The relevance of the study is the need to clarify what factors can determine the self-esteems of volitional traits of a person.

Objective. The empirical study of the possible influence of action control mode and action and meaningfulness of life level on person's representation  about the development of his volitional traits.

Methods. 943 first-fifth year university students were asked to complete three questionnaires: Self-esteem technique of the volitional traits (V. Ivannikov, E. Aidman), Action control in planning scale (NAKEMP-90) in adaptation of S. Schapkin, Purpose in Life test in adaptation of D. Leontiev.

Results. There was a reliable relationship of the values of action control in planning scale (ACP) and general meaningfulness of life index (MLI) with three volitional traits (strong-willed, confident, bold) and total score of 20 volitional traits (TSVT). The results of 2-way ANOVA showed significant effects of Action Control and Meaningfulness of Life on the value of TSVT. The lowest TSVT values were observed in students with low values of ACP and MLI, and the highest -with high values of these indexes.

Conclusion. The results are discussed in the framework of V.A. Ivannikov’s theoretical ideas about psychological mechanisms of volitional regulation of personality, especially the role of the meaning formation in the process of transferring prompting from motive to purpose. It explains the natural connection of person`s meanings and self-esteems of volitional traits, as well as the contribution of such resource of self-regulation of human activity as action control mode.

The method “Fairy Semantic Differential”, during which a respondent should assess a number of fairy-tale characters according to a set of personal characteristics, is designed for the individual work of a psychologist with children 4—9 years old. Personality characteristics, according to which the characters are evaluated, are formulated in terms that parents, teachers use when dealing with children of this age. An analysis of the child's attitude to this or that fairy-tale character allows us to determine the specificity of his (her) moral-value sphere. The method also allows evaluating of real adults, who are significant for the child (parents, teachers, etc.) Comparison of fairy-tale characters' ratings with those of a significant adult makes it possible to reveal the specifics of the child's attitude to this adult. The article discusses quantitative indicators that can be calculated using the data of the answering the questionnaire. These indicators characterize the child’s personality, his (her) understanding of interpersonal relationships with surrounding people, dimension of categorical space of interpersonal perception, content of this categories and its hierarchy, the level of cognitive development in this area, the degree of socialization. The method allows measuring self-esteem indices. The results of an empirical study of Moscow primary schoolchildren using the method “Fairy Semantic Differential” are presented, during which a psychometric analysis of the indicators was conducted. It was shown that the cognitive complexity of interpersonal perception, determined by the method “Fairy Semantic Differential” is significantly higher among adults, does not correlate with intelligence tests. Socialization increases with age, is significantly higher among girls than among boys, partly correlates with known methods that measure the level of social adaptation of a child, the degree of differentiation of moral and conventional norms, verbal intellect. The analysis of self-esteem indices reveals significantly higher self-criticism among girls, than among boys.