Psychology of Personal Peacefulness

 
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Abstract

Context and relevance. The relevance of the problem is due to the importance of studying the integral characteristics of the personality, which express its ability to positive, non-violent interaction with the world and with other people. Such characteristics include the peacefulness of the individual. Objective. A review of research on personal peacefulness in foreign psychology over the past 5-10 years. Methods and materials. Search for publications on the problem of personal peacefulness in English using search engines: Google Scholar, ResearchGate and Elibrary. In total, more than 210 sources were reviewed, and 50 works were selected for the final analysis Results. It is shown that the concept of positive peace, which includes nonviolence, social justice, environmental sustainability and positive relationships, serves as the methodological basis for the study of personal peacefulness. The structure of intrapersonal peacefulness includes self-acceptance, self-compassion, harmony between various aspects of the "I". The theoretical models of interpersonal peacefulness are: the theory of human relations by H. Devere, the theory of strong character traits by R. Niemik, the factor theory of peacefulness by L. Nelson, the concept of personal peace-building by K. Standish. Empirical studies devoted to the study of the relationship between peacefulness and such personality characteristics as non-violence, empathy, trust, tolerance, and forgiveness are analyzed. Conclusions. The conclusion is made about the value and significance of peacefulness as a trait in which the prosocial orientation of a person is manifested, capable of overcoming life difficulties and resolving conflicts on a non-violent basis. The presented materials can be used both for scientific and practical purposes related to solving the problems of the formation of peacefulness at different age stages of human development.

General Information

Keywords: peacefulness, positive peace, non-violence, empathy, trust, tolerance, forgiveness

Journal rubric: General Psychology

Article type: review article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2026150110

Acknowledgements. The author thanks the editors and reviewers for their valuable comments on the article.

Received 03.02.2025

Revised 20.01.2026

Accepted

Published

For citation: Maralov, V.G. (2026). Psychology of Personal Peacefulness. Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 15(1), 117–126. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2026150110

© Maralov V.G., 2026

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Vladimir G. Maralov, Doctor of Psychology, Professor of the Department of Psychology, Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9627-2304, e-mail: vgmaralov@yandex.ru

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