Personality psychology

Background. Previous studies have assumed that a materialistic value orientation is correlates with personality traits such as honesty, neuroticism, and agreeableness. Less is known about the relationship between features of a materialistic orientation such as acquisition centrality, acquisition as the pursuit of happiness, and possession-defined success, and the Dark Triad traits. This article presents a study on the relationship between materialism, the Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy), and money management. 

Objective. The study aimed to investigate whether groups exhibiting various combinations of materialism and Dark Triad traits have disparities in financial control and accountability, which serve as indicators of money management.

Design. Questionnaire-based surveys were conducted online, with a total of 442 undergraduate students age 18 to 25 participating. The participants filled out the Short Dark Triad measure, the Material Values Scale, and the Money Management Scale, in addition to providing their demographics.

Results. Four combinations of materialistic and Dark Triad traits were revealed (Bright and Dark Materialists and Non-materialists). Bright and Dark Materialists were more self-centered and manipulative than Non-materialists. Strong materialism, paired with the lowest degree of Dark Triad characteristics, resulted in the worst financial management. On the contrary, individuals with low materialistic tendencies in addition to high Dark Triad traits tended to have better ability to managing their finances.

Conclusion. It is possible to assume that materialism is a strategy for obtaining riches, positions, and reputation at the cost of others in the case of "dark" personalities. Nevertheless, those with low levels of materialism and low Dark Triad characteristics showed better abilities to handle their finances in terms of control and responsibility.  

Background. Infrahumanization is a result of group comparison when the ingroup is considered as fully human in comparison to an outgroup that is viewed as lacking humanness and similar to animals. Infrahumanization theory proposed that the attribution of emotions to ingroups and outgroups is based on their uniqueness, regardless of the valence of these emotions. Since the valence of information plays an important role in its processing and perception, it was decided to clarify the role of uniqueness and valence.

Objective. This article aims to explore the role of valence and uniqueness in the perception of emotions within the framework of the infrahumanization theory.

Design. Three studies were conducted. A preliminary study selected emotions with extreme values for uniqueness and valence to create a list for measuring infrahumanization for the Russian socio-cultural context. In Study 1, we tested three alternative models of perception of emotions’ uniqueness and valence. In Study 2, we replicate the results from Study 1 and check the robustness of the models obtained.

Results. In a preliminary study (N = 146), twelve emotions with different levels of uniqueness and valence were selected for the Russian socio-cultural context. CFA was used for testing the models in Studies 1 and 2. The results of Study 1 (N = 243) demonstrated the role of valence and uniqueness in the perception of emotions. Study 2 (N = 482) confirmed the results obtained in Study 1.

Conclusion. For the first time, the infrahumanization measure was adapted to the Russian socio-cultural context. Infrahumanization research should control valence for a qualitative discussion of the results.

Background. All life strives to be well, but not all life is well. This suggests that cognition aimed at improving and protecting well-being might share a common core across all life forms: core cognition

Objective. In this first of a two-part theoretical article, we systematically specify the evolutionary core cognition of well-being from the perspective of general living agents. In Part 2 we apply this to identity development and the theoretical approaches to well-being. This first part aims to identify the strategies and conditions for the creation and protection of generalized well-being and describes associated behavioral ontologies.

Results. We defined a set of key terms that, together, specify core cognition. This set comprises quite naturally concepts like agency, behavior, need satisfaction, intelligence, authority, power, and wisdom, which are all derived from the defining properties of life. We derived coping and co-creation as two essentially different, but complementary, behavioral ontologies. Coping is for survival and targeted problem solving and aims to end the need for its activation. Co-creation is for thriving and problem prevention and aims to perpetuate its activation. Co-creation can explain the growth of the biosphere. While both strategies are essential, the successful interplay of their strengths leads to the dominance of one of them: co-creation. Absence of success leads to a dominance of coping: a coping-trap and a strong urge to curtail behavioral diversity. We summarize the key terms of core cognition and the ontologies in two tables with defined terms.

