Reflection is a person’s turning his consciousness to his (or someone else’s) thinking and behavior, to acquired knowledge and committed actions, understanding and analysis of his thoughts, feelings and motives. We can say that reflection is the turning of consciousness on itself. What is meant here is that thought, speech, imagination, and other modes of conscious activity can be reflective if they are used to refer to themselves: reflection on how I think, feelings about my feelings, imagination about what I (or someone) imagined.
Reflection must be distinguished from self-consciousness. Not every reflection—the turning of consciousness to its own knowledge—becomes self-consciousness. Self-consciousness is such a reflection in which knowledge of oneself becomes its subject. Another concept close to reflection is deliberation, it is the result of the inclusion of consciousness in the future. And awareness is the result of including consciousness on what is happening. Reflection is the inclusion of consciousness on what has already happened.
In psychology, as well as in the everyday sense, reflection is called any reflection of a person aimed at analyzing himself (self-analysis) — his own states, his actions and past events. At the same time, the depth of reflection, introspection depends on the degree of education of a person, the development of moral feeling and the level of self-control.
Reflection supports and refines the action. Action without reflection is thoughtlessness and stupidity. Reflection without action is self-centeredness. Both are wrong behavior.
Some specialized military-philosophical models are also built on reflection (see Tactics, Strategy, Stratagems). Reflection, aimed at understanding the causes and foundations of one’s own judgments, is often referred to as the field of philosophy, although checking the validity of one’s conclusions is mandatory for any intellectually responsible reasonable person and is one of the methods for developing thinking.
Psychological test for the development of reflection
Three people are shown props: 3 red and 2 white caps, they are blindfolded, they are put on red caps and they are told that each of them can have either a red or a white cap on their heads. The bandage is removed, and given the task:
raise your hand if they see at least one red cap, and if someone guesses what color the cap is on, let him leave the room.
At first, everyone raises their hand, but then there is a pause. Finally, one of the participants comes out.
The train of thought might be something like this: “Do I have a white cap on?” “No, if he were white, one of us would see this and think that the third participant sees the red cap only on himself, and therefore raises his hand. Then he should go out, but he does not go out. So I’m wearing a red cap.»
This participant reasoned for one and the other of the partners, while the reasoning of the third participant included the reasoning of only one of them.
Is reflection worth it?
Our people do not like people who are too smart, and the development of reflection beyond the usual, that is, a rather low level, causes many people to be alert and have a negative attitude. The comments to the article «A Son Is Twelve: Raising Responsibility» contain a characteristic remark: »