Volume #5, 2012

This article considers the potential for applying contemporary philosophical theories (which distinguish classical, nonclassical, and postnonclassical types of scientific rationality) to the specification of theoretical methodological principles in the study of clinical psychology. We prove that psychological syndrome analysis (developed by the Vygotsky–Luria–Zeigarnik school), taken as a system of principles for organizing research as well as for interpreting its results, conforms to the epistemological complexity of the object of study in clinical psychology, which is understood in the postnonclassical scientific view as a self-developing system. We present an example of the formation of a psychosomatic syndrome in 290 patients with mitral-valve prolapse, applying methods of qualitative and statistical data analysis in a longitudinal clinical-psychological study. We prove that the syndrome is system-defined and has a multilevel character, and that its structure is determined by several factors: the motivational factor (with the domination of the failure-avoidance motive and the unsatisfied self-approval need); the factor of the emotional-regulation disorders, represented by both excessive emotional repression and lack of emotional control; and a psychophysiological factor. We argue that a psychosomatic syndrome can be used as a means for approaching not only diagnostic but also prognostic tasks both in clinical psychology and in medicine. We conclude that the results of our empirical study, conducted within the framework of postnonclassical philosophy and using the methods of psychological syndrome analysis, not only expand the scientific background on the nature of a particular disease (mitral-valve prolapse) but also pose further questions whose investigation will broaden our view of the psychological mechanisms of psychosomatic- syndrome genesis.

This article describes research on visual semantics, different forms of metaphor used in rhetoric and philology (tropes: metonymy, hyperbole, litotes, oxymoron, and others), and images, which are metaphorical also. The research was carried out using paintings. The authors state that the function of metaphor is to transform the sense of the image from a psychological point of view.

In this article, we briefl y survey studies of the nature of expertise, and we present the results of research directed at evidence of the complicated nature of expertise, which is most eff ectively seen in experts’ use of a transfer mechanism. The phenomenon of the transfer of verbalized operational senses (VOS) is analyzed and is investigated on the basis of the sense theory of thinking, as proposed by Tikhomirov (1969, 1984).

It is shown that VOS transfer manifests itself in diverse forms. It seems to be dependent on the factors of chess position and the age and skill level of the player. Diverse forms of transferring are associated with a change in separate indices of VOS volume, structure, depth, and degree of consciousness in a connected position. VOS transfer is found more in skilled than in unskilled chess players; skilled players demonstrate selectivity of search in a connected position. VOS transfer is associated not simply with the repetition and copying of some forecasts, which give the direction of search, but also with using and transforming the results of previous verbal searches.

This article describes the temporal characteristics of silent counting as used during a competition by the Russian youth team of synchronized swimmers. The athletes listened to the music that accompanied their performance at the competition. Diff erent indices of silent counting were defi ned, such as the beginning and cessation of diff erent periods of counting, counting frequency, the stability of the temporal structure of silent counting, the degree of synchronization of silent counting at diff erent moments during the sports program. We studied the relationship of these characteristics of counting with expert estimates of the athletes’ sense of tempo, coordination of movements, and choreographic abilities.

This article analyzes the use of iconic and symbolic tools by young athletes in the development of concrete motor skills. The study involved 22 young athletes, aged 5–6 years, attending a soccer school in Moscow, Russia. The methodological procedure included using specifi cally designed mini-movies, which were short video clips employing different sign and symbolic tools for mastering alternate dribbling using the inner and outer side of the foot and the subsequent kick of the ball toward the net. The results showed the eff ectiveness of these tools when working with young soccer players. Those athletes who used metaphors as one of the tools for mastering motor skills exhibited better movement development than did the athletes who used sign tools.

