Archive

The author discusses the controversial issues of formation and functioning of psychological defense mechanisms in ontogenesis and in personality disorders as they are represented in classical and contemporary psychoanalysis, in cognitivism and communication theory. The paper emphasizes the role of cognitive organization (style), sign-symbolic mediation, representative system of object relations and attachments in individual typological variability of the level organization of defense mechanisms, in efficiency of personal and social adaptation, in maturity and mental health of personality.

The article considers the role of personal and social values in the regulation of human behaviour. These values could be unconscious and hiding behind habits and rules, patterns of behaviour and thinking, but they can be realized by both an individual and social community and eventually their choice in this case which arises an opportunity to make them manageable. Consideration of the spiritual component of public health has led the author of this article to discuss the concepts of “spiritual well-being” and “spiritual diseases”. The article contains data of empirical research of deviant behaviour as a consequence of spiritual distress.

The present work suggests an analysis of B.W. Zeigarnik’s contribution into development of pathopsychology as a branch of clinical psychology. There are considered the main theoretical and methodological problems of pathopsychology which were elaborated in B.W. Zeigarnik’s works. The problems of coordination between pathopsychology, general psychology and psychiatry, formulated by B.W. Zeigarnik, as well as specific features of the subject matter of pathopsychology are also discussed.

This article is devoted to Lev Vygotsky’s and Alexander Luria’s contribution to the theory and methods of neuropsychology, and particularly, developmental neuropsychology. The first part of the article covers the principle foundations of neuropsychology as elaborated by Vygotsky and Luria. The goal of the second part is to show what interpretation of learning disabilities can be derived from it.

The article is devoted to the problem of using a new experimental technology of “virtual reality” (VR) in psychological research. Methods of virtual reality actively become embedded in tooling of up-to-date experimental psychology. Next in turn there is a task of embedding of VR technologies in various areas of applied psychology like sport psychology. Application of modern computer methods discovers new perspectives for sport psychology.

The article is devoted to individual differences in psychological characteristics, the influence of genotype and environment on individual differences in evoked potential of brain related to the execution of motor action, the role of genetic and environmental factors in individual characteristics of the parameters of sensorimotor activity, genetic and environmental factors in development of psychological traits.

Stating the main principles of Buddhist philosophy and psychology is usually going with help of ancient categories and metaphors, which had been developed since the fifth century B.C. till the tenth century A.C. That means they were worked out by quite different kind of mentality (culture, language, traditions…). That makes those categories and metaphors almost untranslatable on European languages properly and unequivocally. In its turn, that situation makes difficult any kind of modern scientific research of the phenomena, discovered inside Buddhism, as well as ideas, developed in it. In this article we set a question of possibility to select such basic concepts of modern natural science, which can effectively translate main oriental ideas about Reality into modern scientific paradigm and discover the meaning of psychological phenomena from the transpersonal psychology sphere of interest. We take a look on some comparisons between pictures of Reality in modern physics and in Buddhist paradigm, allocating two sides of Reality, called Nirvana and Samsara.

Psychological effects of climate change constitute one of the subjects of study of ecological psychology. Ecological psychology is formed and developed at the junction of ecology, different directions of psychology, psychotherapy, pedagogy, philosophy and other disciplines. The article is devoted to review those areas of psychological research, which consider the human psyche in the logic of interaction with the environment. As a result, we hope to answer the fundamental question of whether ecological psychology may be regarded as an independent area of psychological research, which has its object and methods that distinguish it from other areas of psychological theory and practice.

The article is devoted to the history of development of military psychology from psychological and philosophical positions. The transition stage in development of military psychology from classical to postclassical type of rationality is focused. Analysis of combat activity as self-regulation system is presented. The latest technologies in solving key problems of military science are discussed.

This paper reports on the results of the 40-year longitudinal studies based on the author’s conception of creativity as generation of activity at one’s own initiative and pursued by the method Creative Field, which has been developed by the author purposely to explore this particular phenomenon. The method allows dividing people with high abilities into those who attain proficiency and those who push the boundaries and move to the level of art even in science, which characterizes the higher forms of creativity. The universality of the method as a diagnostic instrument proves the possibility to identify creative abilities on samples of seemingly alternative professions: in exact sciences and in art. The validity of this method is confi rmed by the absolute coincidence of the diagnostic findings and the life course of the subjects in the given samples. Moreover, the diagnostic findings in children of school age have been sustained for a period of over 40 years, which speaks for the apparent prognostics of the method.

This essay is aimed at considering the possibility itself of “metacomprehension” of the mental reality so cherished by Lev Vygotsky from the positions of cultural and activity psychology. It is demonstrated that the program Vygostky outlined for creating the new “general psychology” involves the use of dialectical logic (as opposed to the contemporary projects of “integrative psychology” based on the “and – and” logic). Applied in a creative way to the problem of nature of mental reality, the dialectical logic let the adherents of Alexei Leontiev school draw the conclusion that activity can be regarded as a substance of mind and that, consequently, the mind can be regarded as a “functional organ” of activity. Such an interpretation of the mental reality makes it possible to resolve a number of theoretical and practical psychological problems anew.

The special status of the theme of consciousness in modern science is caused by a number of circumstances: considerable growth of scientific papers in the last quarter of XX and the beginning of XXI centuries, transition of modern society from the postindustrial phase to the informative, and also by the newest philosophy, new scientific ideology, ideas of postmodernism, etc.; there appeared such new integrated fields of knowledge as neuroscience, cognitive science, science of consciousness.

