Summary The concept of the psyche

Chapter 3. The concept of the psyche and its evolution • 71
Secondly, the main feature of the psyche is the ability to reflect the objective world. What does this mean? Literally, this means the following: highly organized living matter that has a psyche has the ability to obtain information about the world around it. At the same time, obtaining information is associated with the creation of a certain mental, ie, subjective in nature and idealistic (non-material) in nature, image of this highly organized matter, which with a certain measure of accuracy is a copy of the material objects of the real world.
Thirdly, the information about the world received by a living being serves as the basis for regulating the internal environment of a living organism and shaping its behavior, which generally determines the possibility of a relatively long-term existence of this organism in constantly changing environmental conditions. Consequently, living matter with a psyche is able to respond to changes in the external environment or to the effects of environmental objects.
It must be emphasized that there is a very significant number of forms of living matter with certain mental abilities. These 4 'forms of living matter differ from each other in the level of development of mental properties. What are these differences?
The elementary ability to respond selectively to the influence of the external environment is already observed in the simplest forms of living matter. So, the amoeba, which is just one living cell filled with protoplasm, moves away from some stimuli and approaches the others. At its core, amoeba movements are the initial form of adaptation of the simplest organisms to the external environment. Such an adaptation is possible due to the existence of a certain property that distinguishes living matter from inanimate matter. This property is irritability. Externally, it is expressed in the manifestation of the forced activity of a living organism. The higher the level of development of the organism, the more complex the manifestation of its activity in the event of changes in environmental conditions. Primary forms of irritability are found even in plants, for example, the so-called "tropism" - forced movement.
As a rule, living organisms of this level react only to direct effects, such as mechanical touches that threaten the integrity of the organism, or to biotic stimuli. For example, plants respond to light, the content of trace elements in the soil, etc. Thus, we will not be mistaken if we say that living organisms of this level react only to factors biologically significant for them, and their response is reactive in nature, with. a living organism is active only after a direct exposure to it of an environmental factor.
The further development of irritability in living beings is largely due to the complication of the living conditions of more developed organisms, which accordingly have a more complex anatomical structure. Living organisms of this level of development are forced to respond to a more complex set of environmental factors. The combination of these internal and external conditions predetermines the emergence in living organisms of more complex forms of response, known as sensitivity. Sensitivity characterizes