This article discusses the role that psychological culture of class teacher plays in the establishment and maintenance of psychological safety in a modern schoolchild. The problem of protection against psychological abuse within the educational environment of a school is particularly important in the current socio-cultural realm. The article analyzes many pedagogical and psychological studies regarding the problem of psychological education of teachers. It discusses contradiction between the objective need to create a psychologically safe learning environment and the unwillingness of teachers to work on it due to low own level of psychological culture. The author introduced the original structural model of psychological culture of a class teacher, representing the integration of the three main components: the culture of pedagogical refl ection, emotional culture and culture of pedagogical infl uence.

The article presents the results of theoretical and experimental research on emotional states, in particular, on fears that worry young school-aged children. The approach used to study this phenomenon comprises quantitatively-qualitative, frequency-intensive, existential, micro- and macro surrounding, moral and selfregulation dimensions. Substantial characteristics of children’s fears, self-control of young school-aged children, and ways of coping with fears in various conditions of social situations of development are considered. The studied spectrum of emotions young school-aged children experience in everyday situations (at home, at school, during their leisure time) is described. Study on verbal and nonverbal patterns of fears of young school-aged children is presented. The original structural questionnaire developed by the author and the picturesque test composed the research apparatus. In a majority of drawings children tend to “counterbalance” the image of their fear with some additional images containing positive elements (positive plot). This finding confirms the assumption previously made by the author of the immanent nature of self-regulating processes that regulate coping with fear.

350 7 to 14-year-old students of a special school for children with severe speech and language disorders (SLD) were tested through psychological, neurolinguistic and clinical methods. It was a longitudinal study. During 4-5 years of studying at the special school, the majority of speech and language impairments reduce and communicative skills grow up. But the other students demonstrate regress of adaptation skills, intellectual efficiency and increase in restlessness, aggressive behavior, mood disorders, and neurotic disorders. We recognize it as the state of exacerbation. Comparative statistical analysis reveals that this state occurs mostly between 9.5 and 11.5 years of life. 50% of the decompensation cases observed occurs in this age range. The data obtained gave us an incentive to develop a prevention program. The target group included a population aged 9.5-10 with PSU (PPMI-program). The 2-year experience of incorporating the risk subgroup of SLIC into the PPMI-program gave a positive return. The amount of decompensations reduced significantly. Intensity of psychopatological disorders decreased.

The main research objective was to study characteristics of children community`s mutual activities that infl uence the eff ectiveness of implementing security in the children`s community. In the process of training course taught using diff erent programs followed by comparison of the resulted actions in an emergency situation of three school classes (N=527) the following conclusion was made: the class that had an integrated basic safety course and at the same time attended practical classes and psychological trainings, coped with an emergency situation more effectively, quicker and with fewer personal injuries.

The article presents a study of moral judgments shared by children and teenagers. Its results form a foundation for further enquiry into sources and conditions developing young people’s normative control system, the flexibility of this system, and the “limits” of its development defined by a particular culture. It goes on to pose questions on research methodology at the levels of either hypothetical explanatory models or the means of diagnostics. J. Piaget's investigation of children's moral judgments was prototypical for this research. The technical equipment rendered possible a more subtle analysis of the children's judgments, which, in its turn, enabled us not only to define the general tendency of development, but also to determine a number of factors of how the normative regulation of children of different ages is functioning.

A system genetics approach has been employed to study students’ mental development. Ability development is considered in terms of mastering of intellectual operations. The study endeavors to identify the components of certain abilities consciously acquired by a student in the process of learning. The study was arranged in two directions: the teaching of students to master intellectual operations and use them in their work with training materials, and psychological testing of control and experimental student groups before and after training tests to diagnose the level of intellectual development. The study involved teachers and students of primary and secondary school.

We describe preliminary data from two studies aimed at investigating the psychometric properties and validity of newly developed measures of morphological knowledge and skills in Russian, namely, the Word Structure subtest, and the Test of Morphological Awareness, in two samples of young Russian-speaking children. Overall, both instruments demonstrated good psychometric properties when analyzed using both classical test theory and a Rasch-modeling IRT approach, and were positively associated with the criterion measures (i.e., the number of grammatical errors in elicited speech samples, spelling, and reading comprehension).

