PERCEPTION AND SELF-PERCEPTION AS SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA: A HISTORICAL-THEORETICAL REVIEW

Abstract

The article presents a historical-theoretical review of key approaches to the study of perception and self-perception as central social-psychological phenomena. These phenomena were elaborated conceptually across three interrelated research trajectories. The article aim was to analyse systematically scientific literature, to examine development and mutual determination of the approaches, and to outline the current state of research in Ukrainian psychological science. On the basis of this analysis, three principal trajectories were distinguished that covered the empirical, clinical, and metatheoretical dimensions of the phenomena: (1) the experimental-cognitive trajectory focused on factual basis of perceptual mechanisms, studying information processing, rules of categorization, cognitive schemas and typical errors; (2) the psychodynamic trajectory elucidated an individual etiology of perceptual effects through unfolding the unconscious relations – specifically transference, countertransference and defence mechanisms – thereby shifting the phenomenological analysis into the domain of clinical practice; (3) the philosophical-psychological trajectory provided a metatheoretical perspective within which models were compared, languages of description were coordinated, and criteria for knowledge coherence were formulated. Perception and self-perception constitute a single, multi- level and context-dependent process, and such combining from all three trajectories is a necessary condition for a more complete reconstruction of its mechanisms and semantic dimensions. The focus of contemporary psychological research in Ukraine is shifting toward a practical plane: the share of studies on self-acceptance and satisfaction with appearance, development of socio-perceptual skills and professional reflection, as well as how mediated interactions influence social perception and self-evaluative judgments, is increasing. Further theoretical and practical development is driven by the need to analyse new forms of everyday vulnerability prompted by current societal challenges.

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