At this time, our day to day is increasingly accelerated. The jobs, schools, and catastrophes and problems that we witness daily on television and newspapers keep us in such a state of alert that we can pass our entire day stealthily from one side to the other observing any point outside with fear that something could happen to us.
There is no longer time or energy to look inside ourselves or to get to know ourselves. There are times, more and more numerous, in which people, despite having years of life in this world, in the end they claim that they have not known themselves. Introspection is the process by which we observe ourselves from within in a more spiritual context. By working on it, we can really get to know ourselves and function better as human beings aware of our life and our environment, both physical and mental.
Let's define introspection
The term of introspection has been a term of debate for a long time. Already in ancient Greece the philosopher Plato wondered “Why not review the bottom of our thoughts calmly and patiently, and examine thoroughly to find out what these aspects are in us? Introspection has been compared multiple times with perception and memory, but what is introspection really?
Introspection it is a mental process, through which a person is able to delve into the depths of their psyche and analyze their own experiences in order to find in them what is important to you. In this way the human being can know himself to a greater extent. In another way of saying it, it is the reflective capacity of the mind to become conscious and master of its own states.
Characteristics of introspection
Introspection has as its main characteristic the fact of being subjective, that is, that the individual who observes himself from their criteria and from his own way of seeing reality. There is not a person in the world who can carry out an introspection of your characteristics, just as you could not fully understand the psyche of another person.
Thus, it also has a certain degree of flexibility, since during this technique we take ourselves as the object of analysis, but at the same time we are the researcher. in charge of documenting the data foundLikewise, the real application of what we find will be applied to our own life, since we cannot force our mind and thoughts into someone else's.
The introspection process is also quite complex, and requires training in order to be successful; It is not as simple as sitting down one day and already having full awareness of who you are and what you are looking for in the world. You must be able to train yourself to accept everything from yourself, and not fall into that dangerous web called self-deception.
To put it into practice
To understand the practice of introspection, the first thing we must know is that it is a process for which we must pay attention to ourselves. Listen to us.
In the midst of any situation that may arise, before acting impulsively and looking for quick solutions, as most often do, it is recommended that we examine ourselves and ourselves.
We must connect with our interior, with our thoughts and feelings, since if we find ourselves in unity with ourselves it will be much easier to find the solution to any situation, that if we launched ourselves to solve it with the first impulse.
This process helps us to understand and discern more correctly who we really are, where we are, and what we will be, so that we can discern what is best for uss, since this practice also puts us in touch with our spirituality and provides us with tools to face anything.
Introspection not only allows us to know ourselves better, but to respect, love and accept ourselves as we are.
Introspective method
The introspective method must be understood as a procedure by which the subject will focus his attention on his own mental processes. Another way of looking at it is that The subject must analyze what is going through his mind without the external stimulation having to do with it..
This method has always been one of the first methods used in the study of the psyche, and thanks to this it has been studied in such a way that we have been able to break it down into some types of introspection that may make the work of carrying it out easier. out, focusing on one of these at a time, in order to have the most complete experience, but not overload.
Classic types of introspection
Basically we can find two types of introspection in the classical era in which the subject began to be discussed: experimental introspection and systematic introspection.
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Experimental introspection
This introspection process sought to focus on mental processes in a way scientific and objective by manipulating the stimulation to which the test subject is subjected. Through this process it is sought to catch the expression of the psyche at the moment it comes out in order to analyze it.
To achieve this, in addition to the verbal record of the patient, muscle tension had to be measured, electrophysiological record and the number of errors of appreciation. Using these data obtained during this type of introspection, it is possible to cover the functioning and presence of the will, emotion or attention, although more complex elements cannot be evaluated.
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Systematic introspection
In this subtype of introspection, what is sought is to access the psyche by solving a situation and later describing the steps followed to reach that solution.
In this case it is carried out through a memory of the processing, hence it has to be called hindsight introspection.
One of the authors who finally stood out in this regard was NK Ach (1871-1946), who divided the experience that would be carried out using the scheme of: steps for preparation, appearance of stimulus, search for suitable alternatives and response. By using this method the tests became increasingly difficult in order to achieve better results.
This type of introspection would later be applied in theories such as psychodynamics. Retrospective introspection being an important part of many of his works.
Overview
Introspection or internal perception has as its main interest the recognition of the reflective capacity of the mind to be immediately aware of its own states.
If we take introspection as linked to some paradigm memory will be known as retrospective introspection; but introspection can be the union of the memory of past experiences and the living of present experiences, for which both types of introspection can intervene.
Classical mentalism, which spans branches from the philosophical to the scientific, has taken introspection as the most efficient way of accessing the psychic plane, while in psychology, preceded by Freud and the hypnotist doctor Wundt, it is a reflective means of self-knowledge to explain the etiology of current experiences.
Necessary requirements
- That the discoveries concern mental processes
- That the mental processes that are treated are those of the individual who performs the introspection
- That such knowledge cannot be classified as indirect but immediate.
Introspection in the present age
Although in practice we do not see that introspection is used as a method in itself, we can find a great influence of this in the works of many branches of psychology. And it is that methods from cognitivism have often been used that allow the evolution in therapy by evaluating the emotions and sensations that patients say they have when faced with certain stimuli.
Similarly, many of the analysis of psychodynamic schools They have also been encompassed by introspection, as can be seen in the application of methods such as word association, in which retrospective introspection is used more specifically.