Lomonosov Psychology Journal, 2025, 2, 304.

Background. The formal, shallow assimilation of school knowledge is studied in psychological and pedagogical science under different terms, each of which has a separate research area. Naive concepts, a “superficial” learning approach, functional illiteracy, the gap between knowledge and application — within the framework of this far from complete list, the same phenomenon of formalism is studied. In fact, overcoming the formalism is one of the key tasks of modern school education.

Objective. This paper compares different approaches to the analysis of the functional meaning of formalism mistakes, highlights the specifics of the activity approach to student mistakes, and describes the prospects for this approach.

Methods. In order to study the formalism of knowledge within the approaches, outlined above, functional analysis was applied as “the analysis of a mental phenomenon in relation to the performed socially-determined function”.

Results. The analysis shows that the errors of the formalism of school knowledge in most approaches are viewed negatively as something that must be avoided. However, from the point of view of the activity-based approach, the formalism mistakes are a necessary type of feedback for teachers and programme developers, pointing to specific areas of modification of the learning process, thus acting as one of the most important means of identifying key psychological and pedagogical conditions for the effective assimilation of new concepts.

Conclusions. Based on the work carried out, the need for further research of formalism within the framework of the activity approach is substantiated — an analysis of existing curricula from the perspective of which specific conditions for effective assimilation and development are supported in them and which are not. The theoretical significance of the proposed approach to the study of the formalism of knowledge is to highlight the prospects for the development of modern psychology of teaching.

Background. With the current course for development on a national scale, the demand for an active, self-determining personality is growing. In this regard, the issue of self-determination becomes not only a theoretical construct of interdisciplinary discourse, but also represents a very clear practical interest from the standpoint of devising educational practices that ensure the development of subjectivity.

Objective. This work aims at carrying out the primary empirical analysis of the psychosemantic space of self-determination. The main objective of the study is to identify and describe the factor structure of the psychosemantic space of perception of self-determination situations.

Study Participants. At the stage of testing the semantic differential, 300 students in humanities and science of Tyumen universities participated, including 230 women (76.6%) and 70 men (23.4%). The average age is 24.8 years.

Methods. A special version of the semantic differential with 25 unipolar evaluation features was used to assess self-determination situations.

Results. Four factors were identified. The first factor includes a set of variables that allow us to characterize the perception of self-determination positively and experience positive emotions and feelings. The second factor includes variables that characterize self-determination situations from the standpoint of situational analysis and rationality. The third factor as a set of variables indicates management of activity content within a given framework. The fourth factor is bipolar, including two variables: indifference and activity.

Conclusions. The identified factors can be interpreted within the context of V.A. Ganzen's system description principles. Moreover, the factor structure is comparable with the model of Ch. Osgood. Correlation with these models allows us to characterize the structural and functional aspects of self-determination.

Background. In recent decades, there has been a rapid increase in the importance of the Internet in adolescents' lives. However, data on the relationship between screen time duration and various risks of well-being are inconsistent. Therefore, further clarification of this relationship is needed, particularly in the context of specifying types of aggression.

Objective. The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between different types of adolescent aggression, including physical aggression, anger, hostility and the time they spend in front of screens.

Study Participants. The study involved 10,980 adolescents from 10 regions of the Russian Federation aged 15 to 18 years (M_age = 15.9 years; SD = ±0.92; 6,096 girls).

Methods. The level of adolescent aggression was assessed with the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ). Adolescents' internet activity was evaluated by analyzing their responses to the question "How much time do you spend on the Internet every day?" To analyze and process quantitative data we used descriptive statistics, crosstabs, correlation analysis and one-way analysis of variance (A posteriori comparisons were performed using the Student's t-test with the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons).

Results. The study found that adolescents' online activity is quite high. Additionally, one in six adolescents aged 15 to 18 years has a high propensity for physical aggression and anger, while one in seven has a tendency towards hostility. The results of the comparative analysis demonstrate a statistically significant correlation between aggression and online activity. It has been shown that adolescents with high levels of aggression manifestations spend significantly more time online as compared to those with low or medium levels.

Conclusions. The study established a correlation between teenagers' screen time and the severity of manifestation of various types of aggression. Based on this, there is a need to develop and implement strategies to help teens resist the negative effects of excessive screen time and reduce aggression, while promoting positive individual development.

Background. Applied for defensive justification of immoral actions, the mechanisms of moral disengagement (MD), on the one hand, provoke unethical behaviour, and on the other hand, prevent its direct correction. Thus, the study of the factors underlying these mechanisms is relevant from both theoretical and practical points of view.

Objective. The aim of the study is to identify cognitive and personal factors in the choice of MD strategies (loci).

