Images of “friends” and “strangers” as a subject of socio-psychological imagology

Relevance: in a social situation of transitivity, including the coronavirus pandemic and regional military conflicts, binary oppositions “Us vs. Them”, “ours vs. theirs”, “friend or foe” play a crucial role in interpersonal and intergroup perception. In the ‘personality – group –society’ system, these constructs participate in self-determination of the individual, in the construction of a system of identities, in the formation and implementation of communicative and interactive patterns and strategies. There has been an increase in interdisciplinary (philological, historical, political, cultural) imagological studies of images of “strangers”. Moreover, the psychological foundations of social practices of hostility and discrimination, the content, functions and kinds of stereotypes (in particular, ethnic auto- and hetero-stereotypes, stereotypes about migrants) in the psychology of intergroup relations have been studied. Purpose: to determine the theoretical and methodological foundations of sociopsychological imagology, as well as to address the issue of justifying the application of the term “imagology” in socio-psychological research. Hypothesis: the object of socio-psychological imagology can be represented in cognitive formations which are the products of social cognition. Results: the structural and functional analysis of imagological and socio-psychological models reflecting the features of images of other people as “friends” and “strangers” has been applied. In social perceptions and narratives, the characteristics of “Us vs. Them” and “friend or foe” are objectified as tools and products of social cognition, expressed verbally, in linguistic constructions. Main conclusions: the concept of social perceptions and the narrative approach are the foundations of socio-psychological imagology in the context of social cognition. The novelty of the author’s research lies, firstly, in the fact that the problem of the status of socio-psychological imagology as a field of socio-psychological research has been formulated for the first time. Secondly, it defines the theoretical and methodological foundations of socio-psychological imagology in the context of social cognition. Practical significance: the narrative analysis, as well as the study of social perceptions, can be used to diagnose hostile and discriminatory personality relationships within the framework of individual socio-psychological counseling and group psychotherapeutic work.