Background. Free will belongs to the category of phenomena that are actively discussed in scientific discourse but are neither verified nor proven false. Free will is studied in philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology. We discuss this pluralism, multiplicity of perceptions, and the parties’ arguments in the theoretical part of this article. We approach the existing polemics from the point of view of a person who is in the moment of making a decision and taking responsibility for it. The usual paradoxes are mitigated if we consider free will through the concepts underlying everyday consciousness.

Objective. Our aim is to introduce into the discussion of free will an understanding of its nature as a construct of everyday consciousness, one which acts as a factor in increasing the personal maturity of vital decisions. We also discuss the arguments of the various meta-positions in the dispute about free will.

Design. Our empirical research was designed as a modification of the experiments on imposed attitudes. The sample consisted of 340 people ages 30–50 years.

Results. The level of maturity of actions by the subjects who received the set for determinism was lower than that of the subjects who received the set for free will (U 5133; p = 0.014).

Conclusion. Our study showed that the stronger a person’s belief in free will, the more personally mature that person’s choices – actions – are; and that the more active that belief in free will, the more effective are their efforts to overcome social pressure.

Background. This is the last in a series of four articles scheduledfor publication in this journal. In the first article (Kapustin, 2015a), I proposed a new “existential criterion” for the normal and abnormal personality that is implicitly present in the works of Erich Fromm. According to this criterion, normal and abnormal personalities are determined, first, by their position regarding existential dichotomies, and, second, by particular aspects of the formation of this position. Such dichotomies, entitatively existent in human life, are inherent, two-alternative contradictions. In the other articles (Kapustin, 2015b, 2016a), I showed that this criterion is also implicitly present in the four famous personality theories of Freud, Adler, Jung, and Rogers.

Objectives. To provide evidence that this criterion is present in the personality theory of Viktor Frankl and to present a comparative analysis of all six theories of personality.

Results. The existential criterion for the normal and abnormal personality based on the works of Fromm is also implicitly present in theoretical conceptualizations of personality, predisposed and non-predisposed to developing various psychological problems and to mental disorders, by Freud, Adler, Jung, Rogers, and Frankl, although in more particular forms, related to more specific existential dichotomies, characterizing the nature of human life.

Conclusion. The fact that the existential criterion is present in these six theories of personality, developed within totally different approaches to psychology and psychotherapy, is evidence of a high degree of its theoretical justification and of the possibility of their integration.

Background. In the last few decades, the ethical issues in psychological research have gained considerable attention. In our study we discuss training of psychologists from the ethical point of view.

Objective. 1) To develop communication skills with the help of improvisation with the help of a designed training. 2) To uncover the role of ethical questions about the morality of risk–benefit assessment and justification for the conduct of research, selection of a suitable target population, informed consent, and evaluation of our results.

Design. Psychology students are required to develop communication skills that they will need in their future profession. The participants (70 psychology students) were asked to improvise following the three-stage procedure we designed. We describe all the stages of our training program and how the ethical norms contribute to our work. We discuss the ethical norms and rules in the first and third stages of our training session.

Results. We faced several ethical issues with risk–benefit assessment and justification of the conduct of the research. On the one hand, training causes anxiety, putting participants in uncomfortable situations; on the other, this corresponds precisely to the objectives of our work, posing an ethical dilemma. We looked for ways to create more comfortable conditions without jeopardizing the objectives of our study. We introduced concerns about the interpretation of an improviser’s work. The improvisers told stories that did not always correspond to reality, which confused the other participants. Discussing this point from an ethical position led us to a deeper understanding of improvisation and led to certain modification in our design of the training program.

Conclusion. We consider improvisation a creative process which helps one to adapt to new, uncomfortable situations. Here we show that based on ethical standards and rules, we could properly organize our training and comprehensively review the learning and improvisation process.

Background. Despite the global tendency toward multidisciplinary research, there is still an abysm between some areas of human science. For example, in the motor control area, psychology should contribute to a better comprehension of human movement, and vice versa, the motor control in the psychological branch should also be considered more. Comparative studies on individual and personality differences in the representatives of various cultures are less biased if studied with the use of motor control or graphical methods because these methods do not require any linguistic or cultural adaptation.