Study Participants. The study involved 618 respondents aged 17 to 52 years (M = 23.08, SD = 6.32), including 450 women; 410 are students from various universities and specialties, 208 are employees of enterprises and organizations of various profiles.

Methods. Data were collected using valid questionnaires: Short Scale of Moral Disengagement, Dark Tetrad Short Questionnaire, Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy, and Short Form of the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire.

Results. It was found that the most preferred MD strategy is the locus of victim, and the least preferred one is the disregard (or distortion) of the behaviour consequences locus. The main personality predictors of MD are high values of psychopathy and Machiavellianism, as well as low empathy and a weak ability to recognize one’s own feelings. The contribution of personality traits is most significant for the integrative indicator of MD and its behavioral locus, and the least significant for the actor locus (situational justification of immoral acts). Distortion of the victim image is better predicted by the "dark" traits—psychopathy and Machiavellianism—than by low empathy and emotional intelligence. On the contrary, the distortion of the behaviour consequences is better predicted by cognitive empathy and worse by the expression of "dark" traits.

Conclusions. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that moral disengagement most often manifests itself through the defense mechanism of victim blaming, which is likely due to the greater cognitive ease of its formation. The contributions of personality traits, empathy, and emotional intelligence to different loci of MD vary in strength and quality. Thus, the behaviour locus is determined to a greater extent by personality characteristics, the actor locus by cognitive qualities, and the victim locus is determined by both personality and cognitive peculiarities. The discovered patterns can be useful in practical work with beliefs that justify immoral behaviour.

Background. AI algorithms have rapidly entered everyday life in the last few years, which caused the appearance of a large number of both texts and images generated by neural networks. Nevertheless, the perception of artificially generated images has not yet been studied. The relevance of the study is to observe the possibility of using artificially generated images to plan experiments in psychology of perception.

Objective. The study investigated the differences in visual search for various stimuli types: photographs and AI-generated images.

Study Participants. Thirty participants (21 females) between 18 and 43 years old (M = 21.29, SD = 5.18) took part in the study.

Methods. The study had an experimental design with two factors and two dependent variables. The subjects' task was to find the target stimulus among distractors; the stimulus material included images of objects generated using a neural network and photographs. The number of objects on the screen also varied. The accuracy of the subjects' responses and reaction time were measured.

Results. No differences in detection accuracy were found between photorealistic and AI-generated stimuli, nor were there any differences in reaction times.

Conclusions. It was shown that the type of stimulus (AI-generated or photorealistic) does not affect the speed and accuracy of finding them. The perspectives of this study are related to the possibilities of using artificially generated stimuli for planning experiments in cognitive psychology.

Background. The developmental potential of play in the context of mental development of preschool children is recognized by almost all specialists in the field. However, the lack of common understanding of play and the variety of proposed classifications of play types make them currently poorly comparable, complicating significantly further clarification of scientific data on the influence of specific aspects of play activity on the indicators of children's development.

Objective. The study was aimed at examining the preferences of preschool children in different age groups when choosing between role play toys and play figures, as well as the potential impact of the preferred type of play on the development of executive functions.

Study Participants. The study involved 180 children aged 4 to 7 years (M = 5.96 years; SD = 0.69).

Methods. Toy preferences for role-playing or directing play were revealed in an experimental paradigm using the forced-choice experimental paradigm. Executive functions were assessed with a set of neuropsychological tests.

Results. It was shown that 4-5-year-old children were significantly more likely to choose role play toys, and 6-7-year-old children chose to play figures. When controlling for gender and age, preference for play figures was significantly associated with higher visual-spatial working memory scores.

Conclusions. The developmental potential of directing play with figures can be seen as higher for the development of visual-spatial working memory as compared to the potential of the role-play.

Background. Displaced aggression is currently a common occurrence when a person is not able to respond directly to the offender, loosing temper at other uninvolved people. The Displaced Aggression Questionnaire was introduced as the first technique to assess differences in the severity of displaced aggression.

Objective. The study is aimed at adapting a questionnaire designed to measure the tendency towards displaced aggression.

Study Participants. The study involved 364 respondents aged from 18 to 69 years (M_age = 22; SD = 12.2; 243 women).

Methods. Three questionaries were used: the "Displaced Aggression Questionnaire" being adapted, the "BPAQ-24" questionnaire, which allows to measure three traits (anger, hostility, and physical aggression), and the "Vengeance and Forgiveness Questionnaire" ("The Vengeance scale") intended to measure characteristics of vengeance and forgiveness. For the psychometric properties of the adapted questionnaire, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, Cronbach's α coefficient, and Student's t-test are used.

