Articles

Background. The relevance of the study is related to the role of malevolent creativity of law enforcement officers as a marker of offenses committed in the performance of their official duties.

Objective. The goal is to study the relationship between malevolent creativity and the central Self-functions of personality among law enforcement officers.

Study Participants. The study involved 284 police officers (M = 22.42 years; SD = 3.9; 48.6% women).

Methods. The psychodynamically oriented personality questionnaire POLQ “Resource-P” (by V.A. Shapoval) and the questionnaire “Behavioral features of malevolent creativity” (adapted by Meshkova N.V. and others) were applied.

Results. It was revealed that antisocial creativity was significantly associated with the destructive and deficient Self-functions of aggression, fear, external and internal Self-delineation, narcissism, sexuality, Self-identity, general sociopsychosomatic maladaptation and was negatively associated with constructive aggression, fear, external Self-delineation, Self-identity, as well as the resource of psychological health. The comparison of polar groups revealed higher indicators of all the six Self-functions, destructive and deficient Self-identity, and general sociopsychosomatic maladaptation along with the decrease in the resource of psychological health among the participants with the signs of antisocial creativity. The results obtained laid the basis for a psychological profile of the Self-structure of the personality of the subject of antisocial creative action. Regression analysis revealed that deficient fear makes the maximum contribution to the antisocial creativity.

Conclusions. Psychodiagnostic indicators of behavioral manifestations of antisocial creativity of police officers are positively associated with destructive and deficient manifestations of the central Ego functions of personality and negatively with the constructive ones. The psychological profile of the subject of antisocial creative action is characterised by constructive deficit of all the main Self-functions, manifesting themselves as the destructive ones (confrontation, cruelty, devaluing others, anxiety, impulsivity, intolerance of criticism, displays of superiority, active-manipulative behaviour) or as the deficient (passivity, victim mentality, dependency, suggestibility, low self-esteem, passive-manipulative behaviour) pattern with sociopsychosomatic maladaptation along with the decrease in the resource of psychological health. One of the most significant predictors of antisocial creativity is Self-a function of deficient fear, while constructive narcissism acts as a protector preventing the manifestation of antisocial creativity behaviour. The identified interrelationships determine the subjects for targeted psychological correction among law enforcement personnel.

Background. The ability to understand emotions in preschool age develops through social interaction. Prolonged screen time replaces the types of activities in which this interaction occurs, and thus may create risks for emotional development that require further investigation.

Objective. This study aimed, first, to examine the extent to which the duration of daily passive screen time predicts the level of emotion understanding in children aged 5–6 years, considering the child’s individual characteristics (age, gender, and nonverbal intelligence); and second, to analyze the potential mediating role of nonverbal intelligence in this relationship.

Study Participants. The study involved 434 Russian preschoolers (Mage = 5.71 years, SD = 0.46) and their mothers.

Methods. Emotion understanding was assessed using the Test of Emotion Understanding (F. Pons, P. Harris). Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices were used to diagnose nonverbal intelligence. Data on children’s daily passive screen time and family sociodemographic characteristics were collected through parental questionnaires. Hierarchical regression models and mediation analysis were employed to test the hypotheses.

Results. The duration of daily passive screen time was found to be a significant negative predictor of the overall level of emotion understanding in children, even after controlling for age and nonverbal intelligence (β = −0.097, p = 0.034). This effect was specific to the mental component of emotion understanding (understanding of beliefs and hidden emotions). Furthermore, nonverbal intelligence partially mediated this relationship, confirming a significant indirect effect.

Conclusions. The obtained results confirm a negative association between passive screen time and the development of emotion understanding in preschool children, with the mental component of emotion understanding being the most vulnerable. The mediating role of nonverbal intelligence suggests a cognitive mechanism underlying this effect. The findings highlight the importance of limiting passive screen time to support not only cognitive but also emotional development in preschoolers.

Background. This study investigates the functioning of cognitive control in complex settings that approximate real-life conditions, utilizing various types of distractors within a cross-modal version of the Stroop task.

Objective. The goal is to identify the effects of conflicting information obtained from auditory and visual sensory modalities on reaction time (RT) and accuracy of the answer.

