Why does a person need imagination? We determine creative potential and level of imagination development

Imagination is amazing and unique ability human, which consists in the creation of images, ideas, ideas and concepts. This is part of the cognitive process, allowing you to create new images based on experience and change them.

Imagination - special shape mental activity, which allows not only to interpret existing reality, but also modify it in the process of thinking. Thanks to imagination, we can not only remember pictures of the past, but also play out future scenarios, operate with ephemeral and abstract matters, and predict the results of actions.

Types of imagination

Depending on the degree of awareness and the results obtained, several types of imagination are distinguished.

• Involuntary imagination, which is not controlled by consciousness, allows you to see dreams in which reality intertwines with fiction, presenting the most fantastic pictures.
• Free imagination allows you to consciously create images and manipulate them at will.
• Reproductive imagination is similar to memories; it tries to repeat pictures of real-life reality, however, there is also a place for fiction and figurative additions.
• Productive imagination allows you to construct non-existent pictures, both complementing reality and previous experience with new images, and creating completely new ones. This type of imagination is also called creative, because it is imagination that allows artists to create amazing pictures, writers to compose stories that have never happened, and inventors to make unprecedented discoveries.

Functions of the imagination

Imagination is the main component creative activity and games, necessary for memory processes and performing many other functions. Thanks to imagination, you can not only indulge in impossible dreams, but also carry out quite practical actions in everyday life.

• Planning. Thanks to imagination, a person can plan, program and forecast upcoming activities, anticipate the result in advance and evaluate it, take into account possible scenarios developments of events. Goal setting depends entirely on imagination.
• Cognition. Imagination plays an important role in cognitive activity, the processes of speech, attention, memorization, learning and perception in general largely depend on the imagination.
• Problem solving. The ability to create and manipulate mental images allows you to solve various problems and serves as an integral and important part thinking process. Imagination allows you to solve any problem in your mind: from simple mathematical operations to complex professional problems.
• Managing emotions. With the help of imagination, a person can control his emotions. This may be an almost unconscious process of imagining certain events and options for their development, thanks to which a person can emotional stress, and survive negative or positive emotions. In addition, imagination underlies many techniques for managing emotions and mental state, for example in visualization techniques.

Imagination is necessary not only in childhood when we listen to fairy tales and play, but throughout our lives, every day. Without imagination, not only creativity is impossible, but also the thinking that a person possesses. It is even believed that what distinguishes humans from animals is the ability to imagine.

Many people today are concerned about the benefits and harms of fantasizing. Indeed, one can “go away” into fantasies; they can absorb, lead to the fact that a person can imagine himself. However, fantasy can develop into a project, a work of art, and can even be used in science.

For example, in his diaries, a physicist engineer Nikola Tesla wrote: " I'm in no hurry to start practical work. When I have an idea, I immediately begin to develop it in my imagination: I change the design, make improvements and mentally set the mechanism in motion... Thus, I can quickly develop and improve the concept without touching anything».

So what are the benefits and harms of fantasy?

If we turn to the works of the Church Fathers, we will come across the statement Saint Theophan the Recluse: “Fantasy creates completely new images, although from the same material and for the most part according to ready-made or already known models. It should distinguish between good activity - efficient - and disorderly - unauthorized movements...”

In the practice of clergy, work with image and fantasy was widely used. Let us remember the common advice from a mentor to a novice. It sounded something like this: “If you like a girl, imagine her lying in a coffin. Her body is covered with scabs...” Yes, it sounds a little scary for a contemporary, but the essence of the example is that imagination as such was not considered something harmful to the soul. Its improper use was considered harmful.

Images are often found in the Gospel - the image of a fig tree, the image of a pearl as a symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is what we can call useful images according to St. Theophan the Recluse.

He writes interestingly about the work of fantasy in his work “On the Storage of Feelings”: “...So, for example, if someone is eating a lemon, and another is standing next to him and looking at him, then this other person begins to salivate. But does anyone who just imagines a lemon in their imagination experience the same thing?..”

