Semantic differentiation of the “modern psychologist” concept in the perception of teachers and parents

There are revealed the problems of understanding and developing the concepts of “image”, and “image of psychologist”. Attention is drawn to the lack of a unified approach and a single definition of the “image” concept in contemporary socio-psychological literature. It is highlighted the problem of the lack of thorough researches on the image of a practical psychologist in the context of professional activity. There are overviewed the features of the creation of a professional image in general and the image of practicing psychologists in particular. It is determined that the professional image of the psychologist is based on knowledge of the image of the ideal psychologist in the eyes of the recipient. There are analyzed the studies on the image of a practicing psychologist in the minds of different social groups. As the main tool for studying the meaning characteristic of the psychologist’s image, the method of the semantic differential was used. The psychologist’s image was researched on the example of various social groups, namely, pedagogical workers, and parents of students of secondary schools and pupils of the kindergartens in Kyiv and the region. It is shown the results of the experimental study, in which 125 people have participated. The study of the meaning aspect of the psychologist’s image made possible to identify and describe the semantic differentiation characteristics of the key concept “modern psychologist” by pedagogical workers and parents of students/pupils of educational institutions. It is revealed the general tendency of positive assessment of psychologist’s image. On the basis of factor analysis, the features of the evaluation of the modern psychologist in the eyes of his potential clients are determined