Results. The Russian version of the Displaced Aggression Questionnaire includes three subscales. The scales "angry rumination" (Cronbach's α = 0.884) and "displaced aggression" (Cronbach's α = 0.909) have a structure, similar to the original structure of the questionnaire and include 10 items each. The "revenge planning" scale has a modified structure, including 6 items (Cronbach's α = 0.876). Correlation analysis revealed significant positive relationships of displaced aggression with anger and hostility. Gender differences were revealed: women are more prone to angry rumination and displaced aggression, while men are more prone to revenge planning.

Conclusions. Psychometric analysis supports the reliability-consistency and validity of the Russian version of the "Displaced Aggression Questionnaire". The instrument is recommended for application as a diagnostic tool for displaced aggression, angry rumination and revenge planning.

Background. The growing research interest in the phenomenon of conformity leads to the necessity of studying individual factors influencing its manifestation. These factors include, but are not limited to, personality dispositions. The current data on the relationship between personality characteristics and conformity remain contradictory.

Objective. The goal is to analyse the relationship between different types of self-reported conformity and personality dispositions as well as to validate the scale of moral conformity in the virtual environment.

Study Participants. The study involved 287 subjects aged 18 to 55 years (M = 24.2, SD = 9.3), 215 women and 72 men. 30 people from the sample (M = 19.1, SD = 2.77) took part in a retest to assess the test-retest reliability of the virtual moral conformity scale.

Methods. The following instruments were used in the study: Mehrabian and Stefl Conformity Scale; the author's scale of moral conformity in virtual environment; a series of 14 specially designed hypothetical scenarios containing conflict situations and suggesting two possible solutions (in favor of the individual or in favor of the group); short form of the Eysenck Personality Inventory; the Dirty Dozen questionnaire.

Results. A scale of moral conformity in a virtual environment was tested. A positive relationship was found between the indicators of self-reported conformity and the indicators of neuroticism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, psychoticism, and narcissism. However, when controlling for the narcissism indicator, the relationships between moral conformity in a virtual environment and neuroticism and Machiavellianism were insignificant; when controlling for the psychopathy indicator, the relationship between psychoticism and the tendency to choose antisocial conformist responses was insignificant. It was shown that there were significant relationships between all indicators of self-reported conformity, which gave grounds to assume the potential presence of a common latent factor of conformity. However, further analysis showed that the structural model of self-reported conformity without a common latent factor fits the data better than the model including the latent factor. This result suggests that different types of self-reported conformity may represent independent aspects of conformity behaviour rather than manifestations of a single, common trait.

Conclusions. The obtained results provide evidence for the existence of independent types of self-reported conformity and also confirm the presence of relationships between different indicators of self-reported conformity as well as the relationships between self-reported conformity and personality dispositions.

Background. Nuclear medicine is one of the innovative areas of healthcare. This area is associated mainly with the diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases, though its application is much wider. The use of nuclear medicine methods is promising, including in such areas as neurology and cardiology. The development of nuclear medicine requires not only the creation of a modern infrastructure in combination with expert-class equipment, but also the timely training of doctors whose competencies meet the requirements of the industry. At the same time, the duration and high cost of training for specialists in the field of nuclear medicine raises the issue of maintaining the professional health of the current staff and identifying conditions that prevent the development of burnout. One of the assumptions explaining susceptibility to professional deformations is the presence of a connection between the development of burnout symptoms and the personal characteristics of a specialist.

Objective. An empirical study is aimed at defining the role of personality factors that provoke the development of burnout or protect nuclear medicine physicians.

Study Participants. The study involved 122 employees of radiation diagnostics and radiation therapy departments of 23 institutions of the Russian Federation. A total of 122 respondents: 40 radiologists (33%), 19 radiologists (15%), 63 radiation therapists (52%), of which 35 were men (28.7%), and 87 were women (71.3%).

Methods. Autobiographical questionnaire, "Diagnostics of professional burnout" by K. Maslach, S. Jackson, adapted by N.E. Vodopyanova, E.S. Starchenkova, "Short portrait questionnaire of the Big Five" (B5-10) adapted by M.S. Egorova, O.V. Parshchikova, "Short questionnaire of the Dark Triad" adapted by M.S. Egorova, M.A. Sitnikova, O.V. Parshchikova.

Results. High friendliness and conscientiousness of doctors, their emotional stability are personal traits that protect them from burnout, while neuroticism, Machiavellianism, low benevolence and conscientiousness can be predictors of burnout. In addition, the expression of the "Extroversion" factor in physician-managers distinguishes them from ordinary doctors, while the reduction of personal achievements in the latter is significantly higher.

Conclusions. Timely monitoring of burnout symptoms among staff will allow identifying risk groups for the development of professional deformations, and information about the personal profiles of doctors will help preventively respond to negative symptoms and create a targeted program of psychological assistance to doctors.