Objective & Methods. In this study, which aims to observe the individual characteristics of the participants (170 in total) from different cultures (by countries of birth and residence), we used the graphomotor method, the Proprioceptive Diagnostics of Temperament and Character (Tous et al, 2012) that evolved within the traditional Miokinetical Psychodiagnosis of Mira y Lopez (1958). 

Design. Individual cultural differences (participants by origin or residence from Spain, Morocco, East Europe and Latin America) in graphical test performance (fine motor precision) were measured in the proprioceptive sensory condition (without visual guidance) for both hands (dominant and non-dominant) in three movement types (Frontal, Transversal and Sagittal). Sex differences were also observed and discussed. The related psychological meaning of these individual differences are also discussed.

Results. The results of this study are discussed in the article. They included not only the description of the specific test conditions (hand use, movement, and bias types) but also the explanation of the psychological meaning of differences (personality dimensions) compared with the cultural groups or sex subgroups levels. Moreover, the differences between men and women within each cultural subgroup are also analyzed. Better comprehension of cultural differences would help to obtain more qualified therapeutic, educational and judicial help, by reducing of the derived possible negative biases or misinterpretations in human behavior. This can result in such benefits, for example, as better adaptation of immigrants in other cultures.

Conclusion. The majority of significant differences between representatives of various cultural subgroups in this study were obtained in the non-dominant hand meaning that such differences were more at the basis level. Further adaptive behavior to the environmental changes in their lives led to disappearance of such differences, especially in those who were residing in the same country.

Objective: The goal of this research was to examine the effect of stigma on employing a job candidate with a known mental illness, such as depression.

Background: Prior research established that negative stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness affected employment discrimination. We hypothesized that participants would be less likely to hire a person with depression than someone without a mental illness.

Design:. A total of 162 undergraduate students from Glendon College were randomly assigned to one of two conditions where they were asked to read a short scenario listing qualifications and characteristics of a job candidate and answer a series of questions. The two questionnaires were identical except that one mentioned a diagnosis of depression and the other did not. We measured the likelihood that the participant would hire the candidate.

Results: The findings obtained were consistent with prior research and our hypothesis; the participants were significantly less likely to hire the candidate with a diagnosis of depression.

Conclusion: It appears that even in populations of highly educated people, we find instances of stigma towards mental illness. As these findings are not generalizable to the population at large, more research is required using a broader range and real-life situations.

Background. Previous studies of depression in social networks examined the public discourse to look more closely at how users talk about their depressive symptoms. One of these studies, published in JMIR Mental Health journal, was devoted to the trending hashtag #MyDepressionLooksLike on Twitter. The data were collected from an English-language sample; in turn, no similar studies were conducted on a Russian-speaking audience. The appearance of the #faceofdepression hashtag in Russia allowed for a comparative study.

Objective. The purpose of this study was to analyze the thematic structure of the Russian-language posts under #faceofdepression on the social networks Facebook and VKontakte (VK) in 2017 and to compare the results obtained to the analysis of the English-language posts under #MyDepressionLooksLike. First, we suggested that the themes of the Russian-language posts under the hashtag #faceofdepression on Facebook and VK are similar to the themes of the English-language posts under the hashtag #MyDepressionLooksLike on Twitter. Second, there will be a significant difference in the frequency of the themes’ representation in different social networks. Third, the unique characteristic of the public discussion in Russia is a topic about antistigma of depression. 

Design. To test these hypotheses, we exported the data from Facebook and VK (1527 Facebook and 496 VK publications) by keywords and hashtags using the TargetHunter and YouScan analytical programs. We analyzed a group of posts describing the authors' personal experience (159 original posts on VK and 231 original posts on Facebook). In those posts, users mentioned their depression symptoms, the way they combat the disease, and difficulties encountered throughout the course of the disorder.

