COMPONENTS OF THE LIFETIME PICTURE OF THE WORLD IN THE PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES OF A NUMBER OF PROFESSIONS

 

COMPONENTS OF THE LIFETIME PICTURE OF THE WORLD IN THE PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES OF A NUMBER OF PROFESSIONS

This article examines the concept of a worldview in relation to human professional activity. Two main types are distinguished: the symbolic worldview and the everyday worldview. Within each type, specific mechanisms for constructing activity, identifying goals, and operationalizing tasks can be identified. The article highlights the specific features of reasoning based on the symbolic worldview, where knowledge is acquired through the assimilation of concepts and the construction of information based on formal logical connections.

Unlike the symbolic worldview, the everyday worldview has different components of its construction, including scenario-based behavior and the use of irrational knowledge acquisition systems. For some processes, it becomes important to acquire knowledge not only within the rational components of the symbolic worldview, but also to supplement it with information obtained through the mechanisms of the everyday worldview. These areas primarily include those types of professional activity associated with expert work and implying the use of knowledge that is sometimes difficult to verbalize or formally describe. The search for mechanisms for identifying the characteristics of such expert knowledge is important for future use in systems for constructing intelligent agents within the framework of artificial intelligence research.

Keywords: picture of the world, professional activity, behavior scenarios, artificial intelligence.

 

Chuganskaya AA.

COMPONENTS OF THE NATIVE PICTURE OF THE WORLD
IN THE PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY OF A NUMBER OF PROFESSIONS

The article deals with the concept of a picture of the world in relation to the professional activity of the person. Two main species stand out: the sign-based and naïve pictures of the world. Within each of the types, it is possible to highlight specific mechanisms of activity construction, goal allocation and task operationalization. The peculiarities of building reasoning on the basis of the use of a sign-based picture of the world, where the acquisition of knowledge takes place on the basis of learning concepts, building information on the basis of formally logical ties, are noted. Naïve picture of the world has other components of construction, which can include scenario behavior and the use of irrational systems of knowledge acquisition. Such areas include those professional activities that involve expert work and the use of knowledge. that is difficult to verbalize or formally describe. Finding mechanisms to identify the characteristics of such expertise is significant for further use in intelligent agent building systems as part of artificial intelligence research.

Keywords: picture of the world, professional activity, scenarios of behavior, artificial intelligence.
The concept of "worldview" was introduced into the social sciences by representatives of the French Annales school, who studied collective representations and the uniqueness of ways of thinking, the consistency and justification of actions (behavioral scenarios) in the historical perspective. J. Duby gives the following definition of a worldview: "a system of images and ideas that are combined differently in different groups and strata that make up a social formation, but always underlie human ideas about the world and their place in this world and, consequently, determine people's actions and behavior" [6, p. 52]. J. Duby applies a historical approach [7], following F. Braudell's typology of the duration of social processes.

He distinguishes between fleeting, superficial processes; fleeting, medium-duration processes; and social processes that undergo imperceptible mutations over time. J. Duby considers the study of language (vocabulary, grammatical structures, and their changes over time) to be one approach to the study of mental processes [8]. By asking how people of a given era imagined their own lives, and why they acted according to a certain scenario that seems illogical to modern man, scientists have attempted to recreate the reasoning process of a person of that time and understand his worldview [1].

The analysis and construction of concepts followed the path of describing the everyday life, type of activity, system of relationships and values, beliefs of people [1,4,10]. One of the representatives of the historical direction is P. Burke, who believed that "mentality ... can be represented ... as the sum or intersection of different "grids" (microparadigms, stereotypes), which are not only mutually interconnected, but can also come into conflict" [8, p. 59]. The author distinguishes three types of phenomena, with the help of which it is possible to study mentality, understood more as an everyday picture of the world, at different levels [8]. Firstly, these are interests, which allow us to superficially assess the motivational direction of the actions of the subject of that time. Secondly, these are categories structuring different pictures of the world. Thirdly, these are metaphors of language, which allow us to examine mentality from the inside. Thus, P. Burke proposes to consider the picture of the world at different levels. F. Grauss, who studied the everyday picture of the world of medieval man, believed that "this is the "general tone" of long-term forms of behavior and opinions of individuals within groups" [8, p. 79-80]. The researcher believed that the everyday picture of the world is contradictory, develops over time [8], i.e. it is not frozen, forming stereotypes of actions and opinions, what in modern concepts is described as behavioral scenarios and frames [11,12,16]. The manifestation of the everyday picture of the world is considered to be the mechanism of a certain, predisposed reaction of an individual. However, it cannot be formulated or reflected on by its bearer, but can be studied from the outside "where we see something that is not similar to ourselves" [8, p. 80]. This concept covers not only the sphere of what is actually done and said, but also includes what is "thought". The author emphasizes the variability of the everyday picture of the world over time.

