Editorial

Zinchenko, Yu. P. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia Federal Scientific Center of Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russia

The current issue of “Psychology in Russia: State of the Art” provides the special section Mathematical learning: New perspectives and challenges, edited by Marina Vasilyeva, associate professor at Lynch School of Education, Boston College (USA).

Marina A. Kholodnaya and Emanuila G. Gelfman described the experience of using development-focused educational texts (DET technology) as a basis for learners’ intellectual development in studying mathematics. Yulia Solovieva, Yolanda Rosas-Rivera and Luis Quintanar-Rojas provided case-studies of problem solution as a guided activity with Mexican schoolchildren. Marina Vasilyeva, Elida Laski, Aleksandr N. Veraksa and Chen Shen traced the process of development of children’s early understanding of numeric structure.

Interestingly, several articles on mathematical learning are focused on students’ personal traits and attitudes towards mathematics. Marina S. Egorova and Yulia D. Chertkova investigated sex differences in mathematical achievement, basing on grades, national test, and students’ self-confidence. Chen Shen, David B. Miele and Marina Vasilyeva studied the relation between college students’ academic mindsets and their persistence during math problem solving.

Another part of this issue deals with research in developmental and educational psychology. The “Developmental psychology” section suggests papers on development at various ages with focus on adversity, resilience and copings in familial and institutional contexts. Rifkat J. Muhamedrahimov with the colleagues from the St. Petersburg–USA Orphanage Research Team compared pre- and post-intervention structural characteristics of the institutional environment for young children under the state care. Mikhail Yu. Kuzmin and Igor A. Konopak figured out distinctive features of adolescent hardiness in families of different composition — namely, in single-parent, two-parent and large extended families. Maria V. Bogdanova, Irina A. Rusyayeva and Anastasia O. Vylegzhanina investigated gender and age aspects of child psychological defenses in child-mother relationships. Anna G. Samokhvalova and Tatyana L. Kryukova studied communication difficulties in teenagers with health impairments. Elvira E. Symanyuk and Anna A. Pecherkina proposed a model of psychological predictors of inhibition development in educational environments. “Inhibition” here is a problematic concept, the opposite of “facilitation” in educational process: deterioration of teacher-children interactions; negation of a student’s individuality and inability to understand and accept students’ viewpoints.

The topic of risk and promoting factors in development is further elaborated in the “Educational Psychology” section. Natalia S. Denisenkova and Anastasia K. Nisskaya investigated the role of teacher-child interaction in promoting peer communication in preprimary students. Focusing on positive outcomes, Olesya Yu. Gorchakova, Valeria V. Matsuta and Sergey A. Bogomaz outlined intellectual and personality factors in the achievement of high exam effectiveness in first-year Russian university students. The article by Irina A. Baeva, Yury P. Zinchenko and Vladimir V. Lapteva deals with psychological resources of modern Russian adolescents’ resilience to violence in the educational environment. Similar issues are discussed in the article by Tatyana I. Kulikova that presents a pilot research on a pupil’s psychological safety in the multicultural educational environment. Finally, Aleksander I. Dontsov and Elena B. Perelygina performed psychosemantic study of cognitive and value parameters of students’ perceptions of the effects of psychoactive substances with some elaborations on drug abuse prevention.