Moscow University Psychology Bulletin, 2020, 2, 176 p.

Background. This study examined a set of personality traits related to self-control or willpower, (WP), and how self-ratings of these self-control traits are influenced by the cognitive constructs of action (versus state) orientation and meaningfulness.

Design. The subjects were 943 university students, aged 17–29 (M = 19.5 years), who volunteered to complete J. Kuhl's (1996) Action-State Orientation (ASO) scale, a Russian adaptation of the Purpose In Life test (PIL) as a measure of meaningfulness and sense-making capacity, and self-ratings of self-control traits, such as “persistence”, “decisiveness”, and “self-discipline” that produced an aggregate measure of WP and four willpower factors reflecting (1) emotional regulation, (2) commitment to action, (3) energy, and (4) execution.

Results. State-oriented ineffective sense-makers (those who scored low on both ASO and PIL) rated themselves the lowest on WP. Conversely, action-oriented effective sense-makers (high scorers on both ASO and PIL) produced the highest WP self-ratings. Mediator-modelling regression analyses showed ASO and PIL to be predictive of self-rated WP – both independently, and by mediating each other’s influence on aggregate WP ratings. However, the predictive power of PIL was substantially higher than that of ASO, and the overall pattern of prediction varied across the four willpower sub-factors.

Conclusion. Our results confirm the role of sense-making as a key mechanism of volitional regulaiton, and its interactions with cognitive resources such as action-orientation dispositions captured by ASO.

Relevance. The study of the self-motion (“vection”) illusion is an important task for modern psychology and neuroscience due to the widespread use of virtual reality systems. The study of psychophysiological mechanisms of this phenomenon has particular importance as an example of intersensory interactions.

Objective. To study the psychophysiological mechanisms of the self-motion illusion in a virtual reality system using electroencephalography.

Methodology. Eleven healthy subjects took part in the experiment. The stimulation was a virtual opto-kinetic drum that rotated clockwise and counterclockwise around a vertical axis with angular velocities of 30, 45 and 60 angular deg/s. The duration of each rotation was 60 seconds. The subjects were presented with 18 rotations; there was a series with instructions for free viewing of the visual scene (3 speeds × 2 directions × 2 repetitions) and a series with instructions to fix the gaze in the center of the virtual scene (3 speeds ×2 directions × 1 repetition). After each rotation, the subjects filled out the “Simulator Sickness Questionnaire” and evaluated the intensity of the illusion on a 10-point scale. Stimulation was presented in the HTC Vive virtual reality helmet. Electroencephalogram recording during the observation of cylinder rotations was performed using Mitsar-EEG-10/70-201.

Results. Significant differences were found in the intensity of the illusion, the total score on the questionnaire, and the power of the alpha rhythm in the parietal zones, depending on the speed of rotation. The higher the rotational speed, the greater the values of these dependent variables. Large values for beta-rhythm power in the occipital areas were found in the series with fixed eyes, in the subjects with high values for the intensity of the illusion.

Conclusions. Differences were shown in the bioelectrical activity of the brain during the experience of the self-motion illusion, related to mechanisms of visual-vestibular integration and greater attention to the performance of the motor task of gaze fixation.

We present the results of an empirical study of the relationship between self-assessment of creative abilities, originality of creativity (verbal and social) and values. The relevance of the research is related to the demand for creativity as an important competence in the labor market. The ambiguity of the relationship between different types of creativity and self-assessment of creativity, as well as the discrepancy between the results of diagnostics of creative potential using various methods, actualizes the problem of realizing creative potential.

The aim of the work was to study the relationship between different types of creativity, self-assessment of creativity and values, as well as to identify the ratio of creativity indicators diagnosed using the Real Word Divergent Task (RWDT) method and tasks for verbal creativity.

The study involved adolescents aged 15–16 years (N = 50; 26 – men) – students of one of Moscow school. The following methods were used: “Self-assessment of creative abilities” (E. Tunik), tasks on verbal creativity and creativity in social interaction of positive and negative connotations of RWDT, Portrait value questionnaire of Sh. Schwartz.

