Articles

Background. This article addresses the influence of personal, professional, and organizational factors on procrastination in employees of a modern Russian industrial enterprise. Procrastination has been studied extensively since the 1970s, producing great research material and diagnostic tools that remain relevant to this day. Yet despite the large number of studies, no single point of view has emerged on the causes of this phenomenon. 

Aim. To investigate how personal, professional, and organizational factors influence procrastination in employees of a modern Russian industrial enterprise. 

Design. 120 employees of a Russian industrial enterprise participated in the study, including 70 women and 50 men, mean age 35 years, mean work experience in this enterprise 4.3 years. We used four diagnostic methods to characterize work activity and organizational culture, personal characteristics, and specificity of an occupational stress syndrome. We used correlation and regression analysis to analyze the results. 

Results. The data identified significant personal, professional, and organizational predictors of procrastination in the modern professional, such as being outgoing (the quality of sociability), innovative, detail-conscious, and conscientious. Equally significant are characteristics of the work situation such as its content and the significance of tasks. A significant weight in the predictive value of the regression model lies in the robust consequences of professional stress (anxiety and depression), openness toward change in the organization, and social desirability. 

Conclusion. The level of procrastination among the employees of this enterprise predicts typical behavior patterns in performing professional tasks, subjective appraisal of the job situation, the experience of stress and its consequences, and perception of the organizational culture. 

Background. In today’s hectic civilization, it is very important for a person to maintain personal boundaries which help him or her keep his/her identity. Personal sovereignty (PS) is a trait that demonstrates the extent to which a person’s empirical Self is respected by his/her social environment. Whereas the genesis and correlations system of personal sovereignty in proximal relationships have been investigated widely, little is known about whether they are culturally sensitive or not. 

Objective. In this study, we aimed to investigate the patterns and genesis of personal sovereignty in relation to age and gender, by comparing individuals from Armenian, Chinese, and Russian cultures. Our sample consisted of 780 respondents, of whom 223 were from Armenia, 277 from China, and 280 from Russia; 367 were adolescents (Mage = 13) and 413 were youth (Mage = 21); there were 361 males and 419 females. 

Method. The “Personal Sovereignty Questionnaire–2010” was used. 

Results. The results suggest that culture, age, and gender all impact on the sense of personal sovereignty. Although there were no differences between cultures on the main PS score, we did find different PS patterns within all three cultures and when comparing males versus females. The PS scores in youth were higher than in adolescents, except in Armenia where the results were inverted. All age trends in PS were found in females, but not in males. Gender differences in PS within each culture were found in youth but not in adolescents. 

Conclusion. We discussed and explained the outcomes with reference to the specificity of the way each culture endorses traditional or secular-rational values, which values determine the prevalent attitudes towards gender roles and demands on adolescents and youth. 

Background. This study was carried out using the framework of S. Schwartz’s theory of basic human values. 

Objective. This article examines the dynamics of the basic values of Russians (2008– 2016) and the relationship between value orientations and economic attitudes among Christians and Muslims in Russia. 

Design. The dynamics of values of Russians were analyzed based on the five waves rounds of ESS (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016), each of which included around 2,000 respondents. The 2010 sample included ethnic Russians as well as respondents from the North Caucasus (N = 278). 

Results. We found that the most preferred value among Russians is Security. However, the importance of this value decreased over 10 years (2006–2016). Such values as Achievement, Tradition, and Power were relatively stable among Russians during this period. In addition, between 2006 and 2016 we observed the increasing priority of the values of Hedonism and Stimulation. Using our own data set, we examined the relations between values and attitudes toward different types of economic behavior. 

Conclusion. We found that the patterns of the relations between values and attitudes toward different types of economic behavior had similarities as well as differences among Christians (in the Central Federal District and the North Caucasus Federal District) and Muslims (in the North Caucasus Federal District) in Russia. 

Background. We use Social identity theory as a theoretical framework, specifically focusing on strategies of identity management. The study is based on the following theoretical assumptions. First, identity management strategies might serve as mediators between different identity threats and behavioral patterns in intergroup relations. Second, identity management strategies help to make the shift from the individual to the group level of analysis, allowing us to take the consequences of intergroup behavior for a group entitativity into consideration. Third, identity management strategies strongly depend on the social context of intergroup relations. 