F. Grauss suggests comparing the behavior and beliefs of groups homogeneous in social affiliation, age, and language [8]. Among Russian studies, the works of A. Ya. Gurevich [3,5] can be highlighted. According to the scientist, the everyday picture of the world reflects «the external side of social consciousness, being implicit in language and other sign systems, in customs, traditions, and beliefs» [5, p. 75]. A. Ya. Gurevich believed that the concept reflects a special atmosphere, the specifics of the worldview of a society in a given era. However, while being common to the entire society (for example, language and religion), it varies depending on the social class and estate structure, the level of education, economic status, and professional specifics of the group. The worldview contains such categories of consciousness of a particular society as time, space, labor, attitude toward death, poverty, wealth, ideas about the afterlife, sources of fear, etc. [4,5]. The everyday picture of the world is the most stable aspect of the social system, but it is driven over time by internal inconsistencies, discontinuities, various interpretations, and opportunities for choice. The everyday picture of the world, inherited from previous generations, changes in the process of social development and underlies human behavior, namely, its scenario aspect. Sociological research, public opinion polls, letters from citizens published in the press, language analysis (new terms, phraseological units, terminology) make it possible to understand and identify certain changes in people's worldviews. According to A. Ya. Gurevich, "only those aspects of ideology that find soil in mentalities, being processed in accordance with them, take root in society" [3, p. 455]. There are a large number of works on the everyday picture of the world in the Middle Ages. The works of the historian J. Le Goff emphasize the significant role of the church in the development of European medieval society, as well as the class division of society [13]. This becomes the basis for further consideration of the future professionalization of society and the identification of professional worldviews. When mentioning the three estates, Jean Le Goff speaks of farmers, warriors, and clergy. The entire way of life in the Middle Ages is subject to church law. The church defines honorable and dishonest professions and serves as the standard of morality. Of course, new estates and new professional groups emerge (for example, merchants), but the church, initially condemning these estates, then accepts them and even begins to support them. Thus, religion becomes the force in society that determines the norms of development, sets the conditions for social functioning, and shapes the everyday worldview of the time.

Another researcher of the Middle Ages, P. Dinzelbacher, draws attention to the role of family and church in the life of society and the categories of evaluation and structuring in the everyday picture of the world [8]. For people at that time, inclusion in a community was important: natural (family, clan) or artificial (brotherhood, built on the type of natural community). As P. Dinzelbacher writes, "kings became godfathers of Christianized rulers and introduced them into "their family", strengthening their influence over them. In the 12th century, as in the 9th century, bishops inherited cathedras according to the law of consanguinity and hereditary law, and not according to canonical law" [8, p. 101]. Among the nobility, it was common to call themselves by their family castle, by place of origin. Features of the everyday picture of the world of the traditional type of social relations were reflected in language [2, 9, 10]. Medieval letters necessarily contained references to God, praises to divine power, and most of the literature was on church topics [7,13]. In modern society, professional activity is a category that has a structuring function in the everyday picture of the world. I.G. Dubov, studying representatives of post-industrial cultures, notes the peculiarities of their differences in dominant ideologies and levels of development of the means of production [15]. Labor (profession) is one of the characteristics of basic social values. It is on the basis of professional (by type of activity) division that new subcultures arise and differ in the modern world [22]. Thus, according to I.G. Dubov, Russian entrepreneurship is an expression of new public interests, social norms and values [15]. Professionalism becomes an important characteristic in the structure of ideas about a profession. S.S. Solovyov notes the peculiarity of the professional picture of the world of the military, associated with their professional activities. Military regulations, strict discipline, and the ideology of the army lead to the formation of a special attitude to reality [19]. Thus, when considering the concept of "worldview" in relation to professional activity, it is important to identify the typological diversity of the types of worldviews that may be included. Within the framework of historical and linguistic studies [10,17,18], the following main types of worldviews are distinguished: symbolic or scientific (rational), everyday or naive, mythological or religious [10]. One of the significant criteria for distinguishing them is the method of obtaining and formulating knowledge, new information, and the basis for forming the "units" of a particular worldview. The peculiarities of constructing reasoning in a symbolic worldview occur on the basis of acquiring rational knowledge (most often scientifically demonstrable), constructing information on the basis of formal-logical connections [17]. Unlike the symbolic worldview, the everyday worldview has other components of construction, which may include, among other things, scenario behavior and the use of irrational systems for obtaining knowledge, which, following the researchers of worldviews in the historical aspect, may include categories of values, intuitive ideas, social representations, etc. [18]. For a number of professions, it is becoming significant to obtain knowledge not only within the framework of the rational components of the symbolic worldview, but also to supplement it with information obtained through the mechanisms of the everyday worldview. Such areas include, first of all, those types of professional activity [14] that are associated with expert work and imply the use of knowledge that is sometimes difficult to verbalize [2] or formally describe. Such professional expert fields include those in which the final result of the professional's actions was based not only on the formally logical structure of knowledge obtained within the framework of the symbolic picture of the world, but also completed by actions taken from the mechanisms of the everyday picture of the world, and, above all, on the basis of scenario information [11, 12, 21]. For example, these include the expert knowledge of diagnostic psychologists, doctors, cultural figures, etc. The common feature of such knowledge is the ability to adopt "hand in hand", through a direct demonstration of the scenario, the actions of the expert. Such knowledge, even in linguistic expression, is not always embodied or, within the framework of the linguistic picture of professional activity [20], finds close contact with the everyday linguistic picture. Thus, in a study of the professional-linguistic picture of the world of doctors, L.A. Kiseleva identified parameters in the professional linguistic picture of the world based on the use of the language of science (i.e., related to the symbolic picture of the world, for example, in gynecology «candidiasis« [9, p. 15]) and common vocabulary (i.e., related to the everyday picture of the world, the corresponding word is »thrush» [9, p. 15]).