Study Participants. The study involved 33 healthy subjects (13 men and 20 women), aged 18 to 31 years. According to the self-report, all the subjects were right-handed. All the subjects had higher or incomplete higher education.

Methods. A cross-modal Stroop test was used with auditory stimuli — colour names (“Blue”, “Green”, “Red”, “Yellow”). Words denoting a colour written in black font, coloured squares, and words denoting a colour written in coloured font were used as distractors. Statistical analysis of RT, RT distribution parameters (μ, σ, τ), and response accuracy was performed using ANOVA RM.

Results. In all experimental series, incongruence between stimuli and distractors led to a significant increase in RT, reflecting the emergence of interference during the resolution of conflict between automatic word reading and controlled colour naming. The greatest increase in reaction time was observed in the “Colour — Word” series in the situation when the visual distractor was incongruent in word meaning but congruent in colour, indicating the dominance of the semantic component (word meaning) over the perceptual component (colour). Analysis of reaction time distribution showed that in all series the increase in mean RT was associated with an increase in the parameter µ, reflecting a shift of the central part of the distribution toward larger values. In the “Colour” series, for incongruent stimuli, the increase in µ was accompanied by a decrease in the parameters σ and τ, which describe dispersion.

Conclusions. The results expand the understanding of the mechanisms of cognitive processes interaction under multimodal loads and can be used for further neurophysiological and psychological research.

Background. The professional environment imposes stable requirements on information processing, yet comparative studies in which representatives of creative and scientific professions perform a single associative task are scarce. It remains unclear whether actors’ advantage in associative originality persists after controlling for demographic variables and whether the effect is robust to the method of scoring originality.

Objective. The goal is to compare actors of drama and cinema, researchers, and representatives of non-creative professions in terms of originality and productivity on the Remote Associates Test (RAT), and to test the robustness of the effect to demographic adjustment, data collection wave, and the method of operationalizing originality.

Study Participants. 311 individuals aged 18–87: actors (n = 90), researchers (n = 89), control group — medical staff and students (n = 132) participated in the study.

Methods. Mednick’s Remote Associates Test adapted by A.N. Voronin (20 triads) was used. Four indices were calculated: productivity, originality index (1 – f/N), number of unique responses, and integral originality index.

Results. Actors outperformed comparison groups in the number of unique associations and the originality index but not in productivity. The group effect remained significant after controlling for age, sex, and education. Age had a significant negative contribution to originality across the sample but not to productivity. Sex and education made no significant contribution. The actors’ advantage in originality was reproduced across all three scoring methods, including leave-one-out, and was not created by unequal group sizes.

Conclusions. On the Remote Associates Test, actors produce more unusual and unique responses at similar high productivity; the effect is robust to demographic adjustment, data collection wave, and the method of scoring originality. Professional affiliation is a significant predictor of originality, whereas sex and education are not.

Background. In the context of large-scale modernization of Russian healthcare system, the key role in achieving strategic goals belongs to mid-level management personnel, in particular, heads of clinical departments. Conducting a comprehensive professional analysis that reveals the actual content of the work of medical managers and diagnosing their psychological well-being are extremely relevant scientific and practical tasks.

Objective. The aim is to conduct a comprehensive professional analysis of the work activities of heads of oncology departments and of their professional well-being (burnout level and work motivation profile) with ordinary doctors.

Study Participants. The study involved 113 employees of oncology institutions (Moscow Region, Republic of Bashkortostan, Novosibirsk Region), including 39 department heads (medical managers) and 64 radiation therapists.

Materials and Methods. To collect professional data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the heads of departments of oncology institutions, as well as an analysis of personnel, information, reference and administrative documentation of the organizations, a standardized questionnaire “Diagnostics of professional burnout” by K. Maslakh, S. Jackson, adapted by N.E. Vodopyanova, E.S. Starchenkova, “Diagnostics of work motivation” by R. Hackman and G. Oldham adapted by I.N. Bondarenko.