Objective. In the current study, we look into the relationships between identity management strategies of the ethnic Russian majority and their attitudes towards multiculturalism to identify whether certain strategies are helpful or harmful for the acceptance of multiculturalism in Russia. 

Design. We use Russia vs. the West comparison to evoke the perception of identity threat. We measure strategies of identity management based on this comparison, as well as attitudes towards multiculturalism in a survey of 307 Russian participants. 

Results. The findings suggest that identity management strategies are indeed related to attitudes towards cultural diversity and equality in Russia, as well as to acculturation expectations of whether minorities should adopt the mainstream Russian culture or keep their own. We find that strategies of individualization, individual mobility and assimilation have mostly negative consequences for acculturation expectations, as they all show patterns that support assimilation of minorities instead of integration. We also find support for the “scapegoat” hypothesis, showing that choosing the strategy of changing the comparison group results in more negative attitudes toward cultural diversity and equality for all in Russia. The strategies of social creativity (change of the categorization dimension, temporal comparison, comparison with a standard, etc.) seem to be irrelevant for attitudes towards multiculturalism. 

Conclusion. Our findings suggest that none of the strategies of identity management promote acceptance of multiculturalism. However, strategies of social creativity are the only ones that do not have negative consequences for support of multiculturalism. Theoretical and practical implications for multiculturalism policy adoption in Russia are discussed. 

Background. Discussion of the social origins of personality formation, based on the biological individual, is a characteristic feature of modern interdisciplinary researches at the junction of natural science and the humanities. At the same time, evolutionary aspects of the relationship between the biological (innate) and the social (acquired) — i.e., the problem of the origin of sociality — come to the forefront. 

Objective. This article presents and discusses the hypothesis that the evolutionary origins of sociality are processes of evolutionary divergence (increasing individual diversity) and convergence (symbiosis) that define two oppositely directed vectors of the development of life from its simplest forms. 

Method and Results. The theoretical and experimental data used to discuss the hypothesis are considered here from the standpoint of the historical evolutionary approach to the processes of formation (evolution) of the uniqueness of the personality and of social interpersonal relations. The approach is based on an understanding of these processes as a special case of the evolution of interacting systems on the basis of two opposing trends — towards preserving and towards changing the system. The hypothesis allows us to answer two questions about the ambivalence of human existence in society: (a) Why do all people, regardless of their social status, find it so difficult to endure loneliness, which is incompatible with both the mental and even physical health of each of us? (b) Why at the same time do all of us involuntarily protect the “boundaries” of our own physical, mental, and social “Me”, the violation of which is as destructive (unacceptable) to us as is loneliness? 

Conclusion. Systematic historical-evolutionary analysis of the sciences of nature, society, and humankind allows us to isolate general patterns of development of complex systems, leading to a more accurate understanding of the phenomenon of personality. Such an interdisciplinary approach was used in this work on the biological roots of sociality and the particular features of individual existence in the external and to some extent social environment that generates unique individuals. 

Background. Security as a socio-cultural phenomenon requires a comprehensive approach and integrates a multitude of aspects of social reality, each of which is important both for an individual and society as a whole. It has been shown that there are certain universal desires and needs which are valued by all cultures and peoples as essential to providing a high quality of life; one of such universals is the need for security. Consequently, the status of people’s security in a society directly depends on the processes taking place in the society as a whole, and a craving for security and the need for it act as powerful stimulators of social changes.

Aim. A theoretical analysis of studies on psychological security as a socio-cultural phenomenon.

Method. Sources were selected according the following principles of scientific cognition: development, systematicity, and determinism.

Result and discussion. It has been shown that, on the one hand, an individual’s security is the result of an effective political, economic, social, and cultural environment. On the other hand, a society’s security is a combination of individual people’s security. It has been proved that the strengthening of a society’s psychological security is key to achieving the wellbeing of different categories of people.

It has been demonstrated that security is a dynamic process, since at every point in time we are dealing with a new type of danger. As a result, psychological security must constantly be created all over again. The latent character of security is shown by the fact that a person starts to strain after it only when an actual threat to life, health, and wellbeing emerges. What’s more, the use of an interdisciplinary approach (psychological and sociological, in particular) appears to be the most fruitful, especially with regard to such latent phenomena as security and wellbeing.

