Editorial

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

The “Theory and methodology” section deals with the issues of international and trans-disciplinary cooperation in contemporary psychology. The paper by Irina A. Мironenko analyses integrative and isolationist tendencies in contemporary Russian psychological science. Lev A. Zaks thoroughly discusses the ways psychology and cultural studies cooperate and the problems they face; an agenda first proposed by L.S. Vygotsky in his early work.

The “Psychology of education and learning” section includes two articles that investigate important perquisites for effective learning. The paper by Irina I. Vartanova discusses the role that motivation and having a system of values play in the development of upper secondary school students’ personalities. The article by Irina V. Korotaeva analyses metacognitive reading comprehension strategies in students. The latter work is especially interesting, since it reveals differences between education and psychology students, and thus allows one to understand the impact a psychological education has on students’ cognition.

The “Psychophysiology” section provides articles on developing research methods. Josep Maria Tous Ral and Ludimila Liutsko propose the Proprioceptive Diagnosis of Temperament and Character (DP-TC) as a tool for measuring the psychophysical bases of human errors. Maria S. Kovyazina and Elena I. Roshchina suggest methods of dichotic listening as a research methodology for hemispheric interaction, and provide some experimental evidence to support their claim.

Two articles in the “Clinical psychology” section discuss co-morbidity issues. Anastasia V. Popinako and Olga D. Pugovkina investigated social anxiety, hostility, and Machiavellianism as psychological factors that reflect a propensity for alcoholism in depressed patients. Tatyana S. Buzina outlined several important targets for the prevention and treatment of HIV infections in substance users.

The final section — “Empirical research of contemporary social practices” — appears in the journal for the first time. It includes research papers that could possibly have been placed in some other relevant sections, but the agenda they have in common seems more important. Vadim A. Emelin, Aleksander Sh. Tkhostov and Elena I. Rasskazova investigate emerging social practices, such as the info-communication society, strategies for adjustment to this new type of society and the tools for measuring them. Natalya V. Razina describes “representations of motherhood” a rapidly changing personal construct in contemporary society — through the lens of three Russian religious traditions: Orthodox Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.