Saint Theophan the Recluse pointed out that “the lower abilities of cognition are: internal and external observation, imagination and memory...”. John of Damascus in his work “An Exact Exposition Orthodox faith” writes: “As we know, as a result of sensory perception, an impression is formed in the soul, called an idea...”. Therefore, it is dangerous to consider the imagination itself as a harmful force for the soul, like any ability of the soul. It is important to learn how to use it “for peaceful purposes.”

Why should a child fantasize?

The human brain is capable of storing our previous experiences. If he could only do this, humanity could only adapt. But the Lord gave man the ability, one might say prophetic, creative - to model and build the future. And all models first appear in thinking as a representation, as an image, and therefore as a fantasy.

Imagination is at the heart of everything cultural activities human, at the basis of artistic, scientific, technical creativity. Any innovation, invention, book was born first in the imagination. A person begins to imagine from childhood, which means he begins to create.

Psychologist Lev Vygotsky writes:

« One of the most important issues child psychology and pedagogy is a question about creativity in children, the development of this creativity and the meaning creative work For general development and child maturation. Already in early age We find creative processes in children that are best expressed in children's games. A child who, sitting astride a stick, pretends to be riding a horse, a girl who plays with a doll and imagines herself as its mother... - all these playing children represent examples of the most genuine, most genuine creativity.».

This is how reality shapes imagination, and imagination shapes reality through the products of any type of creativity.

...Lida was brought by her mother. The girl was five years old. Thin, timid, a little uptight and embarrassed. She walked into the office, as if trying to take up as little space as possible. Middle child in the family, Lida received a lot of attention; her mother did not work. The father loved children and spent his free time with them.

Mom complained that Lida was a low-energy, sickly girl who did not really like to play with children. Parents had higher education and tried to give the children a lot scientific information about the world around them, and read fairy tales to them. When I offered the girl toys, she chose a cow and a dog. During the game, the dog always wanted to tell the cow the fairy tales that she composed herself. The cow forbade her, and the dog was very upset.

When I began to discuss this problem with my mother, it turned out that Lida was constantly trying to tell her her “inventions.” These were still loosely coherent fragments, sometimes with characters that frightened my mother; a clear plot could not be traced in them. This annoyed the mother, and she abruptly stopped the child, because she simply did not understand how to react to this.

I invited Lida to tell her about her “ideas”. We drew them and sculpted them. The girl, talking about them, came to life, her face blushed, she defined for me different roles in these “inventions”, and it seems that her organizational talent was emerging.

Mom noticed that at home Lida was trying to unite the family in some new game she had invented. Of course, the games were not always structured or clear, the rules were confused and confused. Sometimes it took two hours to clarify them and no one started playing. But the whole family, including the child, actively participated in drawing maps and assigning roles, searching for equipment and developing game scenarios.

Something remained in the project, something grew into a game, but what is important, in addition to other positive effects, is that Lida learned to be an organizer and began to actively use these skills in communicating with friends who began to appear in her yard, learned to find a place for myself inner world in the external.

The tightness has almost gone away, the girl is no longer timid, and she has more energy. The mother began to notice that the child’s vitality was becoming more and more stable. If mom got tired of listening to “ideas,” then Lida would draw them, cut them out, and somehow try to express them in the materials at hand. This is how a whole volume has grown...

Fantasy and reality

The everyday idea that fantasy is completely divorced from reality is erroneous. Firstly, any fantasy can only be based on impressions of reality, i.e. on what a person perceives.

He writes well about this Venerable Nikodim Svyatogorets(“On storing feelings”): “ Imagination is a wide board on which we depict what we saw with our eyes, what we heard with our ears, what we felt and touched.».

Lev Vygotsky reveals this through the image of a hut on chicken legs: it does not exist, but the elements from which this fairy-tale image is built are taken from human experience. One might add that the fairy tale itself readable to a child overnight, becomes the experience of a person, a family, a clan, and a country. Vygotsky derives the law that the creative activity of the imagination is directly dependent on the richness and diversity of a person’s previous experience.

