The informational concept of emotions by P. V. Simonov can also be classified as cognitivist. In accordance with this theory, emotional states are determined by the quality and intensity of the individual's actual need and the assessment that he gives of the probability of its satisfaction. A person evaluates this probability on the basis of innate and previously acquired individual experience, involuntarily comparing information about the means, time, resources supposedly necessary to satisfy the need with the information received at the moment. So, for example, the emotion of fear develops with a lack of information about the means necessary for protection.

The approach of V.P. Simonov was implemented in the formula

E = f[P, (I p - I c), ...],

E - emotion, its degree, quality and sign;

P - the strength and quality of the actual need (the need also has its own sign; the need that causes motivational excitement has a negative sign. - E.V.);

(IP - Ic) - assessment of the probability (possibility) of satisfying a need based on innate and ontogenetic experience;

Ip - information about the means that are predictively necessary to meet the need;

Ic - information about the funds that the subject has at the moment.

The consequences arising from the formula are as follows: if a person does not have a need (P = 0), then he does not experience emotions (E = 0); Emotion does not arise even in the case when a person experiencing a need has the full opportunity to realize it. If the subjective assessment of the probability of satisfaction of the need is large, positive feelings appear. Negative emotions arise if the subject negatively assesses the possibility of satisfying the need. Thus, conscious or unconscious of this, a person constantly compares information about what is required to satisfy a need with what he has, and, depending on the results of the comparison, experiences various emotions.

Tomkins' Theory of Differential Emotions

In his theory, the American psychologist Sylvan Solomon Tomkins (1911-1991) considers the specifics of individual emotional experiences. The theory admits the existence of ten basic (fundamental) emotions. They have: 1) a specific nerve substrate, 2) characteristic neuromuscular complexes, 3) a phenomenological quality that is different from others. To distinguish between emotions, these three factors must be taken into account. The following is a brief description of basic emotions.

1. Interest-excitement- a positive emotion that motivates learning, promotes creative activity, positively affects attention, dedication and curiosity in relation to the object of interest.

2. Joy- a positive emotional state associated with the ability to fully satisfy an urgent need. Joy is the most desirable emotion, however, rather a by-product of actions and conditions than the result of the desire to experience it; the state of joy is associated with a sense of confidence and self-worth.

3. Astonishment- an emotional reaction that does not have a clearly expressed positive or negative sign to sudden circumstances. Surprise promotes release from the previous emotion and directs all cognitive processes to the object that caused surprise.

4. Grief- a negative emotional state associated with the received reliable or seemingly such information about the impossibility of satisfying the most important vital needs. - experiencing suffering a person loses heart, feels loneliness, lack of contact with people, self-pity.

5. Anger- an emotional state, negative in sign, as a rule, proceeding in the form of affect and caused by the sudden appearance of a serious obstacle to satisfying an extremely important need for the subject. Anger is associated with the mobilization of energy, a sense of strength, a sense of courage and self-confidence.

6. Disgust- a negative emotional state caused by objects (objects, people, circumstances, etc.), contact with which comes into sharp conflict with the ideological, moral or aesthetic principles and attitudes of the subject. Disgust causes the desire to get rid of something or someone.

7. Contempt- a negative emotional state that occurs in interpersonal relationships and is generated by a mismatch of life positions, views and behavior of the subject with life positions, views and behavior of the object of feeling. Contempt can serve as a means of preparing for a meeting with a dangerous adversary; associated with a sense of self-superiority; "cold" emotion, leading to depersonalization of the individual or group to which this emotion refers. Anger, contempt and disgust often go hand in hand and are therefore called the hostile triad.

8. Fear- a negative emotional state caused by information about a real or imagined danger; associated with insecurity and misgivings.

9. Shame- a negative state, expressed in the awareness of the inconsistency of one's own thoughts, actions and appearance with the expectations of others and one's own ideas about appropriate behavior and appearance. Shame causes a desire to hide, to disappear; may be associated with feelings of worthlessness.

10. Guilt is associated with shame, but shame can appear due to any mistakes, and guilt arises from violations of a moral, ethical or religious nature in situations in which the subject feels personally responsible for what is happening.

Fundamental emotions, forming stable combinations, lead to the formation of all kinds of affective complexes such as anxiety, depression, love and hostility.

In Tomkins' theory, the six affects represent the biological heritage and there are also animals. These include: interest, joy, surprise, grief, anger, fear. Other affects appear evolutionarily later.

Lecture 14

People as individuals emotionally differ from each other in their emotionality and general emotional orientation.

Emotionality of the individual.

1. Emotionality- this is a set of human properties that characterize the content, quality and dynamics of feelings. Content aspects emotionality are determined by those phenomena, situations and events that are of particular importance for the subject. They are associated with the core parameters of the personality: its motivational orientation, worldview, system of values ​​and basic ideas, etc. Qualitative characteristics emotionalities are expressed in the sign and modality of the dominant emotions. TO dynamic properties of emotionality include features of the emergence, course and termination of emotional processes and their external expression.

The main components of emotionality include: emotional excitability, emotional responsiveness, strength of emotions, emotional stability, emotional lability.

Emotional excitability, which is understood as the readiness of an emotional response to stimuli that are significant for a person.

With increased emotional excitability, the functional level of activity changes in response to weaker external and internal influences. Excitability can manifest itself in such behavioral features as irascibility, irritability, anxiety.

Anxiety- this is a tendency to experience anxiety in a threatening situation, characterized by a low threshold for the occurrence of an anxiety reaction. Anxiety is defined as an experience of emotional discomfort associated with the expectation of trouble, a premonition of imminent danger. It is characterized by a feeling of tension, anxiety, gloomy forebodings. Unlike fear, the subject of which is always clear, anxiety has no such subject. Anxiety is caused by an undefined threat.

Close to emotional excitability emotional responsiveness, susceptibility. Emotional responsiveness as a stable property of an individual is manifested in an easy, quick and flexible emotional response to various influences - social events, communication, surrounding people. Emotional responsiveness to the experiences of another person called empathy. A person may experience the same quality, or, if empathy is distorted, the opposite. If a person reacts to experiences in the same way various people in various situations, then his empathy manifests itself as his stable property. Empathy as a property of a person acts as a motive for certain forms of behavior and plays an important role in the moral development of a child.

The power of emotions. Some people can experience feelings of such strength and intensity that others are unable to. The energization of activity depends on the strength of emotions.

Emotional stability- resistance to the action of emotional factors, control of impulses and drives, ensuring the stability of activity.

The emotional stability of the subject is determined by two factors: 1) the latent time of the appearance of the emotional state (the later emotions appear, the higher the stability); 2) the force of impact necessary to evoke an emotional reaction (the greater the force of such an impact, the higher the emotional stability).

Emotional lability- the mobility of emotions, thanks to which a person quickly reacts to changes in situations and circumstances, freely leaves one emotional state and enters another. Too pronounced lability of emotions can complicate relations with others, as a person manifests himself as impulsive, reactive, poorly managing himself and his states.

Lability is opposed to emotional rigidity, which is characterized by the inertia of emotions, the difficulty of switching from one emotion to another. Even in the event of a change in emotional situations and circumstances, a person continues to experience the emotions caused by them;

Let's try to approach the topic of emotions from a scientific point of view. There are many different psychological theories of emotion. And the first problem I faced was their classification. From childhood, I used to approach the study of any issue from the construction of a certain system. I will give a classification that I liked.

It highlights eight main approaches to emotions, we will dwell on each in more detail:

• Biological theories of emotions;
• Psychoanalytic theories of emotions;
• Motivational theory of emotions by W. Liper;
• Cognitive theories of emotion;
• Plutchik's adaptation theory;
• The theory of differential emotions by K.E. Izard;
• Simonov's Information Theory of Emotions;
• Emotions in the framework of the teachings of A.N. Leontiev.

Some other classifications can be found by clicking on the following links:

1. http://www.emotionlabs.ru/view/klassifikaciya-emocij/
2. http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1 %87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D1%8D %D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B9

In this work, I will try to highlight the views of different scientists on the problem of emotions. Unfortunately, this area of ​​psychology has been little studied, so it is impossible to say for sure about the absolute correctness of one or another theory and the inconsistency of another. All of them are correct, but most of them consider emotions from one side, not paying attention to other aspects. Whereas it would be more logical, in my opinion, to consider them together, all together and build a new, more complete theory based on existing ones.

Biological theories of emotions.

This theory was developed and developed by the Soviet physiologist,Pyotr Kuzmich Anokhin (01/14/1898 - 03/05/1974).

He argued that theories of emotional states differ in one feature, which is the reason for their insufficiency: they do not consider emotional states as a natural fact of nature, as a product of evolution, as an adaptive factor in the life of the animal world. Based on the Darwinian point of view on the evolution of useful adaptations, it must be assumed that the emotional states that were retained in the process of evolution and developed to their subtlest manifestation in man could neither appear nor be preserved, much less be fixed by heredity, if they were in any -some degrees were either harmful or useless to the vital functions of the animal.

From what has been said above, it can be seen that he was convinced of the necessity of emotions in humans and devoted his research to discovering what the biological and physiological utility of emotions consists in. Anokhin, answering this question, argues that in the process of evolution, emotional sensations have become fixed as a kind of tool that keeps the process within its optimal boundaries. Thus, emotions prevent the destructive nature of the lack and excessive information about any factors in the life of the organism.

The essence of the biological theory is that it states that a positive emotional state of any need arises only if the information about the action taken reflects all the components of a positive result. This emotion consolidates the correctness and usefulness of both the action itself and the adaptive actions that were used to achieve the result.

To make it clearer, consider the example given by P.K. Anokhin. He says that leading emotions with a negative sign signal the body about deviations in its internal environment (hunger, thirst), which activates the corresponding program of action. Completion of purposeful actions is accompanied by a positive emotional background, which is fixed in the animal's memory as "receipt of a reward." Explaining his position, Pyotr Kuzmich Anokhin gives an example when a predator purposefully pursues its prey for many days, which is accompanied by both negative experiences (feeling of hunger) and positive ones (saturation process). Thus: “leading emotions participate in the formation of a functional system, determining the vector, that is, the direction of behavior, goal setting, and the formation of an acceptor of the result of an action. Situational emotions that arise when evaluating individual stages of an action make it possible to correct behavior and achieve the goal.

Psychoanalytic theories of emotions.

E then the theory about the nature, structure, functions and dynamics of the flow of emotions or emotional processes, from the point of view of psychology.

This theory was developed mainly by Sigmund Freud. He considered mostly negative affects*. This comes from the fact that affects are generated by a conflict between the unconscious (interest - attraction of the libido) and the preconscious (sanctions of the Super-Ego). This kind of affect enslaves the ego and can cause mental disorder.

Psychoanalytic theory of emotions - "The theory of emotions, which asserts the signifying character of emotional facts, must look for this meaning in consciousness itself. In other words, it is consciousness that makes itself consciousness, being excited by the need for an inner meaning."

Holt rejects the theory of instinctive drives. In his theory, he emphasizes the importance of external stimulation and perceptual-cognitive processes, but at the same time recognizes that the phenomena that are associated with the expression and experience of emotions are important. According to Holt, "despite the fact that sexual attraction, aggression, fear and other affective phenomena can be considered as biologically determined, innate ... reactions, they are activated only as a result of an individual's awareness of external pressure ... ".

Over time, psychoanalysis came to the conclusion that the energy of the “unconscious” is not stored in the structures of the brain as a “developmental defect”, but is a consequence of the appearance in nervous system excess energy, as a result of imperfect adaptation of the individual in society. For example, A. Adler believed that most children initially have a sense of their own imperfection, in comparison with "omnipotent adults", which leads to the formation of an inferiority complex. Personal development, according to Adler's views, depends on how this complex will be compensated. In pathological cases, a person may try to compensate for his inferiority complex by striving for power over others.

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* Affect
German: Affect. - French: affect. - English: affect. - Spanish: afecto. - Italian: affetto. - Portuguese: afeto.
A term borrowed by psychoanalysis from the German psychological tradition: any emotional-affective state - pleasant or unpleasant, vague or distinct - manifesting itself in a general emotional tone or in a strong energy discharge. According to Freud, every attraction finds its expression on two levels: affect and representation. Affect is a qualitative expression of the amount of drive energy and its varieties.

Freud (S.). Aus den Anfangen der Psychoanalysis, 1887-1902.German, 95; English, 84; French, 76-77.

http://www.psyoffice.ru/1292-affekt.html

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The Motivational Theory of Emotions by Robert Ward Leaper

He brings up for discussion the fact that "without resorting to a motivational criterion, we are not able to distinguish between those processes that we call emotions and a number of other processes that we do not attribute to emotions."

As an example, he considers the situation when you are driving a car with a person who is driving it extremely carelessly. At the same time, Leeper notes that you will not admire the landscape around you, but will focus on the road and try to figure out what you could do to make the car drive more carefully. Here, the influence of the emotion of fear for one's life on the activity of the whole organism is on the face. And it is this fact that served as the basis for the fact that Leeper considers emotional processes as motives.

The example described by Robert Ward Leaper very vividly depicts the emotions of a person in a similar situation. When you drive with a sloppy, inattentive or aggressive driver, you constantly feel uncomfortable. I often caught myself thinking that instinctively, sitting in the passenger seat, as if I press the brake pedal (I strongly press my foot on the floor, simulating pressing the pedal).At the same time, facial expressions change dramatically.This happens involuntarily, awareness comes a little later, and at this moment, it seems to me that I really slow down.

The author believes that two types of motives can be distinguished. These are emotional and physiological motives. At the same time, Leeper emphasizes that physiological motives may depend on the internal state of the body (hunger, thirst), and may depend on external stimulation (pain from mechanical shock). And emotional motives depend on mental processes. The main difference between these types of motives, Leeper suggests, is that emotional motives are "processes that depend on signals ... resembling stimuli that cause perceptual* or cognitive processes; these are processes that can be excited even by very light and weak external stimuli ... ". And physiological motives are processes that depend either on special, specific chemical conditions inside the organism, or on strong irritation from the outside.

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* Perception (perception) is the processes of reflection of objects or phenomena with their direct impact on the senses.

http://www.psyperm.narod.ru/K15_151.htm

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Cognitive Theories of Emotion ( Cognitive* )

Arnold: Emotion as a function of cognitive processes

According to Arnold, emotions arise as a result of the impact of a sequence of events that are described in terms of perception and evaluation.

"The term "perception" Arnold interprets as "elementary understanding". In this case, "to perceive an object" means in a sense to "understand" it, regardless of how it affects the perceiver." An image of a perceived object is formed in the mind, and in order for this image to receive an emotional coloring, it must be evaluated, taking into account its influence on the perceiver. Based on this, we can conclude that Arnold understands emotion not as an assessment, but as an unconscious attraction to an object, or its rejection.

