Identity and Self-understanding of the Personality

Purpose: The aim of the article is the analysis and comparison of concepts “identity” and “understanding” in the framework of subject-existential approach. Modern psychology justify the existence of two types of identity: social and personal, which are two faces of one of the psychosocial development of a personality. The achievement of a balance between social and personal substructures person speaks about successful development of personality, however, remains unknown, thus achieving a balance between these two identities.
Results: In a context of subject-existential approach to the personality, personal identity reflects two aspects of communication of the person with the world: his participation in society, various groups and their socially signifi cant activity, and also in products of this activity; its separateness, peculiarity of the personality declaring the uniqueness and the space of life, that is identity characterizes at the same time process of a self-categorization of the personality and result of self-determination. The personal sense acts as that factor of integration of identity, which provides balance of social and personal aspects of identity. Self-understanding the author suggests to consider as a way of functioning of identity, when the internal and external reasons do conscious certain aspects of identity. Understanding updating by the subject of certain aspects of identity is connected with inquiries of a socio-cultural community.