By the way, many scientists saw the results of their many years of research precisely as a flash of imagination, as an insight. This is how fragmentary puzzles of ideas are put together into a complete picture, a look, a gestalt. And this possibility of imagination is also important.

For example, a child learns lesson after lesson the features of some great event. He learns about what preceded him, what kind of people lived then, how they dressed, what customs and morals they had, how they built and developed. All this must line up into a picture, and this is the task of the imagination. This form of work becomes possible thanks to the experience of others, the experience of society, and expands personal experience child and adult.

Problems of imagination

Problems arise not when a person uses his imagination, but when he treats it in a special, one might say, painful way. For example, magical thinking.

IN " Great Encyclopedia in Psychiatry" we can read that magical thinking is in itself general view the belief that you can influence reality with your thoughts, fantasies, and desires. As a normal phenomenon, this phenomenon is to some extent characteristic of children under 3-5 years of age who believe that their thoughts are the cause or equivalent of what is happening in external reality, as well as representatives of “primitive” cultures.

I remember the story of a girl, very beautiful and successful in her profession, who told me that her thoughts and fantasies influence reality.

“For example, I’m driving and want to park. I think: if only the last parking spot was free. I start sending a signal to the Universe, I drive up - and the place is empty. And with a young man, I always influence him mentally, from a distance, so that he calls me. I also made a vision board where I have everything. But he doesn’t ask me to marry him. And we have three children on the board. How can I achieve all this?

In response to my attempts to question the power of her influence, the girl thought about it and said that she herself often doubts, but at the training they explained to her that it all works and the Universe will always give an answer.

In principle, she achieved much of what was on the board. I bought a car and an apartment. But where does the girl’s power of thought rest? Into the free will of another person. Her boyfriend didn’t want to get married, but they had been dating for many years. And the chain “my thought” - “obedient Universe” - “obedient guy” was clearly failing.

Magical thinking structures in some people coexist side by side with other, later, more developed and complex cognitive programs. So in the Orthodox consciousness the incompatible can be combined: faith in God’s Providence and the belief that a person can magically control the circumstances of his life and use, for example, the power of thought or mental image to control reality.

Roots of the problem

“And you will be like gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). The first people were tempted by this, and we are also tempted by this, forgetting that “the Provider and Giver of every good” is the Lord, beginning to seek the power to influence people and events.

Of course, few people consciously fantasize that they can become a “god” in the “kingdom of earth,” but many feel this way and seek confirmation of this in the circumstances of life. This is how the defense called “omnipotent control” manifests itself.

For some people, the need to feel a sense of omnipotent control and to perceive what happens to them as caused by their own unlimited power is completely irresistible. If a person seeks pleasure from the feeling that he can effectively manifest and use his own omnipotence, there is reason to consider him as psychopathic.

And about achieving results at all costs... Famous film actress Audrey Hepburn in her memoirs she recalled how she never became a ballerina. What a hard blow it was for her. And how happy she was later:

“Madame Rambert’s teacher did not hide her opinion: too tall, too skinny, too undeveloped for her age. I promised to study from morning to evening to catch up with the others, and I really did it, but you can’t change nature. Madame Rambert was sharp and frank, for which I am grateful to her, because if she had taken pity on me then, I would have become a run-of-the-mill ballerina, but I certainly would not have become an actress.”

Sometimes our failures are as useful to us as our successes. Christianity reminds people of this all the time.

Health and pathology

Schizophrenia researchers rightly argue that we are forced to distinguish between healthy and pathological fantasy. Healthy fantasy is fundamentally a preparation for action in the outside world. Pathological fantasy is used as a means to maintain contact with fantasy objects, while at the same time separating from the objects of reality.

And here we turn to Harry Guntrip and his descriptions of the schizoid personality:

“Attitude to the outside world...: non-involvement and aloof observation... What more people cut themselves off from human relationships in the external world, especially since they are immersed in emotionally charged fantasy object relationships in their inner mental world; the extreme limit is the state of a psychotic who lives exclusively in his inner world.”

