THE COPING BEHAVIOR AS A BASIS FOR A CONSTRUCTIVE OVERCOMING OF DIFFICULT LIFE SITUATIONS

The article substantiated the relevance of research of coping as an individual way to address a difficult situation, which is determined by its subjective importance for person as well as person's psychological abilities. The concept of coping was reviewed and its history analyzed. The article states that the psychological literature still does not have terminological unity in both definition of this research field and its phenomenology. It is noted that after R. Lazarus started his study, the researchers took into consideration elements of cognitive sphere responsible for selection of coping behavior and its realization more than behavioral acts itself. The features of the individual's cognitive evaluating of stress factors (the primary and secondary) were described. The reason of large number classifications of coping strategies was analyzed. Two modi of psychological coping proposed by R.Lazarus and S.Folkman were defined as (a) the problem-oriented coping that solves problem situation and (b) the emotionally-oriented coping that changes person's attitude toward situation. Interindevidual and intraindividual approaches to psychological stress overcoming in modern literature were defined.