Results. A professional analysis identified five groups of work tasks for heads of oncology departments. A systematic discrepancy with professional standards was identified: clinical work (30–80% of the time) is unregulated, and management functions, particularly in the area of HR management, are performed unsystematically by 80% of respondents. A comparative analysis revealed that physician-managers, despite a heavier workload, exhibit significantly lower levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while experiencing a higher reduction in personal achievement. A study of motivational factors revealed a more positive profile among managers, with higher ratings of meaningfulness of work, feedback, and awareness of results, which may serve as a compensatory mechanism against professional burnout.

Conclusions. There is a systemic discrepancy between regulatory frameworks and the actual work of physician managers, necessitating an update of professional standards and the implementation of specialized educational modules on HR management. The study’s findings highlight the importance of selecting candidates with strong intrinsic motivation for leadership positions.

Background. The relevance of the investigation is associated with insufficient study of the dependence of rehabilitation outcome in patients with unilateral spatial neglect on the variant of neglect syndrome.

Objective. The purpose of this study is to describe polymodal signs and symptoms of neglect as well as their dynamics in patients who underwent rehabilitation in the first year after right hemispheric stroke.

Study Participants. 38 patients with left-sided neglect (24 men and 14 women aged 32 to 82) who underwent two rehabilitation courses within the first year after suffering a stroke in the right hemisphere.

Methods. Comprehensive neuropsychological assessment according to A.R. Luria, tests and tasks to identify symptoms of neglect in various sensory modalities and mental domains. The patients were examined twice: during the early recovery period (1–3 months after the stroke) and during the late recovery period (6–12 months).

Results. It has been shown that the severity of neglect in different modalities varies significantly. A statistically significant dynamics has been identified in the regression of neglect symptoms in the visual, auditory, and tactile modalities, while the motor and motor-bodily variants of neglect do not demonstrate significant regression when comparing the early and late recovery periods.

Conclusions. The study of dynamics in the neglect symptoms regression has practical significance for rehabilitation prognosis and for assessing the effectiveness of rehabilitation measures. The results showed that the regression of left-sided neglect manifestations is heterogeneous: the regression of visual neglect is more pronounced as compared to motor neglect. Discussing the dynamics of manifestations of unilateral spatial neglect helps to approach an understanding of the neuropsychological mechanisms of this phenomenon, and therefore to the true (rather than phenomenological) criteria for its classification.

Background. Digital transformations are reshaping everyday practices and the living environment, calling for systematic research on digital wellbeing (DWB) as a new dimension of human wellbeing. The previously developed Digital Wellbeing Index (DWBI) comprehensively assesses the balance between resources and risks, yet rapid psychodiagnostics (e.g., in counselling, education, and organizational settings) require a tool focused solely on the individual’s strengths — their resource potential.

Objective. The aim is to develop and validate the Digital Wellbeing Resources Index (DWBRI) — a questionnaire assessing the technologically extended personality’s satisfaction with mixed reality opportunities and operationalizing the satisfaction of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in the digital context.

Study Participants. The study involved 949 respondents aged from 18 to 39 (Mage = 23.2; SD = 6.6; 60.4% women) from 5 cities in the Russian Federation.

Methods. Based on the theoretical model and the DWBI, a 24-item version comprising 5 scales — “Positive Online Relationships”, “Satisfaction with Online Access”, “Satisfaction with Digital Competence”, “Self-efficacy in adaptation and pre-adaptation” and “Mixed reality management” — was constructed. The following instruments were used to test validity: C. Ryff’s Psychological Wellbeing Scale, R. Schwarzer and M. Jerusalem’s General Self-Efficacy Scale, E. Diener’s Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the screening version of the Digital Competence Index by G.U. Soldatova and E.I. Rasskazova.

Results. According to confirmatory factor analysis, the five-scale structure demonstrated good reliability and internal consistency indices. The DWBRI is correlated with the overall score and scales of psychological wellbeing, self-efficacy, life satisfaction, and digital competence, as well as with the DWBI. Higher levels of digital wellbeing resources are observed among younger, more financially secure respondents, and women.

Conclusions. The DWBRI is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the resource component of personality digital wellbeing. It can be used independently in applied and research settings, as well as for developing preventive interventions to strengthen personal strengths in the digital sphere.