If you try to summarize the meaning of what is said in the quotes of the greats, you can start with the statement Federico Garcia Lorca that imagination is synonymous with the ability to discover, and to end with the words Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin: « Unlimited imagination creates an imaginary reality».

Between these poles lies our ability to control our imagination and not let our imagination control us.

Anastasia Bondaruk

The images with which a person operates include not only previously perceived objects and phenomena. The content of the images can also be something that he has never perceived directly: pictures of the distant past or future; places where he has never been and never will be; creatures that do not exist, not only on Earth, but in the Universe in general. Images allow a person to go beyond real world in time and space. It is these images, transforming and modifying human experience, that are the main characteristic of the imagination.

Usually what is meant by imagination or fantasy is not exactly what is meant by these words in science. In everyday life, imagination or fantasy is called everything that is unreal, does not correspond to reality and, thus, has no practical significance. In fact, imagination as the basis of any creative activity is equally manifested in all aspects. cultural life, making artistic, scientific and technical creativity possible.

Through sensations, perception and thinking, a person reflects the real properties of objects in the surrounding reality and acts in accordance with them in a specific situation. Through memory he uses his past experience. But human behavior can be determined not only by current or past properties of the situation, but also by those that may be inherent in it in the future. Thanks to this ability in human consciousness images of objects appear that this moment do not exist, but can subsequently be embodied in specific objects. The ability to reflect the future and act as expected, i.e. imaginary, situation typical only for humans.

Imagination — cognitive process reflection of the future by creating new images based on processing images of perception, thinking and ideas obtained in previous experience.

Through the imagination, images are created that have never generally been accepted by a person in reality. The essence of imagination is to transform the world. This determines vital role imagination in the development of man as an active subject.

Imagination and thinking are processes that are similar in their structure and functions. L. S. Vygotsky called them “extremely related,” noting the commonality of their origin and structure as psychological systems. He considered imagination as a necessary, integral moment of thinking, especially creative thinking, since thinking always includes the processes of forecasting and anticipation. In problematic situations, a person uses thinking and imagination. The idea formed in the imagination possible solution strengthen the motivation of the search and determine its direction. The more uncertain problematic situation, the more unknown there is in it, the more significant the role of imagination becomes. It can be carried out with incomplete initial data, since it supplements them with products of one’s own creativity.

A deep relationship also exists between imagination and emotional-volitional processes. One of its manifestations is that when an imaginary image appears in a person’s mind, he experiences true, real, and not imaginary emotions, which allows him to avoid unwanted influences and bring the desired images to life. L. S. Vygotsky called this the law “ emotional reality imagination"

For example, a person needs to cross a stormy river by boat. Imagining that the boat might capsize, he experiences not imaginary, but real fear. This encourages him to choose more safe way crossings.

Imagination can influence the strength of emotions and feelings experienced by a person. For example, people often experience feelings of anxiety, worry about only imaginary, and not real events. Changing the way you imagine can reduce anxiety and relieve tension. Imagining the experiences of another person helps to form and demonstrate feelings of empathy and compassion towards him. IN volitional actions imagining the final result of an activity encourages its implementation. The brighter the image of the imagination, the greater the motivating force, but the realism of the image also matters.

Imagination is a significant factor influencing personality development. Ideals, as an imaginary image that a person wants to imitate or strives for, serve as models for organizing his life, personal and moral development.

Types of imagination

Exist different kinds imagination. By degree of activity imagination can be passive or active. Passive imagination does not stimulate a person to take active action. He is satisfied with the created images and does not strive to realize them in reality or draws images that, in principle, cannot be realized. In life, such people are called utopians, fruitless dreamers. N.V. Gogol, having created the image of Manilov, made his name a household name for this type of people. Active imagination is the creation of images that are subsequently realized in practical actions and products of activity. Sometimes this requires a lot of effort and a significant investment of time from a person. Active imagination increases the creative content and efficiency of other activities.

Productive

Productive is called imagination, in the images of which there are many new things (elements of fantasy). The products of such imagination are usually similar to nothing or very little similar to what is already known.