According to Arnold, evaluation occurs immediately after the direct perception of the object, it is an intuitive act that is not associated with reflection, evaluation acts as the final stage perceptual process and separately can be represented only reflexively.

Schechter: Cognitive-physiological t e oriya

He and his co-authors proposed that emotions arise on the basis of physiological arousal and cognitive evaluation. Some event or situation causes physiological excitation, and the individual needs to evaluate the content of the situation that caused this excitation. The type or quality of emotion experienced by an individual does not depend on the sensation that arises from physiological arousal, but on how the individual evaluates the situation in which it occurs. Evaluation of the situation enables the individual to name the experienced feeling of arousal joy or anger, fear or disgust, or any other emotion appropriate to the situation. According to Schechter, the same physiological arousal can be experienced as joy or anger (or any other emotion), depending on the interpretation of the situation.

He showed that a person's memory and motivation make a significant contribution to emotional processes. The concept of emotions proposed by S. Schechter was called cognitive-physiological (Fig. 4).

In one of the experiments aimed at proving the stated provisions of the cognitive theory of emotions, people were given as a "medicine" a physiologically neutral solution, accompanied by various instructions. In one case, they were told that this "medicine" would cause them a state of euphoria, in the other - a state of anger. After taking the appropriate "drug", the subjects after some time, when it was supposed to start acting according to the instructions, were asked what they felt. It turned out that the emotional experiences they were talking about corresponded to what was expected from the instructions given to them.

Rice. 4. Factors of the emergence of emotions in the cognitive-physiological concept of S. Shekhter

It was also shown that the nature and intensity of a person's emotional experiences in a given situation depend on how they are experienced by other people nearby. This means that emotional states can be transmitted from person to person, and in a person, unlike animals, the quality of communicated experiences depends on his personal attitude towards the one with whom he empathizes.

Theory of emotions by J. Kelly

J. Kelly created the theory of personal constructs. He believed that "people perceive their world with the help of clear systems or models called constructs. Each person has a unique construct system (personality) that he uses to interpret life experience." He also described various types of personality constructs: anticipatory, constellatory, suggestive, comprehensive, private, pivotal, peripheral, rigid, and free. Kelly's goal was to create a more empirical approach to clinical psychology. Kelly also believed that his theory could be useful for understanding emotional states, mental health, and also in therapeutic practice.

L. Festinger: The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

A separate group of theories are views that reveal the nature of emotions through cognitive factors, i.e., thinking and consciousness.

First of all, among them it should be noted the theory of cognitive dissonance by L. Festinger. Its main concept is dissonance. Dissonance is a negative emotional state that occurs when the subject has psychologically contradictory information about the object. According to this theory, a person has a positive emotional experience when his expectations are confirmed, i.e. when the actual results of the activity correspond to the planned ones, are consistent with them. In this case, the resulting positive emotional state can be characterized as consonance. Negative emotions arise when there is a discrepancy or dissonance between the expected and actual results of the activity.

Subjectively, the state of cognitive dissonance is usually experienced by a person as discomfort, and he seeks to get rid of it as soon as possible. To do this, he has two ways: first, to change his expectations so that they correspond to reality; secondly, to try to obtain new information that would be consistent with previous expectations. Thus, from the position of this theory, emerging emotional states are considered as the main cause of the corresponding actions and deeds.

IN modern psychology The theory of cognitive dissonance is most often used to explain the actions of a person and his actions in a variety of situations. Moreover, in the determination of behavior and the emergence of human emotional states, cognitive factors are much more important than organic changes. Many representatives of this trend believe that cognitive assessments of the situation most directly affect the nature of emotional experience.

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*Cognitiveness(lat. cognition, “cognition, study, awareness”) is a term used in several contexts that differ significantly from each other, denoting the ability to mentally perceive and process external information. In psychology, this concept refers to mental processes personality and especially the study and understanding of so-called "mental states" (i.e. beliefs, desires and intentions) in terms of information processing. Especially often this term is used in the context of the study of the so-called "contextual knowledge" (i.e., abstraction and concretization), as well as in those areas where such concepts as knowledge, skill or learning are considered.

The term "cognitivity" is also used in a broader sense, denoting the "act" of cognition itself, or knowledge itself. In this context, it can be interpreted in a cultural-social sense as denoting the emergence and "becoming" of knowledge and the concepts associated with this knowledge, expressing themselves both in thought and in action.

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Plutchik's adaptation theory of emotions

Plutchik views emotions as a means of adaptation. Below we will look at the basic prototypes of adaptive behavior and the emotions that correspond to them.

Number	Protypical adaptive complex	Primary emotion
1.	Incorporation - the absorption of food and water.	Adoption.
2.	Rejection - rejection reaction, excretion, vomiting.	Disgust.
3.	Destruction is the removal of obstacles to satisfaction.	Anger.
4.	Protection - initially on pain or on the threat of pain.	Fear.
5.	Reproductive behavior - reactions that accompany sexual behavior.	Joy.
6.	Deprivation is the loss of an object that brings pleasure.	Woe.
7.	Orientation is a reaction to contact with a new, unfamiliar object.	Fright.
8.	Exploration is a more or less erratic, voluntary activity aimed at exploring the environment.	Hope or curiosity

Plutchik defines emotion as a somatic reaction that is associated with a specific adaptive biological process that is common to all living organisms. He divides emotions into primary and secondary. By secondary emotions he means various combinations of primary emotions. In addition, primary emotions are limited in time and are formed under external influence, and each secondary corresponds to a certain physiological and expressive-behavioral complex. Plutchik believes that "constant blocking of adequate motor responses in conflict or frustrating situations causes chronic muscle tension, which can be an indicator of poor adaptation ...".

Interestingly, for some animals, the table may look slightly different. For example, some monkeystend to destroy and break everything around when they are afraid.

Izard Eddy Carroll's Theory of Differential Emotions

The theory of differential emotions got its name due to the fact that the object of its study is private emotions, which are considered separately. The theory is based on 5 main theses:

• The main motivational system of a person consists of ten + one basic emotions (further will be explained in more detail which emotions are basic and why).
• Each emotion implies a specific way of experiencing.
• All fundamental emotions affect the cognitive sphere and behavior in general in different ways.
• Emotional processes interact with drives and influence them.
• In turn, drives influence the course of the emotional process.

Within the framework of the differential theory of emotions, the latter are considered not only as the motivational system of the body (as in the theory of Leaper), but also as basic personal processes that give meaning to human existence.

The differential theory of emotions defines emotions as complex processes that have neurophysiological, neuromuscular, and sensory-experiential aspects. The neurophysiological aspect is defined in terms of the activity of the central nervous system. It is assumed here that emotion is a function of the somatic nervous system. At the neuromuscular level, it manifests itself in the form of mimic activity. At the sensory level, emotion is represented by experience.

The criteria on the basis of which Izard defines basic emotions are as follows:

1. Basic emotions have distinct and specific neural substrates.
2. The basic emotion manifests itself with the help of an expressive and specific configuration of facial muscle movements (facial expressions).
3. The basic emotion entails a distinct and specific experience that the individual is aware of.
4. Basic emotions arose as a result of evolutionary biological processes.
5. The basic emotion has an organizing and motivating effect on a person, serves his adaptation.

These criteria, according to the author, correspond to such emotions as:

1. Joy
2. Astonishment
3. sadness
4. Anger
5. Disgust
6. Contempt
7. Woe-suffering
8. Shame
9. Interest-excitement
10. Guilt
11. Embarrassment

All other emotional states, according to Izard, are derivatives or composites, i.e. arise on the basis of several fundamental.

Simonov's Information Theory of Emotions

Simonov says that his approach to the problem of studying emotions belongs to the Pavlovian direction of studying the higher nervous activity of the brain. He is of the opinion that "emotion is a reflection by the brain of humans and animals of some actual need (its quality and magnitude) and the probability (possibility) of its satisfaction, which the brain evaluates on the basis of genetic and previously acquired individual experience."

Simonov offers a formula in which he presents the rule for the emergence of emotions:

EMOTION = NECESSARY INFORMATION - AVAILABLE INFORMATION.

Emotions in the framework of the teachings of A.N. Leontief

"In its most general form, the function of emotions can be characterized as an indication of the plus/minus of the sanctioning of an activity that has been carried out, is being carried out, or is to be carried out." Emotions, according to Leontiev, are able to regulate activity in accordance with the expected results, but at the same time, he emphasizes that although emotions play a very important role in motivation, they are not motives themselves.

Leontiev refers to emotional processes affects, actually emotions, feelings. He separates them by duration in time. Following Leontiev's logic, the shortest affects in time are accompanied by pronounced motor and vegetative manifestations, and the longest are feelings, and they are supra-situational, objective and hierarchized.

Conclusion.

If we turn to the issue of the emergence of emotions - there is no consensus (this was to be expected). The division of theories into groups was carried out taking into account what scientists considered the cause of emotions to be.

In the biological theories of emotions (the theories of Anokhin, Duffy, Lindsley, James, Lange), the source of occurrence lies in organic changes. Different authors call it differently, but it does not matter what it is called, since the meaning is the same.

In psychoanalytic theories, the cause of emotions is the clash of instinctive energy with the prohibitions and norms of the Super-Ego. This can be explained by the fact that the whole theory of psychoanalysis was built on the concept of two instincts (eros, tonatos), as well as on the three-component theory of personality structure (Id, Ego, Super-Ego).

In cognitive theories, the emergence of emotions is associated with the activity of cognito, and emotion is presented as an assessment, in this Simonov's information theory is similar to cognitive theories of emotions, where emotion is an assessment of the situation, it seems to me that they could be combined under common name cognitive theories, but we will not do this due to the fact that the key word for cognitivists is assessment, and for Simonov - information.

The remaining theories: motivational, adaptive, respectively, consider emotions as motives, adaptation to environmental conditions, while the mechanism of occurrence becomes clear.

A separate place is occupied by the view of A.N. Leontiev to the same problem, since he considers emotions within the framework of his doctrine of activity, the mechanism of occurrence, automatically, is human activity. Moreover, he says that emotions are a "specific personal attitude", and the very concept of attitude includes the concept of activity, that is, without any kind of activity, relations and attitudes do not seem possible to us. Theories of emotion

Among the psychological theories of the origin of emotions, the one proposed by P.V. Simonov informational theory of emotions (1966; 1970; 1986). According to this theory, the emotional experiences of humans and higher animals are determined by some actual need (its quality and magnitude) and the subject's assessment of the probability (possibility) of satisfying it on the basis of previously accumulated experience and information coming from outside.

The emotion formula is presented as: E \u003d P (In - Is), where E is emotion, P is a need, I is information (In is the information necessary to organize the satisfaction of a need; Is is the information currently available).

From the formula it follows that:

§ the emergence of emotion is possible only if there is a need;

§ the appearance of emotion (if there is a need) makes sense with sufficient information;

§ the difference (In - Is) is a measure of ignorance, as well as a forecast of achieving the goal: with a shortage of available information (Is), negative emotions arise (especially in the case of a complete lack of information); positive emotions appear in case of sufficiency/excess of data (Is>In).

The theory of differential emotions of K. Izard

Each emotion, according to the theory, acts as a separate isolated unit (differentiation of emotions), based on its unique motivational, expressive and neurophysiological features. This approach is based on evolutionary and biosocial principles for considering basic emotions (genetic origin). The following activators are described as sources of emotions:

§ neural and neuromuscular (for example, hormones, narcotic substances, external expression: facial expressions, pantomime, etc.);

§ affective (pain, fatigue, sexual desire, other emotions);

§ cognitive (assessment of the significance of the event, forecast of the resolution of the situation, etc.).

Emotion is considered as a complex formation with specific forms of experience; basic emotions individually affect the mental and behavioral spheres of a person. K. Izard distinguish 10 basic (fundamental) emotions:

1. joy;

2. sadness;

3. surprise;

5. disgust;

6. contempt;

8. shame / embarrassment;

9. interest;

Emotional properties

1. Emotional excitability - the speed of emotional "turning on" - increases, for example, in patients with atherosclerosis, neurosis, hyperthyroidism. The combination of excessive excitability and lack of inhibition forms impulsivity. The combination of sthenicity with excitability gives a picture of an expansive type.

2. Emotional reactivity - the speed of emotional response, the speed of the "response". The combination of asthenicity and inhibited reactivity in emotional manifestations is characteristic of obsessive neurotics.

3. Emotional lability - fluctuations in emotional tone, emotional mobility, rapid change of one emotion by another. The property opposite to lability is emotional rigidity , viscosity, pathological persistence of emotions - a property of an epileptoid character. The preponderance of affective inertia over affective plasticity creates, according to V.N. Myasishchev, "viscous dominants of painful experiences", often leading in patients to fixation on sensations, immersion in somatic experiences, and withdrawal into illness. “Painful affective viscosity of impressions,” wrote V.N. Myasishchev, - "this is the sharpness of the impression, and its duration, and relatively insufficient intellectual processing, and difficult reaction."

Functions of emotions

Emotions occupy an important place in human life and perform following features:

1. event evaluation - due to the fact that in emotions direct biased experience is expressed in the most general form life meaning phenomena, with the help of emotions we learn about the significance of ongoing events;

2. impulse (stimulating and activating function, emotions as an expression of motive) - a person, crossing the road and experiencing fear of an oncoming car, accelerates his movement; in critical conditions, when the subject is unable to find a way out of dangerous, traumatic, unexpected events, a special kind of emotional processes develops - the so-called affects. One of the functional manifestations of affect is that it imposes stereotyped actions on the subject, which are a certain way of “emergency” resolution of the situation, fixed in evolution: flight, stupor, aggression. It is known that other situational emotions, such as indignation, pride, resentment, jealousy, are also able to “impose” certain actions on a person, even when they are undesirable for him.

3. organization and regulation Normally, emotions organize the mental activity of a person; emotional coloring - a condition of involuntary attention, memorization (with surprise, attention is focused on the causes of an unusual phenomenon, with fear - on anticipating a threat and the possibility of avoiding it);

4. expression (communicative function) - the transfer of an emotional state through mimic and pantomimic features, intonation informs about a person’s attitude to what is happening, allows people to better recognize and understand each other;

5. anticipation future event - the accumulation of affective experience of experiences (emotional memory);

6. disruptive role - with an increase in the intensity of emotional experience, the processes of comprehensive flexible cognition of reality are limited and violated (for example, the problem of emotional stress), when a strong emotion distorts perception, makes it difficult to regulate.

Classification of emotions

There is a conditional division of emotions into positive and negative . Emotions usually differ in polarity, that is, they have a positive or negative sign: pleasure - displeasure, fun - sadness, joy - sadness. In complex human feelings, they often form a complex contradictory unity: for example, in jealousy, love is combined with hatred.

Emotions are also divided into sthenic - increasing the activity and vitality of a person (anger or joy) and asthenic - lowering vitality and activity (sadness).

