there is no consensus not only on the mechanisms regulating this category, but also on the definition of the term itself. They are trying to study this phenomenon under various concepts, the main directions of which boil down to the perception of man as a biological, social and spiritual being. In an attempt to connect all these three levels together with the perception of the three time categories (incident, duration and continuity), studies are carried out that try to cover all the variables.

In any case, there is no final position regarding exactly how the temporary sensation is formed, what is the most significant or at least primary among the influencing factors. In identical situations, both the intensity of activity and emotional experiences may come to the fore. Features of time assessment cannot be reduced only to the listed categories, since at different age stages a person’s ability to compare a time period with his entire past life changes. This means that the data obtained regarding one and the same subject with a difference of six months will differ as much as when comparing different personalities. In order to measure or study a phenomenon, a number of constants are required, while time remains a dynamic category, changing both the subject and the studied in the process of its own study.

Health status, exposure to environmental changes, and even the breakfast you eat can all influence your time perception results. Biological indicators that affect the speed of metabolic processes ultimately affect the ratio of time indicators. The ability to take into account all factors - from genetic and social, to situational and weather factors turns out to be physically impossible. Adding to the uncertainty in the study is the understanding that it is impossible to study the psychological time of one person without taking into account the historical scale and person’s perception of universal time, but how to combine these categories remains an open question.

Movement

When scientists took up the question of the perception of motion, the illusion of time acquired even more fundamental significance, not only in philosophy, but also in science. Even Einstein proved that this concept is very subjective, directly depends on the speed of movement in space and, under some circumstances, can disappear altogether. The simplest example is movement at the speed of light. At this moment, time will cease to exist for an object that is “flying” through space, everything will look static. But an outside observer will regard it as something that moves at an unrealistic speed, while the flow of this process will move forward just as quickly.

The illusion of space-time is, in a way, a captivity into which a person falls of his own free will. We do not notice how the clock slows down as we move along a plane in a certain direction and speeds up when we sit in one place. We can know this, understand and even try to accept it, but alas, we are unable to discard this mirage. This is due to the fact that perception is located precisely within the framework of the human body, otherwise we will simply lose contact with the world that is familiar to us.

Person's perception by person

When people meet for the first time, they, perceiving each other, highlight features of appearance that represent their mental and social qualities

Particular attention is paid to posture, gait, gestures, cultural speech, behavioral patterns, habits, and manners. One of the first and most important is professional characteristics, social status, communication and moral qualities, how angry or warm-hearted a person is, sociable or uncommunicative, and others

Individual facial features are also selectively highlighted.

The characteristics of a person are interpreted by their appearance accordingly in several ways. The emotional way is expressed in the fact that social qualities are attributed to a person, depending on his appearance and aesthetic appeal. If a person is outwardly beautiful, then he is good. Very often people fall for this trick; it is worth remembering that appearances can be deceiving.

The analytical method assumes that each element of appearance is associated with a specific mental property characteristic of this person. For example, frowning eyebrows, compressed lips, and a frowning nose indicate an angry person.

The perceptual-associative method consists of attributing to a person qualities in which he seems similar to another person.

The social-associative method assumes that a person is assigned qualities of a certain social type in relation to his individual external signs. Such a generalized image of a person influences communication with this person. People often identify a person without a fixed place of residence by torn clothes, dirty pants, torn worn-out shoes and try to keep their distance from him.

The perception of a person by a person lends itself to social stereotypes, measures, and standards. The idea of the social status of an individual, the general idea of him, is transferred to other manifestations of this personality, this is the halo effect. The primacy effect suggests that the initial perceived information heard from other people about a person can influence the perception of him when meeting him, will be of predominant importance.

The effect of social distance is generated by significant differences in the social status of people in communication. An extreme manifestation of this effect can be expressed in a disdainful, hateful attitude towards representatives with different social status.

The evaluation and feelings of people during their perception of each other are very multifaceted. They can be divided into: conjunctive, that is, uniting, and disjunctive, that is, separating feelings. Disjunctive ones are generated by what is condemned in that environment. Conjunctive – favorable.

Concept of time

I would like to extend the ideas described in the chapter on space to time. However, this will not work. The fact is that we perceive space in one way, and time in another. And, although from the point of view of physics there is no difference between the spatial dimension and time, our awareness leaves its mark on the models that we build.