Reproductive

Reproductive is an imagination, the products of which contain a lot of what is already known, although there are also individual elements of the new. This, for example, is the imagination of a novice poet, writer, engineer, artist, who initially create their creations according to known models, thereby learning professional skills.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations are products of imagination generated by an altered (not normal) state of human consciousness. These conditions can occur due to various reasons: illness, hypnosis, exposure to psychotropic substances such as drugs, alcohol, etc.

Dreams

Dreams are products of imagination aimed at a desired future. Dreams contain more or less real and, in principle, feasible plans for a person. Dreams as a form of imagination are especially characteristic of young people who most of life is still ahead.

Dreams

Dreams are unique dreams that, as a rule, are divorced from reality and, in principle, are not feasible. Dreams occupy an intermediate position between dreams and hallucinations, but their difference from hallucinations is that dreams are products of the activity of a normal person.

Dreams

Dreams have always been and still are of particular interest. Currently, they are inclined to believe that dreams can reflect the processes of information processing by the human brain, and the content of dreams is not only functionally related to these processes, but may include new valuable ideas and even discoveries.

Voluntary and involuntary imagination

Imagination is connected in various ways with the will of a person, on the basis of which voluntary and involuntary imagination are distinguished. If images are created when the activity of consciousness is weakened, imagination is called involuntary. It occurs in a half-asleep state or during sleep, as well as in certain disorders of consciousness. free imagination is a conscious, directed activity, performing which a person is aware of its goals and motives. It is characterized by the deliberate creation of images. Activity and free imagination can be combined different ways. An example of voluntary passive imagination is daydreaming, when a person deliberately indulges in thoughts that are unlikely to ever come true. Voluntary active imagination manifests itself in a long, purposeful search for the desired image, which is typical, in particular, for the activities of writers, inventors, and artists.

Recreative and creative imagination

In connection with past experience, two types of imagination are distinguished: recreative and creative. Recreating Imagination is the creation of images of objects that were not previously perceived in a complete form by a person, although he is familiar with similar objects or their individual elements. Images are formed by verbal description, schematic image - drawing, drawing, geographical map. In this case, the knowledge available regarding these objects is used, which determines the predominantly reproductive nature created images. At the same time, they differ from memory representations in the greater variety, flexibility and dynamism of image elements. Creative imagination is the independent creation of new images that are embodied in original products of various types of activities with minimal indirect reliance on past experience.

Realistic imagination

Drawing various images in their imagination, people always evaluate the possibility of their implementation in reality. Realistic imagination takes place if a person believes in the reality and possibility of realizing the created images. If he does not see such a possibility, a fantastic imagination takes place. There is no hard line between realistic and fantastic imagination. There are many cases where an image born of a person’s fantasy as completely unrealistic (for example, the hyperboloid invented by A. N. Tolstoy) later became a reality. Fantastic imagination is present in role-playing games children. It formed the basis of literary works of a certain genre - fairy tales, science fiction, “fantasy”.

With all the variety of types of imagination, they are characterized by general function, which determines their main importance in human life - anticipation of the future, perfect performance result of an activity before it is achieved. Other functions of the imagination are also associated with it - stimulating and planning. The images created in the imagination encourage and stimulate a person to realize them in specific actions. The transformative influence of imagination extends not only to a person’s future activity, but also to his past experience. Imagination promotes selectivity in its structuring and reproduction in accordance with the goals of the present and future. The creation of imaginative images is carried out through complex processes of processing actually perceived information and memory representations. Just as is the case in thinking, the main processes or operations of the imagination are analysis and synthesis. Through analysis, objects or ideas about them are divided into their component parts, and through synthesis, a holistic image of the object is rebuilt. But unlike thinking in the imagination, a person more freely handles the elements of objects, recreating new holistic images.

