Articles

Background. The relevance of the stated topic is determined by two circumstances: the need to determine the main directions of the theoretical and methodological reflection of modern social psychology and the task of explaining the socio-psychological aspects of cultural-historical theory.

Objective. Consideration of the relationship between the main ideas of the cultural-historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky and the subject field of social psychology.

Methods. The article uses methods of deductive (axiomatic and hypothetico-deductive) and comparative analyses.

Results. The main theses of cultural-historical theory set the development and instantiation of the subject field of social psychology, starting with the well-known discussions of the 1920s. The main provisions can be identified as follows: the idea of the internalisation of social relations as a constructive mechanism of human socialisation; understanding the process of communication as instrumentally mediated by a system of signs which act as a means for a social subject to master his social behaviour; approval of the idea of human activity in interaction, the finite task of which is the formation of a common system of meanings. Using the example of similarities and differences in the historical views of L.S. Vygotsky and J.G. Mead, the authors analyse the possible range of understandings of interaction contextuality. It was the attention of cultural-historical theory to the analysis of interaction that largely determined the further interest of social psychology in the problem of “personality and/or situation”, the solution to which is still debatable.

Conclusions. The determining role of L.S. Vygotsky’s position for universal social psychology as well as for Russian is associated with the unremitting attention of researchers to one of the fundamental problems in the analysis of man and society, namely, to the problem of human interaction with the surrounding socio-cultural environment. The requirement to consider the social context as a methodological imperative of modern social psychology sets the main direction for the further development of theoretical and methodological reflection. This main direction is the analysis of possible relationships between the social context and social changes, leading to the need for empirical development of two problems: the individual psychological foundations of social choice and a person’s ability to resist the power of the situation.

Background. The editorial article reflects the main concept of the issue of the journal, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the death of L.S. Vygotsky - an outstanding Russian scientist, whose works had a noticeable influence on the development of psychology and pedagogy in the world.

Objectives. The goal is to demonstrate the relevance of the principles of the cultural-historical approach of L.S. Vygotsky at the current stage of development in psychological and pedagogical science and practice.

Results. The article reveals the content of the publications of the journal issue devoted to the sources of the emergence of Vygotsky’s scientific school, his biography, empirical and theoretical and methodological research carried out in line with the cultural-historical approach. It also displays Vygotsky’s invaluable contribution to the development of education and science in Russia and abroad.

Conclusion. The articles presented in this issue discuss the fundamental principles and postulates of the cultural-historical approach, as well as outline ways of research concretization of the idea of the systemic and semantic structure of consciousness. The significant contribution of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University to the development of research in the field of cultural-historical psychology is especially noted. The wide presentation of the results to the scientific community and their introduction into pedagogical practice are highlighted.

Background. The study of the psychological resources of a person experiencing a life-threatening disease is important due to the increased number of social requests related to improving the quality of a patient’s full-fledged adaptation to life. The effectiveness of coping with the psychological consequences of a serious illness is determined by the system of internal conditions of the individual as well as by the age characteristics, due to which a subjective assessment of the psychotraumatic situation, the nature of a person’s appeal to potential opportunities are specified.

Objective. The study focuses on human resources when coping with the psychological consequences of post-traumatic stress, depending on age and the characteristics of the life-threatening brain disease (local or vascular pathology of the brain).

Study Participants. 125 people showing no signs of cognitive deficits and who have given their informed consent were involved in the study. Of those, 64 people had a diagnosis of benign meningioma (30–70 years), and 61 people were diagnosed with cerebrovascular disease (31–69 years).

Methods. To assess the level of psychotraumatization in respondents, the “Impact of Event Scale” technique was used, emotional and personal characteristics were studied using the Freiburg Personality Inventory and the “World assumptions scale” technique.

Results. It has been established that, regardless of the type of disease, caused by local or vascular pathology of the brain, and the age of a person, a common resource for coping with psychotraumatic experiences is, on the one hand, accepting the situation of the disease and on the other, distancing oneself from experiences that mark it as hopeless, causing despair. For people with symptoms of cerebrovascular disease coping with stress, it is more important to regulate relationships with the outside world and maintain their functionality. While for people with meningioma, a positive self-attitude and the focus on unlocking inner potential, which becomes especially relevant in older age, are more important.