Background. An adaptive attitude toward uncertainty may facilitate goals achievement, however, there is a lack of scientific research on this issue among extreme sport athletes. Sports tourism (ST) is a promising area for investigation of the psychological mechanisms underlying adaptation to extreme stressful environments.

Objective. The goal is to establish the connection between tolerance for uncertainty, route experience, autonomy skills, and experience of autonomy during expeditions among sports tourism athletes.

Study Participants. The study involved 202 sports tourism athletes participating in the Route discipline. Participants were divided into subgroups according to route experience (up to 7 years vs. more than 8 years), autonomy skills (beginner vs. advanced), and experience of autonomy during expeditions (up to 6 days vs. more than 7 days).

Methods. The Tolerance for Uncertainty Scale from Furnham’s New Questionnaire was used. Data were analyzed using the Mann — Whitney U test, Pearson’s χ² test, and a General Linear Model (GLM).

Results. Lower levels of tolerance for uncertainty were observed among athletes with more than 8 years of route experience compared to those with less than 7 years of experience. Similarly, athletes whose expeditions typically lasted more than 7 days demonstrated lower tolerance for uncertainty than participants whose average expedition duration did not exceed 6 days. In the multivariate model, route experience and experience of autonomy during expeditions made statistically significant contributions to the variance in tolerance for uncertainty; however, effect sizes were small.

Conclusions. The hypothesis that athletes with greater experience and higher levels of autonomy skills would demonstrate higher tolerance for uncertainty was not supported. The findings indicate that tolerance for uncertainty is associated with route experience and experience of autonomy during expeditions, whereas autonomy skills were not related to the level of tolerance for uncertainty.

Background. Modern research on the professional development of university students is difficult to imagine without considering the influence of conscious self-regulation and stress. Though the cross-regional aspect of this problem is gaining researchers’ attention, it still remains under elaborated.

Objective. The goal is to examine the features of professional development of students from regions with different stress loads depending on the development of conscious self-regulation, psychological well-being, future orientation, and the level of chronic stress.

Study Participants. The study sample (N = 445) consisted of 279 students from Moscow City Pedagogical University and Kaluga State University (central regions of Russia) and 166 students from Donetsk State University (Donbas).

Methods. The study implemented “Acute and Chronic Stress Scale” (ACSS), Self-Regulation Profile Questionnaire by Morosanova (SRPQM-2020), Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS), the short version of the Stanford Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI-15), and the Well-Being Manifestations Measurement Scale (WBMMS). Correlation analysis, group comparisons, and structural equation modeling (JASP, R) were applied for the data processing.

Results. A model of psychological resources for students’ professional development under stress was developed and empirically verified. The findings confirmed that conscious self-regulation, psychological well-being, and orientation for future act as psychological resources for students’ professional development. Furthermore, conscious self-regulation contributes both directly and indirectly to students’ professional development by supporting psychological well-being and future orientation. Negative effects of chronic stress on professional development are entirely mediated through a chain of connections with psychological resources. The regional specificity was revealed: under conditions of a highly stressful environment, as seen in Donbas students, the relationship between psychological well-being and future orientation weakens, whereas the contribution of conscious self-regulation to maintaining these resources and directly to professional development increases.

Conclusions. The structure of relationships among psychological resources, professional development, and the impact of chronic stress is invariant with respect to students’ residing in the regions with varying stress load. The identified differences in the strength of particular relationships suggest regional specificity reflecting different degrees of integration of resources into students’ professional development under stress.

Background. This publication commemorates the 50th anniversary of P.Ya. Galperin’s seminal work, “Introduction to Psychology”. P.Ya. Galperin served on the editorial board of the journal “Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Series 14. Psychology” (currently Lomonosov Psychology Journal) from its founding until his death, but he did not publish any works in this journal during his lifetime. This material partially fills this gap and includes brief archival notes by P.Ya. Galperin for “Introduction to Psychology” and the author’s reflections on the place of P.Ya. Galperin’s work in modern Russian psychology.

Objective is to analyze P.Ya. Galperin’s book “Introduction to Psychology” through the prism of the main theoretical problems of psychological science and practice and to demonstrate its fundamental significance for modern psychology. The purpose of this article is to draw the attention of contemporary psychologists to this work, which has been reprinted numerous times while remaining largely underread from the standpoint of the scientific potential that it contains.