It has been shown that all aspects of human behavior in all spheres of life can be interpreted in the context of both the sense of security and actual security, and in most cases it is the need for security that guides man’s action. It has also been demonstrated that people’s perceptions and assessment of their state of security are psychological processes, and thus, they are exposed to individual and group differences.

Modern research has shown that, in the modern world, the link between a sense of wellbeing and sense of security is drawing increasing attention. Yet it should be noted that there is a tendency to interpret the concept of security restrictively as protection from harm and satisfaction of basic needs. In other words, the idea that psychological wellbeing and security are complementary and mutually conditioned concepts has not been dealt with so far.

Introduction. Neuropsychology, as a science, studies various possible relationships between psychological processes and the brain in cases of both normality and diverse pathologies. Such relationships might be established and understood in different manners. 

Background. A.R. Luria proposed a unique and specific approach by identifying different brain units. His conception is not completely understood, and is even less used in diagnosis and rehabilitation today. His conception of the systemic and dynamic representation of human actions in functional brain systems is the background for our study. Psychological conceptions of the stage-by-stage formation and orientation for action, and their use in rehabilitation, are taken into account.

Objective. The objective of our report is to share our application of Luria’s methodology of syndrome analysis through the presentation of the results of assessment and rehabilitation.

Design. Our study presents a unique case, along with data on the person’s assessment and rehabilitation, specifically, a qualitative assessment of an adolescent patient with severe brain injury.

Results. The assessment identified severe problems in the patient’s programming and self-control functions, together with spatial disorganization. The process of neuropsychological rehabilitation, as applied in two stages, showed positive effects on the activity and personality of the patient. Goals, stages, and examples of formation of actions in rehabilitation, with their results, are described.

Conclusion. We conclude that the systemic and dynamic approach in neuropsychology might be applied to assessment and rehabilitation. We discuss the necessity of establishing bridges between the psychological theory of actions (rather than functions) and the systemic representation of actions by functional brain systems.

Introduction. Analysis of the literature suggests that the particular nature of the interplay between a person’s creativity and intelligence is determined not only by the conditions in which a person develops and their personality traits, but also their age.

Objective. The purpose of this study was to compare the interaction between the levels of creativity and intelligence of 7 to 8 year-old children and 12 to 13 yearold teenagers, by studying how 7–8 year-old children and young teenagers (12–13 years old) with different levels of intelligence and creativity assimilate stochastic signals.

Design. A total of 160 children took part in the study, 80 first- and secondgraders who were 7–8 years old (37 boys and 43 girls), and 80 fifth-graders, aged 12–13 (40 boys and 40 girls). We used the following procedures: Raven’s Progressive Matrices; a battery of creative thinking tests, amounting to a modification of the Guilford and Torrance’s tests in a Russian adaptation created by E. Tunik; and the computer reflexometric method.

Results. Our findings showed that the relationship between the level of intelligence and the level of creativity is different in the two age groups. With 7–8 year-olds, the two parameters are independent of each other, whereas with 12–13 year-olds, there is a weak but significant link between them. With the 7–8 year-old children, the level of creativity predetermines the child’s ability to detect the structure of a sensory stream that is organized in a complex way. At the ages of 12–13, neither the level of creativity nor the level of intelligence is correlated with the parameters of sensorimotor integration, but the two parameters are interconnected.

Introduction. A complex of computer neuropsychological programs was developed at KrasSMU, which in several pilot studies has shown effectiveness in cognitive training for patients with vascular cognitive impairments (VCI).

Objectives. The aim of the present study was to compare changes in cognitive status in those patients with post-stroke VCI who worked with neuropsychological computer programs, with those changes experienced by a group of similar patients who played entertaining computer games. 

Methods. Patients in the early recovery period after a hemispheric stroke with VCI without dementia (N=26, age 40-67) were randomized into three groups. All patients underwent conventional treatment in a rehabilitation hospital. Patients in the intervention group had ten daily 40-minute training sessions with neuropsychological computer programs. Participants in the active control group played entertaining computer games, and kept an identical regimen. Patients in the passive control group received only conventional treatment. Cognitive, neurological, affective, and functional states were assessed before and after the training periods. 