This is achieved through a set of processes specific to the imagination. The main ones are exaggeration(hyperbolization) and understatement of real-life objects or their parts (for example, creating images of a giant, genie or Thumbelina); accentuation- emphasizing or exaggerating real-life objects or their parts (for example, a long nose Pinocchio, Malvina's blue hair); agglutination- combining various, real-life parts and properties of objects in unusual combinations (for example, creating fictional images of a centaur, mermaid). The specificity of the imagination process is that they do not reproduce certain impressions in the same combinations and forms in which they were perceived and stored as past experience, but build new combinations and forms from them. This reveals a deep internal connection between imagination and creativity, which is always aimed at creating something new - material values, scientific ideas or .

The relationship between imagination and creativity

There are different types of creativity: scientific, technical, literary, artistic etc. None of these types is possible without the participation of imagination. In its main function - anticipation of what does not yet exist, it determines the emergence of intuition, conjecture, insight as the central link creative process. Imagination helps a scientist to see the phenomenon being studied in a new light. In the history of science there are many examples of the emergence of images of the imagination, which were subsequently realized into new ideas, great discoveries and inventions.

The English physicist M. Faraday, studying the interaction of conductors with current at a distance, imagined that they were surrounded by invisible lines like tentacles. This led him to discover power lines and phenomena electromagnetic induction. The German engineer O. Lilienthal observed and analyzed the soaring flight of birds for a long time. The image of an artificial bird that arose in his imagination served as the basis for the invention of the glider and the first flight on it.

Creating literary works, the writer realizes in words the images of his aesthetic imagination. Their brightness, breadth and depth of the phenomena of reality they cover are subsequently felt by readers, and evoke in them feelings of co-creation. L.N. Tolstoy wrote in his diaries that “when perceived truly works of art an illusion arises that a person does not perceive, but creates; it seems to him that he has produced such a beautiful thing.”

The role of imagination in pedagogical creativity is also great. Its specificity is that the results pedagogical activity do not appear immediately, but after some time, sometimes long time. Their representation in the form of a model of the child’s emerging personality, the way of his behavior and thinking in the future determines the choice of teaching and upbringing methods, pedagogical requirements and impacts.

All people have different abilities for creativity. Their formation is determined a large number various kinds aspects. These include congenital inclinations, human activity, characteristics environment, conditions of education and upbringing that influence the development of human characteristics mental processes and personality traits that contribute to creative achievements.

Human imagination. This phrase in itself is wrong. because only man has imagination and the imagination of animals does not exist. Let's explore this amazing, truly human ability to imagine.

They say about some people that they have good imagination, for some people rich imagination. They can come up with dozens entertaining stories, they will tell you something that others have not heard and even in a way that others cannot reproduce. Does a person without imagination exist?

If we're talking about healthy person, then in fact, all people have imagination. It belongs to higher cognitive processes in our psyche. Yes, there are tragic cases when people lose many lives as a result of injury or illness. cognitive abilities. But we are talking about healthy people.

Imagination concept

What does "cognitive" mean? In this context, this means that imagination helps a person to know the world and use this knowledge as a person sees fit. Based on the information received, a person can create new images. It is impossible to come up with something new if you don’t know the old.

Therefore, any brilliant discoveries that scientists have made are the result of fruitful work, not talent. Every person is talented. It’s just that his level of experience doesn’t allow him to fully imagine. This is quite difficult for him.

How does imagination arise? It is a consequence of the needs that a person has in life. Everyone wants to change something, but from the very beginning you need to imagine the finished result, and then go towards it. The inventor first imagined any object in his imagination, and then brought it to life. Imagination is an excellent tool for visualize goals.

Imagination was developed in man thanks to work. A famous genius in physics, A. Einstein, said that imagination better knowledge , since it can create something that can significantly influence the processes occurring in the world. Many imaginations arise in a person’s head every day. Their number in most cases exceeds a thousand.

Some of them leave no trace. They are not remembered as those that mean little. But the most interesting ones can stay in a person’s head for a long time. They are the ones who form content of imagination. The appearance of the iPhone in Steve Jobs's head was preceded by a series of other imaginations that the genius of the mobile industry did not even remember. But since the idea of ​​the iPhone was beyond praise, it was even brought to life.

So, imagination is a process that consists in creating new images, this occurs due to the processing of material of perception and experience (memory).

