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Abstract
Objective. The aim of the article is to examine the formation and dynamics of professional self-awareness of future psychologists during their training in higher education institutions, with particular attention to its key structural components: self-identification, professional self-esteem, and attitudes toward the profession.
Methodology. The empirical study involved 112 students majoring in Psychology from the first to the fourth year of study. A set of diagnostic methods was applied, including the Rokeach Value Survey, the Luscher Color Test, the Kuhn and McPartland “Who am I?” technique, and the Dembo-Rubinstein self-assessment method. Statistical analysis was conducted using Student’s t-test and Fisher’s f-criterion, which made it possible to identify the dynamics of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of professional self-awareness across different stages of professional training.
Results. The findings demonstrate a non-linear, stage-based development of professional self-awareness. In particular, a decline in professional intentions was observed from 79.1% among first-year students to 15.8% among fourth-year students, reflecting a reassessment of professional expectations. At the same time, professional self-identification evolves from abstract and idealized representations toward a more internalized and realistic identity. A crisis phase was identified at the intermediate stages of training, especially among second-year students, and was characterized by decreased self-esteem, contradictions between self-perception and professional requirements, and increased differentiation of professionalism criteria. At later stages, stabilization and integration of professional identity are observed.
Scientific novelty. The study substantiates the dynamic and contradictory nature of the development of professional self-awareness, revealing regular patterns in the transition from idealized perceptions of the profession to a more differentiated and realistic understanding of it. The role of crisis as a necessary stage of professional development is theoretically and empirically justified.
Conclusions. It has been established that professional self-awareness is not fully formed by the time of graduation and continues to develop at subsequent stages of professionalization. At the same time, the period of higher education is decisive, since it is during this stage that fundamental transformations occur in the motivational, value, and cognitive spheres of the individual. The most flexible components of professional self-awareness are self-identification, self-esteem, and professional attitudes. A key condition for its effective development is the systematic and purposeful involvement of students in practical activities related to solving professional tasks.
References
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