A description of the physiological and behavioral components of joy, sadness and anger is given in the book by G.N. Lange "Emotional Movements". Joy, according to G.N. Lange, “is accompanied by an increase in innervation in the muscles of external movements, while small arteries expand, blood flow to the skin increases, it turns red and becomes warmer, accelerated blood circulation facilitates tissue nutrition and all physiological functions begin to perform better. Joy makes you younger, because a happy person, in a good mood, creates optimal conditions for nourishing all body tissues.

Against, hallmark the physiological manifestation of sadness is its paralyzing effect on the muscles of voluntary movement; there is a feeling of fatigue and, as with all fatigue, slow and feeble movements are observed. The eyes appear large as the muscles of the eye socket relax. As the muscles relax, the vasomotors contract and the tissues bleed. The person is constantly chilly, warms with great difficulty, and is very sensitive to cold; small vessels of the lungs at the same time contract and, as a result, the lungs are emptied of blood. In this position, a person feels a lack of air, tightness and heaviness in the chest and tries to alleviate his condition with long and deep breaths. A sad person can also be recognized by his appearance: he walks slowly, his hands dangle, his voice is weak, silent. Such a person willingly remains motionless. Afflictions are very aging, because they are accompanied by changes in the skin, hair, nails and teeth.

Emotions are represented in the human psyche in the form of three main phenomena: These are emotional reactions, emotional states and emotional properties. Emotional reactions are connected mainly with the current circumstances: they are short-lived and, as a rule, reversible (for example, a fright reaction in response to a cry).

emotional states are more durable and stable, with them there may not be a clear connection with existing stimuli, a change in the neuropsychic tone is characteristic.

Emotional properties- the most stable characteristics of a person (for example, emotional excitability, emotional lability, emotional reactivity).

Emotions have three components:

§ physiological manifestations (increased/slowed pulse, respiration, changes in heart rhythm, secretion of salivary glands, etc.);

§ sensory level ( psychological experience, internal state);

§ external expression (facial expressions, gestures, pantomime; see table);

Parts and elements of the face	Mimic signs of emotional states
Anger	Contempt	Suffering	Fear	Astonishment	Joy
Mouth position	mouth open	Mouth closed	mouth open	Mouth closed
Lips	The corners of the lips are turned down	The corners of the lips are raised
Eye shape	Eyes open or closed	Eyes narrowed	Eyes open wide	Eyes narrowed or open
Eye brightness	Eyes are shining	Eyes are dull	Eye shine is not pronounced	Eyes are shining
Eyebrow position	Eyebrows shifted to the bridge of the nose	Eyebrows raised up
Eyebrow corners	The outer corners of the eyebrows are raised	The inner corners of the eyebrows are raised
Forehead	Vertical wrinkles on the forehead and bridge of the nose	Horizontal wrinkles on the forehead
Mobility of the face and its parts	The face is dynamic	Face frozen	The face is dynamic

Tab. Scheme for describing mimic signs of emotional states

In the work "Emotions and Feelings" E.P. Ilyin distinguishes the following types of emotions:

I. emotions of expectation and forecast, which include: excitement, anxiety, fear and despair;

II. satisfaction and joy;

III. frustration emotions: resentment, disappointment, annoyance, anger, frenzy, sadness, despondency, loneliness, melancholy and nostalgia, grief;

IV. communicative emotions: fun, embarrassment, shame, guilt (reflection of conscience) and contempt;

V. intellectual emotions (affective-cognitive complexes): surprise, interest, "sense" of humor, emotion of conjecture, doubts ("feeling" of confidence - uncertainty).

Let's consider this classification in more detail.

Simonov informational theory of emotions

(Simonov P.V., 1964). The emergence of emotions is considered in connection with the adequacy of the body's information stock of the real situation. The emergence of emotions is a way to compensate for the lack of information, for example, defensive dominant emotions that arise when an animal or person reacts preventively to environmental stimuli unknown to him from his previous experience and threatening him. The negative nature of emotions is a consequence of the lack of pragmatic information, the increase in information leads to the formation of positively colored emotions. The emergence of emotions is considered as a result of a mismatch between the prosthetic situation and afferent signals coming from the external environment. If the amount of information required by the situation corresponds to the available information, emotions do not arise, and behavior is learned, automated.

Dictionary psychiatric terms. V. M. Bleikher, I. V. Kruk. 1995 .

See what "Simonov's Information Theory of Emotions" is in other dictionaries:

Simonov informational theory of emotions- (Simonov, 1964) - considers emotions as an organism's reaction to a situation of information deficit. Positive, according to the theory, are emotions that are associated with impressions that eliminate this deficit, negative emotions - with ... ...

informational theory of emotions (theory of emotions by P.V. Simonov)- domestic information theory of emotions for decades ahead of similar conclusions of foreign scientists. Its essence: emotion is a reflection (function from) any actualized need (its quality and magnitude) and the probability (possibility) of it ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

Cognitive theory of emotions- Emotions (from lat. emoveo - I shake, excite), as a background, accompany any manifestations of consciousness. Most theories of emotions take into account the active side of the impact of emotions on consciousness. Contents 1 Theory of Sigmund Freud 2 Two-factor theory of emotions ... Wikipedia

Needs Information Theory- Need-information theory of emotions Simonov's formalized theory of the emergence of emotions, author P.V. Simonov (1964). Here it is postulated that emotion is a reflection by the brain of a person and animals of some actual need ... Psychological Dictionary

Psychological theories of emotion- Psychological theories of emotions - theories about the nature, structure, functions and dynamics of the flow of emotions or emotional processes, from the point of view of psychology. Content 1 evolutionary theory emotions 2 ... Wikipedia

Simonov, Pavel Vasilievich- Pavel Vasilievich Simonov Pavel Stanislavovich Stankevich 200px Date of birth: April 20, 1926 (1926 04 20) Place of birth: Leningrad, USSR ... Wikipedia

General extreme psychological preparedness of an employee- The basic component of extreme psychological preparedness (EPP) of an employee. It is characterized by: a) the employee's knowledge of the existence of extremeness in PD; b) knowledge of essence and spectrum extreme situations and their characteristics; V)… … Encyclopedia of Modern Legal Psychology

Pavel Vasilievich Simonov

Pavel Simonov- Pavel Vasilyevich Simonov, nee. Stankevich (1926-2002) Russian psychophysiologist, biophysicist and psychologist. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1991; Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences since 1987). Director of the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity of the Russian Academy of Sciences. State Prize of the USSR (1987). Contents ... Wikipedia

The main provisions of the "information approach (in philosophy) are set out on the Philosophy.ru website in my book" ".

Its essence lies in the fact that it is based on the philosophical interpretation of the formula of Claude Shannon, proposed by him in 1949 together with Warren Weaver in the "Mathematical Theory of Communication" to describe the "information entropy".

The affinity of thermodynamic entropy, which became apparent after the appearance of Shannon's formula, with informational entropy lies in the structural coincidence of their formulas. And since the concept of entropy "asks" to the category of a philosophical category, it was necessary to consider the formula from philosophical positions. As a result, an interpretation of the formula appeared somewhat different from its practical meaning used in communication theory.

The essence of the information approach will be described further in the text, but for now I can say that the philosophical interpretation of Shannon's formula made me look at P.V. Simonov from critical positions. This is where I'll start.

Analysis of the article and formula by P.V. Simonova

P.V. Simonov in his article "The Information Theory of Emotions" (1964) writes:

“Our approach to the problem of emotion belongs entirely to the Pavlovian direction in the study of the higher nervous (mental) activity of the brain.

The information theory of emotions ... is neither only "physiological", nor only "psychological", and even more so "cybernetic".

The clause "not all the more cybernetic" might mean that the theory uses traditional language physiology and psychology, and information representations related to cybernetics are introduced into the theory very carefully. This raises the question of what informational terminology should have been used for; or what new and more heuristic did information representations bring to traditional physiology and psychology?

Analysis of the text of the article shows that the use of information representations simplifies the understanding of the complexity of the occurrence of emotions and the regulatory function of emotions in the life of the body through the introduction of the concept probabilities satisfaction of needs.

After listing the known factors that determine the emergence of emotions, Simonov says: “But all the factors listed and similar to them cause only variations of an infinite variety of emotions, while two are necessary and sufficient, only two always and only two factors: need and probability (possibility) her satisfaction."

What in Simonov's theory corresponds to information representations? The first is the use of the concept of "probability", which is introduced into Shannon's formula, proposed by him for informational entropy. The second is the binary logic of emotions, which assumes only two signs for emotions - positive emotions and negative emotions. It is on two-valued logic that the modern Computer Engineering, and "measurability" of information in bits.

How does this simple concept unfold?

Simonov writes in his article:

“Summing up the results of our own experiments and literature data, in 1964 we came to the conclusion that emotion is a reflection by the brain of humans and animals of some actual need (its quality and magnitude) and the probability (possibility) of its satisfaction, which the brain evaluates based on genetic and previously acquired individual experience.

E \u003d f [P, (Ip - Is), ...],

where E - emotion, its degree, quality and sign; P - the strength and quality of the actual need; (Ip - Is) - assessment of the probability (possibility) of satisfying a need based on innate and ontogenetic experience; Ip - information about the means that are predictively necessary to meet the need; Is - information about the means that the subject has at the moment.

Here, in the formula, the need is already, as it were, given; then you want to know about the physiological, that is, about the internal mechanism of the emergence of needs. But Simonov does not talk about this. He speaks about the external conditions for the emergence of needs: “In our opinion, a need is the selective dependence of living organisms on environmental factors essential for self-preservation and self-development, the source of activity of living systems, the motivation and purpose of their behavior in the world around.”

Now let's try to analyze the formula.

“E is emotion, its degree, quality and sign” - it is not clear here what should be understood by the “quality” of emotion; Perhaps these parameters should be taken empirically? For example, Simonov says that “emotions that arise on the basis of social and spiritual needs are usually called feelings,” that is, other qualities, probably different from the quality of emotions that arise on the basis of physiological needs. Then the emotions that arise on the basis of food needs, how can they be transformed, for example, into a sense of social justice, if this formula is used? And how can the "degree" [strength?] of emotions be derived from the formula.

P - the strength and quality of the actual need”- and again neither the strength nor the quality of the need follows from the formula, and also its relevance does not follow from the formula; and these parameters should be obtained empirically? .

(Yip - Is) – assessment of the probability (possibility) of satisfying a need based on innate and ontogenetic experience. - How can you get some kind of estimate of probability based on the definition of "predictive" and "subjective" ["situational"?] information that is given in the article?

Yip – information about the means predictively necessary to meet the need. What exactly could this information mean? True, P.V. Simonov further in the text of the article gives an explanation: “In order to avoid misunderstandings ... let us dwell on clarifying the concepts we use. The term "information" we use, meaning its pragmatic meaning, i.e. change in the probability of achieving the goal (satisfaction of the need) due to the receipt of this message.

Thus, we are not talking about information that actualizes the need (for example, about the danger that has arisen), but about the information necessary to satisfy the need (for example, about how to avoid this danger). By information, we mean the reflection of the totality of achieving the goal: the knowledge that the subject has, the perfection of his skills, the energy resources of the body, the time sufficient or insufficient to organize the appropriate actions, etc.” . However, there are many ambiguities that arise in the systems approach, when the organism is considered in the dynamics of its relationship with the external environment. For example, the situation of an external danger in the process of life is predicted even by animals (for example, “neophobia”), not to mention a person, and is built into the model of the individual’s cautious behavior, being part of what Simonov describes as “knowledge, ... perfection of skills ... and so on."; that is, such information in real life is necessarily embedded in Yip . Why it is necessary to eliminate this external information in theory is not clear. The external environment can be naturally exceptionally favorable for the life of organisms, offering all living an abundance of food, water and a warm climate, or it can be harsh. Can such different external conditions be considered as Yip “about the means that are predictively necessary to satisfy the need” or only the information that relates to the organism is entered into the formula: “the knowledge that the subject has, the perfection of his skills ... etc.”, which, quite obviously, should be different for different external conditions? And what is the relationship then? Yip And Is , If Is - this is information about the means that the subject has in this moment?

It is also unclear why the emotion will carry a negative sign if the difference (Yip - Is) given that — Yip more than Is , — turns out to be positive – well, in the arithmetic sense.

This statement makes me think:

“The low probability of satisfying the need (Ip is greater than Ip) leads to the emergence negative emotions. An increase in the probability of satisfaction compared to the previously available forecast (Is more than Ip) generates positive emotions.

There is a somewhat artificial construction here, which causes difficulties when trying to use this provision to explain some real situation. Indeed " Yip more than Is" , stands for "prognostic information" ( Yip ) as “knowledge, the perfection of his skills ... etc.”), which belongs, presumably, to the subject; and at some point there is other information - Is - “information about the means that the subject has at the moment”, and which probably also belongs to the same subject, but as of “now” it suddenly turns out to be less. This can also be understood as follows: in general, the subject has “knowledge, perfection of skills…etc. at some point in time, and this is his prognostic information; but at some other moment this information is somehow lost and becomes less predictive. Why? Maybe the subject forgot something, did not take into account? Well, yes, then a negative emotion arises - that's right.

To illustrate the problem of understanding this scheme, I will quote from J. M. Keynes:

“It might be thought that competition between skilled professionals, possessing judgment and knowledge above that of the average private investor, would neutralize the vagaries of the ignorant individual left to his own devices. In reality, however, the energy and art of professional investors and speculators is often directed the other way. Most of these people are actually quite concerned not with making the best long-term forecast of the expected return on investment over its lifetime, but with predicting changes in the system of mutually shared conventions as the basis of market valuation a little ahead of the general public. They are not interested in the real value of some investment object for a person who buys it in order to “keep” it for himself, but in how the market will value it under the influence mass psychology three months or a year later. Here is such a real example that makes us think about what in the economic behavior of an individual (broker or investor) should be taken as “forecasting” (IP) information, and what should be taken as information about “the funds that the subject has at the moment” (IS) ?

But it is possible that the prognostic information is that which is available to an expert economist who evaluates the economic situation, or an experimenter who sets the conditions for psychological experience for an experimental organism.

In general, it is not clear.

And further. And what happens to emotions when there is a situation of equality Yip = Is ?

If next to the word "probability" the word "possibility" is placed in brackets, how should this be understood? If we understand these words as synonyms, then there is an incorrectness in the equal use of the concepts of "probability" and "possibility".

It seems reasonable to think that if we are talking about "innate and ontogenetic [acquired] experience", then the brain evaluates precisely probability and not a possibility, since the organism has an initial experience of satisfying this or that need with the help of already known means. Then we can talk about a partial inconsistency of the action model with the most necessary action as an insufficient skill. But this skill is improved in the process of learning and the probability of fulfilling the need increases in projection on time. Accordingly, emotions can arise only on familiar material, which, changing, causes difficulties in its use, which changes the probability of an event in the projection for a critical time. However, the familiar material itself does not change dramatically, therefore, a completely new situation does not arise. And in terms of already familiar actions, we should talk about probability, since some statistics are already taking place here.

