Choice is a special activity of a person, a holistic
act of evaluating oneself as an individual;
assessment of one's capabilities in a specific life
situation. Only the subject himself can initiate the
choice, enter the state of choice. The selection
criteria are set by the norms and rules of the
individual himself, which may not coincide with
the requirements of generally accepted morality.
The choice is a reflective pause, an "active
passivity." Due to the choice, a person seems to
limit his field of existence, limits the excess of
the world, but, thereby, he "clarifies" himself as
a person. Choice is self-limitation. By exercising
his right to choose, a person takes on obligations
that he experiences as responsibility (Tytarenko,
2005). But making an alternative choice is
possible for an individual based on psychological
characteristics that determine the interaction of
the individual with the environment and make it
possible to find ways to make decisions. Among
such psychological features, in our opinion,
tolerance stands out as a personality trait. With
all the diversity of scientific approaches to the
study of the problem of decision-making and the
problem of tolerance, there are no works in the
science of our country that investigate the
features of decision-making by a tolerant
personality.
Tolerance as a psychological phenomenon has a
fairly short history of study in domestic research,
since tolerance has not been adequately studied
in domestic psychology. This is explained by the
prevailing totalitarian ideology, which assumes
intolerance as a necessary element of the class
struggle. In recent decades, in connection with
the change of socio-political life in the country,
there has been a demand for research on various
problems of tolerance (Asmolov, 2000;
Soldatova & Shaigerova, 2008). In the modern
world, tolerance is understood as an important
element of peaceful coexistence of mankind, it is
recognized as a humanistic value and a necessary
condition for the social unity of people of
different cultural traditions, beliefs, scientific and
political beliefs. Tolerance becomes a key moral
principle of civil society, which is confirmed by
the international document - "Declaration of
Principles of Tolerance" (Liga 360, 1995). This
document reveals the essence of the concept of
"tolerance": as respect, acceptance and correct
understanding of the rich diversity of cultures,
forms of self-expression and ways of manifesting
human individuality; as harmonies in diversity;
as a moral debt, political and legal need; as a
virtue that makes it possible to achieve peace and
promotes the replacement of the culture of war
with the culture of peace; as an active attitude to
reality, which is formed on the basis of the
recognition of universal human rights and
freedoms (Liga 360, 1995).
In the modern world, the problem of tolerance is
the subject of discussion and research in various
humanitarian and social sciences. Despite its
complexity and contradictions, the phenomenon
of tolerance today is understood not just as an
abstract philosophical ideal, but more than ever,
it is widely recognized as a universal human
value and a practical condition for the survival
and development of civilizations, dialogue and
in-depth constructive interaction of different
cultures.
The understanding of tolerance is ambiguous in
different cultures and depends on the historical
experience of the people. In English, tolerance is
defined as "the willingness and ability to accept
a person or thing without protest". In the English-
Russian psychological dictionary, the translation
of the English word tolerance means "acquired
stability, the limit of a person's stability
(endurance); resistance to stress; resistance to
conflict; resistance to behavioral deviations. In
the French one - "respect for the freedom, matter
of another, his way of thinking, behavior,
political and religious views"; in the Chinese one
- to be "tolerant" means "to show" magnanimity
towards others, to enable, to allow"; in the Arabic
one - "forgiveness, leniency, mildness,
condescension, compassion, affection, patience,
positive attitude towards others"; in the Persian
one - "patience, open-mindness, endurance,
readiness for reconciliation" (Babchuk, 2015).
R. Valitova considers tolerance as a moral
benevolent personality, which characterizes its
attitude to another as a free equal personality,
which consists in the voluntary and conscious
suppression of the feeling of rejection caused by
certain characteristics of the personality, both
external (racial, national characteristics) and
internal (religion, which is professed, respected
traditions, moral preferences), attitude towards
dialogue and understanding of the other,
rejection of the privileges of the first person,
recognition and respect of his right to distinction
(Valitova, 1997). The author also formulated
three principles of tolerance: 1) tolerance is
conditional virtue. Its applicability depends on
the answer to the question: in relation to what or
to whom one should be tolerant; 2) renunciation
of the monopoly on knowledge of the truth in
morality is a condition under which tolerance is
possible; defending one's point of view, the
thought arises that we should be tolerant of
another's opinion; 3) tolerance is not the final
goal of moral improvement of interpersonal