The aim of the article is to introduce the concept of personality and character which is based on the activity theory approach by A.N. Leontiev. The introductory part of the work gives a short history of characterology whose analysis reveals apparent uncertainty in understanding the subject matters of character psychology and personality psychology. They are directly (character) or indirectly (personality) confined to a person’s psychic individuality. However, the specific content of this individuality appears to be so broad and various that characterology starts losing its clear contours while personality does not find any generally accepted definition. In the framework of the developed concept, personality is regarded as a structure of life meanings while character is seen as an instrumental level which accepts life meanings for performance and implements them in human actions. Nonidentity of the two studied formations is shown: they are different in terms of content, function in human psychics, units of structure, general construction and genesis. Some examples are given based on the data of ethnic psychology. They show how a sense formation which is the same for different nations is realized through unequal characterological techniques. On the other hand, a few sense formations can be expressed by a single action or stereotype. In conclusion problems of correlation between personality and character and the source of their generation are discussed.

It is commonly accepted that the theory of activity by A.N. Leontiev was the attempt to overcome so called “word-centrism” developed by L.S. Vygotsky. At the same time there are some arguments, that theory of activity was developed to solve the problem, which had been formulated by Vygotsky. He tried to overcome double-factorial determination of psychic, i.e. to go from social to psychological determination. To solve the problem Vygotsky modified his own theory and changed the main concept from high mental function to system structure of conciseness and interfunctional interactions. Vygotsky suggested emotional experience as the unit of psychic. Group of psychologists worked in Kharkov tried to solve this problem in another way. They supposed that activity mediates as social, as physiological factors. This decision was more materialistic from their point of view. Reveling the real basic theoretical problem of theory of activity is important for understanding its main statements and experimental results. Analysis of investigations, conducted by the adepts of the theory of activity, leads to understanding of holistic nature of activity.

In the most cited psychological theory of stress and coping by R. Lazarus the concept of “cognitive appraisal” includes evaluation of “threat”, “loss”, “challenge”, “control”, as well as the analysis of the possibilities of coping. The approach is based on separation of cognitive appraisal and emotion. The article presents a different point of view, the theoretical foundations of which are world image concept by A.N. Leontiev, the principle of unity of the cognitive and emotional components of the appraisal, and the categorization as the basis of evaluation. The processes of formation and the structure of the image of a difficult situation are described on the basis of the works by A.N. Leontiev and his followers. Perception creates a sensual image of the situation; cognition creates a meaning, which is linked with understanding of the situation. Reflection represents in one’s conscious a personal meaning, understood as the ratio between the motive and the goal. In the course of categorization the situation is classified as difficult on the basis of certain features (criteria). Based on the theoretical analysis and empirical data, the author shows that the results of evaluations are: a) the significance of the situation; b) matching the events with motives and personal meaning; c) the definition of success of the activities in relation to the goal; d) assessment of accountability, clarity, predictability of the situation, and its impact on the future life; e) the comparison of one’s capabilities with the conditions; f) level of the situation difficulty.

The effect of chess skill, age and memorizing’s conditions on the efficiency of recall of sequences of opening chess moves was studied. 39 chess players of different skill (from 2 category to the grandmaster) and age (from 17 to 81 years old), divided into 4 groups (ELO>2000 before and after the age of 40; ELO<2000 before and after the age of 40), memorized the sequences of moves in three conditions (passive perception, physical making of moves, imagination) and recalled them, making the moves. It turned out that: a) in the passive perception condition more young chess players, on the one hand, and more highly skilled, on the other, significantly better recalled the moves; b) almost in all groups of players the success of the memory grows to the extent that, as converging conditions of memorizing and reproduction, with the highest growth rate found among chess players with ELO>2000 after 40 years; c) the current memorizing of chess experts (in comparison with intermediate players) to a greater extent mediated by opening schemes and knowledge. Confirmed and concretized the hypothesis about the activity-based encoding specificity in the episodic memory. But chess skill and age determine the effect of remembering by mediator – conditions of imprinting, so the principles of the encoding specificity and activity-based specificity act in unity.

The psychophysical research on loudness discrimination of tonal signals (method 2AFC) has been carried out, N=106. The influence of self-regulation (questionnaires: HAKEMP-90, Style of self-regulation of behavior, Self-organization of behavior) on RT and sensory sensitivity index A' was found out. The qualitative analysis of individual ways of discrimination of signals was carried out. The relationships between loudness discrimination effectiveness and self-regulation processes characteristics mediating the sensory task decision were revealed. The applying the principle of subject`s activity to traditional psychophysical research was accomplished in the frameworks of differential-psychological approach in psychophysics (A.N. Gusev). It is developed the idea that the variation of stimuli uncertainty leads to appropriate transformation of the functional organ (A.N. Leontiev, A.A. Ukhtomskiy) relevant to sensory discrimination task.

