Lomonosov Psychology Journal, 2007, 1, 142.

The article examines the main indicators of the quality of education and outlines the anthropological approach to education, which the author regards as the basis for their development. The principles of design of anthropologically oriented school system are analyzed.

The article raises the problem of balancing management and leadership. The author analyzes various definitions of leadership, which are provided by Russian and foreign psychologists and defines a highly efficient leader, combining the features of a leader and a manager. Considerable attention is paid to the use of the theory of leadership in practice. Ways of developing leadership potential within organizations, like the distributed leadership, are described.

Hostility is considered as a psychological factor in the development of physical and mental diseases. The author specifies the term “hostility“, differentiating it from such concepts as aggression, aggressiveness, anger and cynicism. The results of studies showing the role of hostility in development of physical and mental disorders, as well as in occurrence of antisocial and criminal behavior in humans, are discussed.

The article considers the place of education in society and examines the reasons of possible conflicts between the educational goals and social needs. The author also tries to answer how adults view childhood, and how, proceeding from it, educational programs are built.

An original method of leaders assessment, “The Matrix of Leadership”, designed for use in training and coaching as a tool for self- awareness and self-development, is described in this article. The author discusses the results of several “Personality Development” trainings,which employed this method, and shows that the “Matrix of Leadership” could be the first step in recognizing the tasks of leadership potential development.

The article regards terrorism as a psychological mechanism that satisfies a number of human needs in a certain way. The authors analyze the following psychological drives of the terrorists: the death instinct, aggression, and the needs for communication, security, new experiences, selfactualization, and selfidentity.

Interview with Yury P. Zinchenko, Doctor of psychological sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Education, Dean of Faculty of Psychology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Chair of Psychology Council of Russian Educational and Methodical Association for Traditional University Education in Russian Federation, President of Russian Psychological Society.

Of the many challenges of practical psychologists training the author singled out two and described them in his article. He reveals the importance of methodology in work of psychologists of all domains and specializations, and analyzes the system of preparing psychologists for training work. The author marks out weak practical training of psychologists in Russian colleges and universities and provides with recommendations on organization of psychologists-trainers postgraduate education.

Conversation with Evgenie Aleksandrovichem Klimov, Doctor of psychological sciences, Professor, Full Мember of Russian Academy of Education.

The article raises awareness of the gravity of the problem of violence against children in our country. The main focus is placed opon opportunities for creation and development in Russia of the child protection system, the most important components of which are informational-analytical support (reliable data collection on cases of violence) and development of network of rehabilitation and orphanage institutions.

Interview with Vitaly V. Rubtsov, Doctor of psychological sciences, Professor, Full Member of Russian Academy of Education, Rector of Moscow City PsychologicalPedagogical University, President of Federation of Psychologists of Formation of Russia.

The author analyzes interrelation of culture and psychology in society, discussing various psychological approaches (ecological, humanistic, radical, etc.) and their reflection on the cultural trends in society.

The article defines the concept of psychological culture, analyzes the role of psychology in modern society and its interconnection with socio-political processes. The importance of properly organized educational system for sound development of personality in general, and the formation of psychological culture in particular, is demonstrated.

The author, officer of MSU on the basis of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conjunction with T.N. Zemlyansky, presents results of her original comparative study of Russia’s image in the foreign information space and among representatives of the Russian elite. The results revealed differences between the images of Russia in the eyes of various members of Russian social elite (media workers, diplomats, representatives of the Federal Assembly), and the image of Russia among foreign citizens that is shaped by mass media. The role of mass media in shaping the image of Russia is analyzed and conditions of creating a positive image of Russia are outlined.

This article discusses one of the most important issues in the psychological component of additional professional education of civil servants – consideration of students’ individual educational needs in the light of extreme heterogeneity of the study groups by gender, age, education and general professional experience. The results of the research conducted by the author on the material of one of the largest contingents of civil servants, employees of tax authorities, are discussed.

The article investigates causes of illiteracy of modern schoolchildren, examines the shortcomings of training programs that do not provide education of high quality in primary school. Possible ways to provide psychological assistance to students with poor performance are discussed.

The paper presents a large-scale scientific and practical project “Finding the resources for psychological well-being enhancement of adolescents in Russia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan”, carried out by an international team of psychologists in Russia, Netherlands, Finland, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. The authors describe studies conducted in the framework of this project, methods used for identifying the psychological well-being of children , and the proposed and partially tested psychotherapeutic means for its improvement.

The pictorial image in this article is regarded as a professional tool that helps the psychologist to identify individual psychological characteristics and provide psychotherapeutic help. The art techniques with the use of drawing, developed and tested by the author on the basis of the Department of Education of Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University, are presented.