PSYCHOLOGICAL JOURNAL

PARADIGMAL TRANSFORMATION OF LEGAL PSYCHOLOGY: BEHAVIORIST CONTEXT

Viktoriia Petrushenko — 2025-10-30

Background. The development of behaviorism, as one of the key paradigms in psychology,was followed by the influence of its sectoral development, including legal and psychological issues. Accordingly, the issue of establishing the limits of the methodological application of behaviorism in anthropological and clinical paradigms in legal psychology becomes scientifically relevant.

Objective. Determination of the main theoretical foundations on the influence of classical and social behaviorism on the formation and development of anthropological and clinical paradigms in legal psychology within the context of the ideas of American and Canadian Ukrainian psychologists: John Watson and Albert Bandura.

Methods. The structural-functional method was used to single out the elements of behaviorist theoretical framework within the context of the historical development of psychology. The comparative method was used to differentiate the ideas of classical and social behaviorism. Bibliographic work of representatives of the classical (J. Watson) and social behaviorism (A. Bandura) as well as modern literature devoted to the analysis of the ideas of representatives of behavioral psychology were analyzed.

Results. The article is devoted to the structuring of specific features inherent in the paradigmatic character of legal psychology that gave the chance to define the influence of behaviorism on the development of anthropological and clinical paradigms within it. The historical process of evolution of behavioral psychology includes various stages of its formation. The article analyzes the main historical behaviorist concepts that are integrated into the field of legal psychology. In this context, the classical theory of behaviorism by J. Watson is compared to the social behaviorism of A. Bandura, as well as the possibilities of legal and psychological implementation of methodological elements of both approaches.

Conclusions. The role of behaviorism in the process of scientific revolution in psychology and the determination of the key positions of clinicism and anthropologism in legal psychology, is determined. The application of the behaviorist model of human behavior «stimulus – reaction» in legal psychology is considered. Social behaviorism postulated consideration of behavior as copying of visually learned examples by human-being. According to behaviorist theory, the article defines the phenomenon of human legal behavior and its features like the element «of social-legal consciousness».

Key words: legal psychology, clinical paradigm, anthropological paradigm, behaviorism, social behaviorism.

Received: August 1, 2025

Accepted: October 21, 2025

Published: October 30, 2025

ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL PARADIGMS IN LEGAL PSYCHOLOGY: THE INFLUENCE OF HERBERT SIMON’S COGNITIVISM

Viktoriia Petrushenko — 2026-03-30

Background. The formation of the paradigmatic character of legal psychology took place in the context of the integral development of socio-behavioral sciences, due to the mutual influence of various scientific approaches, in particular, cognitivism, one of the main representatives of which was the American researcher – Herbert Simon. Simon’s teaching combined cognitive and behaviorist concepts and approaches to the study of human behavior and the decision-making process, which will later significantly affect the formation of the main legal and psychological paradigms.

Objective. To systematize Herbert Simon’s scientific ideas, that are applied in legal and psychological science, which includes distinguishing the elements of his psychological cognitivism and determining its influence on the constitution of anthropological and clinical legal psychological paradigms.

Methods. Study uses the structural-functional method, which helped to determine the elements of Herbert Simon’s cognitive approach to the development of anthropological and clinical legal psychological paradigms. To actualize the reception of Simon’s ideas, the method of bibliometric analysis was used, which includes the study of current scientific literature, which is devoted to the interpretation of Simon’s ideas.

Results. The article examines the concepts of «decision-making», «bound rationality», «cognitive limitation», «administrative behavior», which are key to Herbert Simon’s cognitive theory and are actively used in legal psychology. Using the paradigmatic approach to the evolution of science authored by Thomas Samuel Kuhn, as well as the ideas of Noah Chomsky, like his view of the phenomenon of the «cognitive revolution», the evolution of the reception of the ideas of cognitivism in anthropological and clinical paradigms were traced. Article outlines the transformative influence of Simon’s cognitivism on the state of normal science in the field of legal and psychological science.