This article deals with the results of a pilot research of a subjective system of activity criteria represented in professional experience of business managers from the Ural region. The authors investigate the question of changes in an individual criterionoriented system of assessing effectiveness of activities depending on a subject’s professional experience and his/her position. The cluster analysis helped to single out groups of criteria that underwent a preliminary quantitative and qualitative analysis. A complex interdisciplinary approach was used in this research.

Is there any future for the activity approach? Has it exhausted its potential yet? We suggest the scheme of “subject-action-object-surrounding world” instead of “subject-activity-object”. This scheme takes us beyond the limits of a singular action where the accent is laid on synchronization with one of the processes in the world around. The time coincidence is to be realized, and the subject foresees it. The subject referred to is a group of people performing a united action. Thus we oppose a singular action to interaction of individuals in cooperative action amidst processes taking place in the world around and within a variety of other actions. We found it useful to extend the concept of activity and to speak of the life-activity, embracing many vital processes of individuals or groups engaged in a certain activity.

The profession of a flight attendant appeared in aviation in the 1920s. Professional community of flight attendants is constantly growing with the growth of complexity of aviation technology, professional standards of passenger service and safety. The psychological scientific research was carried out by a psychologist who worked as a flight attendant. The study revealed the psychological content, demands, peculiarities in cabin crews’ labor. A job description was accomplished. Temporal and spatial characteristics, the main contradictions, unfavorable psychogenic and stress factors in labor were examined and described. Psychological profiles of a cabin attendant and of an air passenger were drawn up.

Negotiations are an inalienable component of human society in the modern world, so studying those personal characteristics of negotiators that influence their choice of negotiating strategy, tactics, and style is relevant and significant. Knowledge of the patterns of a partner’s choice of one strategy of behavior or another influences on successful negotiation process and assists in achieving goals. We did research on the connections among level of anxiety, motivation to succeed and to avoid failure, and self-esteem to the level of Machiavellianism. This article discusses the personal characteristics that influence the choice of manipulative tactics of behavior in negotiations.

The article deals with a study of both short-term and long-term influence of massmedia upon a concept of danger (CD). Subjective concepts of danger (CD) were revealed by means of the authors “Assessment of Dangerous Situations” Questionnaire and a new classification of such concepts was developed. Demonstrated are differences in CD of men and women, as well as specific traits of CD transformations induced by news programs. The authors give advice on how to compile TV news programs in view of psychological mechanisms of perception.

Cognitive behavior in interpersonal relations is always connected with time characteristics such as sequence, rhythm, and succession of actions. In our research we attempted to determine the role of time parameters in the development of the following social communications: (a) interpersonal relations, (b) communicative acts, and (c) the process of structuring social behavior. We intended to show the role of time in acquiring and mastering social contacts. In our research we outlined a number of methods for developing time competence and various conscious and unconscious ways to organize time and to create an atmosphere of understanding, acceptance, and trust in interpersonal nonverbal communication. The time characteristics of social behavior and its nonverbal manifestation can exert a positive influence on communicative activity and can determine time competence in communication. Ignoring time parameters in the self-realization and self-actualization of personality introduces a certain destructive element into the process of interpersonal relations; hence the necessity of teaching competence in communication arises. Teaching is carried out in the process of training and includes several stages: the introductory stage and the stages of intensification, integration, avoidance, and others. Thus, time management and the process of teaching time management allow one to discover time resources for the self-organization of one’s personality over a lifetime.

Since modern organizations inevitably face constant changes in internal and external environment, can anything be done in order for the strategy of changes to become “proactive” and to prevent naturally determined crisis situations and recession? Featuring empirical data, the article discusses the possibility of sociopsychological research in the situation of instability. Among other aspects, there is suggested an answer to the question of whether social psychology can help a person to realize his/her identity in professional and organizational environments. Moreover, a number of fixed behavioral patterns observed in situations of changes are examined specifically.