Results. Significant improvements were observed in the intervention group as compared to the passive control group on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA, p=0.0004), the Clock Drawing Test (CDT, p=0.001), and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB, p=0.01). Differences between the groups of patients playing neuropsychological and entertaining games were statistically insignificant (Mann-Whitney U test, p>0.05), although in the intervention group there were improvements on every cognitive scale after the training period (Wilcoxon matched pairs test, p<0.05), while in the active control group, enhancements were evident only on some cognitive scales (p<0.05). No changes were observed in the passive control group.

Conclusions. Neuropsychological computer programs enhance cognitive status in patients with post-stroke VCI. It is possible that entertaining computer games can also improve cognitive functions. In all groups, no changes of functional state were observed before and after the training period.

Background. An association between juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) and nonpsychotic psychiatric and cognitive disorders has been described in recent years. Scientists are trying to link JME with certain personality traits marked by emotional instability.

Objective. The goal of our research was to assess the state of cognitive functions in young adult patients with JME–excluding the adverse side effects (ASEs) of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs)–and analyze the level of personality and situational anxiety, neuroticism, and depression in young adult patients with JME.

Design. We tested 26 patients with JME and 26 healthy adults with the computer program NS-PsychoTest (Neurosoft Company, RF), a program which is aimed at studying and evaluating neuropsychological characteristics. 

Results. Our study showed that the frequency of depressive symptoms, according to the cognitive-affective subscale (Beck’s Depression Inventory), in patients with JME was statistically significantly higher than among people without epilepsy. Comorbid personality and nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders are common interdisciplinary problems in JME management. Most practitioners pay attention only to the treatment of seizures caused by JME, and their patients, accordingly, do not receive adequate psychotherapeutic help.

Conclusion. Cognitive disorders are often associated with epilepsy, and are a result of a combination of factors. According to our study, in the presence of statistically significant differences in short-term memory and mental performance in patients with JME, compared to healthy young adults, the main indicators of cognitive function in patients with JME generally correspond to the norm. Our findings highlight the etiological heterogeneity of cognitive disorders in JME and the importance of early screening for them.

It is now more than half a century since I spent a year in Moscow as a post-doctoral fellow working under the supervision of Alexander Romanovich Luria. That experience and the 15 years during which we corresponded and organized translations have fundamentally shaped my scientific career. Simultaneously the reach and influence of Luria’s ideas have continued to diffuse throughout modern scientific psychology. The following remarks are intended to suggest some of the recent accomplishments and current issues facing those who have adopted a Lurian approach, which traces its origins back to the 1920’s.

In my view, the development of a cultural-historical psychology will depend greatly on the degree to which it can guide efforts at life-generating, socially sanctioned, new forms of activity in health, in education, in preparation to confront the challenges to human existence posed by human beings themselves.

Background. The emergence of the new media — the Internet and social networks — has had a considerable impact not only on media technologies, genres of journalism, and environment the journalist works in, but also on every user of global communication. Ongoing changes are extending their influence to all the media, making it important for researchers to reconsider the role of journalism in modern society and the perspectives of its development in the information age.

Objective. In order to get an adequate picture of the ongoing changes, we need to understand how the new media impact their users. We studied the dependence of people’s self-identification (values) on their Internet activity and use of social networks. Our hypothesis was that use of the new media leads to the formation of a new personality type, among whose most distinct characteristics is a much stronger desire for selfdetermination. 

Design. The characteristic features of respondents’ self-identification were studied by their choosing a reference group. Their desire for self-determination was revealed by giving them ethical dilemmas. A questionnaire was devised to study their communicative preferences and attitudes. Various methods of mathematical analysis were applied. 

Results. Factor analysis revealed two psychological types of people, different from others in how much they use the new media. Statistical analyses of the group comparison data showed that the desire for self-determination is considerably higher for active users, and is especially high for those who adhere to spiritual values (by the Maslow pyramid). A two-way ANOVA confirmed the overall effect of these two factors — spiritual values and the new media — on the desire for self-determination. 

Conclusion. The data obtained show that the new media support people’s desire for self-determination. Using the new media and thereby acquiring the identify of a journalist becomes an important factor of personality development and is in line with the general evolution of the psyche.

Background: Notwithstanding all the different forms of art, the source of the creative process, its initial impulse, is an artistic image, and its creation is closely connected with the imagination. L. Vygotsky held the view that artistic creativity has great importance in overall development. In this regard, it is relevant to study the role of personal psychological characteristics that stimulate creativity, determine creative potential, and indicate personal predisposition to artistic activity. 

