The problem of connection between optimism and authoritarianism

- Степура, Є.В. (orcid.org/0000-0002-7214-0788) (2018) The problem of connection between optimism and authoritarianism Актуальні проблеми психології, 1 (14). pp. 287-297. ISSN 2072-4772

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Abstract

The article draws attention to the connection of optimism with authoritarianism in the context of human existence in social crisis conditions. The problem of the link between optimism and success in the political activity is investigated. The author underlines the role of optimism and availability of deep personal convictions of a politician for the effective activity in a social crisis period. At the same time, attention is paid to the connection of authoritarianism with optimism and religiousness, which is a possible human worldview pillar. It is shown that it is important in the investigation of these connections to take into account the sociocultural context of a person's existence. It is also noted that it is essential to analyze the connection between optimism, concerning scientific progress and social development, with the Orthodoxy of religious beliefs. The ambiguity of these links is shown on concrete examples, which may have a meaningful value for social development, because religion has a significant impact on its followers' life and on the whole of society. The peculiarities of the connection between optimism and authoritarianism are ambiguously manifested in the totalitarian society. The author investigates some social and political factors that contribute to the creation of person's optimistic or pessimistic attitudes and corresponding psychic states in totalitarian societies. It is shown that the tendency of totalitarian systems to use violent methods for establishing their power always creates an atmosphere of frustration, despair, helplessness and hopelessness in the society, which in turn has a negative impact on the general mental health of the population. But in the society there is always a system of counteraction, there is always people who resist to learn to be helpless, who produce certain specific strategies to undermine the totalitarian society's negative effects, and these strategies are reflected in certain systems of ideas, which are opposed to the official ideology. The purpose of these strategies is to counter the feeling of helplessness and despair, and to find opportunities for optimism among the unfavorable social life conditions.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	optimism, religiosity, learned helplessness, authoritarianism, totalitarian system, opposition ideologies
Subjects:	Science and knowledge. Organization. Computer science. Information. Documentation. Librarianship. Institutions. Publications > 00 Prolegomena. Fundamentals of knowledge and culture. Propaedeutics > 001 Science and knowledge in general. Organization of intellectual work > 001.1 Concepts of science and knowledge Science and knowledge. Organization. Computer science. Information. Documentation. Librarianship. Institutions. Publications > 00 Prolegomena. Fundamentals of knowledge and culture. Propaedeutics > 001 Science and knowledge in general. Organization of intellectual work > 001.8 Methodology Science and knowledge. Organization. Computer science. Information. Documentation. Librarianship. Institutions. Publications > 1 Philosophy. Psychology Science and knowledge. Organization. Computer science. Information. Documentation. Librarianship. Institutions. Publications > 3 Social Sciences > 37 Education > 37.01/.09 Special auxiliary table for theory, principles, methods and organization of education
Divisions:	Institute of Psychology after N.Kostiuk > Department of methodology and theory of psychology
Depositing User:	м.н.с. О.В Котух
Date Deposited:	12 Feb 2019 14:38
Last Modified:	12 Feb 2019 14:38
URI:	https://lib.iitta.gov.ua/id/eprint/714554

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