Methods. Theoretical methods for analyzing scientific literature on psychology are used in the article. Historical and archival method was applied as a supplementary method.

Results. It is shown that in his work “Introduction to Psychology”, P.Ya. Galperin discusses fundamental problems in psychology and related sciences, convincingly demonstrating how the solution to psychology’s fundamental question about its subject matter determines the direction of all subsequent research. P.Ya. Galperin’s book not only identifies fundamental questions but also provides answers that remain relevant today. Following P.Ya. Galperin’s concept, issues that depend on the progressive development of both psychology and related fields of knowledge are raised. It is suggested that “Introduction to Psychology” can be viewed as a work significantly ahead of its time and one that changed the face of Russian psychology.

Conclusions. The scientific consistency and internal logic of P.Ya. Galperin’s work “Introduction to Psychology”, on the one hand, and the author’s personal readiness to follow the chosen research line, on the other, determined its place as fundamental in Soviet and Russian psychology.

Background. The career intentions of students are of great importance in the context of the acute practical problem of medical graduates’ employment in health care organisation, but their psychological factors are still understudied.

Objective. The goal was to analyse the relationship between the perceived parenting style and the career choice motivation with the career intentions of medical college students.

Study Participants. 318 students of a medical college (1–4 years of study, at the age of 15–25 years old, 83% girls) took part in the study.

Methods. A questionnaire for assessing students’ career intentions, the Career Choice Motivation Questionnaire by O.A. Sychev and T.O. Gordeeva, Russian version of the Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale by T.O. Gordeeva and colleagues.

Results. It was found that the autonomous career choice motivation is closely related to the intention to pursue a career in medicine, while the intention to change profession is positively correlated with amotivation and external motivation. At the same time, perceived parental support for autonomy shows a significant effect on intentions to work in medicine mediated through autonomous motivation.

Conclusions. The important role of career choice motivation and parental autonomy support for career intentions of medical students indicates the need to take these factors into account during vocational guidance of adolescents and their parents’ consulting.

Background. Depressive disorders are common in the post-stroke period. Depression can increase cognitive impairment and may have its own cognitive symptoms. These factors worsen the patient’s condition, hinder involvement in the therapeutic process, and reduce the effectiveness of rehabilitation.

Objective. The aim of the study is to consider the specifics of cognitive functioning after a stroke in people with and without depression.

Study Participants. The study involved 50 respondents aged 41 to 84 who had experienced a diagnosed stroke. The localisation of the lesion was predominantly left-side. Ischemic stroke was more common.

Methods. The following techniques were used in the study: Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), McNair and Kahn Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). For statistical processing and data analysis, Student’s t-test, the Mann — Whitney U test were used.

Results. During the study, people with depression showed pronounced cognitive disorders in the “Memory” and “Attention and Orientation” domains. No differences in general objective cognitive functioning were found in people with and without depression. However, people with identified depression had more pronounced subjective cognitive deficit. The degree of anxiety manifestation also appears to be at a higher level in people with depression.

Conclusions. Post-stroke functioning of cognitive processes has some differences in people with depression: impairment of delayed recall, as well as impairment of orientation in place and time. The results of the study allow us to determine possible trends in the development of disorders. Neuropsychological diagnostics after a stroke is necessary regardless of the presence or absence of complaints from the patient, for timely therapy, improving recovery prognosis and reducing the risk of recurrent stroke.

Background. In recent decades, there has been a trend toward reconsidering traditional concepts of personality disorders within the framework of modern diagnostic systems and psychodynamic models. Under these circumstances, there is a growing need to systematise existing theoretical and empirical data on the defence mechanisms underlying personality pathology.

Objective. The goal was to systematically summarise and analyse existing empirical and theoretical studies on the role of psychological defense mechanisms in the formation and development of dissociative and histrionic personality disorders, as well as to identify and classify the specific psychological defences that underlie these disorders.

Study Materials. 34 scientific publications (including articles, textbooks, and methodological manuals) addressing the issue of studying dissociative and histrionic personality disorders and personality defence mechanisms. The literature search was conducted in the electronic scientific databases elibrary.ru, PubMed, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar.

