“My conscience has tortured me,” “my conscience does not allow me,” we sometimes say. But few people can formulate a definition of conscience and tell what it is. What is it: an innate or acquired quality, a feature of the psyche or a product of socialization, an obligatory element or an optional condition for the development of personality – let’s figure it out.
The concept of conscience in psychology
Conscience is studied by different sciences: philosophy, ethics, sociology, psychology. Psychological theory is of particular interest to us. Many psychologists have devoted their research to the problem of conscience, but a special contribution was made by the Swiss psychiatrist and educator Carl Gustav Jung.
According to his definition, conscience is the ability of a person to critically relate to the morality of actions and thoughts. This is a conscious adherence to an internal value system. Conscience is associated with the consciousness and self-awareness of the individual, as well as volitional self-regulation.
Conscience consists of two levels: subjective and objective value judgments. Conscience begins to torment if subjective values are violated. That is, what the person relates to himself, what is bad and good for him. If objective values are violated, that is, someone else acts immorally, then the person may feel anger, disappointment, regret, but will not suffer from guilt.
Conscience takes many forms:
- addition of reflection;
- an affective reaction in the course of mental processes (for example, a feeling of fear that arises in a situation when the situation is contrary to the values of the individual);
- dreams.
The voice of conscience is not always recognized by the person himself. The internal controller may dream or hint through worry, fear, anxiety, guilt. And constant disagreements with conscience, conscious and unconscious ignoring of it leads to neuroses and psychosomatic disorders.
An interesting fact: conscience is a product of the social in a person. Animals have no conscience.
Do all people have a conscience?
Conscience is a mechanism for moral assessment of the actions, deeds and words of an individual. The comparison takes place with the internal value system. That is why attempts to shame noisy youth or call an alcoholic to conscience are useless. You will not create a feeling of shame if the root of the problem, the reason for the conversation, is of no value to the person.
Thus, conscience and morality differ from person to person. The formation of the internal system of values is influenced by the style of family education, the conditions of development, the social environment of development, the state of society, the level of intelligence, individual psychological characteristics of the individual, and social culture. Conscience is a reflection of the inner convictions and values of an individual, her inner world.
Conscience is different, but all healthy people have it. The same cannot be said for psychopaths. This is the name given to people with antisocial personality disorder. Such people do not know how to empathize, they do not have empathy, they do not recognize the emotions and needs of other people. For the psychopath, there is only himself and his goals. They have no conscience.
What is remorse, how dangerous
The pangs of conscience are a person’s dissatisfaction with himself, disappointment in himself, a sense of guilt and fear. It arises in response to actions that are contrary to the inner world of the individual. Constant remorse reduces self-esteem, deprives a person of self-esteem, and can even drive you into depression.
Conscience is a part of the soul (human psyche). If we live in harmony with our values, then we experience satisfaction. If we constantly violate our own attitudes, then we suffer and suffer. Conscience is the moral consciousness of a person. It contains the standards of good and bad, right and wrong. It is also responsible for the reaction to the conformity or contradiction between the actions of an individual or another person and moral values.
Moral Consciousness: Development
Moral consciousness begins to form in preschool age, but the peak of its formation falls on adolescence. The structure of moral consciousness includes:
- making moral judgments;
- awareness of moral values;
- making moral decisions;
- understanding the possible consequences of decisions and actions;
- responsibility for their actions and their consequences.
Morality, or human conscience, is reflected on three levels:
- thoughts (judgments, ideas, concepts);
- attitude to something and someone (assessment, emotions and feelings, the correspondence of words and deeds);
- behavior (experience, conscious actions and actions).
Moral consciousness develops in the process of socialization of the individual. In particular, its formation is influenced by moral education in the family and school.
Moral consciousness consists of two levels: general and personal. At the first level, there are norms, traditions, customs of society and the family in which a person lives. At the second level are the personal principles and beliefs of the individual. As a rule, the general consciousness smoothly passes into the personal one. However, if a person changes the environment or country, then contradictions may arise between inner convictions (experience) and the present. From this, conflicts arise, disputes about the morality and immorality of something.
Moral consciousness is a dynamic education. Personal values, beliefs and attitudes can change. Moreover, they change and transform constantly as a person grows up and the personality develops. So it is quite possible to awaken the conscience, as well as to put it to sleep. This requires appropriate conditions and people transmitting other values.
