Psychological security as the foundation of personal psychological wellbeing (analytical review)

Abstract

Background. Security as a socio-cultural phenomenon requires a comprehensive approach and integrates a multitude of aspects of social reality, each of which is important both for an individual and society as a whole. It has been shown that there are certain universal desires and needs which are valued by all cultures and peoples as essential to providing a high quality of life; one of such universals is the need for security. Consequently, the status of people's security in a society directly depends on the processes taking place in the society as a whole, and a craving for security and the need for it act as powerful stimulators of social changes. Aim. A theoretical analysis of studies on psychological security as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Method. Sources were selected according the following principles of scientific cognition: development, systematicity, and determinism. Result and discussion. It has been shown that, on the one hand, an individual's security is the result of an effective political, economic, social, and cultural environment. On the other hand, a society's security is a combination of individual people's security. It has been proved that the strengthening of a society's psychological security is key to achieving the wellbeing of different categories of people. It has been demonstrated that security is a dynamic process, since at every point in time we are dealing with a new type of danger. As a result, psychological security must constantly be created all over again. The latent character of security is shown by the fact that a person starts to strain after it only when an actual threat to life, health, and wellbeing emerges. What's more, the use of an interdisciplinary approach (psychological and sociological, in particular) appears to be the most fruitful, especially with regard to such latent phenomena as security and wellbeing. It has been shown that all aspects of human behavior in all spheres of life can be interpreted in the context of both the sense of security and actual security, and in most cases it is the need for security that guides man's action. It has also been demonstrated that people's perceptions and assessment of their state of security are psychological processes, and thus, they are exposed to individual and group differences. Modern research has shown that, in the modern world, the link between a sense of wellb eing and sense of security is drawing increasing attention. Yet it should be noted that there is a tendency to interpret the concept of security restrictively as protection from harm and satisfaction of basic needs. In other words, the idea that psychological wellbeing and security are complementary and mutually conditioned concepts has not been dealt with so far.