Another thing, if we talk about the assessment of the brain possibilities satisfy a new need. Here, either the emergence of a completely new, and therefore only social need, must take place, such as the emergence of the human need to fly (if we do not consider the possible situations that develop during periods of “evolutionary leaps”); or there must be a completely new means of satisfying the need, for example, the use of plant food predator to meet their nutritional needs. In these cases, we can only talk about the possibility / impossibility, but not about the probability.

Where the author writes about emotions in psychological language - and this is the main content of the article - only some incompleteness in the coverage of mental manifestations can cause an objection. But at the end of his article, P.V. Simonov again refers to the formula for the informational description of emotions:

"IN difficult situation with a low probability of achieving the goal, even a small success (increase in probability) generates a positive emotion of inspiration, which enhances the need to achieve the goal, according to the rule P = E / (Ip - Is), which follows from the formula of emotions.

If we do not pay attention to the structure of this formula, then we can agree with the psychological description of this situation. But then the question arises - what will happen if there is not even a small success in a “difficult situation”.

As for the formula, nothing can be determined with its help, if you use it, remembering the rules of arithmetic.

Recalling what was said earlier:

“The low probability of meeting the need (Ip more than Ic) leads to the emergence of negative emotions. An increase in the probability of satisfaction compared to the previously available forecast (Is is greater than Ip) generates positive emotions «, - and try to consider the result of applying the formula P \u003d E / (Ip - Is) arithmetically, then the need will turn out to be negative, since if Is more than Yip, - and this is a condition for the emergence of a positive emotion, - then both the emotion and the need turn out to be negative, since the difference Yip – Is at Is more than Yip turns out to be negative. But the verbal description states that the emotion in this case is positive.

Or, for example, in case of equality Yip And Is emotion, hence need, vanishes. This may be true, but the author does not consider this option.

Thus, the formula of P.V. Simonov cannot be used in the mathematical sense. And although P.V. Simonov warned that his formula is "structural", but this should not mean, in my opinion, that she can ignore the possibility of interpreting it from a mathematical point of view. It is, most likely, some kind of conceptual scheme, the clarity of which is doubtful for the reader, perhaps because of unjustified savings on the thoroughness of the explanation.

Apparently, the author sought to “stake out” a new, namely, “information-theoretical approach” in explaining the emergence and role of emotions in accordance with the “cybernetic boom” that took place in the early sixties and gave rise to great hopes for the explanatory power of the informational paradigm in public consciousness of those years. This is described in sufficient detail in Lauren R. Graham's book Natural Science, Philosophy, and the Sciences of Human Behavior in the Soviet Union.

Of course, the question arises: why P.V. Simonov did not use the information entropy formula of K. Shannon, but had to invent his own. It is likely that he faced the understandable difficulties of its direct use, as Ashby warned: "Movement in these areas is like moving in a jungle full of traps."

L.R. Graham notes in the book that already by the end of the seventies the initial boom began to subside, and in the eighties "the absence of bright theoretical breakthroughs in cybernetics reduced the credibility of its intellectual scheme as an explanation of all dynamic processes" .

Dmitriev V.I. wrote (1989): “The approach to research in other fields of science from the standpoint of using the basic ideas of information theory has been called information-theoretic approach. Its application in a number of cases made it possible to obtain new theoretical results and valuable practical advice. However, such an approach often leads to the creation of process models that are far from adequate to reality. Therefore, in any research that goes beyond the purely technical problems of transmission and storage of messages, information theory should be used with great caution. This is especially true for modeling human mental activity, the processes of perception and processing of information by him.

In this regard, I would like to say - yes, all this is true, but why is the "information-theoretic approach" attractive for researchers in various fields of science and philosophy? The point seems to be that information theory has introduced into use such a concept as "information entropy", which has revealed its affinity with thermodynamic entropy, which in its meaning is at the level of a philosophical category. And when this happened (1949), scientists started talking about the great significance for science of such a coincidence. “The possibility of any analogy or even structural coincidence of entropy and information caused lively discussions among physicists, philosophers and engineers in many countries. Weaver commented: “When encountering the concept of entropy in communication theory, a person has the right to worry, suspecting that he possesses something fundamental and important,” Lauren R. Graham wrote in his already mentioned book.

In my work on the existence of society, I did not consider it possible to do without the analysis of Shannon's formula, and this caused certain difficulties in its interpretation. It was necessary to go far beyond its special application in order to finally reach completely unexpected conclusions about the possibility of applying the formula to all processes in general, if we abandon its special application, as is customary in information theory, and use it as a general conceptual scheme.

About how information entropy can be understood as a general concept, and not a mathematical object, I set out below.

Information entropy/negentropy formula (Shannon formula) as a basic symbolic construction for describing the process of existence

The "information approach" (in philosophy) involves the use of Shannon's formula (formula of informational entropy/negentropy) as a fundamental symbolic construction for describing any system and its external environment.

But since this text is about the life of a person in society, about his psychology, this description will be close to the physiological, psychological and sociological characteristics of human life.

The most general description of a system, that is, a person, will be the consideration of a person in a certain amount of space occupied by him and the period of life during which a person lives. Then the Shannon formula should be equipped with space-time characteristics, within which a person exists as a certain integrity, and his existence is determined by the sum events occurring inside his organism, connected with external events in the most durable way. It is clear that a complete description of all the events occurring inside the body is impossible. Only what "common sense" and science can provide is possible.

Since a person, like any system in our world, can only exist in the external environment, continuously interacting with it, it is natural that any internal movement is aimed at ensuring that the body exchanges information, energy, matter, necessary man for the existence of his organism. And then the spatio-temporal boundaries of human existence expand to those limits that are understood as the "living space-time" of a person. It is clear that the boundaries of this living space-time will be different for different people. Information boundaries for any person will be determined by the information that a person has about the structure of the outside world in general; the energy boundaries for each person will be determined by the limits of the environment that is capable of providing a person with the supply of external energy; and material boundaries will be determined by those things that a person can dispose of on a permanent basis (or a guaranteed temporary basis). In the context of the globalization of economic and political life, the boundaries of the external environment are expanding to the size of a universal space, when every person, wherever he lives, has the opportunity to use universal human achievements in the field of information, in the field of energy development, and in material form.

Needs

The body is a self-regulating system. The process of self-regulation is quite well described in the "Guide" edited by K.V. Sudakov ("Functional systems of the body". M. "Medicine". 1987.). In particular, it says: “Due to the dynamic self-regulation of activity, various functional systems determine the stability of metabolic processes in the body necessary for normal life and their balance with the external environment.

The retention by various functional systems of various physiological indicators at a certain level, which ensures normal metabolism, ultimately determines the “constancy of the internal environment of the body” ... Functional systems that determine the stability of various indicators of the internal environment by their self-regulatory mechanisms are specific devices that ensure homeostasis. The results of the activity of these functional systems can be considered as constants the internal environment of the body. These are blood pressure level, blood temperature, osmotic pressure, blood pH, etc…

Different severity deviations of indicators of the internal environment of the body from the level that ensures normal metabolism, at each given moment of time, constitute the internal biological or metabolic need of the body. Due to the versatility of metabolic processes, at any given moment in the body, a number of indicators of the internal environment are simultaneously changing. However, there is always a leading parameter of the general metabolic need - the dominant need, the most important for the survival of an individual, its genus or species, which excites the dominant functional system and builds a behavioral act aimed at satisfying it.

The metabolic needs of living organisms are combined into large groups of basic biological nutritional, sexual and defensive needs that ensure the survival of individuals and the extension of their kind. The leading ones are: nutritional need, characterized by a decrease in the level of nutrients; drinking requirement associated with an increase in osmotic pressure; temperature need with a change in body temperature; sexual desire, etc. In humans, social needs acquire leading importance, which arise not only on a metabolic basis, but also as a result of social and individual learning, acquired knowledge, moral and legal laws of society, etc. …

So, on the one hand, the constant variability of the internal environment, and on the other, the vital necessity of its constancy. It is these contradictions that functional systems resolve through their activity due to self-regulation. Any deviation of one or another indicator of the internal environment, as well as the result of behavioral activity from the level that ensures the normal functioning of the organism, causes a chain of self-regulatory processes aimed at restoring the initial vital level of these indicators. The more the adaptive result deviates from the level of normal metabolism, the stronger the mechanisms are stimulated to return it to the optimal level.

The question arises, how is the above description of metabolic processes related to the "information approach"?

The "information approach" postulates that the cause of any movement, wherever it is observed, is information potential difference between information capacity models state of reality and reality. This means that in any information center of any system, a state (or process) model must be formed, which is actually constant, with which the actual state of the controlled environment is compared. And it is this difference in information potentials that is the reason arousal information center of the system. And this excitation should be the greater, the greater the potential difference between the model and reality. And this provision from the “information approach” is fully consistent with the above: “Any deviation of one or another indicator of the internal environment, as well as the result of behavioral activity from the level that ensures the normal functioning of the body, causes a chain of self-regulatory processes aimed at restoring the initial vital level these indicators. The more the adaptive result deviates from the level of normal metabolism, the stronger the mechanisms aimed at its return to the optimal level are excited” (see above).

Thus, it can be stated that the actualization of the need is expressed through the excitation of the information center.

If we accept the fundamental nature of Shannon's formula, then what in this formula can correspond to excitation? The formula itself expresses only sum of events, taking place in some space, which can be denoted as systemic during system time. The type of events is represented by the multiplier Pi logPi, Where Pi is the probability of the implementation of the i-th event, A log Pi is excitation. Such conciseness of Shannon's formula requires concretization, which turns out to be possible in the theory of functional systems developed by the school of P.K. Anokhin. Therefore, I will continue quoting material from the "Guide":

“The initial stage of the central organization of any functional system is the stage afferent synthesis. At this stage, in the CNS, the synthesis of excitations is carried out, due to the internal metabolic need, situational and triggering afferentation with the constant use of genetic and individually acquired memory mechanisms. The stage of afferent synthesis ends with the stage decision making, which in its physiological essence means the limitation of the degrees of freedom of the functional system and the choice of a single line of effector action aimed at satisfying the leading need of the organism formed at the stage of afferent synthesis. The next stage in the dynamics of the sequential deployment of the central architectonics of functional systems, which is carried out simultaneously with the formation of the effector action, is the foresight of the required result of the activity of the functional system - action result acceptor. At this stage of the central organization of the functional system, the programming of the main parameters of the required result takes place, and on the basis of the feedback about the achieved parameters of the results, their constant evaluation is carried out. The activity of the functional system decreases if a full-fledged result is achieved that satisfies the initial need of the body. Otherwise, if the parameters of the achieved results do not correspond to the properties of the acceptor of the result of the action, an orienting research reaction occurs, the afferent synthesis is rebuilt, a new decision is made, the activity of the functional system is carried out in a new direction necessary to satisfy the initial need ...

All stages of achieving an adaptive result of behavioral activity useful for the body are constantly evaluated due to the reverse afferentation that occurs when the corresponding receptors are stimulated and comes through the corresponding afferent nerves and humorally to the structures that make up the apparatus of the acceptor of the result of the action. In the event that the reverse afferentation does not carry complete information about the optimal level of result, nerve cells, which make up the acceptor of the result of the action, are excited, a new afferent synthesis is formed, a new action is performed, and these processes occur until the result necessary for the body is achieved and complete information is obtained about the optimal level of the result of the corresponding functional system that satisfies the initial need of the body.

… In functional systems of group and social levels and in various functional systems of human mental activity, the result, which is usually outside the body, is often not associated with metabolic needs, although it can indirectly provide them. Such functional systems can be built entirely by brain functions and mental and behavioral activities derived from these functions, ensuring the achievement of certain adaptive results useful for the body. An example of such a functional system can be the production activity of a person aimed at obtaining a socially significant result for him and society, for example, assembling certain parts in production, designing special devices, writing a book, etc. ” .

So, Shannon's formula contains the sum of events of the form Pi logPi, where the excitation should be taken as the factor logPi. Another multiplier is the probability of the event occurring − Pi. Then, folding the “structure of a behavioral act of any degree of complexity” from the form described in the above quote into the form “probability of the model implementation” ( Pi), we can obtain a compact symbolic construction of the Shannon formula, which is the sum negentropic events.

Is such a reduction, which reduces the continuous process of life activity to the quantization of individual acts, justified? Probably yes, since the structure of a behavioral act of any degree of complexity must be completed. Recall: “In the event that the reverse afferentation does not carry complete information about the optimal level of the result, the nerve cells that make up the acceptor of the result of the action are excited, a new afferent synthesis is formed, a new action is performed, and these processes occur until the necessary organism is reached. result and complete information about the optimal level of the result of the corresponding functional system that satisfies the initial need of the organism will not be obtained. In other words: the model of action aimed at satisfying a need must be realized with a probability equal to one in the system space-time.

Thus, the entire life activity of an organism, according to the theory of functional systems, consists of “systemic “quanta” of behavioral activity” (Chapter 5 of the “Guidelines”), culminating in an action that leads to the realization of vital needs with a probability equal to one. Reducing the behavioral "quanta" to the symbolic description of the event in Shannon's formula, we obtain its content as sum of negentropic events of the form "model - reality - the answer is YES (NO)". Then we can write this sum of events in the form amount of information, that is, in the form of the same Shannon formula only without the minus sign:

Such a formula filled with negentropic content cannot explain the cause of the excitation, since an event of the form “model - reality - answer YES”, ending with the realization of a need with a probability equal to one, mathematically leads to the fact that the multiplier logPi acquires a zero value, which means (according to the interpretation) that the excitation turns out to be zero, which is of course true when the need has already been satisfied - it is difficult to imagine a person who was satiated “to satiety” and continued to chew (excluding pathology). This means that it is necessary to consider the negentropy of life processes only in unity with the corresponding entropy. For example, in the "Guide" we read: "Motivational excitation enhances the activity of neurons, the degree of dispersion of their activity - their entropy, which is manifested in the irregular nature of the impulse activity of neurons different levels brain. Satisfaction of needs, on the contrary, reduces the entropy of neurons. Satisfaction of the dominant need translates the irregular activity of neurons at various levels of the brain, which detect bursty rhythms, into regular activity.

Thus, it becomes necessary to consider all processes in their dialectical unity - in the unity of entropy/negentropy.

In fact, as you know, the primary concept with a solid foundation of fundamentality was born in scientific and philosophical discourse the concept of "entropy", and the concept of "negentropy" is already a concept derived from entropy, made through negation. " Concise Dictionary philosophy” (1982) defines: “The amount of information is mathematically identical to the entropy of an object, taken with the opposite sign. Entropy characterizes the measure of chaos, disorder of the system. Therefore, information can be represented as the negative entropy (or negentropy) of the system.”