The year which passed since the last issue of this yearbook was published was marked by a considerable amount of activity by the professional community of Russian psychologists. This clearly reflects the growing role psychology as a discipline and a profession plays in the life of Russian society. Today, psychology has become very visible in Russia. It has made a miraculous transformation from a rather exotic – if not marginal – academic discipline to almost a mass occupation. The need for all sorts of psychological services (be it psychological help, consulting, or applied research) surely still exceeds the capabilities of the professional community of Russian psychologists. This imbalance creates many pressures for professional psychologists to weaken quality standards they follow in their day-to-day work and to trade scientifically sound psychological theories for ad-hoc invented explanations and questionable hypotheses. It is with content that the Russian Psychological Society (RPS) observes a re-orientation of psychologists in universities and in practice towards an increasing sensitivity to the use of scientifically validated methods and procedures. More importantly, Russian consumers of psychological services today oft en ask not for a quick remedy of a single problem, but are interested in a thorough analysis of the problem at hand in order to develop an integrated solution with a predictable chance of success.

This third issue of the yearbook Psychology in Russia: State of the Art is timed for the XXVIIth International Congress of Applied Psychology (11th-16th July 2010, Melbourne, Australia). The aim of the issue is to acquaint foreign colleagues with a broad spectrum of theoretical and applied research conducted by Russian psychologists in the last few years. Russian psychology is developing intensively today. To a very large extent this is determined by the great interest Russian society shows for psychology in general and for the possibilities of its practical application. An ever increasing number of organizations employ professional psychologists in Russia, and there is an ever increasing demand for scientifically sound innovations in management, production, education, and entertainment. In the last years, the quantity of popular psychology books has been steadily increasing, which is an unequivocal evidence for a rising concern of the Russian population with psychological issues. Although Russian psychology always was interested in solving applied problems, the dominance of applied research can today be regarded as one of its most characteristic features.

The work is aimed at the studying of the reflexive process of a personality dur­ing psychoanalysis, which has never been researched empirically basing on the material of a subject's narrations of their dreams. It was shown that during the psychoanalytical process the reflexive processes of a personality enhance, become more active and change qualitatively. As reflection develops, the subjects start to think reflexively about their dreams, which leads to qualitative and quantita­tive change of intrapsychic images. The extracommunicative direction of dreams during psychoanalysis is replaced by the intrapsychic one, and the content of the reflexive processes changes qualitatively. The amount of ascertaining statements decrease, more frequent is detailed description of inner feelings and emotions of the subject.

Basing on the theoretical analysis and personal longstanding research, the author offers general characteristics of narcissism, delineates the relations between the disturbances of identity structure, regulatory mechanisms, cognitive styles and modes of interpersonal cognition, which allows predicting a wide range of psychic and behavioral disorders. It is shown that the phenomenon of narcissism has a bio-psycho-social causation, and that the contemporary technological glut as well as the expansion of consumerist values give new stimuli for the development of narcissistic and perfectionist personality trends.

The article deals with the research into social notions of such integral psychic phe­nomena as consciousness and the unconscious.The concept of social notions, pro­posed by S. Moscovici in 1961, was used. This research was carried out in several stages. Firstly, scientific definitions of consciousness and the unconscious were analyzed. Secondly, dictionaries of the Russian language were studied. Then an empirical study of social notions of consciousness and the unconscious was con­ducted. As many as 240 students of Perm State University took part in the study as subjects. The core-periphery structure of scientific and social representations of consciousness and the unconscious that is typical of modern Russian culture and common to such of its carriers as active researchers in psychology and stu­dents was reconstructed. Finally, notions of consciousness were compared to the notions of the unconscious. Studying the notions of psychic phenomena makes it possible to reconstruct the idea of the psychic that is typical of non-professionals. The process of constructing social notions can be explained by the"dynamic mod­el" proposed in the study by S. Moscovici and M. Hewstone (1984).

The author analyzes in brief the historical development of psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy in Soviet Union and pots-Soviet Russia. He expresses his view on modern state of affairs between state and private practice and gives a detailed account of the formation of modern Russian psychoanalytic community and its entry into the international community.

Like other terms of social analysis, such as "modernity,""postmodern ity,""democ-racy"and "globalization,"the term "psychological society',signals a contribution to debate about the direction cultural, social, economic and political life is taking. The most tangible manifestation of psychological society is the sheer rise in numbers of people calling themselves psychologists and having psychology as an occupa­tion. The second characteristic of psychological society concerns the emphasis on "the self"as an individual psychological subjectivity, conferring identity, and locus of agency. In a psychological society, people, including, of course, psychologists themselves, acquire a psychological subjectivity, a way of representing themselves to themselves and to others, as having a psychological identity. There is a sense in which, in psychological society, each person becomes her or his own psychologist. Finally, psychological society is a society in which the circle representing human nature in psychological terms and the formation of people as psychological subjects becomes a major feature of social structure. Since such a society developed in the twentieth century in many western countries, it is natural to ask whether at least elements of such a society are now coming into existence in Russia.

The author demonstrates that the bulk of futurological forecasts do not come true as well as predictions contained in scientific fiction. In his view the systematic mistakes of such forecasts are due not to the shortcomings of predictions, but to the fact that the development of civilization is unfolding in irrational direction. It is connected with the substitution of "paradigm of development" by the "paradigm of entertainment" - the distinguishing manifested process which has psychological roots. The author states that underestimation of the changes in human psychology is still alive and well in futurological forecasts what diminishes their exactness.