Non-Verbal Languages of Consciousness: Representation of Subjective Attitude through Color, Form and Direct Assessment

Since the end of the last century, the problem of consciousness has come to the fore in the world science. The unresolved nature of this problem until today is connected with the insurmountability of the “border” between phenomenal and psychological (cognitive) consciousness. One of the directions for solving this problem is connected with the provision on the existence of different languages of consciousness in the context of the idea of a categorical system of representative consciousness. The article presents work on the design and empirical comparison of fixed means of representing personal (subjective) relationships as certain forms of phenomenal cognitive consciousness. The interrelation and interdependence of the categories “representation” and “attitude” is fixed, the first of which (representation) is fundamental in many programs for solving the so-called difficult problem (“Hard Problem”) in English-language studies; the category “attitude” is comparable to it in terms of significance for the problem of consciousness in Russian psychology. It is assumed that sensory-perceptual consciousness (qualia) can be represented both by verbal and color-associative, as well as by associative-geometric means on the target objects of subjective attitude. Methods used: color test of relationships, adapted to the objectives of the study; geometric test of relationships in authoring; the scale of value judgments in relation to social and personally significant objects; the author’s method of determining the characteristics of the internal communication of a person. The equivalence of the contents of phenomenal cognitive representations in evaluative dimensions is shown empirically. The interpretation is based on the proposition of the existence of verbal and non-verbal (sign) languages of consciousness, which are not always amenable to “translation” into verbal language. It has been proven that in most cases the non-verbal representation of subjective attitudes towards social and personally significant objects through color and geometric associations in most cases is accompanied by processes of internal communication.

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