The importance of imagination in human life

Imagination in human life has a very great importance. Imagination allows a person to live fully:

• communicate with other people
• visualize goals
• use your natural creativity
• make discoveries
• come up with something new
• find solutions to complex problems
• to know what is still unknown
• imagine and understand something that a person has never seen in reality (for example, how electrons move around an atom)
• calculate your actions several steps ahead (in business, career, relationships)
• predict events and decision options

And much more. In our age intellectual activity A person’s imagination is quite strongly connected, especially in those professions in which everything cannot be entrusted to computers: programming, design, research. This is the reason why each of us needs to develop our imagination.

The importance of imagination for child development

When we talk about children, human development and imagination are closely intertwined. In the first years and throughout preschool childhood, the child actively develops this cognitive process. And it turns out that if a child, for some reason, cannot develop his imagination sufficiently, he may not develop many other necessary abilities.

A developed imagination allows you to develop creativity in the future, creative thinking, ability to find original solutions, find a way out difficult situations. Agree, all these skills are so necessary in the modern world that it is worthwhile to develop the imagination. In my opinion this is true.

Imagination and human activity

If we look at human activity, we will see that any successful activity, any product, invention, object, work was done by people with good imagination.

• any new invention is first imagined by a person, and only then brought to life
• a quality item (be it a pen, a table, a scarf, a car) first appears in the developers’ minds
• writers, artists, sculptors, screenwriters, musicians, directors first come up with everything in their imagination
• entrepreneurs imagine possible options transaction results, risks and benefits
• athletes (both amateurs and professionals) calculate many moves ahead in order to understand how to conduct their race, match, attempt
• each of us always imagines before consciously doing something, without imagination there is no responsibility, there is no understanding of what each of our actions can lead to

As you can see, imagination in human activity is present in most life and professional situations. The better it is developed, the more chances we have to make our actions as high quality and favorable for us as possible.

Functions of the imagination

1.Cognitive. By imagining what is inaccessible to the human eye, we can mentally study the most complex elements surrounding world: atoms, distant space objects.

2. Planning function. When we set goals and plans for ourselves, we imagine the end desired result. Works here too anticipation— anticipation of performance results.

3. Presentation function. We can imagine characters from stories, books, films, friends, acquaintances.

4. Protective/therapeutic. When events do not happen, we can prepare for them and replay good and bad moments with the help of imagination. Or, when an event has already happened, thanks to our imagination we live it again in a more vivid way. mild form, thereby calming (or, conversely, strengthening) emotions and sensations.

5. Transformative. Changing reality, creating new objects, processes, relationships.

Forms of imagination

1.Passive. It arises by itself, without our will.

• Dreams- passive involuntary imagination operates.
• Dreams- daytime protective fantasies and passive voluntary imagination operate.
• Hallucinations- act under the influence of illness, or under the influence of any psychotropic substances (narcotics or alcohol).

2. Active. We make an effort to imagine.

• Recreating imagination. This imagination of what a person has encountered or seen in reality may partly contain something new.
• Creative imagination . This is the imagination of a completely new thing that has not previously existed in human experience.

Imagination is one of the fundamental mental processes that generally determine our intellectual development. Therefore, developing your imagination is one of the most important contributions to your intelligence.

The most in simple ways development of imagination are:

• Accumulation of various vivid images from real life: observing nature, animals, viewing works of art (painting, sculpture), listening to the sounds of nature, classical music.
• Try to imagine in vivid colors a person whom you know, but who is currently not near you. Remember and imagine what he is like, how he smiles, the color of his eyes, the structure of his hair, the tilt of his head when talking.

Imagination is a great gift of nature that every person can use, starting from a very young age. This is the ability of inner vision, which is associated with many aspects of our lives. This quality is intended to serve the benefit of a person and help him in real life to achieve what he could see inside himself, in his thoughts and dreams.

Why is it worth developing your imagination?

