Transformational giftedness of a personality: The role of professional identity and the person’s agency

The relevance of the research is determined by the two factors. Firstly, there is a social demand to identify and support gifted people, who represent an inalienable capital and a resource for the innovative development of society. Secondly, it is important to identify the determinants and mechanisms of giftedness in ontogenetic, socio-cultural and socio-psychological contexts. The article analyzes the transformational giftedness of a person, which involves a steady amplification of a natural talent, the mastery level and self-improvement, the articulation of a new professional vision, the creation of an innovative language, a productive impact on the professional transformation of Others and a constructive impact on culture as a whole. The study objective is to identify multidimensional dominant dynamic personality formations, which serve as the necessary basis for the transformation of a person’s talent into transformative giftedness within a certain socio-cultural chronotope. As a research case of transformational talent, the study proposes “architecture of life” by Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov, an outstanding world–class Russian architect, an innovator who was significantly ahead of his time, offered a new view of the semantic content of architecture and its philosophy, and survived the ‘golden season’ of his triumph and decades of oblivion. The phenomenological analysis is based on the narratives of Melnikov himself, through the reconstruction of his subjective representations and understanding of himself and the world. Results: two important intrapsychic regulators of transformational giftedness have been identified. They form the necessary basis for turning a talent resource into transformational giftedness: a stable professional identity associated with deep involvement and subjective satisfaction with the chosen role and the developed value and moral attitude towards the profession; person’s agency, which determines the level of selfmanagement and life-creation of a personality in a social environment. Main conclusions: the socio-cultural context is important in achieving a synergetic effect from the integration of the professional identity and personal agency as necessary prerequisites for transformational giftedness. Within this context conditions are created for the manifestation and amplification of a gifted personality, and the gifted person oneself acts as a subject of culture. Practical Significance: the results of the theoretical reflection can serve as a basis for the development of technologies for psychological support of a gifted person, facilitation of the person’s agency and the formation of a stable professional identity.