Editorial

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

The educational reform is Russia is in full swing, so the section of Psychology of education and learning is the most widely presented in the current issue. The international collective of authors Frédéric Yvon, Ludmila A. Chaiguerova and Denise Shelley Newnham considers different interpretations of the works of Lev Vygotsky — famous psychologist and methodologist. The authors suggest original ways of incorporating Vygotsky’s ideas into the modern educational system. Dmitry A. Podolskiy presents his study of value hierarchy among students and adolescence in the article “Multimethod approach to measuring values in a school context: exploring the association between Congruence — Discrepancy Index (CODI) and task commitment”. In the article “The role of reflection and reflexivity in the development of student’s abilities” Vladimir D. Shadrikov explores the role of reflection in the educational process. The group of authors headed by Nikolay E. Veraksa state that dialectical thinking is a specific line of cognitive development in children and adults and proves this statement by the empirical data (“The structural dialectical approach in psychology problematic and research results”).

The Social Psychology section of current issue of Psychology in Russia: State of the Art touches upon the challenges that executive leader face in the light of the rapid development of information technologies (Takhir Yu.Bazarov, Yuri S. Shevchenko “The executive leader in the post crisis era”). The authors present the concept of multiple identity, which is the condition of successful leadership together with strong will power and vivid imagination. The authors of Psychology in Russi: State of the Art keep on investigating the problem of psychological security (Aleksander I. Dontsov, Elena B. Perelygina “Tense situations and the significance of stability for psychological security”), which has become urgent in contemporary society, facing the consequences of the terrorist threat.

Important change in Russian psychology is marked with the appearance of the position of the medical psychologist in Ministry of Health of Russia during this year, so special attention is given to the section of Health Psychology and Clinical Psychology. Yuri P. Zinchenko, Elena I. Pervichko and Anatoliy V. Martynov report of the successful application of Vygotsky-Luria syndrome approach to the investigation of the psychosomatic syndrome in the patients with mitral valve prolapse (“Psychological underpinning of personalized approaches in modern medicine: syndrome analysis of mitral valve prolapsed patients”). The section also presents the article “Cultural-Psychological and clinical perspectives of research phenomena of subjective uncertainty and ambiguity” where Elena T. Sokolova analyzes certain socio-cultural and personal predispositions, which determine the modern diversity of subjective uncertainty and ambiguity manifestations.

The second issue of the 6th volume Psychology in Russia: State of the Art contains not only reports about the latest advanced research in the field of Social Psychology, Psychology of Education, and Health Psychology etc., but also two book reviews: “A New Introduction to Psychological Thinking” written by Vyacheslav A. Ivannikov and “Developmental Neuropsychology” by Janna M. Glozman. Both of the authors are prominent scientists who have contributed a lot to the development of Russian scientific psychological school.