Results. Through the thematic analysis of the posts, we identified seven topics that fit into the initial categorical grid used to analyze #MyDepressionLooksLike on Twitter by Lachmar, E. M., Wittenborn, A. K., Bogen, K. W., and McCauley, H. L. (2017). We also discovered an eighth topic, which was missing in Lachmar’s study. This topic was called “antistigma” and it proved the Russian-language discourse to be more socially oriented. We also found that Twitter users reported much more often on changes in thinking and perception (25% of all posts) compared to VK (6%) and Facebook users (15%). At the same time, VK users noted changes in their emotional sphere (19%) more often than Twitter users (8%). Facebook users more frequently described ways of coping with depression (22%) than VK (13%) and Twitter users (5%).

Conclusion. We conclude that our hypotheses are generally confirmed.

Background: The high interest in short scales to measure personality traits has created a need for psychometric studies to validate such scales in different languages and cultures. There has recently been increasing interest in the study of personality in late life.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) among older Iranians.

Design: In this cross-sectional, psychometric study, 160 individuals older than 60 years were selected usingmulti-stage and convenience sampling methods. Data were collected using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO.FFI). The face, content, and convergent validity of the TIPI were examined, and its reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and test-retest reliability.

Results: In general, the Persian version of the TIPI had acceptable psychometric properties for measuring the Big Five personality traits in older adults in terms of test-retest reliability (ICC = .92, p = .000) and convergent validity (r = .411, p ˂ .00). 

Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that the TIPI is a valid and reliable tool for measuring the Big Five personality traits.

Background. Personality is not simply an end product, but rather, it is a process. Therefore, empirical work on personal meaning-building should examine the genesis of meaning and provide a content-based description of personality in terms of personality traits. Such a description suggests a systemic view of personality, where the meaning-based approach is supplemented with the definition of personality traits. The value and meaning potential of personality encompasses three dimensions: worldview, behavior, and cognition. 

Objective. The aim of this study is to identify the properties of personality, reflecting the features of polar strategies of meaning formation in acmeological terms by age, gender, and professional characteristics. 

Design. The present study considers the influence of various acmeological factors on meaning-building and concentrates on its two polar strategies: adaptive and developing strategies. We developed nine bipolar scales of personal traits with sublevels by applying the semantic differential technique. In total, there were 145 participants in the study. Participants were grouped according to three criteria: age, gender, and profession. 

Results. The obtained indices of meaning-building strategies did not coincide in all the differentiated groups, which clearly speaks in favor of acmeological dynamics of the respondents’ personal profiles. We stratified the sample according to the mean score of the basic marker of “life meaningfulness,” which enabled us to establish differences in characteristics of actual polar strategies of meaning-building. e respondents who did not fall into either of the two groups are “between the poles.” They often have an under- developed meaning-building strategy as a result of poorly formed ways of organization and actualization of personal meanings or the presence of a transitional form of situational conceptual initiations. 

Conclusion. The personal profiles that were identified represent multifactor models of the personal value and meaning dimensions, which can predict actual meaning-building strategies using semantic differential scales and indicators (“life meaningfulness” from the Purpose-in-Life test) and help researchers to reduce the number of techniques employed in their studies.

Background. Gender differences exist in almost every aspect of our lives. Individuals have an array of different social expectations with regard to behaviors, communication, appearance, attitudes, and social roles, but these expectations tend to be based on whether the individual is male or female. Currently, many social studies have been done with the help of virtual reality technologies. They have been effectively applied to the study of many social phenomena such as nonverbal communication, social skills training, social anxiety rehabilitation, etc. Recently considerable attention has been paid to issue of gender differences during social interaction with the virtual partners, avatars. However, the question of gender differencesduring interactions with avatars of diverse ethnic appearances has seldom been studied. 

Objective. The goal of this study was to investigate the gender peculiarities of interaction with avatars of different ethnic appearances. We used the CAVE virtual reality system to study gender differences in interpersonal distances which were maintained with avatars. 