We are not aware of time in its entirety, only a part of it that we have chosen for study. In order for the different parts to fit together, we believe in the existence of Absolute Time. This suggests that when we study time, we study some part of Absolute time.

If we perceive space as a set of surfaces, viewed by us from the outside or from the inside, then we do not have a similar experience in the perception of time. In space, you imagine yourself looking at objects from different angles. This will not happen in time. Time is the line you are on and along which you are moving. You cannot “look” at the boundary of a time interval in the same way as you can look at the boundary of space. In space, vision is used for this. We have no vision in time. Moving through time, you are inside the trailer, you cannot look out of it.

What if awareness of space was similar to awareness of time?

Then it would look like this: having chosen a part of the Absolute space as the one under study and the minimum size of the object discernible in this representation, we would divide the entire space under study into small cells. For each cell we would define the values of some attributes. To do this, we would have to visit every cell, because we do not have remote research methods. A set of such cells and their properties would give us a description of the entire space.

What if our concept of time was similar to our concept of space?

Imagine being frozen in time. You cannot move in time, you cannot see what was and what will be. You only have currents that you can feel. These streams pass through time. You can interpret the properties of these flows, find the moments from which they were reflected, and on this basis make assumptions about events occurring in the past or in the future. I will not delve into the description of such a picture of the world, because science fiction writers can do it for me. My job is to show how very different our ideas about time are from our ideas about space.

Feel

Sensations are mental processes that are mental reflections of individual states and properties of the external world, arising from direct influence on the senses, a person’s subjective perception of external and internal stimuli with the participation of the nervous system. In psychology, sensations are usually understood as the process of reflecting various properties of objects in the surrounding world.

Sensations have the following properties:

Modality is a qualitative indicator of sensations (for vision - color, saturation, for hearing - volume, timbre, etc.);
Intensity is a quantitative indicator of sensations;
Duration is a temporary indicator of sensations;
Localization is a spatial indicator.

There are several classifications of sensations. The first of them belongs to Aristotle. They identified five basic senses: touch, hearing, sight, taste and smell. But in the 19th century, due to the increase in the types of sensations, the need for a more serious classification arose. Today there are the following classifications:

Wundt's classification - depending on the mechanical, chemical and physical properties of stimuli;
Sherrington classification - based on the location of receptors: exteroceptive, interoceptive and proprioceptive sensations;
Head's classification - based on origin: protopathic and epicritic sensitivity.

Read more about sensations in the article “Sensation and Perception.”

Concept

Spatial perception, the cognitive mental process by which humans and other organisms become aware of the relative positions of their own bodies and objects around them.

Knowledge of the external environment helps to think in two and three dimensions, which allows you to visualize objects from different angles and recognize them regardless of the perspective from which they are seen. Perception consists of:

from the perception of the shape, size, volume of objects, called extended properties,
from the perception of position, place among other objects and their distance from the observer.

Many perceptual psychologists believe that the study of spatial perception is rapidly becoming an independent field of psychology.

This special field in psychology focuses on factors that contribute to the assessment of the organization of objects in the environment (cues to the perception of depth, movement, shape, color and their interaction).

This is important for movement and orientation in the world around us. In addition, psychologists analyze particularly interesting special problems such as amodal perception (for example, how a person perceives that there are six sides of a cube even though only three of them can be seen at a time).

The three dimensions (vertical, horizontal and sagittal planes) intersect at right angles, and their single axis of intersection is defined as being in the perceived three-dimensional space, that is, in the eyes of the perceiving individual.

People typically do not perceive binocular space (a separate visual world from each eye), but instead see what is called cyclopean space, as if the images from each eye are merging to produce a single visual field.

Planes divide the spatial zone into different sectors : “above” or “below” (horizontal), “ahead” or “behind” (vertical), “right” or “left” ( sagittal).

Peculiarities of human perception by man

Perception determines not only the general characteristics of a person, but also the person’s place in the life of the person being analyzed. During analysis, a person develops a certain image in his head on which he relies. Young people, for example, tend to over-idealize an object, especially if they are in love with him. Teenagers use visual imagery to a greater extent, that is, they remember the general proportions of an object and the location of the main parts of the body. Only over time is the formation of a global and adequate perception observed, when the image becomes clearer and differentiated.