Objective: to study individual psychological characteristics of art specialists with a highly productive creative imagination. 

Design: There were 240 respondents: art specialists (artists, actors) and specialists who do not work in artistic fields. The empirical research included: assessment of the level of productivity of the creative imagination and psychological testing. All the participants, within the bounds of their profession, were divided into high productivity and low productivity groups. The productivity level of the creative imagination was assessed by expert judgment of art works made by the participants using a monotype technique. For psychological testing, the following methods were used: Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI); Volitional Self-Control Inventory by A. Zverkov and E. Eidman; the “Choose the Side” test by E. Torrance; the “Unfinished Figures” subtest by E. Torrance; and the technique of pair comparisons by V. Skvortsov. Statistical data processing was conducted on the basis of percentage distribution and comparative analysis using the Student parametric t-test. We used STATISTICA 13.0 software. 

Results: We found the following psychological characteristics of art specialists with highly productive creative imagination: high emotionality, inclination to affective reactions, high anxiety and excitability, and need for self-realization. Artists with highly productive creative imagination were characterized by immersion in their own emotions, psychic estrangement, high sensitivity, flexibility, ingenuity, right-hemisphere and combined types of thinking, and a high level of nonverbal creativity. Actors with highly productive creative imagination were characterized by stability, relaxation, selfsatisfaction, and average nonverbal creativity; the mixed type of thinking predominated in this group.

Conclusion: The differences in the intensity of the psychological characteristics of representatives of these different professional groups may be determined by the level of productivity of their creative imagination. We discovered general and specific (depending on professional activity) psychological characteristics of art specialists with a high level of productivity of the creative imagination.

Background. Choice, under conditions of uncertainty, is mediated by integral dynamic regulatory systems that represent hierarchies of cognitive and personality processes. As such, individual decision-making patterns can be studied in the context of intellectual and personality potential. This article presents the results of a cross-cultural comparison of personality characteristics, such as coping with uncertainty, emotional intelligence, and academic achievement, between Azerbaijani and Russian university students.

Objective. We aimed at establishing metric invariance and at highlighting relationships between emotional intelligence and the scales of the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ).

Design. Azerbaijani and Russian student samples were selected for this study due to the almost identical educational programs offered by Moscow State University to students in Moscow and its branch in Baku. Coping with uncertainty was measured by the MDMQ, emotional intelligence by the EmIn questionnaire, and academic achievement by GPA scores. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify factor structure invariance and congruence.

Results. The congruence of factor structures for both questionnaires was verified. For the MDMQ four-factor structure for both samples was confirmed. For the EmIn questionnaire, invariance for two scales was established — “Understanding other people’s emotions” and “Managing own emotions”. Relationships among personality traits, gender, age, and academic achievements are explained for the Lomonosov Moscow State University students in Moscow (Russia) and its branch in Baku (Azerbaijan). No crosscultural differences were found for emotional intelligence and productive coping (Vigilance). A cultural difference was established in unproductive coping preference for Buck Passing. A similarity between the cultures was captured in the relationship of higher emotional intelligence (EQ) scores to higher Vigilance scores and to lower levels of unproductive coping patterns. Vigilance was a predictor of academic achievement, but only in the Russian sample.

Conclusion. The similarity of the educational systems, as both samples studied similar programs, demonstrates very few cross-cultural differences.

Background. Perinatal pathology of the nervous system (PPNS) of hypoxic genesis is one of the most significant causes of deviations in mental development. It is necessary to investigate the impact of mild PPNS for the child’s mental ontogenesis, because coarser perinatal lesions, as a rule, lead to significant violations of development and should be analyzed separately. From our point of view, the qualitative neuropsychological syndromic analysis adopted in Russian child neuropsychology is the most productive way to study this problem.

Objective. The purpose of this study was to conduct neuropsychological analysis of the features of mental development of school-age children with mild hypoxic PPNS in their anamnesis.

Design. Our research involved 62 children 10-12.5 years old, who were studying in comprehensive schools in Moscow. The main group was comprised of 42 neurologically healthy children who had hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy of mild severity in their anamnesis. The control group was comprised of 20 neurologically healthy children without indication of pathology of pregnancy and labor in their anamnesis.

Methods. We used neuropsychological Luria tests that have been adapted for children, conducted an interview of parents and teachers about the peculiarities of children’s behavior, and analyzed electroencephalogram reports.