Conclusions. The resourcefulness of a person in a situation of severe illness is determined by the rational nature of emotional self-regulation, including through selective appeal to social support. Specific resources associated with the peculiarities of the stressful situation of brain disease become more significant with age and manifest themselves in the specifics of the personality orientation (outward or inward).

Background. Improving the work on psychological prevention of stagnation in professional and personal development of employees (military personnel) as well as counteracting the spread of negative information and psychological effects provide for professional efficiency and reliability of the personnel of law enforcement agencies.

Objectives. The article is aimed at studying the issues of negative information and psychological impact as determinants of stagnation in professional and personal development of representatives of law enforcement agencies.

Study Participants. The study was conducted on a sample of 163 people (62 police officers, 87 military personnel, 14 employees of the penal enforcement system). The participants are men who have been in office for more than 3 years and are experiencing negative information and psychological effects; the average age is 32.4 years.

Methods. Questionnaire for studying the impact of negative information and psychological effects on the personnel of law enforcement agencies; questionnaires for assessing the stagnation of professional and personal development and assessing the information stress tolerance by V.E. Petrov’s employees were applied. Descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, evaluation of differences using the Mann-Whitney U-test, correlation analysis by Ch. Spearman were used for statistical processing of the empirical data.

Results. With intense negative information and psychological impact, representatives of law enforcement agencies expressed: a subjective feeling of stagnation, loss of motivation for self-realization, awareness of stagnation in development. Such characteristics of personality and behaviour as information intelligibility, moderate information activity and sensitivity to stress, stress regulation of behaviour act as protectors from stagnation under the influence of negative information and psychological effects.

Conclusions. The study found that representatives of law enforcement agencies integrate negative intensive informational and psychological impact into the overall assessment of the level of psychological stress in the service. The etiology and generalization of information stress and stagnation of professional and personal development among police officers, the penal enforcement system officers, and military personnel are largely similar. Countering negative information and psychological effects and overcoming stagnation phenomena in professional and personal development can serve as the basis for a system of prevention of deviant behaviours in the personnel of law enforcement agencies.

Background. The ability to regulate cognitive activity is an important quality of the subject of educational activity. The development of children’s cognitive activity is one of the main tasks of preschool education. Despite all the attention paid to cognitive activity in research, the question of its mediated forms remains open. The study of the influence of cultural means on the cognitive activity of preschoolers will allow solving the problems of its development through the creation of psychological and pedagogical conditions aimed not only at its appearance and support “here and now”, but also at the formation of the ability to independently regulate it.

Objective. The goal is to find out whether older preschool children can independently regulate their cognitive activity, and what cultural means contribute to this.

Study Participants. The study involved 60 children of the seventh year of life (M = 75 months), 25 of them were boys and 35 were girls attending preparatory kindergarten groups in Moscow. Each experimental group included 20 children.

Methods. An ascertaining experiment aimed at identifying the abilities of older preschool children to regulate cognitive activity was carried out. In two experimental groups, different means of regulation were introduced: figurative and verbal. In the third experimental group, the children simply completed the proposed tasks. In total, the children were offered 3 tasks: to make something out of 3 different sets of cubes. The Kruskal — Wallis criterion was used for statistical data processing.

Results. The results obtained in the study indicate that until the end of preschool childhood, the cognitive activity of children in the implementation of productive activities retains a pronounced situational dependence on the characteristics of the material they use. This dependence persists despite the introduction of figurative or verbal means of regulation. Only a small number of children have been found to be able to regulate cognitive activity, which manifested itself as stimulation of its dynamic component.

Conclusion. Most preschoolers 6–7 years have no experience of awareness and regulation of cognitive activity. The emergence of opportunities to regulate cognitive activity is facilitated by situations in which the child identifies oneself as a subject of activity. The most accessible means for older preschoolers to identify themselves as a subject of cognitive activity is an image.