Design. We designed four three-dimensional virtual scenes with avatars of four different ethnic appearances. They were avatars of Slavic, Asian, North Caucasian, and African appearance. All the avatars were male. e participants (who all identified as Russians) were immersed in virtual environments with the help of the CAVE virtual reality system. Their task was to approach the avatar, present herself/himself in any way they wanted, and give instructions for the work. During the task the interpersonal distances between the participants and the avatars were measured. After leaving the CAVE, the participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire assessing the Presence effect. 

Results. The results showed gender differences in how much interpersonal distance was maintained: women preferred to keep shorter interpersonal distances with their virtual partners than men did. Moreover, the results showed the impact of ethnic appearance on interpersonal distances. Women approached the avatars of their own ethnic group more closely and kept further away from the avatars of other ethnic groups. Unlike the women, the men stayed the same distance away from the avatars of different ethnic groups. Both gender groups kept equally far away from the avatar of African appearance. Gender differences were also revealed in the participants’ estimates of the Presence effect. 

Background. The need for psychological and pedagogical support for families in the upbringing of hearing-impaired children makes it imperative to develop innovative methods and an effective model of interaction between the family and a special needs educational institution, to improve parental competence. 

Objective. To study the psychological content of parental competence (its cognitive, value-motivational; emotional and behavioral components) and to evaluate parental competence through psychological and pedagogical support for families in the upbringing of hearing-impaired children. 

Design. Eighty-seven families with hearing-impaired children from a special needs educational institution in Kursk, Russian Federation, participated in the experimental study. e researchers took measurements at two time points, baseline and followup. At baseline, we made a diagnostic assessment of the psychological content of parental competence. At followup, we evaluated the development of pa- rental competence resulting from the psychological and pedagogical support for these families. 

Results. The cognitive component was characterized by predominant unanimity between the parents in the upbringing of hearing-impaired children, and a partnership relationship in communicating with them. 

The emotional component was represented by the absence of difficulties in understanding the causes of the children’s emotional state and an orientation towards the child’s emotional state during interactions or physical contact. 

Terminal values (such as health, happy family life) and instrumental values (such as responsibility, honesty) were predominant in the value-motivational component. 

The behavioral component displayed a predominance of the authoritative style in upbringing, whereby parents realized their important role in the development of a child’s personality and recognized the right of children to self-development. At the same time, the authoritarian style was still significant. 

Conclusion. A model for psychological and pedagogical support of families in the upbringing of hearing-impaired children was developed, tested, and found to be effective. 

This article is the third in a series of four articles scheduled for publication in this journal. In the first article (Kapustin, 2015a) I proposed a description of a new so-called existential criterion of normal and abnormal personality that is implicitly present in the works of Erich Fromm. According to this criterion, normal and abnormal personalities are determined, first, by special features of the content of their position regarding existential dichotomies that are natural to human beings and, second, by particular aspects of the formation of this position. Such dichotomies, entitatively existent in all human life, are inherent, two-alternative contradictions. The position of a normal personality in its content orients a person toward a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and necessitates a search for compromise in resolving these dichotomies. This position is created on a rational basis with the person’s active participation. The position of an abnormal personality in its content subjectively denies a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and orients a person toward a consistent, noncompetitive, and, as a consequence, onesided way of life that doesn’t include self-determination. This position is imposed by other people on an irrational basis. Abnormality of personality interpreted like that is one of the most important factors influencing the development of various kinds of psychological problems and mental disorders — primarily, neurosis. In the second article (Kapustin, 2015b) I showed that this criterion is also implicitly present in the personality theories of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler, although in more specific cases. In the current work I prove that this criterion is also present in the personality theories of Carl Jung and Carl Rogers, where it is implicitly stated in a more specific way. In the final article I will show that this criterion is also implicitly present in the personality theory of Viktor Frankl.

