Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Self-Concept of Russians and Indigenous Peoples of Yakutia

The article presents the results of a cross-cultural Self-concept study of the peoples living in Yakutia. The research is carried out in line with the social psychology of the individual. The author is interested in the self-perception of the individual in terms of cultural and ethnic diversity. The study was conducted in a multi-ethnic region - the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The article presents the results of cross-cultural analysis of Russian and indigenous peoples of Yakutia. The hypothesis is tested that the common history and living conditions determine the formation of common contact points at the personal level. Here the author perceives the personality from the point of view of L. S. Vygotsky's cultural-historical approach, according to which the personality is a product of cultural-historical development. The study sample consists of 697 people from 12 to 79 years (479 women and 218 men). Of these, 111 are Russians, and 586 are representatives of the indigenous peoples of Yakutia. The method of research is the "Who Am I?" method of M. Kuhn and T. McPartland. Taking into account the specifics of the research object, the author added two categories of Self-concept, such as racial identity and identity with the natural world. The results of the study were processed using statistical Mann-Whitney criteria, student t-criteria, content analysis, and ranking. The study was conducted throughout Yakutia. The instructions were presented in Russian and Yakut. The study revealed that the Self-concept of the Russian and indigenous peoples of Yakutia have both common and different features. Common characteristics are a high level of reflection, statistically significant similarity of important Self-concept characteristics: reflexive Self, emotional Self, communicative Self, and the lack of regional identity in both groups. The common most frequently mentioned characteristics are the following: hardworking, kind, smart, cheerful, purposeful, hardy, and sociable. The distinctive features of Self-concept reflect the uniqueness of the national character of the compared peoples. For Russians, this is largesse and sincerity. For indigenous peoples, honesty, pitying, and modesty are used for psycholinguistic analysis of the meaning of words. Honesty is also perceived as straightforwardness, modesty as a manifestation of emotions and actions of a person in moderation. It was also revealed that the family identity of indigenous peoples is more significant in the Self-concept than in Russians. The conclusion is made about the importance of having both common and unique features for multi-ethnic Russia.

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