The original experimental scheme was developed to investigate athletes’ functional states (FS) dynamics. The procedure allowed modeling various FS important for predicting the professional success of athletes: psychological and physiological stress, fatigue, and optimal FS (OFS). There were two main criteria for differentiation of the FS under study: efficiency rates and the psychological and physiological costs of the achieved efficiency level. Analysis of the FS-dependent psychophysiological changes showed significant interindividual differences on a number of parameters. Thus, no single indicator could be used as effective diagnostics for the FS criteria. A minimum number of indicators need to be recorded included cardiovascular indicators (heart rate, ECG), respiration, muscle tension (EMG), and brain activity (EEG) in the range of alpha and beta waves. The main problem can be artifacts induced by movement and muscle tension. The special procedure for artifact rejection and reduction of the artifacts was developed. It allowed recording EEG, ECG, and EOG signals simultaneously. Another problem was related to the development of the mathematical algorithm to analyze individual data and differentiate patterns of the signals recorded from the athletes. An original approach to differentiate the FS – the k-means clustering algorithm – was offered based on seven psychophysiological indicators. Results of clustering showed that the k- means algorithm for seven-component vectors allows one with confidence to differentiate state of quiet wakefulness, states of psychological and physiological stress. As the number of parameters used is attenuated from seven to four (without the EEG parameters) the accuracy of distinguishing FS is significantly reduced. To construct a complete and accurate differentiation of an athlete’s FS one should collect some statistical data on the dynamics of each FS in different time periods of the person’s life – in the process of training, after successful competition, and after losing competition.

The quality of a pregnant woman’s life in Russia is usually much lower than in any European country. Because of this situation it is most important to look for psychological resources that could enable pregnant women to have a higher quality of life. My empirical research showed that pregnant women who are not officially married feel fear and anxiety during their pregnancy more often than those who are married. There are statistically relevant differences between the control group (the group of officially married pregnant women) and unmarried pregnant women in their level of comfort during pregnancy. Unmarried pregnant women also feel such emotions as guilt, remorse, shame, and shyness more often (these data were obtained by means of C.E. Izard’s method). Data obtained through a clinical interview showed that pregnant women who are not married often feel that they are not being protected by society, have financial problems, and experience pain during the delivery of the child. They also feel guilt when they think of bringing up their children (“I won’t be able to give my child all those things that I could possibly give him or her if I were married”); and they are quite often ashamed of their pregnancy when they communicate with their parents and other relatives and with their friends, acquaintances, and doctors. The research showed no direct influence of such factors as the material wealth of a pregnant woman’s family on her emotional state. The number of children that women expect to have depends on their level of education but not on the level of the material wealth of their families.

Modern approaches to the psychological diagnostics of children are based on need analysis and the systematization of existing trends in domestic and foreign children’s neuropsychological diagnoses. This article highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, as well as identifying possible areas of integration. One of the most acute problems is the development of experimental psychological methods to determine the quantitative and expressed characteristics of the mental development of children by flexibly combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, with a view to putting into practice foreign neuroscience principles and standards of evidence. An analysis of contemporary publications on neuropsychological diagnosis reveals the need to consider the standardization of neuropsychological research in the context of current approaches, requirements, and psychodiagnostic criteria. In the domestic neuropsychological literature, these issues are need attention: standardized procedures for presenting stimuli are not, as a rule, described; basic psychometric assessment of the results of the tests is lacking; no investigation of their clinical and psychometric validity is carried out. An analysis was made of the nature of the psychometric approach in foreign child neuropsychology, which relies on mathematical procedures of processing qualitative (ordinal) data converted into quantitative indicators. We examined separately the mathematical software for clinical trials (based on the principles of «evidencebased medicine»), which relies on the «abnormal» nature of the distribution of clinical phenomena.

