THE EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE EXISTENTIAL GIVENS OF PERSONAL EXISTENCE
Journal Title: Psychological journal - Year 2018, Vol 4, Issue 2
Abstract
The article is dedicated to the experimental study of the existential givens of personal existence by using existential research methods. Existential psychology focuses on range of the givens of existence, such as death, isolation, freedom, absurdity, the courage to be, responsibility for one’s life, resilience and others. Each existential given is attended by the personal feeling of existential anxiety. Confrontation with these givens results in a so-called existential conflict. Irvin Yalom points out three personal existential conflicts: between the need to live and the inevitability of death, between existential isolation and the desire for symbiosis, and between freedom and necessity. In order to achieve our goal in the process of studying the existential identities of the person being, we used the following methods: Shihan’s scale of anxiety, the scale of existential, S. Muddy’s viability test, the test of semiotic orientations (LSH). Our methods allow us to investigate: existential, fullness, responsibility, freedom, personalization, self-transcendence, self-denial, goals in life, living in life, survival, life-performance, locus of control-I, locus of control-life, control, risk and involvement in life. Experimental study of the existential givens of personality has been carried out by us in several stages. During the first, organizational phase, an experimental sample of twenty people of different sex, aged 25 to 35 years old, who at different times passed individual psychotherapy, was formed. In the process of the second, preparatory stage, methods have been selected that made it possible to measure existential data. During the third, estimated stage, the experimental data were calculated using mathematical statistics methods. During the fourth, the interpretation stage, the identified factors are analyzed and their content characteristics are interpreted. The number of factors we determined was based on the following criteria: - on the criterion of comprehensiveness (the number of factors was chosen, which made it possible to obtain the most understandable factor structure); - by the Kaiser criterion (components with values less than 1.0 are excluded); - according to the Kettle test “oscillation” (it is found that three components are the most significant for further analysis); - by the criterion of the explanatory dispersion (it was found that the three factors determine 90% of the total accumulated dispersion, while others are only insignificant and can be rejected. As the result of the experimental study, we defined and interpreted three major factors that characterize the givens of personal existence. The first factor − “awareness of self” − is a сontent characteristic that reveals personal, essential characteristics that identify self-acceptance of a person. Concepts that characterize this factor are self-distancing, self-transcendence, freedom, responsibility, personalization, existentiality, fulfillment. The second factor − “vital self-convertibility” − identifies productive and regulative qualities of a person, such as “purpose of life”, “general indicator of meaningfulness of life”, “process of life”, “life performance”, “locus of control-self”, “locus of control-life”. The third factor − “self-activation of resilience” − unveils such essential personal qualities as resilience, control, involvement, risk-taking, anxiety. Above-mentioned factors generally define the existential situation of a person and allow to develop an effective strategy of practical work with a client. In our view, further study of the specific aspects of existential givens as mechanisms of personal behaviour regulation is a greatly promising research direction.
Authors and Affiliations
Dmitriy Panfilov
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP541522
- DOI 10.31108/2018vol12iss2pp99-110
- Views 73
- Downloads 0
ACTUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT IN RAILWAY TRANSPORT
According to the Sustainable Development Strategy «Ukraine - 2020», approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine on 12 January 2015 №5 / 2015, one of the priorities for implementing the strategy transport reform wa...
PSYCHOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF METAPHORIC COMPREHENSION OF BASIC RELIGIOUS CONCEPTS BY SUBJECTS WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY
The article provides a theoretical substantiation and a psychological description of the empirical study of the peculiarities of metaphoric comprehension of basic religious concepts (such as «God», «soul», «faith», etc.)...
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE PROBLEM
The article explores different concepts and points of view on the process of self-knowledge, determines its role in the formation and development of personality. The purpose of the article is to generalize scientific the...
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
The article covers the concept of reproductive health, explains the need to guarantee conditions for safe motherhood, promote reproductive health among young people, improve the family planning system in Ukraine, and mai...
THE REPRESENTATIONS OF MODERN ADOLESCENTS’ ATTITUDES TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD THROUGH THE PRISM OF ECOLOGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
The proposed scientific work represents the main research results concerning the development of a person’s environmental consciousness at adolescence in the context of the studied system of adolescents’ attitudes to the...