The psychological mechanism of future image formation

The subject of the research is the mechanisms of forming an individual image of the future and the possibility of their influence on the image of the future as a phenomenon of public consciousness. The article provides a brief overview of existing approaches to addressing the problem of the emergence of future images and offers a detailed examination of two psychological principles: metaphors and archetypes, which participate in forming visions of the future; both reveal the use of unconscious processes when contemplating the future. The authors illustrate with concrete examples that the desire to envision the future includes such attitudes of trans-individual consciousness through which the imagination of prospects is based on associative links with the present (metaphor) or engages universal thinking patterns (archetypes). Particular attention is paid to images of the future that function within Russian culture over the last two centuries. The research methodology involves extrapolating the heuristic potential of metaphors and archetypes to the study of the future. Identifying metaphors in images of the future reveals the psychological mechanisms that ensure their coherence within social groups. The use of archetypes to understand images of the future allows one to see unique "hints" coming from the collective unconscious that help organize discourse about the future. The novelty of the research lies in describing metaphors and archetypes as elements of the psychological mechanism for forming the image of the future. The use of metaphors in creating images of the future aids in structuring experience, conveying emotional experiences related to the future, and simplifying complex ideas. Archetypes present in perceptions of the future serve meaning-forming, structuring, and mimetic functions. The main conclusions of the research concern the presence of an adaptive mechanism of the psyche in reflections on the future, allowing one to cope with a fundamentally uncertain and potentially dangerous future situation. The authors believe that both the initial formation of future images and their secondary reconstruction by the researcher engage common psychological mechanisms—metaphors and archetypes. In this regard, it seems important when studying images of the future to capture not only the archetypes themselves but also the peculiarities of the set of archetypical plots, the specificity of their symbolic expression, and not merely to confirm the presence of various metaphors in the representation of the future but to highlight original metaphors or principles of their use in describing the future.

image of the future, metaphor, archetype, social expectations, unconscious, public consciousness, imagination, image of the future of Russia, ruler archetype, methodology of humanitarian research