The perspective from which people communicate with each other is important. For example, height differences between people may be perceived as a factor influencing people's perceptions of each other

Making eye contact is also important. If it is continuous, it allows people to establish better connections with each other. With the help of eye contact, people make active “groping movements” with their eyes, that is, they look at their opponent and reflect his visual image on the retina. A person's perception of a person changes with age.

Thus, during the development of a child, the perception of other people takes place, as well as the formation of him as a member of the family. The child analyzes the mental qualities of the people with whom he communicates; he is especially interested in the psyche of adults. That is why the child has a need for communication, knowledge and work. He reacts specifically to the adults caring for them, which indicates that he distinguishes them from the general circle of people around him.

M. Yu. Kistyakovskaya points out that a child already at the age of 3 to 6 months is able to selectively treat like an adult. He begins to separate his mother from those around him already at 3 months, and at 6 months he distinguishes his own from strangers. When a child ends up in a nursery, in a kindergarten, the circle of people with whom he is connected sharply increases, so the need arises to differentiate them, to distinguish our own from strangers. In the process of speech development, the child establishes temporary connections with those with whom speech contact occurs. At the same time, he analyzes not only words, but also posture, gestures, facial expressions, and other manifestations.

Communicating with adults, children learn to read their emotional states, are able to copy it, and experience similar emotions. For example, children feel very well the emotions of fear, joy, or the experiences of adults.

Older people perceive people somewhat differently, as their various types of sensitivity decrease. So, approximately 32 to 50% of people aged 80 years have hearing problems, which makes it necessary to use other senses when communicating with people, to perceive high-frequency sounds. About 16% of people over 75 years of age almost completely lose visual function, as a result of which they are not able to visually perceive other people; there is a problem in perception.

Figure 2. Perception of another person. Author24 - online exchange of student work

Perception of space and time

According to modern concepts, a person does not have a special time analyzer. I.M. Sechenov, in the course of further research, came to the conclusion that the perception of time intervals is accessible to any sense organ. In other words, the idea of time can arise on the basis of auditory, visual, tactile and other sensations. In this regard, Sechenov attached especially great importance to muscle-joint sensations.

I.M. Sechenov primarily considered walking to be acts that give muscle sensations. The basic unit of periodic movement that occurs when walking is the step. It acts both as a spatial measure and as a measure of time. Since the step is tapped, it is felt not only by the muscles, but also by the ear. This is how simultaneity arises, the association of two sensations, each of which reinforces the other and gives a clear perception of the time interval.

... Tactile and interoceptive analyzers are also involved in the perception of time. In general, this perception, as A. R. Luria emphasizes, is carried out with the help of a number of analyzers, united into a kind of system that acts as a single whole. The different nature of temporary sensations corresponds to different dynamic “composition” of higher nervous activity.

... clinical material also testifies in favor of the position that the basis for the perception of time is the systemic activity of various parts of the brain, and not the functioning of some special “center”.

... Accurate experimental studies have now established that a person experiencing positive emotions underestimates time intervals, i.e. his subjective passage of time accelerates; with negative emotional experiences, time intervals are overestimated, i.e. there is a subjective slowdown in the passage of time.

A. A. Leonov also experienced positive emotions of a sthenic nature with subjective acceleration of time when entering unsupported outer space. “To my great regret,” he noted in the report, “the time allotted for work outside the ship passed very quickly. The entire period of being in outer space seemed to flash by like 1-2 minutes.”

... S.P. Botkin, back in the last century, described a patient who was deprived of all types of sensitivity, with the exception of skin, and then only on one hand. Usually this patient was in a state of sleep and was awakened only by touching the hand, which retained sensitivity. I. P. Pavlov observed a patient who, as a result of injury, had only one eye and one ear left among all his sense organs. It was enough for him to close his eye and plug his ear, and he instantly fell into a deep sleep. …As a result of such experiments (in the isolation chamber)… the subjects’ sense of time was disrupted.

Due to the fact that in all such attempts to generalize the facts of research, only the component under study seemed to stand out from the entire perception and there was no holistic understanding of the mechanisms of organization of mental processes, the assumptions turn out to be too arbitrary and far from certain. But the worst thing is that, in the case of such a vague idea, it is difficult to imagine falsifying experiments that could make these attempts at generalization scientific (make them sufficiently clearly defined in boundary conditions), and build a strict methodology for falsification.