According to the results, originality is higher in tasks for verbal creativity compared to situations in social interaction; originality in situations of lies and prosocial situations in social interaction significantly correlate; there is no correlation between self-esteem of imagination and creativity indicators measured using the RWDT method and tasks for verbal creativity; self-esteem of creative abilities has a positive relationship with the highest value of “Openness to change”; the predictor of self-esteem of imagination is the value of “Independence of thought”. The results confirmed the hypotheses about specificity of creativity, about the absence of a link between creativity measured as self-report and objective methods; about the presence of a direct link between the highest values of “Openness to change” and the components of creativity measured by self-report, and did not confirm assumption about the absence of a direct link between originality in prosocial situations and situations with negative connotations.

Conclusions are made that 1) creativity is specific in various areas, 2) creativity in situations of lies and prosocial situations in social interaction is a single construct; 3) self-esteem of imagination is not associated with divergent thinking, measured using the RWDT method and tasks for verbal creativity; 4) high self-esteem of imagination is mediated by the motivational goal of thinking creatively, having original ideas, learning new things and phenomena.

Relevance. The spread of coronavirus infection is accompanied by the dissemination of information messages in the form of radical beliefsaffecting people’s behaviour. 

The aim of the study was to reveal the relationship between beliefs about coronavirus and its treatment, magical thinking, anxiety and the protective behaviour against to the pandemic. Methods. 402 adults aged 18–64 years old filled checklist including beliefs about causes, manifestations, consequences and control of the pandemic, Illness and Treatment Locus of Control Scale, Treatment Self-Efficacy Scale, Magical Ideation Scale as well as scales measuring anxiety and protective behaviour in pandemic and monitoringof information about coronavirus. 

Results. Factor analysis revealed three groups of radical beliefs about coronavirus: negligence as the cause of the occurrence and spread of coronavirus, a particular meaning of morbidity and negative consequences of the pandemic. 

Conclusion. Belief inthe negligence as a cause of coronavirus was more typical for people with an intrinsic locus of causes of the causes of illness but extrinsic locus of control of treatment and for those who were prone to protective behaviour in the pandemic. Belief about the particular meaning of coronavirus was associated with the magical thinking, the intrinsic locus of control of the causes of illness, less anxiety about infection and poorer compliance with self-isolation. Radical beliefs about the consequences of the pandemic were related to more frequent monitoring of the information about the pandemic, extrinsic locus of control of treatment but intrinsic locus of control of causes of illness and a pronounced anxiety regarding future negative consequences of the pandemic.

Relevance. The term “family pain” is used in family psychotherapy to refer to the emotional state of dysfunctional family members. Research on this phenomenon in dysfunctional alcoholic families can expand the understanding of the family system and allow us to formulate the goals of psychotherapy with such families.

Objective. To investigate the “family pain” experienced by adult children of alcoholics.

Methods. The sample consisted of 52 people who were in a recovery program for adult children of alcoholics (ACA), and 50 controls. We implemented a phenomenological analysis of ACA groups, a content analysis of images of “family pain”, and factor analysis of the characteristics of “family pain”.

Results. The study showed significant differences between the images of “family pain” experienced by adults who were raised and still live in alcoholic families, by those whose parents were alcoholics and had died by the time of the survey, and by those whose parents were not alcoholics. People who live with their alcoholic parents describe “family pain” as a familiar, long process with effects on the whole family. The experience of “family pain” includes anger, shame, and self-pity. People whose parents were alcoholics and have died describe “family pain” as a feeling of guilt towards their parents and a process of experiencing their parents’ death. The control group had difficulty describing “family pain”, or described it as a process of experiencing their parents’ death.

Conclusions. Representations of “family pain” are associated with the subjective meaning of family dysfunction for the participant and the experience of negative emotions in the family.

