Jo Godfroi, "What is psychology?"

Godfroi's book, a follower of the communication style in psychology, is the fruit of his work, the transmission of living experience. It is written in such a form that the reader has a feeling of easy assimilation of the material. The book, although it is a textbook, however, is so enthralling that it certainly wants to read to the end. Moreover, there is a desire to return to this material more than once. Jo does not recognize teaching in an incorporeal form, when the student simply transmits knowledge in an overwhelming volume of encyclopaedic material, so that students have a sense of Sisyphus labor. The book is aimed at studying psychology by future doctors, educators, psychologists and simply interested in this topic.

Readership

The author turns to wishing to find not just a collection of information on psychology, but also knowledge about how this science is important for solving the cardinal problems of our time. The work of Godfroi "What is psychology" is aimed at provoking curiosity in the student, going beyond the limits of this course of lectures.

Therefore, he without any doubts tells the audience about the controversies that arise in modern science, the dynamics of psychological disciplines and the results of this development. Godfroi is not afraid of appearing ignorant in any matter, talking about his own difficulties and does not create the false impression that as a science, psychology can provide answers for solving all problems.

As a teacher, he prefers to reveal the dynamics of psychology as a developing scientific movement that is constantly in doubt, and to show as much as possible what psychologists do if they want to be honest in their professional activities.

What is interesting about the book?

According to the scientist, in order to develop and go forward, it is necessary to revise their judgments and views. He seeks to show the reader that psychology more than other scientific subjects, with the exception of sociology, can be dependent on the prevailing social policy. To study psychology is to learn to see the errors of society. In this case, Godfroi, speaking openly about doubts, clearly explains how these data were gleaned and how to interpret them.

Being an opponent of unscrupulousness, the psychologist does not give preference to any school. He had an extremely independent mindset and intellectual courage. Jo draws information from various sources and focuses on the dual root of human behavior - biological and cultural. Studying Godfroi's book "What is psychology", the reader will get acquainted with many great scientists, their reasoning and theoretical calculations.

This book will interest everyone who will take it in hand. This is due to the author's conviction that psychology is an exciting discipline. And before he began to teach her to Quebec students, Jo Godfroi taught African kids, and then joined under his wing classmates and played in an amateur theater, which could well be professional.

This work is an introduction to psychology. He fills in the gaps in many publications about this science. The book has become and will be a desktop for a large number of scientists and teachers wishing to give students a thorough knowledge and awaken interest in discipline. The reader's path is full of fascinating adventures, which you definitely want to continue! Godfroi's book "What is psychology" was a great success in Canada.

It shows everyone who has repeatedly tried to take psychology out of the general educational process as a narrow discipline, that its boundaries are much broader and it is necessary for studying.

The purpose of the study of psychology

This science was always interested in the person himself, his depth of thought, the movements of the heart, mind and consciousness, his imagination, his memory, his thinking and communication, in other words - the inner world.

For scientists it is important to understand the causes and patterns of the origin of certain human actions, the laws of social behavior. It is extremely interesting to understand the mechanisms of the appearance of mental images, how consciousness works and what it is, where the sources of inspiration and creativity in a person. Psychology, which positions itself as a science, but still balances on the verge of faith, art and a scientific approach, is aimed at studying these issues.

Such an uncertain position of psychology is due to the fact that it has always been under the powerful pressure of public ideology. Often the development of this or that area was determined by state policy. Each state has its own canons. They exert the strongest influence on the development of the scientific branch. As an example:

· Denial of psychoanalysis;

· Perception of education and the formation of a one-sided person;

· A look at existing human needs ...

Highlights of the book

Often, science experienced a crisis that deepened the difference in views and rejection of other achievements in world practice, the reluctance to use the results of natural disciplines, in the field of knowledge of human nature. In this regard, Godfroi's book "What is psychology" is very important. This is a profound lecture experience of the professor, which makes it possible to use this manual as an educational tool from college to university.

This book is encyclopedic. It affects all the existing scientific directions of psychology and the latest achievements in its various fields. The author considers conservative views on perception, memory, and thinking. It shows what psychologists are doing, what is their main task, how to develop, courageously relies on sociobiological data, when explaining the behavioral motives of people in society.

Statement of material

The work of an extraordinary psychologist attracts not only the scientific nature of the presentation, but also the interpretation of the results. The author tried to get as far away from politics as possible. He is convinced that science becomes true when the philosophical discussion gives way to a regular and precise experiment. Throughout the course, the idea of an unambiguous dependence of the laws of psychology on the mechanisms of brain activity is traced.

Finally, the material of the book is laid out systematically and didactically correctly - according to the levels of complexity. Godfroi's written work is a general psychology, a textbook for high schools, in which each chapter begins with a presentation of the main material. Then the section is expanded with additional data "Documents". Individual applications show a broader view (on brain activity and statistical analysis).

A significant role is played by the questionnaires at the end of each chapter and the possibility of self-monitoring. The survey can be conducted with the help of computers, which will greatly facilitate the task of assimilation and control.

A bit of history

When the author was a pupil of Mark Richel, an amusing incident happened to him, which later influenced his professional activity. The teacher drove him from one of the first exams, which he had to take.

Godfroi was going to study in Central Africa. But he was to be examined in ethnographic anthropology, and there were some significant gaps in the knowledge of this subject. Mark Richelle decided that this is unacceptable for a person who wants to work soon in places where this discipline is very relevant. This subject was rarely met at the time when studying the mandatory program of the initial course of psychology. Jo Godfroi agreed with the teacher and accepted the challenge. He quickly studied the material that had been left over and started researching the subject closely. This direction became a priority for the young scientist - he devoted himself to experimental psychology, which he succeeded in.

Jo proved to everyone that you can be simultaneously a man of action, possessing an ardent, passionate temperament, and obey the rigorously rigorous laboratory regime. The scientist showed creative imagination and first conducted a study combining the perspectives of ethology and experimental psychology of animals. Others came to this, after only a decade.

Spending the nights around the hamsters, Godfroi shot a movie, which is now shown to students. After 12 years, hamsters were replaced with Canadian proteins, which the professor owes to a brilliant doctoral thesis. At the same time, he worked alone in Quebec, where he kept teaching all the time.

Differences in views

The work of Godfroi, where general psychology is considered in detail, is a textbook for higher educational institutions, containing some documents showing non-traditional ways of research.

His opinion has significant differences with the views of the popularizer Michel de Pragontale, the author of the book "Scientific deception in ten lessons." According to Godfroi, Michelle shames the scientists from the fields of such sciences: physicists, biologists, neurophysiologists, ethologists, who, as a result of long research, have come up with a number of hypotheses that go beyond rational science.

Jo believes that the best way that an individual and other people can use to develop critical thinking is to maximally objectively state the progress of research, the formation of theories and models that push each other and seek to occupy at least some place among the humanities .

Past and Present

The author draws attention to the fact that the concepts of the "thinking soul" and the "animal mind" of Descartes, Freud's ideas about "libido" and "subconscious" and other psychologists cited in the book should not claim absolute truth and are to some extent " Deceivers ". Their theory still needs confirmation. In this regard, one can not refrain from expanding the views and take into account, for example, the "holographic" hypotheses of Pribram and Bohm, the hypothesis "to the depth of one's own self," Lilly and others.

The scientist pays attention in his deep work to the fact that psychology can not and should not wait for the emergence of the final theory of brain functioning, and then already try to understand and act. Psychology still needs to form its own system of models, to learn how to effectively help people to love, live and die.

Today it is extremely important, as humanity takes care of the accumulation of knowledge that will enable us to separate the grain from the chaff and not stop on the way.