POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS’ VOCATIONAL TRAINING: ANALYSIS OF EDUCATIONAL MODELS

Abstract

The traditions of political psychologists’ vocational training in the West and the post-Soviet space are considered. The results of a comparative analysis of the content of the relevant educational programs implemented in educational institutions of the United States, Britain, Russia and Ukraine are presented. It is shown that the interdisciplinary essence of political psychology has affected the training systems of political psychologists. Two main educational models are singled out. They are a model with a political and sociological "accent" (traditional for Western countries) and a model with a psychological "accent" (more common in the post-Soviet scientific and pedagogical space). In the first one the priority is given to the formation of scientific and research skills while in the second one more attention is paid to the study of the theoretical aspects of various political and psychological phenomena. The author states that there is a significant diversity in the content and timing of the Ukrainian political psychologists’ training, so then it is necessary to create and discuss a relevant educational standard.