Академия наук

Functionalaspect ofanxietyasfeaturesofpersonality

Author: Kaluzhnaya E.N., PhD in Psychology,Zaporizhzhya National University

Anxiety as phenomenon, having taken the main place in existential psychology and having been developed in psychiatry attracts the attention of the modern researchers mainly by its psychological aspect. Many research works are devoted to researching anxiety genesis today but that doesn't exclude the opportunity for the theoretical rethinking of some related questions.

The relevance of studying the psychological mechanisms of personal anxiety in means of its functioning becomes obvious when referring to a certain actual controversy. The controversy lies here: on one hand, the psychological interpretation of any psychic phenomenon requires that is should first be studied both structurally and functionally. On the other hand, it's possible to admit a so-called accent shift that here lies in concentrating interest on studying the psychological mechanisms of onthogenetical anxiety formation as the psychological mechanisms of its functioning are of the same importance. What we get as a result are a vast cluster of psychological knowledge about anxiety's causes and consequences and very little knowledge of its functional contents.

O.Mowrer (1940), in particular, noted that it is not the cause of personality disorganization, justifying the anxiety. Disruption occurs along with disassociation or suppression action, thus the anxiety is an attempt to achieve individual integrity and harmony. Therefore, the behavior that aims to get rid of anxiety is highly adaptive rather than integrative.

A.Adler(1935) also stressed that the extent and direction of fixed feelings are determined depending on whether or not they are required to for a life goal achievement. Yu.M.Shvalb (1997) said that concept of personality, mental, mind, communication activitiescannot claim to be a general psychologicaltheory, if it does not provide a reasonable model of purposeful behavior and goal-setting.

At first glance, the existence of the functional aspect of any change in the system of internal characteristics of the individual in the process of adaptive activity has long been established and does not require further argumentation (F.B.Berezin, 1988; F.Yu.Vasylyuk, 1994; K.E.Izard, 2000; Ye.A.Kalinin, 1975; T.S.Kyrylenko, 2004; A.A.Krauklis, 1968; L.V.Maryschuk, 2001; N.I.Nayenko, 1976; O.P.Sannikova, 2002). V.A.Petrovsky (1992) has justified in details that any mental processes, acts and experiences are adaptively oriented. However, at the same time, the existing interpretation of anxiety today as the individual feature, rather indicates its causes and consequences than the functional components. Therefore, we believe that the phenomenon of personal anxiety requires a reinterpretation its concept.

In favor of the determination of functional mental formations speaks S.D.Maksymenko's(2002) thesis that the personality ofboth the implementer (as forms ofits potential) and the energizer for the activity functioning which is transformed into mental qualities of the personality. Building the arguments, we base this on the undeniable fact that along with the reactive behavior, active behavior becomes dominant meaning promoted by own conscious goals and motives.

In this instance, the active approach becomes the one of major importance in the context of the study of the functional mechanism of the anxiety's onthogenesis according to which the quality and the activating potential of mental formations, and their opportunities in the perceived regulation of the individual's activity are defined (disclosed and limited) by the range and hierarchy of the person's values ​​and needs (S.L.Rubynshteyn. 2006).

Based on the position formulated by A.Adler (1935) availability of implicit «psychological goal» in any and all emotional states and experiences, it is possible to assume a certain degree of probability that the aim of an anxiety as a stable personal feature is shortening the distance between the real and the ideal vision of oneself.

This means that the more important the goal, the shorter the action trigger as achieving the desired result requires some effort. However, personal anxiety cannot be considered an independent activation source: it is an indicator of the presence of confrontational relations between the sphere of competence of the individual and the system of its primary objectives. In recognition this value as fair, the goal being realistic should be considered an important term for emotional well-being of the individual: the bigger your own expectations of yourself are, the greater the difference between the desirable and achievable, and the more costly the result. So to say, too remote from reality goal (eg due to mismatch with opportunities) that requires hyperactivation leads to «intoxication» by the anxiety that is an example of the transformation of its positive potential for motivation to a personality issue. So there is good reason to assume the existence of individual anxiety level appropriate for an individual, ensuring the effectiveness of mental adaptation.

Consequently, personal anxiety as a psychological phenomenon that takes over the integrated adaptive function of selfactivation, feasibility, commitment and efficiency which are the qualitative performance indicators of psychological functioning and personality characteristics of individual development.

References:

1. KaluzhnayaE.N. Functionalmodelofanxietyasstablefeaturesofpersonality / Є.М.Калюжна //Проблеми сучасної психології: збірник наукових праць Інституту психології ім.Г.С.Костюка НАПН України та ДВНЗ “Запорізький національний університет” / За ред. С.Д.Максименко, Н.Ф.Шевченко, М.Г.Ткалич. – Запоріжжя: ЗНУ, 2015. – № 2 (8). – С. 97-102.