In the above article, “emotions” are confused with “inhibitory and excitatory” processes - as “a shift in their balance.” In fact, it is not “emotions” that influence, but the number of switches of conscious attention per unit of time in the current perception

and that's why.

In the article The Speed of Subjective Time: ... staff at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, led by Associate Professor of Neurobiology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences David Eagleman, decided to test whether time actually “stops” for a person in a critical or stressful situation. ... If a person’s “internal time” accelerated, he would have to distinguish the numbers on the chronometer. Otherwise, he would only see a green glow on the screen. Since none of the volunteers saw any numbers, the researchers concluded that the original version was incorrect: when falling, the events of the surrounding world replace each other too quickly, while he himself performs actions as if in slow motion. ... our memory retains as many details as possible related to the events we experienced. Due to the large number of impressions received, the stressful moment experienced seems longer, although in reality it is not so.

In the active state of habitual activity, consciousness is occupied with the current chain of automatism being performed, occasionally monitoring it and, if necessary, correcting it in moments of a somewhat new situation (if they happen at all in a well-practiced activity). In the passive state, there is not enough actual significance, which would occupy attention predominantly (dominated [9] during activity), and attention constantly jumps from one to another image of perception, with approximately equivalent novelty-significance and has the ability to also jump to accompanying thoughts in the mode of creative reflection [143].

The resulting sequence of activities in short-term memory (i.e., in the form of active reverberant zones [134]) of consciousness tracking the current perception-action in the active state turns out to be less rich in moments of switching awareness (among actual automatisms), and therefore the passage of time is perceived as faster. In other words, the film-memory of a past event in the first case is less eventful - in short [249].

But after sleep [95], everything important from the previous day will remain recorded in permanent memory (in the form of conductive synapses specific to neurotransmitters of active emotional contexts [106]), and insignificant, random distractions that lead to nothing will be eliminated. And then the empty pastime, so endlessly painful, will not leave a trace in the memory, flashing instantly. Ultimately, meaningful, de-directional memoir films will end up being longer.

Apart from films-memories of past events, in which the sequence of the most new and significant things in perception is recorded, there is nothing that would constitute a subjective impression of the past (the rest is the accumulated automatism of unconscious reactions). And, accordingly, only the frequency of touches of consciousness during perception, which forms films-memories (according to the conditions for the formation of connections [20]), will be the only source of subjective perception of time. Very rich in important events, it forms a long-lasting flashback film that leaves the impression of time slowing down.

Frequent and significant switchings of consciousness in youth (everything is still new, interesting, significant) form rich, vivid films-memories and the seeming endlessness of even one day. And in old age, time flies instantly, when fixed in permanent memory, leaving almost no new significant moments.

Mental properties and states

Mental properties are stable mental phenomena that influence what a person does and give his socio-psychological characteristics. The structure of mental properties includes abilities, character, temperament and orientation.

Orientation is a conglomerate of needs, goals and motives of a person that determine the nature of his activities. It expresses the whole meaning of a person’s actions and his worldview.

Temperament gives characteristics to a person’s activity and behavior. It can manifest itself in increased sensitivity, emotionality, resistance to stress, the ability to adapt to external conditions or the lack thereof, etc.

Character is a set of traits and qualities that are regularly manifested in a person. There are always individual characteristics, but there are also characteristics that are characteristic of all people - purposefulness, initiative, discipline, activity, determination, perseverance, endurance, courage, will, etc.

Abilities are the mental properties of a person, reflecting his characteristics, which allow a person to successfully engage in certain types of activities. Abilities are distinguished between special (for a specific type of activity) and general (for most types of activity).

Mental states are a system of psychological characteristics that provide a person’s subjective perception of the world around him. Mental states influence how mental processes proceed, and when regularly repeated, they can become part of a person’s personality - its property.

Mental states are related to each other. But they can still be classified. The most common ones are:

Personality states;
States of consciousness;
States of intelligence.

Types of mental states are divided according to the following criteria:

According to the source of formation - conditioned by the situation or personally;
According to the degree of expression - superficial and deep;
By emotional coloring – positive, neutral and negative;
By duration – short-term, medium-duration, long-term;
According to the degree of awareness - conscious and unconscious;
According to the level of manifestation - physiological, psychophysiological, psychological.

The following mental states are common to most people:

Optimal performance;
Tension;
Interest;
Inspiration;
Fatigue;
Monotony;
Stress;
Relaxation;
Dream;
Wakefulness.