The objective of the research was to adapt for use in Russian-language contexts a set of instruments that assess the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic practices. The instruments explore the effectiveness of different types of therapy, without evaluating the abstract, idealized characteristics or specifics of each approach, specialist, or therapeutic case. The adapted instruments are based on reflective data about the significance of therapeutic events, from the point of view of both the client and the therapist. We translated, edited, and adapted forms developed by John McLeod and Mick Cooper — a “Goals Form”, a “Goal Assessment Form”, a “Post-Session Form”, and a “Therapy Personalization Form”. The adaption was intended to cohere with the stylistic and cultural aspects of the Russian language. The research showed that the instruments and the methods have great potential for practical and theoretical application in qualitative studies to formulate hypotheses and to verify them in quantitative studies. The phenomenological analysis reveals the reliability, appropriateness, and validity of the adapted instruments for identifying specific meanings of the psychotherapeutic cases considered. The instruments can be used in studies exploring helpful aspects and effectiveness in different types of therapy (cognitive, existential, outdoor therapy, online counseling, etc.) with different groups of clients. It is reasonable to continue the use of the Russian-language version of the instruments in further studies exploring the effectiveness of psychological practices. The adapted instruments facilitate comparison and cross-cultural studies, and formulation of meaningful hypotheses about the effectiveness and quality of the psychotherapeutic process.

We review the psychological theory of flow and focus on the notion of the autotelic personality, arguing that self-transcendence (understood within the existential tradition of Frankl and Längle as the individual’s ability to establish inner relationships with values) can be viewed as a personality disposition conducive to flow experience. The study aimed to investigate the effects of situational task meaning and dispositional self-transcendence on productivity and flow experience. We present a pilot quasi-experimental study conducted in a student sample (N = 82) Students were asked to work in small-group settings on a creative task, which consisted in finding solutions to a social problem. Each group was randomly assigned to an instruction presenting the problem as happening either in a distant country (low-meaning) or in their home country (high-meaning condition). The outcome variables were measures of flow, perceived meaning of the task, and satisfaction with time spent working. The solutions generated by the students were rated by three experts. The experimental manipulation had a main effect on the quality of the resulting solutions, but not on the subjective experience of the participants. A number of significant interaction effects were found, indicating that the associations of self-transcendence with experiential outcomes tended to be linear under the low-meaning condition, but curvilinear under the high-meaning condition. The findings suggest that self-transcendence is particularly beneficial to flow in situations with unclear meaning, but very high levels of self-transcendence may hinder flow in highly meaningful situations. Overall, the findings suggest that self-transcendence can be considered as a disposition of the autotelic personality.

Human activity (professional and production-related) occurs within the context of explicit or implicit competition and proves to be more or less productive and creative. Operationalization and measurement of the competitiveness of personality without due regard for personal and situational interactions reduces the content of the notion. Competitiveness requires a high degree of personal energy, flexibility, intelligence, and creativity in regulating activity. However, enlarging the domain of psychological studies has necessitated the study of personality in the context of the natural social situations in which it functions. This structural and functional analysis allows expansion of the description of the phenomenology of the competitiveness of personality as well as classification of the strategies of competitive behavior. In this study competitive-behavior strategies (1,064 critical incidents in professional activities) were analyzed using the Critical Incident Technique and thematic content analysis. To classify the data set, I used two-step cluster analysis as an exploratory method and analyzed the cross-tables of several categorical variables using the log-linear method of model selection. I applied the Solution Tree method for categorical variables to build a dependent-variable hierarchical model with the relevant predictor values. Through analysis of the results of the cluster analysis, the hierarchical model, and the functional and situational analysis of the context, it is possible to single out and validate three types of competitiveness strategies: the dependent, irrational, destructive, short-term strategy (quasi-competitiveness); the dependent, rational, constructive, short-term strategy; and the free, rational, constructive, long-term strategy. Study of the nature of competition and a subject’s competitive-behavior strategies is required to analyze, predict, and correct destructive strategies for enhancing performance.

