THE CORRELATION BETWEEN ADOLESCENTS’ COGNITIONS AND EMOTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF THEIR PERSONALITY FORMATION

Abstract

The article presents the results of theoretical analysis and empirical study of cognitive and affective sphere of adolescents. The study aim was to determine the nature and specificity of adolescents’ typical cognitions and emotions in the context of their personality formation. We determined the manifestations of the respondents’ emotional characteristics and the most important maladaptive cognitive schemas, the specific correlations between these variables and made ythe comparative analysis of the characteristics of two samples: younger and older adolescents. The used methods were Dusseldorf Illustrated Schema Questionnaire (children’s version) and Individual Typological Questionnaire (adolescent’s version). The obtained data were statistically processed with correlation analysis (Spearman’s correlation coefficient). As a result of the study, we revealed direct correlations between cognitions and emotions in the context of adolescents’ personality formation. Particularly, we determined that a larger number of maladaptive cognitive schemas were typical for older adolescents, which could indicate an exacerbation of the personality formation crisis at this age. In addition, the older group was characterized by a stronger correlation between emotional manifestations and core beliefs. This suggests that the intensification of maladaptive schemas leads to exacerbation of emotional manifestations and experiences. Thus, the conclusion is that typical cognitions generate habitual emotional reactions; these reactions, repeated many times, transform into manifestations of personal emotionality and, in turn, reinforce leading cognitive patterns, including maladaptive schemas. The prospects for further scientific studies in this area are to expand the age range and to compare the characteristics of cognitive and affective sphere of adolescents with the corresponding characteristics of children and young people. The other prospective direction is a practice-oriented study of methods and strategies for targeted psychological impact on adolescents’ cognitive and affective sphere to reduce negative influence of maladaptive cognitive schemas on their life and psychological well being.