Background. The study explores two main processes of perception of facial expression: analytical (perception based on individual facial features) and holistic (holistic and non-additive perception of all features). The relative contribution of each process to facial expression recognition is still an open question.

Objective. To identify the role of holistic and analytical mechanisms in the process of facial expression recognition.

Methods. A method was developed and tested for studying analytical and holistic processes in the task of evaluating subjective differences of expressions, using composite and inverted facial images. A distinctive feature of the work is the use of a multi-dimensional scaling method, by which a judgment of the contribution of holistic and analytical processes to the perception of facial expressions is based on the analysis of the subjective space of the similarity of expressions obtained when presenting upright and inverted faces.

Results. It was shown, first, that when perceiving upright faces, a characteristic clustering of expressions is observed in the subjective space of similarities of expression, which we interpret as a predominance of holistic processes; second, by inversion of the face, there is a change in the spatial configuration of expressions that may reflect a strengthening of analytical processes; in general, the method of multidimensional scaling has proven its effectiveness in solving the problem of the relation between holistic and analytical processes in recognition of facial expressions.

Conclusion. The analysis of subjective spaces of the similarity of emotional faces is productive for the study of the ratio of analytical and holistic processes in the recognition of facial expressions.

Background. Sex differences in the study of the cognitive domain are significant for the interpretation of data in different fields; however, the nature of the differences remains an open question. This article presents the results of a study of gender differences in cognitive performance in children of preschool and primary school age.

Objective. To study gender differences in the cognitive performance in children of preschool and primary school age.

Methods. The sample consisted of students from kindergartens and schools in Moscow (N = 301). Two versions of the Wechsler Test were used as the main instruments for diagnosing cognitive abilities: the Wechsler test for preschoolers (WPPSI-IV) and the Wechsler children's test (WISC-V). Analysis of the results used Student's t-test and a measure of the effect size (Cohen's d).

Results. The effect of gender on cognitive performance varies significantly depending on the age of the children. The most pronounced gender differences were identified among children of early preschool age: girls received significantly higher scores on the index of verbal comprehension and the general intelligence scale. In the children of middle and older preschool age, there were no statistically significant gender differences for any evaluated parameter. In the younger schoolchildren, differences between boys and girls were found in the speed of information processing and the vocabulary subtest. Girls were ahead of boys in completing tasks included in the information-processing speed index, while boys were better at completing the vocabulary subtest.

Background. This article considers the prediction ability (anticipation of future events) in preschool children with hearing impairment. The ability to anticipate the results of their interaction with the surrounding social world is by no means unimportant in the social adaptation of children with hearing impairment. Prediction in preschool children with hearing impairment is a rather poorly studied topic. There are studies about particular types of anticipation, such as emotional anticipation. Based on analysis of previous studies, a detailed study of the structural and functional characteristics of the prognostic ability of children with hearing impairment compared with children with neurotypical development is significant.

Objective. To learn about the ability of hearing-impaired preschoolers to anticipate future situations.

Design. The empirical study involved 50 children aged 5–7 years with hearing impairment and without developmental disabilities, attending preschool educational institutions of the Republic of Tatarstan. The following methods were used: “Ugadaika” [“Guessing Game”] (L.I. Peresleni, V.L. Podobed) and the authors' methodology “Prognostic Stories”, developed by teachers at Kazan Federal University.

Results. In children with hearing impairment, we identified ineffective methods of carrying out predictive activities, irrational forecasting strategies, forecasting difficulties in certain areas of relationships and activities, as well as problems of mastering the rules in a normative situation.

Conclusion. The study confirmed the importance of external regulation in the social life of a child with a hearing impairment, which helps the children to predict more successfully in organized activities than in free ones. The most developed relationships in children with hearing impairment are in the child – parent domain. In their own forecasting, children with hearing impairment are more characterized by a passive position; in most situations, the children pointed to other participants, most often adults, as the subjects of future events.