Psychological time of the personality of older people: a theoretical review

Introduction. With the global aging of society, the relevance of the problem of psychological time of the elderly is increasing. The lack of research in this scientific field, the lack of systematic knowledge in this matter increases the need to study it. The purpose of the article is to summarize research data on the problem of psychological time of the personality of elderly people, to highlight the dominant trends in domestic and foreign psychology on the stated problem. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was the works of psychological scientists, whose scientific interest lies not only in the plane of psychological time, but also in the late socialization of the elderly. The main research method is the theoretical analysis (meta-analysis) of the available scientific works in the world science, focused both on the construction of a scientific theory of psychological time, and on empirical studies of this phenomenon in older people. The result of the study is the identification of the main directions in the field of the research of the problem of psychological time of the elderly, as well as the detection of “white spots” and contradictions in the available data. A distinctive feature of the Russian approach to the psychological time of the elderly is the orientation to the clinical and psychological aspects, which make it possible to reveal the perceptual and cognitive sides of the designated problem to a greater extent. Foreign literature focuses on the cognitive components of psychological time: the time perspective of the future, subjective age, features of perception of the past. Contradictions in research positions on the issues of sustainability − plasticity of the subjective age of older people, the relationship between subjective age and well-being, between future time perspective and life satisfaction in the old age are revealed. The features of temporal focus in the elderly have not been practically studied. These contradictions serve as a starting point for further scientific research