The search for mechanisms for identifying the characteristics of such expert knowledge is important for further use in systems for constructing intelligent agents [12, 21] within the framework of research on artificial intelligence.

 

 

Literature

1. Barulin V.S. The Russian Man in the Twentieth Century. Losses and Rediscovery of Oneself. St. Petersburg: Aletheia, 2000.
2. Verbitskaya M.V. Theory of secondary texts based on modern English. Moscow: Moscow State University Press, 2000. 220 p.
3. Gurevich A. Ya. Mentality// 50/50: An Experience of the Dictionary of New Thinking./ Edited by Yu. Afanasyev and M. Ferro. – M.: Progress, 1989. Pp. 454-456.
4. Gurevich A.Ya. From the history of mentalities to historical synthesis // Disputes about the main thing: Discussions about the present and future of historical science around the French school of "Annals". / Ed. Yu. L. Bessmertny. Moscow: Science, 1993. Pp. 16-29.
5. Gurevich A.Ya. The problem of mentalities in modern historiography// General history: discussions, new approaches. Issue 1. Moscow: Nauka, 1989. Pp. 75-89.
6. Duby J. The Development of Historical Research in France after 1950 // Odysseus. Man in History. Moscow: Nauka, 1991. Pp. 48-59.
7. Duby J. A three-part model, or Medieval society's ideas about itself. – Moscow: Languages of Russian Culture, 2000.
8. History of mentalities, historical anthropology. Foreign research in reviews and abstracts. – Moscow: RAS, 1996.
9. Kiseleva L.A. The Professional-Linguistic Picture of the World of a Medical Specialist // Bulletin of Moscow State Regional University. Series: Linguistics. 2018. No. 4. pp. 13–18. DOI: 10.18384/2310-712X-2018-4-13-18
10. Kornilov O. A. Linguistic pictures of the world as derivatives of national mentalities. 2nd edition, corrected and enlarged. Moscow: CheRo, 2003. 349 p.
11. Kuznetsova Yu. M. Scenario approach to text analysis. Proceedings of ISA RAS. 2018. No. 1 (68), 31-41. 12. Kuznetsova Yu. M., Suvorova M. I., Chudova, N. V. Scenario as a form of event representation in the iconic picture of the world. Proceedings of ISA RAS. 2019. No. 1, 70-82.
12. Kuznetsova Yu. M., Suvorova M. I., Chudova, N. IN. Scenario as a form of event representation in the iconic picture of the world. Proceedings of the ISA RAS. 2019. No. 1, pp. 70-82.
13. Le Goff J. The Other Middle Ages: Time, Labor, and Culture of the West. Yekaterinburg: Ural University Press, 2000.
14. Leontiev A. N. Activity. Consciousness. Personality. M. 1974.
15. The mentality of Russians (the specificity of consciousness of large groups of the population of Russia) / Under the general editorship of I.G. Dubov. Moscow: IP RAO, 1997.
16. Minsky M. Frames for knowledge representation. Moscow, 1979.
17. Osipov G. S., Panov A. I., Chudova N. V., Kuznetsova Yu. M. The subject's iconic picture of the world. Moscow, 2017.
18. Postovalova V. I. The picture of the world in human life // The role of the human factor in language. Language and picture of the world. Moscow, 1988.
19. Soloviev S.S. The mentality of the Russian officer: challenges of the 21st century // SOCIS. 2003. No. 12. P. 50-61.
20. Chernyshova L. A. On the professional linguistic picture of the world // Bulletin of the Pomor University. Series: Humanities and social sciences. Arkhangelsk: Publishing house of the Pomor University, 2009. Issue 7. Pp. 251-257.
21. Chuganskaya, A. A. (2019). A scenario-based approach to assisting consumer economic behavior. // Lomonosov Readings-2019. Economic Sciences Section. Economic Relations in the Context of Digital Transformation: A Collection of Abstracts. Moscow, 2019. pp. 439-442.
22. Chuganskaya A.A. Socio-psychological characteristics of non-verbal symbolic communication in an interethnic group (using the Bashkirs and Russians as examples). Dissertation for a PhD in Psychology, Tambov, 2009.