Results. Every child with PPNS exhibited similar features, such as neurodynamic disorders and a lack of voluntary control. We called this symptom complex “subcorticalfrontal” neuropsychological syndrome. In addition, each child in the main group had a failure of at least one neuropsychological factor. The following functions showed insufficiency most often: voluntary attention, speech development, verbal-auditory memory, kinetic and kinesthetic praxis, visual-spatial gnosis, and phonemic hearing. Left hemisphere functions and interhemispheric interaction suffered to a greater degree. The children with PPNS were divided into two subgroups, depending on the severity of the insufficiency of executive functions (EF). Children with severe insufficiency of EF more frequently demonstrated violation of development of verbal-logical thinking, difficulties in social adaptation, emotional disorders, and deviant behavior.

Conclusion. The mental development of school-age children with mild PPNS in their anamnesis differs from the development of their peers. We can talk about the longterm consequences of mild hypoxic perinatal damage of the nervous system.

Abbreviation: PPNS — perinatal pathology of the nervous system; CNS — central nervous system; EEG — electroencephalogram; EF — executive functions.

Background. The extension of intercultural contacts in the present-day world calls for a thorough study of what effect these contacts produce on the human personality. When an individual is suddenly immersed in a different culture, his or her consciousness becomes a battlefield where new values conflict with the old. The person experiences an axiological shock, a ``value clash,” which urges him or her to undertake a re-examination of his/ her value system as a whole.

Objective. The objective of this study was to determine the changes occurring in the value system of Vietnamese students obtaining their higher education in Russia.

Design. A longitudinal study was performed involving 100 Vietnamese students in Russian universities. The measurement methods used in the study were: 1) the modified M. Rokeach Value Survey (Rokeach, 1973; Kudrjashov, 1992), in which the original set of values was expanded by 20 additional values typical of the Vietnamese people; and 2) the technique for assessing acculturation strategies developed by J.W. Berry (Strategii mezhkul’turnogo vzaimodejstvija..., 2009).

Results. In the course of a year of residence in Russia, specific changes (or “shifts”) occurred in the value systems of the Vietnamese students which proved to be statistically significant. Among the goal values (the same as terminal values, in the terms of M. Rokeach) which took on more weight were Productive Life and Materially Prosperous Life, while among instrumental values, Tidiness and Frugality became more prominent. A difference between the value dynamics in male and female students was also established, with the value pattern of male students proving to be more dynamic. The next finding was the difference in value dynamics between students coming from urban and rural settlements. There was one more quite unexpected finding: The value pattern changed more noticeably in respondents with an acculturation profile of “Integration and Separation,” than in those with profiles of “Integration and Assimilation” and “Pure Integration.”

Conclusion. Therefore we see that factors such as gender, type of environment (rural/urban) the individual comes from, and the strategy of acculturation used by the individual, act as mediators exerting their own influence upon the dynamics of his/her value patterns.

Abbreviation: PF = Preliminary Faculty

Background. About 40 years ago, Alexander Luria published in 1974 his world known book “On the historical development of cognitive processes”. It describes the data of an experimental study of mental functions in illiterate people living in the peripheral parts of Uzbekistan (Central Asia). A.R. Luria together with L.S. Vygotsky worked out the design of this study, performed in 1931-1933. The study proved a significant influence of social life and literacy on the structure of logical reasoning. In the conclusion to this book Luria indicates, that his colleagues often advised him to repeat this study in 40 years, but the author did not considered it reasonable, as radical changes in cultural and educational level of Asia population must equalize the differences in cognitive processes with people from central regions. Is it so?

Study design. A group of psychologists from Moscow, Belgorod and Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky performed an integrated study of endogenous populations of the north of Kamchatka peninsula living in regional centers or nomadic herdsmen in tundra. Thirty subjects (17 men and 13 females) all with primary education in Russian schools were assessed using the same tests on classification and generalization, as Luria did, together with Luria neuropsychological battery, and projective drawing on life attitudes.

Conclusion. Life values of endogenous peoples are more nature centered than in Russians from central regions. Nomadic and settled subgroups with the same level of education differed in some neuropsychological tests, revealing the influence of social life conditions. It confirms Luria’s idea about cultural determination of cognitive processes but also shows that life conditions are as important cultural factors as literacy.

