Applied Psychological Research

Yury P. Zinchenko – President of the RPS, Doctor of Psychological Science, Professor,
Dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University
(international activity, executive duties, growth policy).
E-mail: zinchenko@psy.msu.ru.
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The paper examines the methodological principles of the psychological study of ecological consciousness as one of the urgent interdisciplinary problems of XX–XXI century, caused by the aggravation of global ecological problems and the need for the realization of the “sustainable development”ideas. Ecological consciousness is considered as multilayered, dynamic, reflexive element of human consciousness, incorporating multivariate, holistic aspects of interaction of the human being as the H.S. and the Humanity representative with the environment and the Planet. The possibility of the more active introduction of Russian psychology in the process is argued for in connection with the existing conceptual approaches, which compose the methodological basis for ecological consciousness research. Among these approaches are considered: the principles of holistic study of the human being by B. Ananyev, the methodology of system psychological description by V. Gansen and G. Sukhodolsky, the idea of reflexivity of consciousness by S. Rubinstein, the humanitarian- ecological imperative of the development of consciousness by V. Zinchenko, the theory of relations by V. Myasishev, consideration of ecological consciousness as relation to nature by S. Deryabo and V. Yasvin, theories of consciousness by V. Petrenko, V. Allakhverdov and other Russian psychologists. The value component of ecological consciousness is distinguished as the most significant. The possibility of applying the Values’ theory of the by S. Schwartz for studying the ecological values is discussed along with the prognostic potential of the universalism value.

Article is devoted to the issues of symbolic mediation and diagnostic of time perception in sport. Distinction between iconic and symbolic mediation is discussed. Evidences of effective implementation of symbolic mediation in sport are examined. Means of optimization of sportsmen and sportswomen training by the instrumentality of symbol are considered. The results of time perception diagnostic of Russian synchronized swimmers are described. It was shown that sportswomen are greatly varied in accuracy and stability of reproduction of long (2–5 sec) and estimation of short (less than 250 ms) time intervals, which were filled with different contents – ticks of metronome, persistent sound, pressuring the button and etc. The improvement of individual characteristics of time perception is an important psychological resource of sports achievements increase.

The aim of this study was to reveal correlation between motivation and creative professional thinking. Four hundred and seventy-one Russians of different trades participated in the study. It was supposed that motivational structure and level of creative professional thinking were interrelated. The connection between motivational components and professional thinking was revealed. Tendencies of transition form situational level of thinking to oversituational one were determined. It was found out that motivational structure of workers with situational thinking was much more consistent than that of workers with oversituational thinking.

A questionnaire measuring web plagiarism (or academic cheating), worked out by Underwood and Szabo (2003) has been adapted and applied to the population of undergraduate science students in Russia. The students at four technical universities are questioned (N=292). The study shows the students perform webplagiarizing, i.e. take materials from the Internet and hand these materials in as their own assignments. Russian students are reportedly competent in the use of the Internet; they report to have rather few moral barriers towards plagiarizing; they believe most of their mates do the same; they are not sure their tutors are able and willing to recognize cheating; finally, they are competent enough in English and are hypothetically able to plagiarize in two languages.

Measuring resilience to stress (or stress resistance) validly and reliably is an important theoretical and practical problem. Process-oriented stress theories assume that primary and secondary appraisals play an important role in determining the level of resilience. In the present study, a model of resilience based on the analysis of the interplay between primary and secondary appraisal processes is developed. Resilience is high if benign primary appraisals of taxing situations are accompanied by secondary appraisals of coping resources as being sufficient for controlling stressors. In an implementation of the model, the quality of primary appraisals is assessed through the assessment of anxiety, anger and depression, which characterize the most typical cognitive-emotional reactions to demanding situations. The assessment of secondary appraisals is restricted to the analysis of psychophysiological (functional) resources, which are involved in all forms of coping activities. The implementation of the model gives rise to a measure of resilience, which is shown to successfully predict the outcome of the stress process in a sample of Russian police officers.

The concept of human functional states (HFS) is considered in the framework of activity regulation approach developed in Russian applied psychology. Aimed at the analysis of changes in regulatory mechanisms of on-going activity, structural methods for multilevel assessment of workers’ states are discussed. Three different strategies of data integration are proposed regarding the types of essential practical problems. Their usability is exemplified with the help of two empirical studies concerned with reliability of fire-fighters’ work in the Chernobyl Zone and effects of interruptions in computerized office environment. A general framework for applied HFS research is proposed in order to develop new ecologically valid psychodiagnostic procedures that can help to create efficient stress-management programs for enhancing human reliability and performance in complex job environment.

This article discusses an application of psychosemantic methods for the analysis of viewer understanding. As an example, the movie “Sibirskiy Tsiryulnik” (“The Barber of Siberia”, directed by a famous politician N. M ikhalkov) is taken, where Russian and American mentalities are juxtaposed. Basing on the works by M. Bakhtin and G. Kelly the concept of “art construct” is introduced. For the construction of semantic spaces of film perception the method of attribution of motives to film characters’ deeds was elaborated and used with the G. Kelly’s triadic method, followed by factor analysis.

This article reveals the motives of the terrorist activity. It analyzes psychological mechanisms of basic human needs that are implemented at different stages of involvement in terrorist organizations. The authors also discuss the causes of psychological attractiveness / desirability of terrorism in the context of influence of modern technologies on the dynamics of norm and pathology standards.

Recently mass media play crucial role in social counterterrorism activity. The article is devoted to analysis of possibilities of mass media in prevention of the development of terrorism. Socio-psychological factors of development of terrorism, including concept of “contributing events” as well as hypothesis “frustration-aggression” are studied. The psychological component of terrorism in three major attitudes is considered in the article: psychology of terrorism, psychology of counteraction to terrorism, and using mass media for prevention the development of terrorism. Specific features and the external factors promoting involving into terrorism are analysed. Role of mass media in covering the information about terrorism events is analysed from point of view related to prevention of development of terrorism. Some key recommendations on counterterrorism activity using mass media means are formulated.