Other common mental states include love, anger, fear, surprise, admiration, depression, detachment and others.

Read more about mental properties and states in the article “Properties of Mental States.”

Four types of time perception

The thing is that there are four main types of time perception: linear, parallel, cyclical and social. And how best to build your relationship with His Majesty Time depends on what type you are.

These types have been identified one after another over the past half century, first by E. Hall, then by Richard Lewis, and then by me - Dmitry Dimitriev.

As a result, the fifth generation of time management has emerged, which allows you to select an individual set of tools with which each person can increase their success in everything related to planning, organization and management.

In addition, I found out that a person, through an effort of will, can develop in himself the type of perception of time that best suits his life and work tasks. As a rule, this takes a fairly long period of work on oneself.

In the structure of a person’s personality, one can distinguish his leading type of perception of time. It describes human behavior in a normal situation.

The complementary (additional) type is activated only in situations of stress or overexertion, when typical behavior patterns do not help a person cope with his tasks.

A person may also have a compensatory type. This is a way of behaving under extreme stress or time pressure.

The repressed type manifests itself in human behavior in the opposite form. That is, a person behaves in the opposite way to how a typical representative of a given type behaves in a typical situation.

Below I present to your attention a short description of the types. You may be wondering where exactly each of these types fits in you.

LINEAR TYPE

In your picture of the world, time seems to exist outside of space, and therefore everything that exists seems to be located inside time. Therefore, there is no space before the beginning of time, after the end of time, and also “on the side” of time. Time is everything, and space is only part of it.

At the same time, you believe that time flows with the same speed for all people everywhere. Naturally, adjusted for Einstein's theory of relativity.

Therefore, it is impossible for you to be in different places at the same time, to do several things at the same time. Therefore, it is necessary to organize things and tasks in time so that they do not overlap with each other, and there is a sufficient gap between them to move from one thing to another.

For you, time is an absolute value; it cannot be bought with money, but can only be organized in the most effective way.

You are one of that relatively rare type of people for whom a diary is a real, practical life tool. If something is in your plans, all that remains is for it to come true.

The classic methods of European time management, based on a clear alignment of the optimal sequence of actions, were created just for you.

The main source of interference for you is unexpected problems and people who do not believe that you still remember the things you have in common with them, planned for a later date.

When you have to interact with less organized people, you often have a desire to do all the work alone, so as not to depend on the optionality or inaccuracy of others.

PARALLEL TYPE

In your picture of the world, time is like a set of travelators at the airport. BUT they move at different speeds, and often in different directions. You always try to be on the path that will take you to your goal faster. Therefore, there are many parallel opportunities for you to spend your time, and the most important thing is to make the right choice here-and-now. That is, determine your priorities and choose the most important thing at the moment.

For you, time is a kind of application to life that helps structure life, but is not a value in itself. You can't quit the most important thing in your life just because it's written in your diary.

Modern time management methods are not so effective for you as the ability to quickly and accurately set both strategic and current priorities in your life.

Before you begin doing work, it is important for you to accurately assess its urgency and importance in order to properly balance it with other tasks and your resources. Awareness of the necessity of the task for you is the main prerequisite for its high-quality implementation.

The main source of interference for you is the uncertainty of the situation and the position of the people around you. Sometimes it is much easier for you to make a decision for them rather than wait for them to decide on their priorities and desires.

CYCLIC TYPE

In your picture of the world, there are no identical states either in you or in the world in which you live.

When you feel good and circumstances favor you, you perform miracles. In 1 hour you can do more than in a day's work.

When you are in shape, but life is not going well, you perform feats. At the cost of gigantic efforts, you overcome everything and achieve, in general, an average result.

When you are not in a working mood, but circumstances work for you, then Tao management helps you. This is when the problem “will resolve itself.”

When you are out of shape and circumstances are against you, then you are only capable of unimportant routine work.

Therefore, for you, the basis of any time management is built primarily on two abilities:

Firstly, this is the ability to control oneself and create the necessary states in oneself through auto-training, meditation, a good party or a successful shopping trip.
Secondly, this is the ability to accurately choose the optimal moment to implement your plans thanks to developed intuition.

These abilities give you much more in terms of time management than all modern time management methods combined.

It is much more important for you to create favorable conditions for work and instill in yourself the necessary mood than to comply with all formalities and strictly meet all schedules.