An analysis of Russian and foreign ways of understanding the phenomenon of self-determination has been performed. It has been found that the concept of individual and group self-determination by A.L. Zhuravlev and A.B. Kupreichenko is the most developed in modern Russian psychological science. Using the concept as a basis, the conceptual schemes (made by A.E. Vorobieva and A.A. Akbarova) of studies of personal, moral, social and economic self-determination were considered as the examples of the basic and special types of self-determination. Moral self-determination was studied with questions about ideas of morality, moral strategies and personality orientation, attitude toward unethical phenomena, ability for self-regulation and emotional intellect. Social and economic self-determination were studied with questions that show one’s social level, satisfaction with economic and social status and their dynamics, a valuation of favorable circumstances for an increase of status and economic activity. Value and anti-value, spheres and forms of showing of social and living personality’s activity were also determined. Fundamental differences (variability, success criteria, implementation in behavior, a level of ability to control a process, the role of external factors) and similarities (successfulness, a formation level, a range, dynamics, conceptions, strategy, values, factors) between the components of the conceptual schemes of these types of selfdetermination were identified. The principles of studying (proportion of basic and specific types of self-determination, a display of resultative, procedural and formal-dynamic characteristics, consideration of factors of different levels) of basic and special types of self-determination were suggested.

This is the first of four articles scheduled for publication in this journal on the position people with normal and abnormal personalities take in regard to so-called existential dichotomies. The main objective of this article is to propose a new, existential criterion for normal and abnormal personality implicitly present in the works of Erich Fromm. According to this criterion, normal and abnormal personalities are determined, first, by special features of the content of their position regarding existential dichotomies, and, second, by particular aspects of the formation of this position. Such dichotomies, entitatively existent in all human life, are inherent, two-alternative contradictions. The position of a normal personality in its content orients one toward a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and the necessity of searching for compromise in resolving these dichotomies. This position is created on a rational basis with the person’s active participation. The position of an abnormal personality in its content subjectively denies a contradictious predetermination of life in the form of existential dichotomies and orients one toward a consistent, noncompetitive, and, as a consequence, one-sided way of life that doesn’t include self-determination. This position is imposed by other people on an irrational basis. Abnormal personality interpreted like this is one of the most important factors influencing the development of various kinds of psychological problems and mental disorders — primarily, neurosis. In the following three articles it will be shown that this criterion is also implicitly present in the theories of personality devised by Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, and Viktor Frankl.

Based on theoretical analysis, in the present paper, we defined the structure of the characteristics of personality psychological maturity, which is considered an adult development criterion. The objective of this paper was to identify the mechanisms that contribute to the formation of psychological maturity in adulthood development. We first assumed that one of the possible mechanisms is the normative crisis of development. In turn, previously formed psychological maturity traits can relieve the experiences associated with this normative crisis. The aim of the present study was to analyze the formation of psychological maturity during periods of emerging and middle adulthood, with a specific focus on normative crisis experiences. The study design included cross-sectional and longitudinal methods. The participants included 309 adults. The emerging adulthood group ranged in age from 18 to 25 years, and the participants in the middle adulthood group were between 38 and 45 years of age. To study crisis events and experiences, we used three author-designed questionnaires. A self-actualization test by E. Shostrom (SAT), the Big Five personality test by Costa and MacCrae, a value and availability ratio in various vital spheres technique by E.B. Fantalova, a purpose-in-life test by D.A. Leontiev, and a coping test by Lazarus were used to define the personality characteristics used to overcome difficult life situations.

In this paper, we described experiences specific to the crises associated with emerging adulthood and middle adulthood in the context of developmental tasks. Using cluster analysis, we defined groups with different intensities of crisis experiences and analyzed psychological content of crisis experiences in different groups. Using ANOVA, we found that participants with low intensity crisis experiences show more developed characteristics of psychological maturity. During emerging adulthood, the overcoming of crises associated with the separation from family contributes to the formation of such aspects of psychological maturity as self-management, life organization and responsibility. In a longitudinal study of midlife crises, the data suggest that in groups where there are more intense crisis experiences, there are more significant dynamics in the meaning and value sphere over the course of a year that lead to the achievement of greater personal integrity and congruence.

The current study proved the hypothesis regarding the role of the crisis mechanism of psychological maturity development in two phases of adulthood. It also proved that psychological maturity contributes to a decrease in the intensity of crisis experiences.