Politics is one of the TV serials Ukrainians keep watching. A recent poll by Kyiv’s International Institute of Social Studies shows that almost every fourth resident of Ukraine believes that the current blocking of the VR rostrum by members of the Party of Regions and communists has a negative effect on his/her life. In other words, politicians have become almost members of our families, are exerting direct influence on them, although this does not worry our politicians at all. And so politics is the biggest headache for ordinary Ukrainians. Proof of this is in the findings of the Institute of Social and Political Psychology at the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine. Its poll shows that events in our society cause anxiety and especially depression; above all, Ukrainians are getting disillusioned with everything and everybody. Below Olena LISHCHYNSKA, Ph.D. (Psychology), ISPP, Acad. Ped. Sci., comments on psychological conditions prevalent in Ukraine.
Ms. Lishchynska, would you describe the parameters used by researchers when studying the psychological condition of the Ukrainian population — people’s anxiety, aggressiveness, totalitarian way of thinking, and so on?
A poll carried out all over Ukraine singles out a risk group, people susceptible to destructive influences. I mean individuals who, due to various individual psychological peculiarities, are capable of making decisions being influenced or misled by others. This group makes up close to 40 percent of the respondents, almost one half of the adult population. This fact cannot be ignored.
A quantitative analysis of indicative opinions also allows to differentiate between the carriers of such trends. Of this 40 percent, 11.3 percent of the respondents are “aggressive”; 12.8 percent, authoritarian-minded; 7.2 percent believe their needs are not satisfied; 4.4 percent are “infantile,” and 5.7 percent are “anxious.” It should be noted that the dependence of these psychological characteristics on the respondents’ social and demographic status was minimal.
Authoritarian and anxious moods were somewhat more characteristic of older people and women, and “infantile” and anxious moods dominated rural residents. Since older people were raised in a totalitarian society, they proved more inclined toward totalitarian views. Rural residents live in simpler social conditions, their “role repertoire” is narrower, so they tend to be more anxious and “infantile.” The main thing is that people have the right to an individual rate of development and this must not be used by others, smarter ones, for their selfish purposes.
Did you find out what hidden reserves Ukrainians have that can be used to protect themselves against negative influences?
The best (classical) way to protect yourself against negative actions is to stop them. Since the so-called political elite is also part of the Ukrainian people, it must be aware of this and act adequately. People protect themselves against the negative emotions they experience by daily watching the television, against their social vulnerability by emigration, but often it is inner emigration — in other words, people immerse in their inner world, estrange themselves from public life, become indifferent and degrade as individuals.
All these problems must be solved using adequate methods. Consider this fact, which is known to all psychologists: abuses of the mechanisms of psychological protection lead to individual psychological disorders. In other words, if you ignore a problem or disease, it gets worse and is harder to overcome. The same is true of social mentality. Individual mentality stands a better chance of healing compared to that of the masses. History shows that healing public mentality after traumas and stresses resulting from incompetent political decisions can take several decades. A graphic example is the notorious Ukrainian inferiority complex, which is still there and which emerged as a result of inconsistent politics and the experience of our ancestors several centuries ago.
All this is important because this society’s political, socioeconomic, cultural, and moral problems that must be resolved today require mature and wise decisions on the part of people who are our national leaders, and who must be capable of assuming responsibility and sharing the burden of material losses.
