1988'6, p.94
Simonov P. V.
An interdisciplinary conception of man: need-information approach
(RESUME)

Using a need-information approach (P. Simonov. Emotional Brain. New York, Plenum, 1986) the author presents essential definitions of several concepts of general psychology: personality - a unique composition and inner hierarchy of the main (vital, social, ideal) needs of a given person including varieties of their conservation and development, "for the self" and 'for others"; character - an individual manifestation and composition of subsidiary needs for overcoming (will), competence and economy of strength characteristic of a given person; soul, spirit - an individual manifestation in a given personality structure of the ideal need for knowledge and of the social need "for others", the first of these needs being usually called "spirit", the second one being termed "soul", emotion - a reflection by the brain of some actual need and of the probability (possibility) of its fulfillment, an active state of a system of specialized brain formations inducing the subject to change its behavior in the direction of minimization or maximization of this state; consciousness - operating a knowledge which can be passed to other people using words, mathematical symbols, technology patterns and images of art, including also passing it over to other generations in the form of the cultural heritage; subconsciousness - automatized and thereby not perceived cosciously habits, behavior patterns learned by imitation, internalized social norms whose regulative function is experienced as "the voice of conscience", "feeling of maral obligation" and the like; superconsciousness (creative intuition) - a brain mechanism of hypothesis-formation whose correspondence to the reality is proved by the later social practice.