The article describes the development of an integrative bio-psycho-social model of personality disorders. This model is based on the interconnection of intellect, self-regulation, self-identity, and social relationships. The prognostic value of the category of “affective-cognitive style” is estimated on the grounds of a meta-analysis of various empirical studies and theoretical models. The article discusses the results of clinical and experimental studies that specify the functions of cognitive differentiation and integrity and of symbolic mediation and reflection in the regulation of the content, emotional valence, temporal stability, and spatial organization of intrapsychic representations of self and interpersonal relationships, as well as the systemic organization of defense and coping operations.

Suicide is a controversial phenomenon that people of different cultures and even of different epochs have had difficulty naming. It used to be an enduring theme of many medical, psychological, philosophical, and moralistic discussions. It is a paradoxical act of ultimate self-destruction, a flight from life to death. To commit suicide is to overcome the fear of personal death and to make a step into nothingness. Such a desperately brave deed requires an abandonment of one's sense of immortality, which we all have, a change of values and worldviews. But if one's suicide attempt proves unsuccessful, the question becomes how to explain to oneself and others one's recent act of self-violence. To discover these explanations, we conducted a study of 319 people, ranging in age from 18 to 25; they were all either students (n = 156) or patients in an emergency toxicology ward (people who had attempted to poison themselves, n = 163). This article summarizes theories of suicidal behavior and of the fear of death together with the ideas of cultural anthropologist E. Becker on these matters and puts suicide into the terror-management perspective. The suicidal act is viewed as a mortality salience, and the hypothesis is that people who deny their recent suicide attempt (n = 33) and who have one (n = 95) or several (n = 35) suicide attempts in their personal history exhibit different terror-management patterns in comparison with each other and with the control group. They fall back on different resources with various degrees of effectiveness. Implications of these results for understanding suicidal and postsuicidal behavior are discussed and suggestions for rehabilitation are made.

The Influence of genetic and environmental factors on liability to depression in Russian teenage sample was investigated. 196 twin pairs aged 13 to 17 (M=15,2) from Moscow, Izhevsk and Bishkek took part in the survey. We have found out that genetic factors had an effect on individual difference in depressiveness among Russian teenagers: more than 50% of variance was explained by additive genetic factors which correspond to international results. The biggest genetic influence was obtained for such scales as negative emotions, negative self esteem and externalization which are the most replicable factor scales in CDI structure worldwide.

The article contains a brief review of the concept «context» which is gaining its place among the key concepts in modern theoretical and empirical psychology. A comprehensive analysis of scientific literature leads the authors to distinguish two complementary conceptions of context – structural (which regards a fragment of a text as a semantic system) and functional (which treats it as a mental sensegenerating mechanism). The authors suggest an understanding of mentality as a recursive-contextual phenomenon, where each fragment of its subject matter exists in the context of other fragments – parallel, preceding or ensuing. Such understanding may form a basis for the contextual approach in psychology.

This article discusses some key methodological and theoretical issues of the fundamental, common psychological problem of abilities. It shows that there is a lack of modern ideas about the content of the subject matter of the psychology of abilities and, therefore, a need for enrichment. In this conceptual expansion it is necessary to differentiate a special, qualitatively specific class of abilities – the integral abilities of the individual. All these abilities are differentiated on the basis of the most promising paradigm in the development of the ability problem– the functional-genetic paradigm – and are related to one of the basic classes of mental processes – the integral mental processes (goal formation, anticipation, decision making, programming, prognosis, planning, control, self-control). In the article a detailed psychological characteristic of the basic integral abilities is presented, as a result of which the correspondence of these abilities to all features and criteria of abilities as such is proved. The necessity of using the structural-level approach in relation to the ability problem is shown, and a holistic, generalized hierarchy of the basic ability classes is proposed. This hierarchy has three main levels. At the highest level the general abilities are located; at the basic level are the specific abilities of a person. The integral abilities are located between these two levels and thus form a mesolevel in the general hierarchical organization of the abilities of the individual.

