The phenomenon of personal basic beliefs: a review of research

The article under consideration is devoted to the review of domestic and foreign studies on the problem of basic beliefs of the individual. The purpose of the review is to identify the most common characteristics and functions of a person’s beliefs, as well as to demonstrate the history of the formation of a modern understanding of basic beliefs. In the review, the emergence of this concept is analyzed. A comparison of the aforementioned concept and other related categories is made; in result both similarities and some differences were revealed due to the peculiarities of the methodology of approaches within which these phenomena are studied. Various concepts describing the processes of assimilation and comprehension of individual experience are reviewed, and the role of beliefs in stated concepts is determined. The similarities and differences in the understanding of the beliefs phenomenon, worked on by foreign and domestic researchers, are revealed. It is concluded that in accordance with Russian psychology, beliefs were considered mainly in the structure of personality orientation, and their study was important primarily for the organization of learning and upbringing processes. In turn, the studies of beliefs conducted in the West are of value mainly for psychotherapy. Based on the analysis of the works of foreign and domestic scientists, an attempt has been made to generalize their experience in order to discover the common, most significant characteristics and functions of basic beliefs.