Conclusions. Ideas of Herbert Simon became the theoretical basis for the formation of the concept of «socio-legal consciousness». This is because Simon’s teaching is also based on the work of German classical philosophy, which is traced in ideas related to the moral and legal autonomy of a person. According to him, moral and legal autonomy of a person is a component of «administrative behavior» of the individual under consideration of the decision-making process in the system of «administrative organizations». Herbert Simon’s theoretical work will later be included in the conceptual and categorical apparatus of legal psychology with epistemological interpretations inherent in the cognitive paradigm and used in clinicism and anthropological theory.

Key words: paradigm, legal psychology, cognitivism, clinical paradigm, anthropological paradigm.

Received: January 13, 2026

Accepted: March 11, 2026

Published: March 30, 2026

ANTHROPOLOGICAL PARADIGM IN LEGAL PSYCHOLOGY: COGNITIVE ASPECT

Viktoriia Petrushenko — 2026-02-28

Background. Legal psychology, as a branch of scientific «knowledge», is represented by two most prevalent paradigms: anthropological and clinical, the formation and development of which took place within the influence of earlier psychological paradigmatic directions, such as behaviorism, cognitivism and clinicism. Therefore, the problem of the influence of cognitivism on the emergence, formation and development of the anthropological paradigm in legal psychology remains as a discussional research topic.

Objective. To identify the role and aspects of the cognitive influence on the anthropological paradigm in legal psychology, which involves the structuring of elements of legal-psychological cognitivism, the definition of common cognitive-anthropological elements and methods of their interparadigmatic implementation.

Methods. To achieve the objective of the research, systematic and structural-functional methods were applied in order to find the permanent elements of the cognitive trend in legal psychology, and to systematize its relationship with the anthropological paradigm. In addition, a bibliometric analysis of current scientific publications related to the development of anthropologism and cognitivism in legal psychology was used to form the theoretical basis of the research.

Results. Using the conceptual-categorical apparatus of Thomas Samuel Kuhn, it’s stated that paradigmality transfers «knowledge» from the pre-scientific state to «normal science», that is, to an ordered system that functions within the constant structures – paradigms. The article makes it possible to trace the epistemological interdisciplinary transition from logical-mathematical to social-behavioral sciences in the context of legal and psychological issues, mainly due to the application of cognitivist ideas, that leaned to formalization, by anthropological paradigm. The integration of separate and fragmented scientific and psychological directions into paradigms, in particular into cognitive or anthropological ones, involves the consolidation of the most valid methods, techniques and methodologies. Thus, in the context of the interdisciplinary approach, the implementation of «knowledge» from a purely socio-behavioral context into a legal-behavioral one is characterized.

Conclusions. The article uses a paradigmatic approach to the history of science, to determine the decisive role of cognitivists in the implementation of the «scientific revolution» in the psychological field, specifically in legal psychology and its social context. The article outlines an adaptation of the methodology, which was started back in the days of experimental psychology, and which was used by both cognitivists and clinicians and its implementation by anthropological paradigm. It has been proven that in the process of forming paradigms in legal psychology, the corresponding methodological adaptation took place on the basis of cognitivism.

Key words: legal psychology, anthropological paradigm, clinical paradigm, cognitivism, cognitive approach.

Received: 23 December 2025
Accepted for publication: 22 February 2026
Published: 28 February 2026

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENVY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Hanna Yurchynska — 2026-07-03

Background. The increasing role of the digital environment as a space for social comparison significantly affects individuals’ emotional states, self-esteem, and subjective well-being. Social media, as a key component of this environment, intensifies processes of upward comparison, which may contribute to the emergence of envy and influence psychological well-being.

Purpose. The aim of the article is to identify the specific effects of different types of envy on the psychological well-being of social media users through a theoretical and empirical analysis of their interrelationship.

Methods. The methodological framework is based on standardized psychodiagnostic instruments, including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BeMaS), and the Pemberton Happiness Index (PHI). Correlation and regression analyses were employed to identify statistically significant relationships between the studied variables.