This definition must be treated with caution. The fact is that in real life, the entropy of “one or another object” can never be represented in the form of an adequate amount of information, that is, in the form of negentropy, since this would mean achieving our goal. complete knowledge about the object, the achievement of complete truth or the existence of real objects with eternal, unchanging and perfect properties, which is impossible in principle. Although a relative and adequate correspondence of entropy and negentropy can be observed, for example, in the construction of an organism in strict accordance with the project (DNA), when the project as informational negentropy is the entropy in relation to the negentropy of the actual construction of the organism.

Therefore, when analyzing a quote from the "Guide", it must be borne in mind that "irregular activity of brain neurons" as entropy cannot completely and completely turn into "regular", that is, into negentropy; Potentially, there is always the possibility of a new irregular activity of brain neurons in the event of a different (new) need, as well as in the case of a delay in meeting an actual need due to some kind of obstacles.

Such an internal entropy of the information center not only provides the ability to search for behavior models adequate to external circumstances, not only provides the possibility of modernization existing models and the emergence of new ones, but it explains the emergence of “motivational excitation” when we consider the Shannon formula in its unity as the entropy/negentropy formula.

Entropy/negentropy

For clarity, the consideration of the Shannon formula should refer to the graph of the interdependence of the quantities included in the formula.

Rice. 1. Graph of the interdependence of the quantities included in the Shannon formula.

On the graph, the horizontal axis shows the probabilities of events P;

the entire sum of all events is plotted along the vertical axis - this is a blue curve ( H/I);

the dynamics of an individual event is plotted along the vertical axis - the green curve, which corresponds to the multiplier P i Log P i;

along the vertical axis, the values ​​of "excitations" of individual events are plotted - a red curve (in the formula, this is a multiplier LogP i).

A cursory analysis of the graph gives rise to obvious purely theoretical conclusions.

The entropy/negentropy curve is symmetrical about the midpoint, which is located at the location where the probability of an event is 0.5. This suggests that the right side of the entropy/negentropy plot constitutes what might be called a "life substrate". That is, in the right part of the graph, all those events that are controlled by the system-subject are postponed. This, in turn, means that those vital needs of the organism that are realized in the process of life activity constitute life itself. And needs can be realized through the use of action models, through the use of skills. For a person living in society, in a very significant part, these needs turn out to be social - by implementing labor models accepted in society, a person receives a reward for work and exchanges for it the set of necessary realizations of his needs that is accepted in society, and which, with one or another a different completeness ensures the life of a person and his reproduction (internal relationships in a family or in social groups quasi-family organization, as well as subsistence farming can be considered separately). Then the right arises to speak of social negentropy, within which all vital (social, and therefore biological) needs are satisfied within the critical limits of the space-time of his life.

Attention is drawn to the "excitation" curve ( log P i ) corresponding to the negentropic region (right side of the graph); it nowhere goes beyond the curve of negentropy and forms, let's say, the "normal emotional background" of life. If the question “How are you?”, a person close to us answers “fine”, then this just means that not a single i-th event normal social life does not go beyond social negentropy in its emotional significance.

The left side of the entropy/negentropy curve is characterized by the fact that there are events random, the probability of which does not allow them to be included in the composition of social negentropy, or a person does not consider the possibility of transferring such events into a controlled state at all. And we are not dealing here with the probability of the implementation of action models, but only with possibility / impossibility transfer of random events into a controlled state. Then the right arises to speak of the entropy of life as the sum of a variety of events - hostile, neutral or benevolent, existing in information space individual - in his informational perception of reality (observation), memory and imagination, and not in the space of his direct interaction with the external environment. The property of rarity makes it possible to classify "exotic" types of human behavior and rare specimens as social entropy. material culture as works of art - "elite" samples of architectural structures or technical devices of exclusive execution and use.

It is noteworthy that the "excitation" curve ( log P i) on the entropy section of the graph goes beyond the entropy curve everywhere. But besides the fact that the excitation has a significant value, it is also bipolar, that is, it is not determined by the sign of the emotion and we do not always know, and often do not know at all what to expect from a random event - good or evil. Thus, the graph clearly shows that the entropic side of life is irrational, saturated with excitement (feeling), which has a dual nature in terms of the sign of emotion, and the magnitude of the excitement is the stronger, the less often an event can be observed. The entropy area is not the area of ​​knowledge, but the area of ​​assumptions, vague expectations, "black" and "white" envy, faith and facts of the degradation of social negentropy (for example, social catastrophes).

In a certain sense, we can say that the right side of the graph of the entropy curve represents the material side of the social life of society or its civilization, and the left area of ​​the graph of the entropy curve represents what is commonly called the spiritual side of social life or its culture, which in such a volume is saturated with events of evil equally with events of good.

Until now, emotions have not been mentioned anywhere, but everywhere it has been about excitement. And this is consistent with the very structure of Shannon's formula, which belongs to the field of negentropy, when excitation, regardless of polarity, simply “starts” a behavioral quantum that ends in satisfaction. This is also true for cases where a behavioral quantum (a series of quantums) is aimed at avoiding danger. Satisfaction from a successfully completed quantum of action "removes" excitement, which is felt in the form of a positive emotion. But if the model of action does not lead to the realization of a vital need, which in social life can very often take place due to the fact that models of social expectation are constantly being improved and become more complicated (inflated needs), and also due to the fact that various social mechanisms (including technical ones) can refuse to work, then instead of the expected answer YES in the “quantum” of behavioral activity, the answer to the opposite sign is inverted - NO. Then, according to the law of mathematical sign reversal, the negentropic event passes into the region of entropy, and this process is accompanied by the appearance of a negative emotion. In such cases, one usually speaks of a “growth of social entropy”, although it would be more correct to emphasize that this growth occurs due to the degradation of social negentropy, since the growth of social entropy itself does not carry an unambiguous negative sign; the growth of social entropy can also occur due to such events, the possibility of using which as part of social negentropy is quite achievable and can give rise to positive emotions of a feeling of “fullness of life” (for example, the appearance of new goods on the market).

Agreeing with I.P. Pavlov that "that nervous processes hemispheres when establishing and maintaining a dynamic stereotype, there is what is usually called feelings in their two main categories - positive and negative, and in their huge gradation of intensities ”, to use the concept of“ emotions ”in the context of this article, it should be noted that there is a certain average state of mind astonishment. Here the logic becomes three-valued.

Surprise gives rise to excitement that does not have a positive or negative characteristic, perhaps due to some detachment from an unexpected event that does not give rise to a need for a given person to respond to this new “challenge” from the external environment. And this kind of emotion can serve as a trigger for curiosity (or just curiosity) - for the study of an unexpected phenomenon, although with a certain fear for the consequences, but not so strong as to result in an unambiguous ban on research activities. In other words, surprise is an emotion in a state of unstable balance, ready at any moment to turn into both positive and negative - a kind of "razor blade" - a trigger.

PilogPi Curve as Will

Research activities are not carried out "from scratch". A person already has some set of models that he can apply by approximate analogy to a new phenomenon, trying to get an answer about the possible controllability of this phenomenon. The very first successes in the management of a new phenomenon fall into the data bank that can form a sustainable model for managing this new phenomenon. Along with the formation of new models for managing a new phenomenon, the probability of the effectiveness of these models also increases. And here it turns out to be interesting drawing the curve of the "event" - the factor Pi logPi- on the chart.

This curve can be interpreted from the point of view of the informational approach as a human will. And the graph shows that the magnitude of the will depends on the excitement and on the magnitude of the probability of the realization of a life event. At the same time, when the realization of a life event occurs with a probability close to one, the "excitation" is insignificant, and in the limit ( Pi=1) is equal to zero. It is clear that the high probability of realizing a life event depends on the human skills in the management of this event, at least achieved by applying the efforts of past generations to organize social life (reliable housing, reliable technology, etc.). So a secure life breeds boredom. Obviously, the human skill or predetermination of a physical event is determined by the amount of information that is involved in the skill or in the preparation of a physical event, then it can be written that P = I, Where I- the amount of information determined by the Shannon formula, taken with the opposite sign.

The graph shows that some “unreliability” of life gives it an emotional background of alternating negative and positive emotions arising from “small” life problems, culminating in their successful overcoming. It makes life "interesting". But the possibility of solving these problems should not be lower than the probability of 0.5 within critical space-time, otherwise, as can be seen from the graph, emotional arousal will go beyond the entropy curve, which can be represented as the formation of a strong dominant of the problem situation, which may end in finding a “non-standard” solution, or may end in a “stagnant dominant” or “learned helplessness” .

In "normal" life, arousal corresponding to i- to that event, in due time launches models for managing the current process of life, providing some excess time for studying a new phenomenon. But the study of the new as the ability to control this new grows from a probability close to zero to a probability equal to 0.37 is accompanied by an increase in will, which turns out to be maximum at this point. Here at this point - the probability of the event being realized is 0.37 - the initial ability to manage a new event and emotional arousal reach their maximum value (the phenomenon of "neophytes"), and we can already say that from this moment the new will win its place in individual life as another kind of skill, and in social life as another means of life support in the space of civilization.

Speaking about the concept of will and considering the question of the magnitude of the probability of realizing an event of control over reality (or reality), which is set by the graph as a well-defined value (0.37), we face the difficulty of numerically determining this value. Indeed, how can an individual professional new skill be defined in the form of, for example, "skill percentages" or in the form of the probability of success in a new professional activity? The picture obtained on the chart at the point of maximum will shows that at this point "excitation" ( logPi) has a rather strong outlier outside the entropy curve, therefore, subjective self-assessment will be emotional, that is, by definition, biased in the sense of its a priori utility. This circumstance, it seems, can devalue the conceptual scheme based on the concept of will as a symbol in Shannon's formula. But is it really possible to find any objective criteria in life itself that could reliably predict the result of the course of the creative process with an exceptionally positive assessment? Here is how J. M. Keynes describes the decision-making process of an entrepreneur: “Probably most of our decisions positive, whose effects will not be fully felt until many days later, are taken under the influence of only cheerfulness - this spontaneously arising determination to act, and not to sit back, but by no means as a result of determining the arithmetic average of various quantified benefits, weighted by the likelihood of each. Entrepreneurs can only portray activities that are supposedly driven mainly by the motives formulated in their own plans for the future, no matter how sincere and truthful they may be. Only a little more than an expedition to the South Pole [in Keynesian times, complete uncertainty], entrepreneurship is based on accurate calculations of expected income.

Thus, it remains to agree with the assumption that in the individual consciousness, the assessment of the probability of the projected event occurring is hidden from consciousness in the form of counting the number of past successful (or unsuccessful) actions that can be extracted into the operational consciousness only with effort, but in their natural form represent intuition.

In industrial relations, the problem is solved by peer review carried out by management or by independent experts. The emergence of the new and its assertion in social life as a total is always little predictable. Therefore, one will probably have to come to terms with the ambiguity of the assessment of the result of creativity due to the difficultly determined value of the probability of controllability of an individual new process; but on the other hand, it opens up the possibility of defining "excitation" as a kind of guarantee that individual creativity will not stop halfway to full success.

Here it becomes necessary to give another interpretation to the factor logP in Shannon's formula.

Excitement like time

In addition to the fact that the curve logP on the graph is understood in the "information approach" as the "excitation" curve, it can also be understood as the curve time(the philosophical definition of time is given in another work - in "Society as a unity of social entropy-negentropy", where excitation is identified with the concept of "time"). The fact is that any life event can be imagined as an event of the type "point-moment" - a spatio-temporal act. For example, from the moment of awakening from sleep and entering into real life, a person begins to perform whole line actions prescribed by the "routine" of life - dressing, washing, breakfast, getting ready for work, etc. Each of these actions begins with the "excitement" of the initiator of exactly the action that is directly connected with it; and while this action lasts in the form of a “quantum” of action of the form “model - reality - answer YES” as an operation with the space of life, the total lifetime “works out” in this quantum, and the excitement does not subside until the action is completed. As the quantum of action nears completion with an apparent successful outcome, the excitement associated with that action begins to subside (the time of that action disappears), but the excitement (there arises) of the next action arises. Thus, the excitation that initiates the action acts as an analogue of the time component in a single spatio-temporal act of action. Well, the total lifetime "works out" in a sequential series of quanta of necessary and free (useless) actions.

Due to the fact that the “normal” fluidity of civilized life is a fairly well regulated process, that is, a process with relatively high values ​​of the probabilities of performing ordinary life actions, then, accordingly, the values ​​of the multipliers logPi turn out to be insignificant, not reaching the boundaries of the entropy curve, which can be understood as the formation of "free time". In fact, anyone who is going to work in the morning “as usual” knows that he can think about other problems at the same time, which means that the time of these other problems is, relatively speaking, “ free time”, which was formed as a surplus as a result of a well-organized routine of life. It is clear that in the event of a breakdown in the regularity of the usual process, excitation occurs at the point of failure and "free" time disappears, replaced by the time to solve the problem of failure - a dominant (Ukhtomsky) appears, which can be temporary and without a trace if the problem is successfully solved or leave a long trace of fear for an accident. repetition of an undesirable situation if the problem was solved carelessly.

Summing up the reasoning about time, we can say that the guarantor or indicator of the intensity of the creative process is the time during which creative thought and action work with such intensity that they not only use all the available “free” time of the creator’s life, but are also able to suppress times. (excitement) of some even vital events, except for the most necessary.

The creative process, even in its individual manifestation, can be outwardly defined by the amount of time that is spent on solving a creative problem (sometimes all the conditionally “free” time of a lifetime is spent on this). And the excitation curve ( logPi) on the graph can clearly show how the dominant excitation suppresses the process of realizing other needs.

As for the society, the formation of a new branch of civilization can be traced quite definitely statistically, and then the "probability" of the event gets its mathematical expression. In society, the probability that the new is at the “peak” of social will can be calculated, for example, as the number of consumers of new goods or services. If 37% of this class of consumers have already begun to use new goods or services, then this means that civilization is confidently replacing the culture of the rarity of these means (if 37% of the population uses mobile communications or computers, then the probability of their total use increases dramatically). In general, it seems that in statistical systems, an increase in the probability of reaching certain states by homogeneous elements up to a value of 0.37 suggests the formation law, according to which the whole system will pass into this state (for example, crystallization). Is it not this "magic" number - the probability of an event equal to 0.37 - that determines the properties of the "strange attractor" or the temperature of warm-bloodedness?

A quick figurative and obvious analysis of the graph of the interdependence of the quantities included in the formula of information entropy (Shannon's formula) shows that its application to the consideration of life gives a convenient and compact conceptual scheme that links the main characteristics of the behavior of a living organism in relation to the external environment through mutual dependencies. This scheme prescribes to consider all systems in their inseparable dual unity as entropy/negentropy. From this point of view, the external environment for the organism, in accordance with the mathematical structure of the information entropy formula, turns out to be sum of events, the probability of which has a very different magnitude and causality. Part of the events is controlled by the organism in the sense in which the vital needs of the organism are satisfied with probabilities close to one or equal to one. This part of events is the negentropy of the external environment, which, in fact, ensures the life of the organism. Thus, the graph can be divided into two parts: the left part is the entropy; the right side is the negentropy.