The article considers methodological foundations of the system anthropological psychology (SAP) as a scientific branch developed by a well-represented group of Siberian scientists. SAP is a theory based on axiomatics of cultural-historical psychology of L.S. Vygotsky and transspective analysis as a specially developed means to define the tendencies of science developing as a self-organizing system. Transspective analysis has revealed regularities in a constantly growing complexity of professional-psychological thinking along the course of emergence of scientific cognition. It has proved that the field of modern psychology is shaped by theories constructed with ideation of different grades of complexity. The concept “dynamics of the paradigm of science” is introduced; it allows transitions to be acknowledged from ordinary-binary logic characteristics of the classical science to a binary-ternary logic, adequate to non-classical science and then to a ternary-multidimensional logic, which is now at the stage of emergence. The latter is employed in SAP construction. It involves the following basic methodological principles: the principle of directed (selective) interaction and the principle of generative effect of selective interaction. The concept of “complimentary interaction” applied in natural as well as humanitarian sciences is reconsidered in the context of psychology. The conclusion is made that the principle of selectivity and directedness of interaction is relevant to the whole Universe embracing all kinds of systems including the living ones. Different levels of matter organization representing semantic structures of various complexity use one and the same principle of meaning making through which the Universe ensures its sustainability as a self-developing phenomenon. This methodology provides an explanation for nature and stages of emergence of multidimensional life space of an individual, which comes as a foundation for generation of such features of consciousness as its system character and sensibility.

The concept of “competitiveness” has been most thoroughly developed in the framework of modern economics and management. Apart from economic factors, this concept also embraces social and psychological factors, but economic models do not reveal the psychological essence of the concept of “competitive personality.”

Analytical review of the psychological and educational case studies of the competitive- personality problem has brought to light the ambiguity in this concept along with a multitude of models that distinguish individual aspects of a competitive personality. Most creators of the various models emphasize the quality of the conditions necessary for forming and developing a competitive personality. In economics, competition is an essential, inherent feature of various types of activity where conflicts of interest occur. However, the established economic model of competitive personality reduces and replaces the psychological content of the concept.

Theoretically and experimentally the authors of this article substantiate their disclosure of the competitive-personality concept via its creative potential. Results of an in-depth study confirm that the ability to achieve success through one’s own initiative, anticipating the demands of competition, appears to be the backbone for competitiveness of personality.

The author states that the problem of morality should be one of the main topics of psychological science though modern Russian psychology avoids it for some reasons. The Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences develops the qualitative approach to this problem based on the index combining several statistic indicators. Applying it to modern Russian society provides the opportunity qualitative estimate of its state and dynamics. Using the qualitative data the author demonstrates the dramatic moral situation in modern Russia, describes its main causes and directions of improving.

In the current study, self-assessed intelligence (SAI) is presented as a multidimensional construct related both to personality and to psychometric intelligence. On the basis of data obtained from a Russian student sample (N = 496), the authors validate a structural model in which SAI acts as a mediating variable between latent variables of measured IQ and the trait of acceptance of uncertainty. Evidence for signifi cant gender diff erences in SAI in favor of men is also given.

This paper summarizes the organizational and scientific outcomes of the 5th Congress of the Russian Psychological Society. It shows the RPS's dynamics of development since its establishment to the present day, and presents a report on the Congress's major events, and the statistics in comparison with the other events of international scientific life. Scientific sections of the Congress are grouped that allowed to showing the main trends in modern psychology. The new directions of psychological research debuted on the Congress are shown, the most important domains of the psychological science are highlighted, and possible reasons for some of them not having succeeded are given. The new subjects and objects of psychological studies new to psychologists are identified. Based on the historical view of the contemporary psychology, were analyzed the future directions of its development.

The release of this year's volume of Psychology in Russia: State of the Art is timed to the 30th International Congress of Psychology, that is hosted by South African Cape Town on July 22 this year, as the Russian Psychological Society as an official member of the European Federation of Psychological Associations, as well as the International Union of Psychological Science under UNESCO pays great attention to the current state of the psychological science around the world. It is precisely with this spirit of openness and shared knowledge that the society regularly publishes scientific research and participates in various forums, conferences and round-table discussions...