The paper presents a study of choice process and parameters of its subjective construction in real life situations of different scale of importance. Qualitative and quantitative features of “fateful” (F) and “everyday” (E) choice situations were compared, in each situation the connection was found between qualitative parameters of choice activity with stable personality variables, an attempt was made to allocate different types of choice activity in these situations. The results obtained on a sample of 74 students (55 females and 18 males) of age 17—25 (median age = 18.7; SD = 1.09) with the use of 3 basic and 8 additional questionnaires allowed to make a conclusion about the essential qualitative and quantitative differences between situations of F and E choice.

The paper shows the path from the cultural-activity approach, represented by the names of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, O.K. Tikhomirov, to the ontology of personal meanings and to the psychological mechanisms of generation of such meanings. It is argued that O.K. Tikhomirov’s personal meanings theory of thinking has exceeded the non-classical notions of sense formation and can therefore be considered as a part of the theoretical and methodological basis of cognitive science, dealing with the ideals of post-nonclassical rationality. Siberian scientists developed systematic anthropological psychology in its development is based on the O.K. Tikhomirov ideas about the ontological nature of operational meaning and tries to determine the possibility of cultural psychology in the activity of new (post-nonclassical) conditions. However, it relies on the notion of complementarity (selective and directed) as a mechanism of interaction of meaning. It is suggested that a complimentary interaction manifests itself at different levels of organization of matter, thus ensuring the stability of the universe as self-developing system.

The paper considers the history of development and different aspects of the new neuropsychological theory of social brain, its relations with Luria’s and Vygotsky’s understanding of humans as a social and biological unity. Different theoretical models of analyzed. Experimental studies of influence of brain damages on social cognition and social behavior are described. Social features of child early development are of primordial value for understanding of social brain. This understanding is closely related to the important theory of developmental psychology, proposed by P. Galperin, underlying a double interaction between morphological and functional development. It is proved by negative consequences of child social deprivation on his brain development as well as by evidences of cultural differences in neuropsychological assessment. New understanding of social brain is proposed to be social and cultural determination and regulation of brain functioning.

The article analyzes the relations between adult siblings, their specifics and diversity, as well as some factors affecting these relations. A brief review of modern foreign research in this area is also given in the article. We have presented the results of empirical research of sibling relationships on the national sample (102 adults who have at least one sibling) from the point of view of their closeness, trust, conflict/hostility and other parameters. We used two adapted questionnaires — Adult Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (C. Stocker and coll.) and Lifespan Sibling Relationship Scale Items (H.R. Riggio). The article highlights and describes four types of relationships: close and non-conflict (45% of the sample), less close and more conflict (31%); indifferent (19%), not close and conflict-competitive (5%). In addition we assessed the impact on the nature of the relationship between adult siblings of such factors as sex, age gap, the order of birth, the proximity of residence and marital status. Women are more attentive to their siblings and know them better; men are more likely to recognize that admire brothers more than sisters; dominance and opposition expressed more in same-sex pairs of siblings. In childhood the less age spacing the more active interaction between siblings and the higher trust between them is. In adulthood this factor is of no importance. As a rule, the younger know more about their siblings; they lend more emotional support to their siblings and count on getting the same from them. Siblings who live near to each other have more competition, they are more supportive of each other in practical terms and they interact more actively and positively. Adults who are married have closer and less conflict relationships with their siblings.

The paper discusses the role of hardiness in organizations and the issues of its assessment. The results of a study aimed at development and validation of a short 24­item Russian version of the Hardiness Survey by D.A. Leontiev and E.I. Rasskazova are presented. Using a student sample data (N=1285), a subset from the set of 45 existing items were selected for the short version that was subsequently validated in a large process plant employee sample (N=4647). Using confirmatory factor analysis, a one­dimensional structure of the test was supported (with a single hardiness factor and two independent method factors corresponding to systematic bias associated with regular and reverse­scored items). The resulting shortened scale showed high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91). Convergent validity was demonstrated by predictable associations with other measures of psychological well­being, including dispositional optimism, optimistic attributional style, hope, general self­efficacy, tolerance for ambiguity, subjective vitality, life satisfaction, work satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation in academic and professional domains. The resulting short version of the Hardiness Survey can be recommended for diverse samples.

In the memory of Tatiana Sergeevna Kabachenko.