Philosophy and Methodology of Psychology, Psychological Theories

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.