Individual Features of Personality in the Former Soviet Union

Abstract This article is a brief overview of personality psychology in the former Soviet Union. We emphasize the description of individual features of personality and its structure in terms of discrete cognitive-affective units that include goal-oriented feedforward and feedback components. These are differentiated into four levels: (a) Social Orientation, i.e., assumptions, ideas, tendencies, values, and interests, (b) Individual Performance, i.e., habits, knowledge, and skills; (c) Specific Psychic Processes governing volition, affect, perceptions, and cognition; and (d) Neurobiological features, i.e., temperament and neuropsychological and psychiatric predispositions. Personality theory and research in the former Soviet Union was performance oriented with a major emphasis on identifying individual strategies of activity derived from individual features of personality. This approach facilitates efficient methods of performance for individuals with diverse characteristics as well as guides and enhances individual training programs.