In relation to the events on the left side of the graph, no actions are performed by the body or are performed randomly or episodically (go fishing, go to the cinema or theater, climb mountains) - this is the “life entropy background”. More often, external events suddenly intrude into the stable negentropic process of life, giving rise to excitations of various strengths and polarizations (good-evil).

The events on the right side of the graph are the events of the necessary actions organism in relation to the external environment, which can be represented as "quanta" of action (or "information acts") of the form "model - reality - answer YES (NO)". Events are triggered via excitation"information center of the organism, and the events themselves have a direction from the subject of action to the external environment. The picture of the increase-decay of excitation, depending on the magnitude of the probability of the realization of the event, is presented on the graph of the red curve, depicting the dynamics of the multiplier logP in Shannon's formula. It is quite obvious that the significance of excitation in the existence of any system is very great.

This is what is visible on the graph.

Now about what is not on the chart.

"Possibility" or "Probability"?

The left side of the graph, which I propose to consider as the area of ​​entropy, is formed in the same way as the right side of the graph, by the mathematical structure of the Shannon formula, where the probability is indicated by the symbol P. However, the concepts of "probability" for these dialectically opposite areas must also be different. (For those who will be biased towards the terms "probability", "mathematical probability" I recommend referring to B. Russell's book "Human knowledge: its scope and boundaries" (M. "Respublika". 2000. Part five. "Probability" )).

Since "entropy / negentropy" are referred to as "possibility / reality", the concept of "possibility / probability" of reality must be defined on the graph in accordance with their "legitimate" areas. Thus, on the left side of the graph, only the dichotomous opportunity attributing events in the external environment to their controllability or uncontrollability on the part of the organism (“good / evil”, “this / not this”, “friend / foe”). And the transition of possibility into the probability of reality, probably, should be considered in the place of the graph where the conditional mathematical probability is expressed by the value of 0.37. But since at this point "excitation" ( log Pi) goes far beyond the entropy curve, such an event should be considered abnormal and temporary until the ability to manage such an event reaches the value of its satisfactory controllability. This means that the controllability of a new event in the development perspective should not take longer than its existing alternatives, and the result of the activity of such an event should be more effective in quantitative or qualitative terms. For example, the possibility of aeronautics in the absence of controlled means is an entropy of possibility / impossibility, "charged with excitement" of a significant amount of both its negation and positive development. And the first flights on primitive vehicles testify to the initial low controllability of this event with a corresponding low initial value of the probability of success of this new event. Before the first flight, there is only the possibility / impossibility of an event of this kind, and after the first flight, we can talk about the probability of controllability of such an event. After reaching the conditional probability value from the zero level of controllability of this new event to the level of 0.37, we can say that this new event will become common. vehicle with low time ( logP) during spatial displacements.

Now for the right side of the chart.

How is the probability of a negentropic event, i.e. its controllability, determined? In the ordinary sense, the high probability of controllability of an event is determined by skill organism to control the controlled event.

The skill itself can be thought of as a dynamic information model event, which includes not only the understanding of the processes occurring in the external environment represented by the volume of this event, but also the internal capabilities of the organism (internal entropy) transformed in such a way that these capabilities are implemented in a specific organization (negentropy) that already has some experience in managing such or very similar event. By itself understanding event, that is, acquaintance with a purely informational description of it with a sequence of control actions on the part of the "operator", which is sometimes called knowledge, is not a guarantee of successful controllability of the event on the part of the body, since it does not give rise to internal excitement (“emotional potential”); this understanding only increases the possibility of successful event management; and true knowledge arises when the information management model is implemented in a real process that gives rise to excitement in the management process ( logP) fixing in memory a series of successful-unsuccessful actions to manage the event through positive-negative emotions. Therefore, the informational description of the technology of any action, made with all the details regarding the sequence of actions to manage the event and the time of the duration of individual operations (information negentropy) is still entropy in relation to reality, since the magnitude of the excitation turns out to be unknown, which may turn out to be too high. in each series of unknown upcoming actions (“prelaunch fever”) in the process of implementing such a model, or too low (self-confidence). Therefore, it seems necessary to use Shannon's formula as an information model in the form amount of information, that is, in the form of the entropy of reality, but taken with the opposite sign.

Then the probability P of the controlled event will be equal to the amount of information contained in the information center of the control system (CNS of the body) determined by the Shannon formula, fully corresponding to the external entropy to be transformed in the labor operation.

The advantages of such a definition of the magnitude of the probability of event controllability are, in comparison with the “dispassionate” description, that emotionality is “embedded” in the description using the Shannon formula in the form of a multiplier logPi, which shows before any experience that any failure on some i-volume the intermediate stage of the event realization can be problematic with the corresponding emotional arousal, which can change the time of the controlled event up to its stop.

This purely theoretical position is fulfilled in practice, for example, when a detailed routing with the determination of the exact time for the execution of individual actions in their sequence; and the exact value of the period of time for the execution of a particular operation is determined statistically based on real processes (the “kanban” system in Japanese automotive industry). This standard time plays the role of an excitation indicator, the value of which turns out to be zero if the operator is able to withstand the norm of the operation time; accordingly, when the operator does not have time to complete the operation on time, arousal arises, which is called “frustration” in psychology.

Returning to the theory, we can say that the probability of an event occurring in the right area of ​​the formula graph can even be quantified based on the statistics of the execution of a production operation by an individual operator as the ratio of all successful actions to the number of his unsuccessful actions in the space-time of a production operation.

Information potential difference

By itself, Shannon's formula, of course, does not give rise to the concept of the cause of any movement. But it requires that with its help it is possible to determine the cause of the movement, including the mental one.

The philosopher Lapshin defines the cause of development as "suffering" from the contradiction between "existent and proper".

At the same time, we understand that “existing” is that state of the external environment that we can describe as “entropy of reality” in its various states in relation to the needs of the organism, and “proper” as such a state of it that gives rise to controllability of the external environment in the direction realization of the needs of the organism, that is, as a negentropy of reality, in which events are represented by information acts (quanta of action) of the form "model - reality - answer YES (NO)".

In general, in relation to the entropy of life, the negentropy of its controlled area is represented by a very small part. But even this insignificant part, before the action models are applied to it, is the entropy of the “raw material”, which is subject to transformation in a sequential series of action quanta prescribed by the information model of this transformation.

Actually organismal needs are actualized (excited) by the difference of information potentials in the mechanism of homeostasis, which is the difference between the constants of various physiological parameters: “These are the level of blood pressure, blood temperature, osmotic pressure, blood pH, etc…” (see above section “Needs ”) - and their actual state, which changes during the life of the organism, as well as the changing level of hormones in the blood, which form the nature of sexual behavior and the behavior associated with it, which ensures the rearing of offspring - the creation of housing, care and upbringing of offspring. The social behavior of a person, of course, becomes much more complicated and more complicated so that these "grassroots" mechanisms for the formation of a difference in information potentials go into the shadows, and come to the fore as completely independent social needs. However, the hidden connection with physiology is firmly preserved - social (or asocial) behavior is largely determined by the level of hormones in the blood, which changes not only from external causes that cause the body to react to an “external challenge”, but also from natural oscillatory processes in their concentration. Social models of both the external environment and models of its transformation are a highly developed and very complicated form of basic physiological needs, when, for example, the need for food is satisfied through the management of the most complex social system of agricultural production (in each of its elemental areas and in general), connected by strong ties with all other areas of human information, energy, transport and material activities. At this already very high level of managing the realization of needs that have become social, the same mechanisms of formation of the difference in information potentials between the model of the expected state of the external environment and its actual state operate, as well as at the “grassroots”. And if at the grassroots level there is a difference in information potentials between some physiological constant and the actual state of this parameter inside the organism, then at the social level the difference in information potentials is formed between the “constant” of the state of some social connection and its actual state in the social environment. For example, if the result of the production of agricultural products was sold in the past on the free market at some price, according to which the production of agricultural products turned out to be profitable, then this price becomes a "constant" against which the sale price in the present is compared, and the difference in product prices " in the past" and "present" there is a difference in information potentials, which gives rise to emotional arousal of positive or negative polarity, depending on the sign of this difference; or good condition technical means agriculture is a constant, from comparison with which excitement is born in the event of equipment breakdowns. The simplicity of determining the difference in information potentials in monetary units is deceptive; behind this simplicity are complex economic processes studied by the science of economics (for example, in terms of price formation in general, the price of money itself and the stability of this price, as well as the ratio of price and value as negentropy / entropy), the state of which is itself an example of the emergence of a rather significant difference in information potentials between what is and what should be, since economic science still cannot give rise to satisfactory conceptual, and therefore effective schemes for avoiding economic crises that give rise to inflation, which distorts the operation of the monetary model, or unemployment as a sharp change in social constants. And in such difficult cases the definition of the difference in information potentials can be expressed only in “natural” concepts that make up the structure of the model of economic understanding and their comparison with the “natural” actions of economic entities, represented as entropy/negentropy by the corresponding Shannon formulas. And it goes without saying that the "natural" production, exchange or political processes that give rise to the difference in information potentials must necessarily be measured in the form of the amount of information contained in the social model and in the production, exchange or political action itself, when Shannon's formula is filled with events in their in kind, and the multiplier log Pi every time for every i This event shows the magnitude of emotional arousal in the event of a mismatch between what is and what should be.

The principle of model formation

Models of the external environment, formed in any information center, are formed in two dimensions, so to speak - in time and in space.

The formation of a model along the time axis occurs as an increase in individual information potential based on the individual's own understanding of what is happening in the external environment and his own attempts to control this external environment using genetic models. This process is typical for organisms that do not have a group organization and for children up to a certain age (presumably up to two years). From a certain age, the formation of models in humans begins with the participation of the spatial component - with the participation of adults and continues throughout life. In this case, the models of one's own understanding of reality and one's own skills are compared with the models of understanding and skills of other people, giving rise to a difference in information potentials, colloquially called "envy". The excitation, which is formed as a result of the difference in information potentials along the time axis, turns out to be bipolar according to the entropy scheme - it can have a positive potential in case of a one-time success; and may have a negative potential in the event of a one-time lesion. In the first case, the correctness of the model used is confirmed and consolidated as the basis of the quantum of behavior; in the second case, upon receiving the answer NO in the standard quantum of action, a sharp “overexcitation” first occurs, resulting in “super-effort” in action (increasing physical action to violence, energy action with the help of money to “bribe” or “raising the tone” to shouting in verbal action) if success is achieved as a result of the application of super-efforts, then such a model can also be fixed in memory, but it turns out to be charged with dissatisfaction, requiring subsequent modification; if, as a result of the application of super-efforts, the quantum of action is not realized, then the chosen model is negated and it stops for a while or permanently. It is obvious that the exclusively individual line of model formation - along the time axis, greatly limits the development of the organism (the fate of "mowgli" Amala and Kamila). The environment helps to overcome this limitation, and not only social - even inorganic nature can give rise to some analogies for developing models of individual behavior. Moreover, the example and teaching participation of more developed peers and adults helps to overcome the negative barrier of individual failure and helps to master more complex behavior patterns.

Be that as it may, but the integrated temporal-spatial information capacity of the model of individual behavior, as a rule, increases, both during the individual lifetime and in the expansion of the life control space.

Some asymmetry, which can be observed in the dominance of the time line (relying on one's own experience) or the spatial line (relying on external experience) during the formation of the model, apparently gives rise to the features of the "introverted" and extroverted types of human character.

The dynamics of skill increase requires the expansion of the control space and the transfer of control actions to another space and to achieve longer periods of preservation of the properties of the controlled object - the desire to achieve greater reliability of control objects. The difference in information potentials between the "overestimated" model of the external environment gives rise to excitement, prompting the elimination of this difference. The moment of achieving relative equality of the information capacity of the model and the indicators of the external environment in the process of the control action to change the state of this environment in the direction indicated by the model, causes satisfaction as the reaction of the body to the decline in the excitation voltage. This decline in excitement is sometimes understood as a positive emotion. (When these lines were written, a picture was broadcast on the Internet from the flight control center of the Curiosity rover at the time of its “landing”. The hall was filled with tense expectation of a decisive moment. When the device successfully touched and established itself on the surface of the planet Mars, a storm of jubilation arose in the hall) .

The difference in information potentials between the model of individual behavior and the total information capacity of the environment has a bipolar orientation towards its elimination. One vector is aimed at one's own perfection, at more and more complication of one's own models of managing the external environment; the other seeks to reduce the state of the environment to the level of its own capabilities, determined by a conservative model of behavior.

Improvement of own models of external environment management occurs due to the use of the sphere of external entropy, which is filled with previously uncontrolled events or the controllability of which is unsatisfactory, or the good controllability of some events relates to other systems and activities, but it is assumed that these methods can be transferred to another type of activity.

The process of improving models consists in the fact that a conservative behavior model, if it already ensures the availability of free time, is supplemented with an understanding of the potential possibility of using previously unused entropy events as controlled ones and an action that leads to the fact that the understanding turns out to be correct in the sense that how the expected controllability of the new event is achievable in the process of applying the action. For example, the conservative model of using horse-drawn vehicles in intra-urban transportation creates control problems due to excess entropy of waste - manure piles threaten to litter the city in the event of an intensive growth in horse-drawn transportation. There are facts of external social entropy of the use of internal combustion engines in other areas of human activity. Then the possibility of using internal combustion engines on carriages instead of horses is built into the conservative model of horse transportation. This is how a car appears and there is an increase in the information capacity of all models related to motorization - the development of applied technical sciences; development of industrial production of all materials necessary for the production, operation of vehicles and their assembly; development of driving skills; the development of road construction, etc. This is how information models corresponding to reality grow on the basis of the universal principle of evolution “durability, fertility, accuracy”.

If the principle of longevity and fertility does not raise questions, then the principle of "accuracy" needs clarification. The fact is that successful human activity in all areas related to productive activity is impossible without strict adherence to all technologies that prescribe very specific patterns of behavior. And these models are informational negentropy, which can be described by Shannon's formula as the amount of information.

The actual state of the external environment in the “motorization” branch can also be described by the Shannon formula, and then it becomes possible to compare the information capacities of the motorization model and the actual motorization.

A person without a car, or a country without an automobile industry, experiences "suffering" from the difference in information potentials between the model of possible car ownership or the possibility of developing an automobile industry, which can lead to the fact that this difference in information potentials is eliminated in a positive way - a person acquires a car or learn to be a driver, and the country builds factories for the production of cars or buys them. (the negative way of eliminating the difference in informational potentials by means of "wrecking" turns out to be futile, although it can take place as an act of desperate behavior).