Background. The technique “Emotional Attitude to Dangerous Situations” developed by the authors could become one of the tools for identifying the ability of adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities to behave safely, assessing the effectiveness of correctional and educational work on the development of safe behaviour, and also supplementing the ideas of the psychology of safety of various social groups with knowledge about the manifestations of safe behaviour of individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Objectives. The focus is on the development, testing and validation of the method Emotional Attitude to Dangerous Situations designed to study teenagers and adolescents with intact or impaired intelligence.

Study Participants. The adaptation of the technique was carried out on a sample of 117 students with intellectual disabilities: 71 adolescents (М = 12.8 years, SD = 0.82 years, 42 boys and 29 girls), 46 youth students (М = 16 years, SD = 0.5 years, 30 boys and 16 girls).

Methods. The “Emotional attitude to dangerous situations” method consists of 13 problematic situations reflecting the most probable dangers for students: dangers of the physical, social, informational and educational environment. To assess the reliability of the method, the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was used for each of the selected scales. To assess the criterion validity of the method, the correlation coefficient between the scales of emotional assessment of a dangerous situation and the way of behaviour in a dangerous situation (the “Emotional attitude to dangerous situations” technique) and the indicators of reaction types to dangers (Questionnaire for identifying the type of attitude to danger) was used.

Results. The technology “Emotional attitude to dangerous situations” has been developed. The results of standardization of the methodology, assessment of reliability and criterion validity are presented. The values of the selected scales according to Cronbach’s α showed a sufficient level of consistency (from 0.536 to 0.697). Significant interrelations of the scales of emotional assessment and behaviuor in dangerous situations (dangers of the physical, social, information and educational environment) with the types of response to dangers (adequate, uncertain, anxious, ignoring) in adolescent and young adult students with intellectual disabilities have been established.

Conclusions. The results of the psychometric assessment allow us to speak about a sufficiently high reliability, internal consistency of the scales in the sample, as well as the criterion validity of the developed method. The developed method can be used to identify the emotional attitude to dangerous situations and the way of behaviour in them of adolescents and young adults with intellectual impairments.

Background. Individual techniques, or decision-making styles, are included in the regulation of hierarchies of processes that mediate a person’s exit from situations of uncertainty. Diagnostics of these styles helps both to solve practical problems and to clarify theoretical issues — in particular, the issue of the generalization of styles and their connections with the intellectual and personal spheres.

Objective. The aim is to test and adjust the General Decision-Making Style Inventory questionnaire to a Russian sample.

Study Participants. 456 people aged 18 to 50 years (M = 24.80; SD = 7.61); of these, 74 were men (M = 22.96; SD = 4.88) and 358 were women (M = 25.25; SD = 8.08), 24 subjects did not indicate gender. 80% were university students, 20% were working employees.

Methods. The study included 3 stages: translation, assessment of structural validity and reliability on a Russian sample, assessment of convergent validity. 4 questionnaires were used: the General Decision-Making Style, Rational-Experiential Inventory, Personal Factors of Decision Making (PFDM), Impulsivity-7.

Results. A structural model of connections between the scales (factors) of the General Decision-Making Style Questionnaire has been constructed. The model demonstrated good fit to the data and Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients were acceptable (0.75 to 0.85). The convergent validity of the questionnaire scales was confirmed. Analysis of differences by gender revealed significantly higher scores for Intuitive and Dependent styles in women.

Conclusions. The General Decision-Making Styles Questionnaire has a 5-factor structure and acceptable psychometric properties. Convergent validity has been demonstrated primarily for the Rational and Intuitive styles when identifying their connections with other similar constructs. Both styles are not related to each other, but are related in the opposite way to the Spontaneous (Impulsive) style.

Background. Understanding of emotional aspects of painful experiences can significantly expand the therapeutic tools for both doctors and psychologists.

Objective. The focus is placed on the study of the relationship between psychological and somatic well-being of patients with pain syndrome.

Study Participants. Sample included 119 people: 57 men (average age 47.9 years) and 62 women (average age 46.5 years) from the number of outpatients of the treatment and prevention institution “City Health Center #12” (Minsk).