As a rule, adults rarely think about developing their Creative skills and fantasy. It just so happened - we are taught to be realistic, not to “have our head in the clouds”, not to build illusions and castles in the air. But by neglecting the development of imagination, we can deprive ourselves of many benefits. Let's look at some reasons why it's worth developing your imagination.

Firstly, developed imagination promotes mental flexibility and makes a person’s thinking more productive. So, it would seem, just the ability to dream, but in fact it turns out that fantasy is closely related to the level of intelligence. That is, by developing your imagination, you become smarter!

Secondly, imagination is not a useless function that is needed only for preschoolers to make their childhood more fun. No! Imagination helps us extract from the depths of our subconscious what we were unaware of. For years, our imagination accumulates the energy that is given to every person along with his dreams. At the moment when a person is completely ready to realize what his fantasy has drawn, the accumulated energy is released and gives a powerful push, which allows him to get closer to the goal faster. If you need strength for successful life, you have no right to neglect the development of your imagination.

Thirdly, thanks to your imagination you can reach great heights in professional activity or in business. Modern world is developing at a crazy pace, and every year so many new things appear that creative ideas come in handy. Therefore, a person with a good imagination, capable of coming up with fresh ideas and solutions, will always have a good position and income.

And of course - the power of imagination, it’s yours inner strength, which opens up many possibilities for you. Your imagination is where all your success begins. Everything that is created by man today was once born exactly there, in a small part of the brain, which generated and allowed man to see the finished result with his inner vision.

How can you develop your imagination?

Child psychologists now talk a lot about this topic. They are concerned that children today do not have this developed imagination like kids from previous generations. Of course, everything is blamed on the effects of television and various gadgets. In essence, a TV, smartphone, computer, tablet is useful devices. But they can be harmful to a growing and developing brain.

Why? The reason is the way the information is presented! The simpler and clearer the information presented, the less the brain needs to strain. The imagination is practically not involved when watching a cartoon. But, if a child reads a book or listens to a fairy tale, the areas of the brain associated with creativity and fantasy are immediately activated, because the baby needs to activate inner vision in order to visualize the information received.

The same problem also affects adults. It’s not for nothing that you can often hear that TV makes people less inventive, less active and experience difficulties even in the simplest things. thought processes. Simply put, their brains become less flexible. Therefore, first of all, it is better to refuse or minimize receiving information from TV and computer screens. Yes, of course, it’s easier to watch a video rather than read a book, but if you care about your mind and consciousness, and strive to achieve heights in life, you need to sacrifice something. This is the only thing that can interfere with the harmonious development and activation of fantasy.

Let's consider another list of tips that, on the contrary, will contribute to the development of imagination.

There is one simple thing and at the same time effective exercise for the development of parts of the brain responsible for creativity. The simplicity is that it can be practiced anywhere, anytime. The point is this. Try to simulate different life situations. Scroll through the plot, improvise, draw the smallest details in your head. For example, imagine how in the evening you and a friend met in a cafe over a cup of tea. Try to hear this light music, smell it, and see the interior details.

Another very popular way to develop imagination is reading books. The more often you allow yourself to enjoy a book, the more your brain is loaded, and specifically the part responsible for the power of imagination. The brain is like a muscle; the stronger and more often you strain it, the more productive it will work.

Start writing your thoughts, impressions, emotions. Keep a diary, or just do it periodically when you have a free minute and inspiration. Every time you write down something you've experienced, or just your thoughts, you experience it in a new way and your imagination is used again.

Effective and effective method development of fantasy - communication with people who have already managed to develop this quality well. Such people are full of energy and ideas; they have many plans and dreams that they would like to realize in their lives. No matter how strange it may sound, this energy is transmitted. Allow yourself to be “infected” by this, plunge into the atmosphere of creation and creativity, and be saturated with this energy.

And of course, don’t forget about the others creative types activities and hobbies. Perhaps you have an old dream - to learn to draw or crochet. Make up your mind and start doing some creative activities that activate your brain, forcing your imagination to develop.

Remember that by reaching heights in the development of imagination, you can break through in many areas of life. Don't stop and don't let any circumstances get in your way, and then you will have great success!