 

 

References

1. Barulin VS The Russian Man in the 20th Century. Losses and Findings of Self. St. Petersburg: Aleteya, 2000.
2. Vezhbickaya A. Semanticheskie universalii i opisanie yazykov. M., 1999.
3. Gurevich A. Y. Mentality// 50/50: An Experience of a Dictionary of New Thinking./ Under the general editorship of Y. U. Afanasev and M. Ferro. – M.: Progress, 1989. S. 454-456.
4. Gurevich A.Ya. From the history of mentalities to historical synthesis // Disputes about the main thing: Discussions about the present and future of historical science around the French school "Annales". / Rev. ed. YU.L.Bessmertnyj. M.: Nauka, 1993. P. 16-29.
5. Gurevich A.Ya. The problem of mentality in modern historiography// General history: discussions, new approaches. Issue 1. Moscow: Nauka, 1989. P. 75-89.
6. Dyubi ZH. Development of historical research in France after 1950 // Odyssey. Man in history. Moscow: Nauka, 1991. P. 48-59.
7. Dyubi Z. Three-Part Model, or Medieval Society’s Representations of Itself. – M.: Languages of Russian Culture, 2000.
8. History of mentalities, historical anthropology. Foreign studies in review and references. – M.: RAS, 1996.
9. Kiseleva L. A. Professional-linguistic picture of the world of a medical specialist // Bulletin of Moscow State Regional University. Series: Linguistics. 2018. No. 4. pp. 13–18. DOI: 10.18384/2310-712X-2018-4-13-18
10. Kornilov OA Linguistic pictures of the world as derivatives of national mentalities. 2nd ed., corrected and enlarged. Moscow: CheRo, 2003. 349 s
11. Kuznecova YU. M. Scenario approach to text analysis. Trudy ISA RAS. 2018. No. 1 (68), 31-41.
12. Kuznekova Yu. M., Suvorova M. I., Chudova N. V. Scenario as a form of representing an event in the symbolic picture of the world. Trudy ISA RAS. 2019. No. 1, 70-82.
13. Le Goff ZH. The Other Middle Ages: Time, Labor, and Culture of the West. Ekaterinburg: Ural University Publishing House, 2000.
14. Leontiev A. N. Activity. Consciousness. Personality. M. 1974.
15. Mentality of Russians (specifics of consciousness of large groups of the population of Russia) / Under the general editorship of I.G. Dubov. Moscow: IP RAO, 1997.
16. Minskij M. Frejmy dlya predstavleniya znanij. M., 1979.
17. Osipov GS, Panov AI, Chudova NV, Kuznecova YU. M. Sign picture of the world of the subject of behavior. M., 2017.
18. Postovalova VI Picture of the world in human life // The role of the human factor in language. Language and picture of the world. Moscow, 1988.
19. Soloviev SS Mentality of the Russian officer: challenges of the 21st century // SOCIS. 2003. No. 12. P. 50-61.
20. Chernyshova L. A. On the professional linguistic picture of the world // Bulletin of Pomor University. Series: Humanities and social sciences. Arkhangelsk: Publishing house of Pomor University, 2009. Issue 7. P. 251-257.
21. CHuganskaya, A. A. (2019). Scenario approach to assisting the economic behavior of the buyer. // Lomonosov Readings-2019. Section of Economic Sciences. Economic relations in the context of digital transformation: collection of abstracts of presentations. Moscow, 2019. P. 439-442.
22. Chuganskaya A. A. Social and psychological characteristics of unusual sign-symbolic communication in an interethnic group (on the example of Bashkirs and Russians). Dissertation for the degree of candidate of psychology, Tambov, 2009.