The main source of interference for you is everything that can spoil your mood and destroy the working conditions that you so diligently created before starting work. Sometimes it is easier for you to do everything alone than to work with someone who constantly spoils your mood.

SOCIAL TYPE

You and time seem to exist independently of each other. Sometimes it may seem to you that the time was invented on purpose so that there would be a reason to fine you for being late.

You often made promises to yourself to start a new life starting next Monday, but, as a rule, by Tuesday you returned to your old life.

Whenever you need to organize yourself, you entrust this to the people and events around you.

It costs you nothing to get up at first light for years if your work or your boss requires it. At the same time, on vacation you can get up either for lunch, or for breakfast, or even for dinner. And if your hotel does not have a clear schedule, then you can get up in a day or two.

Your strength is the ability to enjoy life in between all the burdensome responsibilities. In these moments, you replenish lost resources and after that, with new strength, you can do everything that this world requires of you.

Whenever external obligations set you free, you go into your inner world, where there is no time for either business or feelings.

Time is your contract with life. If the contract provides for accuracy, then become more polite than kings. If there is no word in the contract about accuracy, you will never arrive anywhere on time.

The main method of time management for you is to place yourself in conditions in which deviations from the schedule are severely persecuted by the outside world.

The main source of interference for you is people who make overlapping time demands on you. If at exactly two o'clock in the afternoon you are expected in three places, you, as a rule, enjoy yourself and life in the fourth.

In addition, you divide time into “yours” and “someone else’s”. “Your time” is when you enjoy life, determining for yourself how you fill your time. “Alien” time is when you do what someone else is supposed to do to you at the moment. You feel comfortable only when “your” time quantitatively or qualitatively prevails over “someone else’s.”

Speech

Speech is a form of communication between people through linguistic structures. In this process, thoughts are formed and formulated using language, and the received speech information is perceived and understood. Speech is a form of existence of human language, because. speech is language in action.

Language (speech) performs the following functions:

A tool for intellectual activity;
Method of communication;
A way of existence, as well as the assimilation and transfer of experience.

Speech is the most important part of human activity, which contributes to knowledge of the world around us and the transfer of knowledge and experience to others. Being a means of expressing thoughts, it is one of the main mechanisms of human thinking. It depends on the form of communication and is thus divided into oral (speaking/listening) and written (writing/reading).

Speech has the following properties:

Content – the number and significance of expressed aspirations, feelings and thoughts;
Clarity – correctness;
Expressiveness – emotional coloring and richness of language;
Effectiveness is the influence exerted on other people, their feelings, thoughts, emotions, etc.

You can read more about speaking and writing in our trainings on public speaking and writing.

What is perception?

First of all, it is worth noting that we accept the world at the level of consciousness through the organs of that very perception that are present both in our body and in our mind. Let's look at these categories separately:

Simple forms of perception are vision, hearing, smell, touch, etc., known to everyone from biology lessons. It is important to note that several organs are involved in a complex manner to process most of the information. For example, when watching a movie, hearing and vision work simultaneously; when contacting a person, the sense of smell and touch are also involved. This is how we interact with the world on a physical level.
Complex shapes represent philosophical concepts such as the perception of space, time and motion. Illusions in the perception of these components of our world are an integral factor in understanding this issue. After all, each person feels the world in his own way, and we will never know what, relatively speaking, the eyes of our interlocutor see.

It is about complex forms that relate not even to philosophy, but to metaphysics, that we will now talk about.

The process of perceiving a person by a person

Definition 1

The perception of a person by a person is a person’s psychological knowledge of the essence of other people in conditions of direct communication.

The process of human perception by a person includes various levels of psychological reflection, ranging from sensation to thinking. This process is subject to the general laws of psychological reflection, taking into account the specifics of the perception of human significance as an object of the surrounding world. We perceive a person not only as a social entity, but also as a part of the natural world around us, a type of animal.

When perceiving a new person, another person takes into account a number of very diverse factors:

human clothing;
a person’s facial expression, displayed emotions and gestures;
hair, hairstyle, eyes;
Other components of appearance that emphasize a person’s individuality and set him apart from others

The processes of people getting to know each other are determined by character traits, abilities and interests, level of professional training, as well as other important factors. Awareness of personality characteristics leads to socialization in society, comparison of oneself with another person. However, due to cognitive abilities, the problem of perceiving a person based on external factors arises. So, according to the well-known proverb “You meet someone by their clothes.” That is, the first opinion is formed precisely on the basis of physical signs. Awareness of these characteristics forms a more stable opinion in relation to the individual, but the downside is the fact that a person does not take into account internal characteristics, that is, character, temperament, intellectual abilities, which can cause some problems in the future.

