Half a Century on the Way to New Achievements (to the Anniversary of the Department of Psychology of Kuban State University)

Abstract

The paper examines three scientific approaches to psychological analysis of personality development: the subjective approach (S. L. Rubinstein), the dynamic approach (L. I. Antsyferova), and the subjective-­existential approach (Z. I. Ryabikina and colleagues). The author discloses the fundamental aspects of a procedural approach in addressing complex life challenges. The objective of the research is to substantiate a statement on the nature of human life, which is typically manifested in a multitude of challenging life situations experienced simultaneously and/or successively by an individual. A challenging situation is defined as a process comprising multiple stages, linked to the subject’s past experiences of addressing life difficulties, serving as a marker of their current tasks, and oriented towards the achievement of future objectives. The individual components of the situation include the contradiction between needs and external requirements, the reasons that caused this contradiction, the capabilities and resources of the individual, the plan for resolving the situation, and the presence or absence of a forecast of its consequences, both negative and positive. The strategies of coping with difficulties reflect authentic methods of overcoming them and prospective tasks of personal development. This paper presents arguments in favor of the procedural approach and the possibility of its application to the analysis of everyday and extreme stressors. It is shown that there is no violation of personal dynamics even in the case of regressive changes in the behavior of an individual who has experienced a psycho-­traumatic situation; an opinion is expressed on the need to study the specificity of personality development in conditions of intensive stressors, as well as the opportunities and resources that ensure a change in the pace of development, leading to the improvement of the subject’s well-being and his/her reintegration into society. The research employed the methods of analysis, synthesis, and analogy as cognitive procedures, which permitted the validation of the hypothesis that a challenging life situation can be considered an ontological basis for the development of personality. The conclusion is that the studies conducted by colleagues from Kuban State University (the Department of Personality Psychology and General Psychology) and by researchers at the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences shared a common methodological basis. The theoretical and empirical studies reflected different aspects of multifaceted problems in personality psychology and the subject’s psychology.