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.