Background: Gender stereotypes are still a social problem. They display themselves in the process of perception by activating a gender schema as well as androcentrism and gender polarization lenses. 

Objective: This paper addresses the dependence of perception on social stereotypes and schemas. e research aimed at understanding how a gender-neutral image of a cat is perceived, and checking such factors as gender schema, gender-stereotyped context, the animal’s weight, the identification of participants with an animal on basis of their own gender. 

Design: A Female Cat or Male Cat Test, consisting of 12 pictures, was constructed for this research. We also used the Masculinity, Femininity and Gender Type of Personality Inventory, the Russian version of the Male Attitude Norms Inventory. Tests were conducted on 197 students in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow. 

Results: A cat was perceived as male 6.4 times more often than as a female, when each case of perception was counted. It was seen as male 7.2 times more often than as a female when we analyzed how the cat was seen in general by each participant. A gender-stereotyped context influenced perception for some participants. There was no influence of the animal’s weight or identification of participants with an animal on basis of their own gender. 

Conclusions: The research supports the hypotheses that perception of a picture of a gender-neutral animal can be explained mainly by gender schema and the interplay between “lenses” of gender polarization and androcentrism. When the last one was activated, the cat was seen as male. Most of cases when the animal was seen as a female can be explained by the influence of polarization lenses (through gender-stereotyped context in the pictures). 

Background. Aphasia is defined as a language disorder resulting from brain damage. The establishment of the relationship between the assessment and the procedures for rehabilitation is one of fundamental aspects of clinical neuropsychology. 

Objective. The objective of this study is to describe the case of a Spanish-speaking patient with semantic aphasia, along with the strategies used in her neuropsychological assessment, and the procedures and results of her rehabilitation. 

Design. The study method consisted of a clinical “Case Study” through qualitative neuropsychological syndrome analysis during pre- and post-assessment. The program for rehabilitation was designed especially for this case, and applied in individual therapeutic sessions with the patient. The inclusion of different kinds of material, perceptual, and verbal tasks permitted the patient to follow the levels of formation of actions with spatial orientation, starting from the most concrete level, and passing on to a more general, abstract level. The process of rehabilitation was carried out as a joint activity, taking into account the patient’s motivation and personality. 

Results. Important positive changes were obtained by the time of the final assessment. The patient became able to understand complex grammatical structures in sentences and texts, in order to fulfill construction tasks and to express herself correctly both orally and in writing.

Conclusion. The authors conclude that an effective assessment leads directly to the effectiveness of the whole process of elaborating and realizing rehabilitation. Semantic aphasia can be studied in Spanish-speaking patients by using the qualitative methodology of neuropsychological assessment proposed in the works of A.R. Luria. 

Background. When Vygotsky suggested the term rudimentary functions for psychological phenomena, he drew a parallel with organismic rudiments that existed and continue to exist in a number of biological species. These rudiments used to play an important role in the life of an organism and allow us to study that life in the process of its development. Vygotsky originally gave three explicit examples of psychological rudimentary functions: 1) attributing an important decision to the result of a solitaire card game, 2) tying a knot in a handkerchief in order to remember and do something later, and 3) counting on one’s fingers. 

Objective. The purpose of this article is to offer a contemporary overview and paths for development of L.S. Vygotsky’s notion of rudimentary function. 

Design. This paper, in the genre of a theoretical article, drew on existing research and theoretical literature to advance a theory. I analyzed Vygotsky’s original example of a solitaire game and similar actions (for example, flipping a coin), arguing that these actions represent key events mediating choice and exercising human will over affect. I then focused on three more psychological functions that fit Vygotsky’s definition of rudiments: 1) photographic memory and déjà vu as instances of historically primitive eidetic memory, 2) talking to one-self aloud as a rudiment of a key event forming the self-regulatory mechanism of inner speech in childhood, and 3) fantasizing, which could remind us of our young age, when imagination readily created what was lacking in external world. 

Results. This analysis allowed me to vividly illustrate the historical and relational focus of Vygotsky’s theories. 

Conclusions. Rudimentary functions, often perceived as mysterious, in their simplicity can be powerful reminders that historically primitive functions do not disappear, but enter complex relationships with other psychological functions, and that many relationships are possible within different cultural-historical formations, with Western civilization being just one example.