Methods. The study used: the Subjective Well-being Scale, the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), the Differential Emotion Scale, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and the Giessen Subjective Complaints List, GBB.

Results. The analysis of the correlations of emotional state and somatic complaints has revealed similarities and specificity of subjective experiences of patients in different conditions. The correlation analysis showed a certain relationship between emotional state and well-being, which is closely related to subjective well-being.

Conclusion. Subjective well-being of patients is related to psychoemotional state, health and somatic complaints, as well as, to some extent, to the level of alexithymia. Patients’ well-being is related to their emotional state and negative emotions.

Practical application of the results. Understanding the psychological state of the patient can be useful for developing a personalized approach to treatment and successful rehabilitation through intrapersonal resources.

Background. The study relevance is due to a decrease in publication activity in relation to the object of research in the last 10 years (according to the professional information database LENS.ORG) by 12% compared to the previous decade, while social demand remains high.

Objectives. The goal is to identify differences in the structural components of body image, as well as factors involved in its formation in adolescent girls with different body mass indexes and gynecological diseases.

Study Participants. 31 teenage girls aged 11–17 years (M age = 14.06, SD = 2.02 years), having a confirmed gynecological disease according to ICD-10 (menstrual irregularities, inflammatory diseases of the pelvic organs, benign tumors of the pelvic organs and mammary glands).

Methods. The study used the author’s questionnaire, consisting of 3 substantive blocks of questions (socio-demographic; somatic, socio-psychological data) and 4 psychodiagnostic techniques: Body Image Questionnaire by O.A. Skugarevsky and S.V. Sivukha; SIBID questionnaire (Thomas F. Cash) adapted by L.T. Baranskaya and S.S. Tataurova; Nonverbal technique for assessing satisfaction with body areas (SBS) Meshkova T.A., Neuropsychological tests for somatognosis (right-left orientation in the body diagram, idea of body size in space).

Results. Statistically significant differences in the level of dissatisfaction with both their own body and body parts were revealed between the groups of adolescent girls with different BMI values. At the level of somatosensory gnosis, both groups showed disturbances in quasi-spatial orientation (orientation in their own body), which manifested themselves in mirroring errors and difficulty transferring the spatial organization of hand posture in the horizontal and vertical planes of rightleft orientation. Statistically significant direct relationships were revealed between BMI values and indicators of dissatisfaction with their own body and situational dissatisfaction with body image. Significant relationships between BMI and the time spent in the digital space, the number of subscribers in social networks, school performance, and diet were revealed.

Conclusions. As a result of the conducted research, a significant correlation between body mass index indicators in adolescent girls with gynecological diseases with such indicators as satisfaction/dissatisfaction with their own body and their body image, time spent in the digital space and the number of subscribers, school performance, as well as diet was revealed.

Background. The problem of concept formation in the visual modality remains largely unexplored. There are many studies on the formation of verbal concepts in the learning process. However, it has not yet been fully investigated how concept formation occurs in conditions when both the signified and the signifier (sign) are represented only in the visual modality and what brain mechanisms are involved in this process.

Objectives. The aim of the present work was to identify the brain mechanisms of visual concepts formation, on the basis of EEG registration with subsequent localization of the sources of electrical activity. Another task is to evaluate the possibility of actualizing the process of indirect learning in the formation of visual concepts.

Study Participants. 26 Russian-speaking subjects without neurological disorders: 10 males and 16 females (aged 18 to 40 years, mean age 22.92 years, SD = 6.38) participated in the study.

Methods. Chinese hieroglyphs, unfamiliar to the subjects, were taken as signs. The designated ones were emoticons (schematic faces expressing various emotions). A total of 10 pairs of stimuli sign-designated were presented. A 19-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded in three successive series: 1) the initial perception of hieroglyphic signs without assigning them a category; 2) categorization of these signs in the process of associative learning, with only 8 designating stimuli-signs directly associated with the designated stimulus, while 2 stimuli-signs were never associated with the stimulus-designator, their meaning was established indirectly; 3) subsequent perception of signs with the meaning already assigned to them. All stimuli were presented to the subjects visually. A new method of localization of brain activity, “Virtually implanted electrode”, developed by A.V. Vartanov (patent RU No. 2 785 268) was applied.