Perception of the shape of space

The perception of form is carried out using a visual, tactile and kinesthetic analyzer. Three main groups of factors are involved in the perception of the shape of objects:

The innate ability of neurons in the cerebral cortex to selectively respond to image elements of a certain saturation, orientation, configuration and length. Such cells are called detector cells. Based on the properties of their receptive fields, they distinguish very specific elements in the visual field, such as light lines of a certain length, width and slope, sharp angles, contrasts and breaks in contour images.
Laws of formation of figures, shapes and contours.
Life experience through hand movements along the contour and surface of objects, the movement of a person and parts of his body in space.

Visual perception of the shape of an object is also determined by observation conditions: the size of the object, its distance from the observer’s eyes, lighting, the contrast between the brightness of the object and the background, and so on.

Binocular vision, that is, seeing with two eyes, is the basis for the perception of three-dimensional objects. The essence of the binocular effect is that when both eyes look at the same object, the image of this object on the retina of the left and right eyes will be different. And when perceiving objects, the displacement of images on the retina of the eye creates the impression of a single, but three-dimensional and relief object.

However, binocular vision is not the only requirement for three-dimensional perception of an object. When we look at an object with one eye, we still perceive its relief. A significant role in the perception of the volumetric shape of an object is played by knowledge of the volumetric features of this object and the distribution of light and shadow on the volumetric object.

At a considerable distance from us, objects, when their images on the retinas of both eyes lose their differences, we no longer perceive three-dimensional objects, but think about them only three-dimensionally on the basis of ideas preserved from viewing at a short distance.

Depth perception mainly refers to the perception of the distance of objects and their position in relation to each other.

Depth perception occurs primarily in binocular vision. Adaptation of the eye to clearly see various distant objects also occurs through ocular mechanisms such as accommodation, convergence and divergence.

The phenomenon of accommodation is that the shape of the lens of the eye changes when objects approach or move away. When perceiving distant objects, the lens becomes flat, and when perceiving near objects, its convexity increases.

Convergence is the bringing of the visual axes of the eyes closer to each other. And divergence is the rotation of the eye axes to the sides. Both convergence and divergence are caused by contraction and relaxation of the eye muscles.

Accommodation and convergence only work in a very small range at short distances: Accommodation - within 5-6 meters, approach - up to 450 meters. Meanwhile, a person is able to distinguish the depth of perceived objects and the space they occupy at a distance of up to 2.5 kilometers.

The processes of accommodation and convergence occur involuntarily. A person does not think about the need to focus the image; this process occurs automatically.

The determination of spatial depth is limited by the visual depth threshold. Depth of field threshold is the minimum difference in distance between two objects that is perceived by an observer.

For the perception of distances to objects, not only the accommodation of the lens and the relative position of the visual axes are important, but also linear and aerial perspective.

In linear perspective, receding lines appear to converge at the horizon. In linear perspective, the size of objects decreases as you move away from them. The same difference between light and shadow becomes weaker as you move away from objects, and small objects fall out.

Aerial perspective implies a different perception of reality depending on the nature of the air and the type of light source. Objects change color when exposed to a bluish tint of air, which changes the color of objects the more the further away the object is.

The effect of the nature of the light source in aerial perspective is manifested as follows: As they move away from the viewer, illuminated surfaces become darker and shadowed surfaces become paler, creating a pale gray silhouette. As you get closer, the light shade becomes more contrasting, the illuminated areas look brighter, the darkened areas appear darker.

The distance at which objects are recognized is called the spatial threshold. The ability to correctly assess the spatial relationships of objects is called the eye. There are static and dynamic eye measurement devices.

Static ellipse - determining the size of stationary objects taking into account the distance to them. Dynamic eye - the ability to determine the distance between moving objects.

The ability to estimate and compare the sizes of visually perceived objects and distances to them with varying accuracy depends on the individual characteristics of the human eye.

The ability to see small objects is called visual acuity or resolving power of the eyes. All these are individual characteristics of each person.