Methods. Scoping review, qualitative (narrative) analysis.

Results. It has been found that in dissociative identity disorder, the most significant mechanisms are dissociation, isolation, repression, and denial, aimed at reducing emotional stress and protecting the psyche from traumatic experiences. Their action is associated with a disruption in the integration of memories, emotions, and aspects of identity. In the studies on hysterical personality disorder, the most frequently described defence mechanisms are somatisation, repression, regression, projection, and sexualisation. These mechanisms contribute to the transformation of the internal conflict into demonstrative emotional and behavioural manifestations, as well as the maintenance of a need for external attention and approval.

Conclusions. The analysis suggests that defence mechanisms are a significant factor in the development and progression of personality disorders. The use of specific defence mechanisms is connected to the clinical manifestations of the disorder and reflect the characteristic ways of processing internal conflict and traumatic experiences. A comparison of data on dissociative and hysterical disorders shows that defence mechanisms serve a dual function: they help reduce emotional stress and maintain psychological stability, but can also interfere with adaptive functioning.

Background. Economic instability and uncertainty increase the subjective perception of financial risks, creating feelings of anxiety and threat among the population. Under these conditions, there is a growing need for reliable and valid instruments for measuring financial stress adapted to the Russian cultural context.

Objective. The study aimed to adapt and psychometrically validate the Russian version of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS), designed to assess the subjective perception of economic instability and financial anxiety.

Study Participants. The study involved 555 respondents (Mage = 37.55), including 328 women (59.1%) and 227 men (40.9%).

Methods. The study employed the Russian version of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS), questionnaires measuring personality traits based on the Big Five model, the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) for dispositional optimism, the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, the Doomscrolling Scale, as well as questions on socio-demographic characteristics, including subjective income level, gender and age.

Results. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the one-factor structure of the scale and its high internal consistency (α = 0.914; ω = 0.915). It was found that the perception of financial threat decreases with age, income and optimism growth, and is connected to gender (higher among women). Financial threat experiencing was negatively associated with extraversion and emotional stability and positively connected to conscientiousness, reflecting the importance of emotional resilience and self-control in perceiving financial risks. The positive relationship of financial threat perception to the values on the Kantianism scale (as a part of “The Light triad” of personality) may indicate a moral and normative interpretation of financial threats. The negative association of financial threat experiencing with the WHO-5 index demonstrates the association of financial stress with a decrease in subjective well-being. The association with doomscrolling confirms the role of media consumption as a factor amplifying the perception of economic instability.

Conclusions. The Russian version of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS) demonstrated high reliability, construct, and conceptual validity, making it a suitable tool for research and applied purposes to assess the perception of financial risks, stress, and their psychological consequences in the Russian sociocultural context.

Background. The consideration of event occurrence probability is a foundational element in the formation of expectations and predictions, thereby playing a pivotal role in the regulation of actions and behaviour.

Objective. The aim is to identify abnormalities in the processing of probabilistically organized stimuli and their psychophysiological markers in individuals with personality disorders.

Study Participants. The study engaged 42 participants, 21 men diagnosed with a personality disorder (Mage = 30.95, SD = 7.4) and 21 men serving as a control group (Mage = 32.26, SD = 7.06).

Methods. Participants completed the Central Cue Posner Paradigm with varying probabilities (50% and 80%) of coincidence between the target and the cue stimuli. Event-related potentials were recorded during the experiment.

Results. The differences between the groups were observed in the variations in their response patterns, which manifested as fronto-central activation in the 240–320 ms span after the target stimulus. In the control group, the amplitude in response to the invalid stimulus was higher only under the condition of an 80% probability of stimulus matching; under the condition of a 50% probability, no differences in amplitude between valid and invalid stimuli were observed. In the personality disorders group, the response to invalid stimuli exhibited a higher amplitude, irrespective of the probability of the stimuli.

Conclusions. Individuals diagnosed with personality disorders are characterized by impaired processing of probabilistically organized stimuli. This impairment manifests as a reduced use of information on the probability of an event occurring and may reflect a diminished influence of the context on information processing and increased reactivity to deviations from expectations.