Results. The analysis of the subjects’ responses showed that during the learning process all signs (including those formed indirectly) were assigned a certain meaning (designated). Differences in event-related potentials (ERP) were found in leads C3 and CZ. Significant differences in ERP as a result of learning were revealed in a number of brain structures. It was found that a number of functional connections between the left area of the secondary visual cortex and the right part of the cerebellum changed significantly as a result of learning.

Conclusions. The development of visual categories is ensured by the coordinated work of the right part of the cerebellum, parahippocampal gyrus and primary visual cortex, which is confirmed by the discovered differences in the corresponding ERPs.

Background. The study examines the role of control and autonomy support as two of the most important factors in parenting. A scientific analysis of the consequences of parental control and support for autonomy is necessary both to deepen theoretical understanding of the role of autonomy in relations between parents and children and to develop sound practical recommendations.

Objective. The goal is to analyse the direct and indirect (through academic motivation) links of autonomy support and parental control in childhood with the academic achievements of students.

Study Participants. Russian university students (N = 281, MA = 19.8, SD = 2.01, 78% female).

Methods. Parenting style in childhood (P-PASS), academic motivation, including scales of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and amotivation, and average academic performance were assessed.

Results. The main hypothesis about the positive association between parental autonomy support in childhood and the academic achievements of students, mediated by intrinsic academic motivation, was confirmed. It has been shown that the controlling style is a predictor of external motivation and amotivation, which in turn are negatively related to intrinsic motivation.

Conclusion. Results of the study indicate the important role of parental practices, differentiated within self-determination theory for the students’ (de) motivation and academic performance. In particular, the importance of autonomy support and the negative contribution of parental control are shown at much later stages of socialization, the stage of emerging adulthood.

Background. Outpatient observation, general principles in the treatment of chronic tonsillitis do not lead to a decrease in the incidence of this pathology as well as of other diseases of related nosologies. It is necessary to study the quality of life, attitude to the disease, adherence to treatment of patients with chronic tonsillitis to improve the effectiveness of interaction in the “doctor-patient” tandem.

Objective. The aim is to study the parameters of quality of life, type of attitude towards the disease, adherence to treatment in patients with different forms of chronic tonsillitis.

Study Participants. A total of 229 patients with chronic tonsillitis (67 men, 162 women, aged 18 to 63 years, average age 31.68 years, standard deviation 0.23 years) participated in the study. Of these, 76 people had a compensated form (14 men, 62 women), 153 people had a decompensated form of chronic tonsillitis (53 men, 100 women).

Methods. WHO Brief Questionnaire for Assessing Quality of Life, the “Type of Attitude to Disease (TOBOL)” method, the Russian universal questionnaire for the quantitative assessment of adherence to treatment (KOP-25).

Results. Patients with decompensated chronic tonsillitis, which has more severe clinical manifestations, perceive the symptoms of the disease through withdrawal into work, which is manifested in partial ignoring of symptoms and the desire to continue active work. As a result, they have low adherence to treatment in most of its manifestations. In patients with compensated chronic tonsillitis, which is characterized by less severe clinical manifestations of the disease, denial of the disease prevails. However, they have a relatively high adherence to treatment in many of its manifestations. Quality of life indicators are significantly lower in them as compared to those in patients with a decompensated form.

Conclusions. Patients with compensated chronic tonsillitis are characterized by denial of the disease, and lower quality of life indicators. However, they show higher adherence to treatment. Patients with decompensated chronic tonsillitis are characterized by withdrawal from the disease to work, low adherence to treatment, and high quality of life indicators.

Practical application of the results. The obtained results make it possible to justify elaboration of programmes for the work of a medical psychologist with patients suffering from chronic tonsillitis, and to organize interaction depending on the form of the disease.

Background. Along with toys that society offers for children’s play, the values of this society are broadcast. Children’s play turns out to be dependent on the ideology, adults’ ideas about its structure, meaning and place in children’s life. The attitude towards toys reflects the attitude of adults towards children, and changes along with the socio-cultural situation. The study of this dynamics is necessary not only to expand scientific understanding of toys, but also to understand what contribution adults make to the construction of the phenomenon of childhood.