Individual models social behavior, which become more complex in individual time "from the past-through the present-to the future" become individual "constants" (in the "present"), with which the expected and actual states of future skills and the results of their applications are compared. Then, when each subsequent social action is assessed by an individual as positively possible, we can say that individual time is directed “forward”, and the emotional background of such “joyfulness” is assessed as optimism. When a balance is established between the sum of acquired skills and the sum of social actions that a person performs in a relatively stable social environment, we can say that individual time is “worth it”. When, for some reason, a person loses the set and severity of skills (illness, old age), accordingly, the realization of needs loses the “standard” probability and the set of realized needs is reduced. Then we can say that individual time moves "back".

In general, it seems doubtful to maintain a high level of excitation only in an individual temporal period. O m dimension, which encourages a person to improve his management models and transform the environment in accordance with them for a long time. In this case, the second law of thermodynamics, determined by the law of "cosmic laziness", begins to operate, resulting in stagnation or degradation of personal life. Therefore, the degradation of a person, inevitable in a socially isolated space, in a dynamic society is prevented by the formation of a difference in information potentials in a spatial sense, when a multitude of skills possessed by the surrounding people maintain the excitation potential in an individual person at a certain level corresponding to the place of this person in the social hierarchy, " backwater from below" - from samples of the worst skill; and "pulling up" from samples of the best skill. This, it seems, is the meaning of socialization - the desire to communicate with their own kind.

It should be noted that the difference in information potentials that arises between dynamic reality and its model formed in the information center of some system is also dynamic.

On the one hand, this dynamism is determined by the variability of the external environment both in time and space. On the other hand, body models are subject to constant change.

The social environment can change over time in its natural composition - in the form of seasonal changes, or it can change in its social dimension as a way of life corresponding to a given spatial social formation.

In the case when the external environment in the social dimension is characterized by an increase in social negentropy - an increase in new social ties that become permanent for a large group of people due, for example, to an increase in total skills and a corresponding increase in the monetary income of the population, we can say that the time of this society is directed "forward". And the information capacity of social models, expressed in the sum of social ties that function with probabilities close to one, becomes a social constant against which the expectation of the future is compared. This comparison gives rise to a positive difference in information potentials, which determines the desire to achieve a one hundred percent probability of the implementation of all social ties that ensure the existence of society.

(Such an indicator of the dynamics of society as “GDP growth” in monetary terms, from the point of view of the informational approach, is very little expressive. It can only indicate some potential opportunity for society to develop and nothing more. A true indicator of the dynamics of society should be considered an increase in the number of events satisfaction of human needs and the corresponding increase in the probability of their implementation in full accordance with the Shannon formula).

In the case when society offers neither development nor degradation, or when the development of some social ties is balanced by the degradation of other social ties, one speaks of the "stagnation" of the social system.

In the case when social negentropy begins to degrade by reducing the likelihood of social ties, then they usually talk about the growth of social entropy, which, in principle, may be true, since the inversion of negentropy occurs precisely into entropy, but is wrong in the sense of understanding the cause of the growth of social entropy , since the growth of social entropy itself, understood as an increase in the sum of events of any polarity, is possible due to the growth of new events, the controllability of which in a short time O m segment is available only to a small group of people or even to individuals. Such growth of "positive" social entropy gives rise to the possibility of its transformation into social negentropy. But when the social environment in its social dimension changes towards the degradation of social constants - a decrease in the value of money (inflation), an increase in unemployment, which makes it impossible to realize vital needs for a certain group of people who are close to the "social bottom", which in turn cause decline in production, it would be more correct to speak of the degradation of social negentropy. In this case, we can say that the time of the social system has gone "back".

The social environment can change in space. Man moving from countryside into the city, falls into an environment with a high value of social entropy, concentrated in a limited space. Accordingly, there is a need to change social patterns of behavior - models of management (use) of urban infrastructure; models of labor, which differ from universal rural models in specialization and time O and orderliness.

The high value of the social entropy of the city, giving rise to the possibility of multiple choice of profession and improvement in the chosen profession skills high degree complexity makes the urban environment attractive to many people. And this attractiveness is explained by the significant difference in information potentials between the limited social role of a person who is part of this entropy as its negentropic element, and the potential opportunity that is guessed in the turbulent process of urban life. This difference acts as a kind of "gravity", drawing in more and more people, while life in the city is "boiling", that is, filled with many events.

These are, in general terms, information ideas about the human psyche, if we use the formula of information entropy proposed by K. Shannon as a conceptual scheme. The graph of the interdependence of the quantities included in the Shannon formula is especially clear.

Some conclusions

which may help to look at P.V.'s formula. Simonov is somewhat different.

In my article, the main concept that defines human behavior is "excitation", which has an intraorganismal nature. This internal nature is determined by the difference in information potentials between physiological constants as genetically defined models of internal states and the actual state inside the body (including the level of hormones). Since the elimination of this potential difference within the body is possible only by assimilating the entropy of the external environment through the ability to control this environment, models for managing this environment are formed in the body, which already have a social dimension. Thus, the difference in informational potentials at the level of physiology is transferred to the social level, without losing its significance precisely as a difference in informational potentials. Only now this difference in information potentials is defined as the difference between the models of ability to manage the external environment and the ability of the external environment to change in the direction desired by the person in the case of adequate application of action models. Here, the ability of the external environment to change under the influence of a person is already built into the information model of action, and constitutes what Simonov probably meant by this, speaking of "prognostic information" ( Yip).

Then, positive emotions occur in humans as excitation voltage drop. The decline in excitation follows after the successful application of the action model and the transition of the state of the external environment in accordance with the model (into negentropy), that is, after the elimination of the difference in information potentials between the model of the expected state of the external environment and its actual state, which before human impact was entropy - the state of "raw material ". In this case, if you "modify" Simonov's scheme, then you should write: AND (mod) = AND (valid). As can be seen from such a scheme, for the formation of a positive emotion, only a high probability of the implementation of the model in relation to reality is required, which happens when the information capacities of the reality control model and the ability of reality to respond to these control actions are equal. No inequality is required in this case. Simonov, on the other hand, “Increase in the probability of satisfaction in comparison with the previously available forecast ( Is more than Yip) generates positive emotions" – talks about the need for a difference in information potentials between bad forecast of the situation of the future and the reality that is being realized now, at the moment with the best characteristics. What is this difference? What, - "there was not a penny, and suddenly - altyn"? But this is from the field of entropy - from the field of "gifts of fate." And the normal productive activity of a person presupposes a skill equal to the circumstances - a driver driving on the road in his car must know the rules of the road and be able to follow them in standard traffic situations. Racing in Formula 1 is already an entropic (extreme) field of activity.

Thus, it turns out that the “simple” formula of P.V. Simonova turns out to be burdened with many additional conditions for her understanding, which require, among other things, the division of the very concept of information into two of its components - entropy and negentropy. So "predictive information" - Yip — in the sense of Simonov's formula, it refers to the entropic state, since it is the expectation of some state of the external environment, information about which only approximately corresponds to the capabilities of the organism. But also “subjective information” (or “situational”?) Is - according to the meaning of the formula, it also represents an entropy set of models of possible ways to control the external environment, the use of which in the process of managing the external environment is preliminary (a priori), that is, mentally, does not give rise to reliability. There is only what Keynes calls "confidence" here. “The state of the long-term assumption on which our decisions are based depends, therefore, not only on what we can predict as the most probable. It also depends on confidence, with which we make this forecast, on the extent to which we consider the probability that our best forecast will turn out to be completely false. It turns out that in the process of preparing a decision, emotion is not defined by its sign. It is in a "trigger" state between waiting for the best scenario and between waiting for the worst scenario ("to what extent do we consider the probability that our best forecast will turn out to be completely false"). Emotion gets a positive sign after the excitation voltage decline at the moment of receiving information that our decision turned out to be correct, that is, corresponding to the control process.

negative emotions arise when the external environment control model turns out to be inadequate to the state of the external environment, which can be both in the case of insufficient skill, and in the case of an unforeseen change in the entropy state of the external environment in the form of, for example, interference. But in any case, if we use the Simonov scheme, then we should write AND (Maud)< AND (action). Which also corresponds to Simonov's formula for negative emotions.

The apparent simplicity of Simonov's formula is deceptive, since emotions are in fact a complex formation (and Simonov writes about this in his article when he uses psychological language), which is formed over a long period of a person's life, if not for the whole life. Therefore, it would be more correct to use the Shannon formula, which contains in a “folded” form all the possible complexity of behavior, both in the form of an entropy of positive possibilities and negative facts, and in the form of a negentropy of successful “behavioral quanta”, instead of the general concept of “information” - AND .

So, for example, such a property of a person as “cheerfulness” (according to Keynes) or optimism can be preserved long time, despite sometimes a number of life failures. Here, apparently, what Simonov designated as a “compensatory (replacement) function of emotions” operates here, when internal excitation makes a person, in case of failures in some type of activity, look for other types of activities that turn out to be successful, as a result of which the sum of positive “ behavioral quanta” turns out to be greater than the sum of negative ones; and the “switching function of emotions”, when a person changes the requirements for models of his behavior by lowering their moral height, as a result of which such “truncated” models turn out to be implemented in an environment that cannot be changed in the direction High Quality the efforts of one person.

Well, of course, it should be borne in mind that the so-called "natural optimism" is formed exclusively by the physiological characteristics of the internal organization - the properties of temperament.

Pessimism as a stable mental property is also formed by the sum of "behavioral quanta"; only in this sum the number of negative quanta exceeds the number of positive ones. But when does this happen? Pessimism in individual terms is unlikely even for the weak-minded. Pessimism often arises from comparing one's actions with the actions of the social environment, when a certain mass of people of "their" social stratum finds themselves in a situation where conservative social models fall behind the adequacy of the drastically changed conditions of social life (for example, a revolution); or excitations resulting from unsuccessful "behavioral quanta" turn out to be too strong, going beyond the entropy curve, which can probably be attributed to too great a sensitivity to mismatch in physiological system a person when the constants are too "hard".

Another conclusion should be drawn regarding the use of the concepts opportunity And probability. In Simonov, we observe the synonymy of these concepts, but for a better understanding of the processes, they must be distinguished. In the entropy area of ​​life, when decisions are made under conditions of uncertainty of the capacity of one's own behavior models and uncertainty of the characteristics of the external environment, one should use the concept opportunity, which assumes a triggered state; and the concept of probability is used when there is already some statistics of successful (or unsuccessful) behavioral quanta in a relatively homogeneous activity.

To illustrate this position, I will once again quote from J.M. Keynes:

“Only a little more than an expedition to the South Pole [in Keynesian times, full uncertainty], entrepreneurship is based on accurate calculations of expected income.

Therefore, when cheerfulness fades, optimism is shaken, and we have no choice but to rely on mathematical calculation alone, entrepreneurship withers and dies - even if the losses are as unfounded as the hopes for profit were.

This quote suggests that the probability of profit or loss, calculated and displayed on the surface of consciousness, embedded in the content of the behavior model does not matter when decisions must be made under conditions of uncertainty - in conditions of entropy, that is, when awareness is of decisive importance possibility-impossibility of success of future actions. The conscious (calculated) probability of success of a momentary action may conflict with the sum of the probabilities of past positive or negative personal experience, and integrate with the experience of other people in their activities "now". This amount of information is stored in the subconscious in an implicit form as entropy. And it is with this entropy that the negentropy of "mathematical calculation" can come into conflict (or agree). The process of reducing the integrated entropy (past personal experience and the modern experience of other people) with the negentropy of a momentary "mathematical calculation" occurs in the subconscious - in intuition, and a decision made on the basis of "joviality" or pessimism is considered to be intuitive.

In conclusion of this article, based on the philosophical analysis of Claude Shannon's formula, I will cite the thoughts of the famous economist Wassily Leontiev, expressed by him in the article "On the Question of the Pluralistic Interpretation of History and the Problem of Interdisciplinary Cooperation".

At the beginning of his article, V. Leontiev notes: “The problem of interconnection as various sciences in general, and the social sciences in particular, is quite old. Previously, it occupied mainly philosophers and sociologists. However, at present, economists and psychologists, political scientists and anthropologists are increasingly drawn into the discussion and are forced to determine their positions. Further, he notes that all the many sciences that are engaged in the study of the problems of human activity become more and more isolated as they develop, acquiring their own special language, not reducible to the languages ​​of other sciences, and expresses the hope ... "that in the course of future development a perfect formula for reducing some sciences to others will be found. This will contribute to the establishment of a complete correspondence between all such different ways of analysis, which, incidentally, will mark the simultaneous recognition of all such different monistic interpretations of history.

It is indicative that it was in 1948 (the year the article was written by V. Leontiev) that Claude Shannon "found a perfect formula for reducing some sciences to others." But after the initial euphoria from the guessed possibility of explaining everything with the help of this formula, the enthusiasm of thinkers faded away, having met with the difficulties of its philosophical interpretation.

Isn't it time to revive this enthusiasm?

Glossary of terms

Information space- a social space structured in various ways of exchanging information between people - exchanging opinions in personal communication; receiving and transmitting messages to the media; means of familiarization with spectator information (museums, concert halls, theaters, cinema halls, etc.); social institutions education (training), etc.

Entropy information- the sum of the most diverse events, the most diverse structure, complexity and organization, which the information center of any system is able to perceive and generate. (Determined by the formula of K. Shannon with an approximate and flexible definition of the boundaries of space and time of interaction between systems).

Information negentropy (amount of information)– a set of models for managing internal or external events, the result of which is predetermined by the management model. The simplest example- recipe. (Determined by the Shannon formula with the establishment of the most accurate space-time boundaries of the interaction of the system-subject with environment. In this case, the Shannon formula is taken with a plus sign).

Event in entropy- any event varying degrees complexity and organization that the information center of the system is able to perceive (or generate). (In the entropy formula, the factor Pi logPi).

Event in negentropy- application of the action model in the space-time of action with the entropy of "raw materials" according to the scheme: "model - reality - answer YES (NO). (In the formula for the amount of information - the factor Pi logPi).

Information potential difference– the difference between the informational description of reality in the form of an entropy/negentropy model and the state of reality. (It is defined for dynamic processes as the difference between the information capacities of the model and reality, made according to the combinatorial scheme: "entropy of mod. - negentropy of action"; "negentrop of mod. - entropy of action ").

Excitation- activation of the readiness of the organism (system-subject) for the expected action, initiated by the difference in information potentials between the model of the environment and its actual state. (In the Shannon formula corresponds to the multiplier log Pi).

Will- synthesis of excitation and application of the action model, leading to the formation of an event. (In the Shannon formula, the factor Pi logPi).

Opportunity– trigger state of excitation of the information center of the system upon receipt of unexpected information about an event for which there is no control model. (In the entropy formula, it corresponds to the multiplier Pi)

Probability– indicator of the success of the controlled event, the condition of which is the equality of the information capacities of the action model and the action itself. (Can be calculated based on the statistics of successful / unsuccessful actions. In the formula for the amount of information, it corresponds to the multiplier Pi).