Results. The findings indicate a strong positive relationship between self-esteem and the happiness index, as well as eudaimonic well-being, highlighting the role of self-esteem as a fundamental factor of psychological well-being. Malicious envy was found to negatively affect self-esteem and general well-being, acting as a factor of psychological distress and emotional tension. In contrast, benign envy demonstrates positive correlations with eudaimonic and social well-being, indicating its potentially adaptive and motivational nature. Regression analysis revealed that envy in social media is a statistically significant predictor of decreased levels of happiness and self-esteem, explaining 14.9% and 12.8% of the variance, respectively. Additionally, envy may disrupt interpersonal relationships, causing alienation and internal conflicts, while its constructive reflection can act as a catalyst for personal growth.

Conclusions. Envy in the digital environment has an ambivalent nature: it may either undermine psychological well-being or, under conditions of adequate emotional regulation, serve as a resource for personal development. Further research should focus on developing psychological interventions aimed at reducing the destructive manifestations of envy and enhancing its constructive potential.

Keywords: envy; psychological well-being; social media; self-esteem.

Received: January 16, 2026
Accepted: April 23, 2026
Published: April 30, 2026

A MODEL OF PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC REORGANIZATION OF EMOTIONAL TRANSGENERATIONAL EXPERIENCE IN THE PROCESS OF POSITIVE AND TRANSCULTURAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

Olha Tereshchenko — 2026-07-03

Background. Contemporary research on transgenerational transmission increasingly demonstrates that emotional experiences inherited across generations influence emotion regulation, identity formation, interpersonal functioning, and psychological adaptation. However, most theoretical and empirical studies primarily conceptualize transgenerational transmission through the lens of trauma, emphasizing psychopathology and vulnerability. Such an approach overlooks the adaptive and resilience-promoting resources embedded within family and cultural histories. At the same time, advances in memory reconsolidation theory and contemporary models of emotional processing provide new opportunities for explaining psychotherapeutic change. Despite these developments, an integrative theoretical model describing how emotional transgenerational experience can be reorganized during psychotherapy remains insufficiently developed.

Objective. The study aimed to develop a theoretical model of the psychotherapeutic reorganization of emotional transgenerational experience within the framework of Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy by integrating contemporary concepts of intergenerational transmission, memory functioning, and memory reconsolidation mechanisms.

Methods. The study employed a theoretical and methodological design based on integrative conceptual analysis. Contemporary literature on transgenerational transmission, constructive theories of emotion, declarative and implicit memory systems, memory reconsolidation, and Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy was systematically synthesized. Conceptual modeling was applied to integrate these theoretical perspectives into a unified psychotherapeutic framework. The proposed model was constructed around the five-stage therapeutic process of Positive Psychotherapy and interpreted through the mechanisms of emotional memory updating and psychological regulation.

Results. An integrative model of psychotherapeutic reorganization of emotional transgenerational experience was developed. The model conceptualizes psychotherapy as a sequential process involving activation of implicit intergenerational emotional patterns, narrative reconstruction of family experience, identification of adaptive transgenerational resources, corrective emotional experience, symbolic integration, and consolidation of more adaptive forms of emotional self-regulation. The proposed framework explains psychotherapeutic change as the interaction between implicit emotional memory, autobiographical integration, semantic restructuring, and memory reconsolidation. Unlike trauma-centered approaches, the model conceptualizes transgenerational experience as a multidimensional construct incorporating both inherited vulnerabilities and resilience resources, thereby expanding theoretical understanding of psychological adaptation across generations.

Conclusions. The proposed model provides a theoretically grounded explanation of the psychological mechanisms underlying the transformation of emotional transgenerational experience during psychotherapy. Integrating Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy with contemporary memory reconsolidation theory broadens existing conceptualizations of psychotherapeutic change by emphasizing both the reduction of maladaptive emotional patterns and the activation of intergenerational adaptive resources. The model establishes a theoretical foundation for future empirical investigations and may facilitate the development of evidence-informed psychotherapeutic interventions aimed at enhancing emotional regulation, psychological resilience, and long-term psychological adaptation among individuals experiencing transgenerational emotional difficulties.

Keywords: transgenerational experience; Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy; memory reconsolidation; emotional regulation; intergenerational transmission; psychological adaptation; resilience; psychotherapeutic change.

Received: February 7, 2026

Accepted: April 21, 2026

Published: April 30, 2026