Objectives. The aim is to study the dynamics of attitudes towards toys during the period from the late 19th to early 21st centuries.

Study Material. The study used 110 sources, 85 of which made up the final list of references.

Methods. Theoretical analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature of the late 19th — early 21st centuries devoted to the theme of children’s toys was conducted.

Results. Two shifts in attitude to toys have been found due to changes in the socio–cultural situation in Russia. The first shift is associated with the revolution and the emergence of the USSR, and the second one with the Perestroika and collapse of the USSR. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a child was understood as a subject of play activity, independently creating toys in accordance with their play ideas. So, a toy is any object that is used in play, a good toy is a homemade toy. Choosing the right toys requires observation of a child’s play. With the emergence of the USSR, play became a way of pedagogical influence on a child. Toys were regarded as means of education and training. Therefore, they were to be chosen based on the goals of communism: by playing with them, the child became a Soviet citizen. Toys are understood as created by adults for children with good toys being aimed at the development of a Soviet citizen. With the collapse of the USSR, the pluralism of opinions in the field of play and toys is growing. The number of studies in this area is increasing and there is an understanding of the need to create an objective tool for assessment of toys.

Conclusions. The study shows the dynamics of the attitude of teachers and psychologists to a toy in conditions of changing socio-cultural situations.

Background. Despite the depth of theoretical analysis of play activity there is a lack of empirical data on the choice of toys by modern children. A toy is a means of constructing play and, therefore, can largely influence its key characteristics.

Objectives. The study is a continuation of an earlier series of works aimed at experimentally clarifying children’s toy preferences and the relationship of these preferences to individual developmental performance.

Study Participants. 202 children aged 4-5 years were participants in the study. Previously published data obtained on a sample of 3–4-year-old children were used to analyze the age dynamics in toy preference.

Methods. The study used an experimental design with a multiple-choice forcedchoice method. Diagnostics of children’s mental development included assessment of the main components of regulatory functions and the ability to understand emotions and was performed using instruments standardised on a Russian sample.

Results. It was shown that children prefer highly realistic and detailed toys. In particular, such factors as the toy being detailed, the possibility of its use in playing through familiar plots, the adequacy of role-playing actions with it and the possibility to endow it with human features proved to be fundamentally important for children.

Conclusions. From the distribution of choices in experimental trials and children’s verbal explanations, it can be confidently concluded that play activity is based on the laws described in the works of Vygotsky, Elkonin, and Smirnova. It is also shown that children who choose the most realistic toys have better verbal working memory, but have a weaker ability in cognitive flexibility. According to the obtained data, as children grow older, they tend to choose less anthropomorphic toys.

Background. Determining the types of professional performance in police officers through correlating the effectiveness and “cost” of activities and identifying the expression of professionally important qualities for each of them allows us to develop and implement programmes of psychological support for employees to preserve their professional health and longevity.

Objectives. The aim of the study is to identify the professionally important qualities of Arkhangelsk police officers with different types of job performance, recommended for a higher position.

Study Participants. The study involved 78 employees of the Arkhangelsk police department (56 males, 22 females) aged from 24 to 55 years.

Methods. The parameters of effectiveness and “cost” of the activity were assessed using questionnaires, instrumental methods and the M. Luscher colour test. Professionally important qualities were diagnosed with a battery of psychological testing methods recommended for use at police departments. Statistical methods included descriptive statistics, two-stage cluster analysis, χ2 for contingency tables and multivariate analysis of variance.

Results. Four types of professional performance have been identified in police officers: 1) high performance, 2) average efficiency while saving resources, 3) efficiency due to the “cost” of the activity, 4) reduced performance. It has been established that there are no statistically significant differences between police officers with different types of professional performance regarding age, work experience, and professional orientation.

Conclusions. Police officers with different types of professional performance differ in their attitude to work, cognitive and intellectual abilities, socio-psychological, emotional-volitional and leadership qualities.