System space-time- the space and time of the life of the system in which the vital important events related to the satisfaction of needs.

Critical space-time- space and time to meet the vital needs "moved away" from the usual ones, but not reaching the limit, followed by irreversible degradation of the system (for example, a hunger strike that stops in case of a threat of death of the organism).

Literature

1. Journal "Questions of Psychology" No. 6. 1964. (The text of the article is given in Appendix 1).
2. Anthology of economic classics (in two volumes). M. "Ekonov". 1992. V. 2. S. 256.
3. Graham Lauren R. Natural science, philosophy and human behavior sciences in the Soviet Union. M. Politizdat. 1991, p. 281.
4. There. S. 291.
5. Dmitriev V.I. Applied Information Theory. M. " graduate School". 1989. S. 16.
6. Graham Lauren R. Natural science, philosophy and human behavior sciences in the Soviet Union. M. Politizdat. 1991, p. 280.
7. Guide/Edited by K.V. Sudakov. Functional systems of the body. M. "Medicine". 1987. S. - S. 31 - 33.
8. There. S. - S. 34 - 38.
9. There. S. 165, S. 166.
10. There. S. - S. 66 - 68.
11. F. Bloom, A. Leizerson, L. Hofstadter. Brain, mind, behavior. M. "Mir". 1988. S. 147, S. 148.
12. Anthology of economic classics (in two volumes). M. "Ekonov". 1992. Vol. 2. S. 261
13. There. S. 251.
14. There. S. 262.
15. Leontiev Vasily. Economic Essays. Theories, research, facts and politics. M. "IPL". 1990. S. 28.

Annex 1

P.V. Simonov

Information theory of emotions (http://evartist.narod.ru/text14/99.htm#_ftn1)

Our approach to the problem of emotion belongs entirely to the Pavlovian direction in the study of the higher nervous (mental) activity of the brain.

The information theory of emotions ... is neither only "physiological", nor only "psychological", and even more so "cybernetic". It is inextricably linked with Pavlov's systemic approach to the study of higher nervous (mental) activity. This means that the theory, if it is correct, should be equally productive both for the analysis of phenomena related to the psychology of emotions and for the study of the brain mechanisms of emotional reactions in humans and animals. In Pavlov's writings, we find indications of two factors that are inextricably linked to the involvement of the brain mechanisms of emotions. Firstly, these are the needs inherent in the body, drives, identified by Pavlov with innate (unconditioned) reflexes. “Who would separate,” Pavlov wrote, “in unconditional most complex reflexes – (instincts) the physiological somatic from the mental, i.e. from experiencing powerful emotions of hunger, sexual desire, anger, etc.?” However, Pavlov understood that the infinite variety of the world of human emotions cannot be reduced to a set of innate (even "most complex", even vital) unconditioned reflexes. Moreover, it was Pavlov who discovered the key mechanism by which the brain apparatus responsible for the formation and realization of emotions is involved in the process of conditioned reflex activity (behavior) of higher animals and humans.

Based on the experiments, Pavlov came to the conclusion that under the influence of an external stereotype of repetitive influences, a stable system of internal nervous processes is formed in the cerebral cortex, and “the formation, setting of a dynamic stereotype is an extremely nervous work. different tension depending, of course, on the complexity of the system of stimuli, on the one hand, and on the individuality and condition of the animal, on the other.

“One must think,” Pavlov said from the rostrum of the XIV International Physiological Congress in Rome, “that the nervous processes of the hemispheres during the installation and maintenance of a dynamic stereotype are what are usually called feelings in their two main categories - positive and negative, and in their huge gradation of intensities . The processes of setting the stereotype, completing the set, maintaining the stereotype and violating it are subjectively various positive and negative feelings, which has always been seen in the motor reactions of the animal.

This Pavlovian idea of ​​non-coincidence (disagreement - we will say today) of the internal stereotype prepared by the brain with the changed external one, we will often meet in this or that modification by a number of authors who turned to the “study of emotions”.

Reflective-evaluative function of emotions

Summing up the results of our own experiments and literature data, in 1964 we came to the conclusion that emotion is a reflection by the brain of humans and animals of some actual need (its quality and magnitude) and the probability (possibility) of its satisfaction, which the brain evaluates on based on genetic and previously acquired individual experience.

In the most general form, the rule for the emergence of emotions can be represented as a structural formula:

E \u003d f [P, (Ip – Is),…],

where E - emotion, its degree, quality and sign; P - the strength and quality of the actual need; (Ip - Is) - assessment of the probability (possibility) of satisfying a need based on innate and ontogenetic experience; Ip - information about the means that are predictively necessary to meet the need; Is - information about the means that the subject has at the moment.

Of course, emotion also depends on a number of other factors, some of which we are well aware of, but we may not yet suspect the existence of others. Notables include:

- individual (typological) features of the subject, primarily the individual features of his emotionality, motivational sphere, volitional qualities, etc.;

- the time factor, depending on which the emotional reaction takes on the character of a rapidly developing affect or mood that persists for hours, days and weeks;

- Qualitative features of the need. Thus, emotions that arise on the basis of social and spiritual needs are usually called feelings. A low probability of avoiding an undesirable impact will cause anxiety in the subject, and a low probability of achieving the desired goal will cause frustration, etc. and so on.

But all the factors listed and similar to them cause only variations of an infinite variety of emotions, while two are necessary and sufficient, only two always and only two factors: the need and the probability (possibility) of satisfying it.

In order to avoid misunderstandings ... let us dwell on the clarification of the concepts we use. Term "information» we use, keeping in mind its pragmatic meaning, i.e. change in the probability of achieving the goal (satisfaction of the need) due to the receipt of this message.

Thus, we are not talking about information that actualizes the need (for example, about the danger that has arisen), but about the information necessary to satisfy the need (for example, about how to avoid this danger). By information, we mean a reflection of the totality of achieving the goal: the knowledge that the subject has, the perfection of his skills, the energy resources of the body, the time sufficient or insufficient to organize the appropriate actions, etc.

Term "need” we use in its broad Marxian understanding, which is by no means reducible to the mere preservation (survival) of the individual and species. In our opinion, need is the selective dependence of living organisms on environmental factors essential for self-preservation and self-development, the source of activity of living systems, the motivation and purpose of their behavior in the surrounding world. Accordingly, we define behavior as a form of life activity that can change the probability and duration of contact with an external object that can satisfy the body's need.

The low probability of meeting the need (Ip more than Ic) leads to the emergence of negative emotions. An increase in the probability of satisfaction in comparison with the previously available forecast (Is is greater than Ip) generates positive emotions.

For example, a positive emotion when eating arises due to the integration of hunger excitation (need) with afferent from the oral cavity, indicating a growing probability of satisfaction of this need. In a different state of need, the same afferentation will be emotionally indifferent or generate a feeling of disgust.

So far, we have been talking about the reflective function of emotions, which coincides with their evaluative function. Please note that the price in the most general sense of this concept is always a function of two factors: demand (need) and supply (the ability to satisfy this need). But the category of value and the evaluation function become unnecessary if there is no need for comparison, exchange, i.e. the need to compare values. That is why the function of emotions is not reduced to a simple signaling of influences, beneficial or harmful to the body, as the supporters of the "biological theory of emotions" believe. Let's use the example given by P.K. Anokhin. When a joint is damaged, the feeling of pain limits the motor activity of the limb, contributing to reparative processes. In this integral signaling of "harmfulness" P.K. Anokhin saw the adaptive value of pain. However, a similar role could be played by a mechanism that automatically, without the participation of emotions, inhibits movements that are harmful to the damaged organ. The feeling of pain turns out to be a more plastic mechanism: when the need for movement becomes very great (for example, when the very existence of the subject is threatened), the movement is carried out, despite the pain. In other words, emotions act as a kind of "currency of the brain" - a universal measure of values, and not a simple equivalent that functions according to the principle: harmful - unpleasant, useful - pleasant.

Emotion switching function

From a physiological point of view, an emotion is an active state of a system of specialized brain structures that prompts a change in behavior in the direction of minimizing or maximizing this state. Since a positive emotion indicates the approach of satisfaction of a need, and a negative emotion indicates a distance from it, the subject seeks to maximize (strengthen, prolong, repeat) the first state and minimize (weaken, interrupt, prevent) the second. This hedonistic principle of maximization-minimization, equally applicable to humans and animals, will make it possible to overcome the seeming inaccessibility of animal emotions for direct experimental study.

The switching function of emotion is found both in the sphere of innate forms of behavior and in the implementation of conditioned reflex activity, including its most complex manifestations. It is only necessary to remember that the assessment of the probability of satisfying a need can occur in a person not only on a conscious, but also on an unconscious level. A vivid example of unconscious forecasting is intuition, where the assessment of approaching the goal or moving away from it is initially realized in the form of an emotional “premonition of a decision”, prompting a logical analysis of the situation that gave rise to this emotion (Tikhomirov).

The switching function of emotions is especially clearly revealed in the process of competition of motives, when the dominant need is singled out, which becomes a vector of purposeful behavior. So, in a combat situation, the struggle between the natural human instinct for self-preservation and the social need to follow a certain ethical standard is experienced by the subject in the form of a struggle between fear and a sense of duty, between fear and shame. The dependence of emotions not only on the magnitude of the need, but also on the probability of its satisfaction, makes the competition of coexisting motives extremely difficult, as a result of which behavior often turns out to be reoriented towards a less important, but easily achievable goal: “a tit in hand” defeats a “pie in the sky”.

The reinforcing function of emotions

The reinforcement phenomenon occupies a central position in the system of concepts of the science of higher nervous activity, since the formation, existence, extinction and characteristics of any conditioned reflex depend on the fact of reinforcement. By reinforcement, “Pavlov meant the action of a biologically significant stimulus (food, harmful stimulus, etc.), which gives a signal value to another biologically insignificant stimulus combined with it” (Asratyan).

The need to involve the brain mechanisms of emotions in the process of developing a conditioned reflex becomes especially demonstrative in the case of instrumental conditioned reflexes, where reinforcement depends on the subject's reaction to the conditioned signal. Depending on their intensity, the functional state of the organism and the characteristics of the external environment, a wide variety of "indifferent" stimuli - light, sound, tactile, proprioceptive, odor, etc. - can be pleasant. On the other hand, animals often refuse the vital ingredients of food if it is not palatable. In rats, it was not possible to develop an instrumental conditioned reflex when food is introduced through a cannula into the stomach (i.e., bypassing the taste buds), although such a reflex is developed when morphine is introduced into the stomach, which very quickly causes a positive emotional state in the animal. The same morphine, due to its bitter taste, ceases to be a reinforcement if it is administered through the mouth.

We believe that the results of these experiments are in good agreement with the data of T.N. Oniann, who used direct electrical stimulation of the limbic structures of the brain as a reinforcement for the development of a conditioned reflex. When an external stimulus was combined with stimulation of brain structures that evoked food, drink, aggression, rage, and fear in a well-fed cat, after 5–50 combinations, only a conditioned avoidance reaction accompanied by fear was developed. Conditioned reflexes of food and drink could not be obtained.

From our point of view, the results of these experiments once again testify to the decisive role of emotions in the development of conditioned reflexes. Fear has a pronounced aversiveness for the animal and is actively minimized by it through the avoidance reaction. Irritation of the food and drink systems of the brain in fed and not thirsty animals causes stereotypical acts of eating and drinking without involving the nervous mechanisms of emotions, which excludes the development of conditioned reflexes.

Compensatory (replacing) function of emotions

Being an active state of a system of specialized brain structures, emotions affect other cerebral systems that regulate behavior, the processes of perceiving external signals and extracting engrams of these signals from memory, and the autonomic functions of the body. It is in the latter case that the compensatory significance of emotions is especially clearly revealed.

The fact is that when emotional stress occurs, the volume of vegetative changes (increased heart rate, rise in blood pressure, release of hormones into the bloodstream, etc.), as a rule, exceeds the real needs of the body. Apparently, the process of natural selection fixed the expediency of this excessive mobilization of resources. In a situation of pragmatic uncertainty (namely, it is so characteristic of the emergence of emotions), when it is not known how much and what will be needed in the next few minutes, it is better to waste energy than in the midst of intense activity - fight or flight - to be left without sufficient oxygen and metabolic supply. "raw material".

But the compensatory function of emotions is by no means limited to hypermobilization of the vegetative system. The emergence of emotional stress is accompanied by a transition to other than in a calm state, forms of behavior, principles for assessing external signals and responding to them. Physiologically, the essence of this transition can be defined as a return from finely specialized conditioned reactions to a response according to the principle of A.A. Ukhtomsky. V.P. It was not by chance that Osipov called “emotional” precisely the first stage in the development of a conditioned reflex - the stage of generalization.

The most important feature of the dominant lies in the ability to respond with the same reaction to the widest range of external stimuli, including stimuli that were first encountered in the life of the subject. It is interesting that ontogeny, as it were, repeats the dynamics of the transition from the dominant to the conditioned reflex. Newly hatched chicks begin to peck at any object that contrasts with the background and is commensurate with the size of their beak. Gradually, they learn to peck only those that can serve as food.

If the process of strengthening the conditioned reflex is accompanied by a decrease in emotional stress and at the same time a transition from a dominant (generalized) response to strictly selective reactions to a conditioned signal, then the emergence of emotions leads to secondary generalization. “The stronger the need becomes,” writes J. Nutten, “the less specific is the object that causes the corresponding reaction.” The increase in emotional stress, on the one hand, expands the range of engrams retrieved from memory, and on the other hand, reduces the criteria for "decision making" when comparing these engrams with available stimuli. Thus, a hungry person begins to perceive certain stimuli as associated with food. It is quite obvious that the presumed dominant response is expedient only in conditions of pragmatic uncertainty. With the elimination of this uncertainty, the subject can turn into "a frightened crow that is afraid of a bush." That is why evolution has formed a mechanism for the dependence of emotional stress and its characteristic type of reaction on the size of the deficit of pragmatic information, the mechanism for eliminating negative emotions as the information deficit is eliminated. We emphasize that an emotion in itself does not carry information about the surrounding world, the missing information is replenished by searching behavior, improving skills, and mobilizing engrams stored in memory.

The compensatory value of emotions lies in their substitutive role.

As for positive emotions, their compensatory function is realized through the influence on the need that initiates behavior. In a difficult situation with a low probability of achieving the goal, even a small success (increase in probability) generates a positive emotion of inspiration, which enhances the need to achieve the goal, according to the rule P = E / (Ip - I), which follows from the formula of emotions.

In other situations, positive emotions induce living beings to violate the achieved "balance with the environment." In an effort to re-experience positive emotions, living systems are forced to actively look for unmet needs and a situation of uncertainty where the information received could exceed the previously available forecast. Thus, positive emotions compensate for the lack of unsatisfied needs and pragmatic uncertainty, which can lead to stagnation, degradation, and a halt in the process of self-promotion and self-development.