Background. The issue of emotional burnout in medical professionals is sufficiently represented in modern psychology - first of all, due to the prevalence of the phenomenon, as well as the influence of the emotional state of a professional on his/her efficiency and the possibility of constructive interaction with a patient. However, the study of the factors of emotional burnout syndrome in oncologists is far from being exhausted. We believe that one of them is the peculiarities of attitude to death, which may have cross-cultural differences.

Objective. Comparative analysis of the relationship between the dominant type of attitude to death and the severity of emotional burnout in Uzbek and German medics.

Study Participants. The study involved 190 medical specialists from oncological institutions in Uzbekistan and Germany (M_age = 37.1; SD = 9.6; 73 women and 117 men), including 139 Uzbek doctors and 51 German doctors.

Methods. Two questionnaires adapted in Russian and German were used: the method of diagnosing professional burnout and the attitude to death questionnaire, as well as questionnaires to collect data on socio-demographic, professional, worldview (religiosity and specific religion) characteristics of the respondents.

Results. The majority of oncologists in both countries are experiencing symptoms of emotional burnout, with the highest rates observed in subscales of reduced professional achievement and emotional exhaustion. The level of emotional burnout among older doctors is lower in comparison with younger colleagues, regardless of the country. A high level of professionals' satisfaction with wages is accompanied by a decrease in the level of emotional burnout, regardless of the country. Uzbek doctors have a more pronounced burnout syndrome. Experts from both countries most often have a positive attitude towards death: approaching acceptance in Uzbekistan and neutral acceptance in Germany. A significant positive association of emotional burnout is observed with almost all types of attitudes towards death in a sample of doctors from Uzbekistan, while among doctors from Germany it is observed only with its approaching acceptance. Only neutral acceptance of death is associated with a low level of emotional burnout, and this is characteristic of medical oncologists in Uzbekistan, but not in Germany.

Conclusions. The type of attitude towards death can be considered one of the factors of emotional burnout of oncologists. A low level of emotional burnout is most likely determined by a neutral acceptance of death. The relationship between attitudes towards death and emotional burnout has cross-cultural differences that need further study.

Background. Shift work is quite common in different regions of Russia. This method of work is most often chosen by men. In the scientific literature, there are few investigations devoted to the study of couples or families with one of the spouses working on a shift basis. Interest in studying the coping behaviour of women whose husbands work on a shift basis is caused by scientific studies into the manifestation of stress in the families of shift workers.

Objective. The article focuses on identifying specifics of coping behaviour in women whose husbands work on a rotational basis.

Study Participants. The study involved 103 women with marital experience ranging from 5 to 10 years, including: 51 women whose husbands work on a rotational basis and 52 women living permanently with their spouses (control group).

Methods. The study of coping strategies is carried out with the Coping with Stress Questionnaire COPE. The Mann-Whitney U-test is used to process quantitative data.

Results. The results of the study revealed the specifics of coping with stress in women whose husbands work in shifts. They are characterized by the strategy "mental disengagement" to a greater extent as compared to the women who live with their spouses permanently. The presence of children in the families of shift workers also has a certain impact on the choice of coping strategies by women. Women with children have higher rates of productive strategies: "positive reinterpretation and personal growth", "acceptance" and "humor", it helps them cope with the stress of periodic separation from their husbands. In separation from their husbands, women without children are more likely to use the following strategies: "active coping", "denial", "religious coping" and "mental disengagement".

Conclusions. Taking into account two aspects in the course of the study (the mode of living with a spouse and the presence of children) made it possible to identify the specifics of coping behaviour of women whose husbands work in shifts. This will allow psychologists to better organize psychological assistance and support for families in this category.

Background. Examination stress is observed in the majority of students, which emphasizes the relevance of searching for psychological resources facilitating successful examination.

Objective. The study had its purpose to reveal the stress level of IT students as well as their universal and special regulatory resources for exam success.

Study Participants. The study involved 322 second-year students of a Moscow technical university specializing in information security (M_age = 19.22; SD = 4.64; 29% were female students).

Methods. The students completed 4 questionnaires on the "Testograph" platform (https://www.testograf.ru) shortly before the exam session: Self-Regulation Profile (SRP-2020), Brief Acute and Chronic Stress (BACS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Subjective and Objective Uncertainty Stress (SOUS) scale. The data processing also included the results of the examination session.

Results. The majority of IT students demonstrated an average level of all the studied types of stress when compared to the data from the all-Russian sample. Differences in student performance are mostly related to the level of acute stress experienced during exam preparation period and to the type of academic discipline.

Conscious self-regulation makes a significant positive contribution to examination success in the profile disciplines — mathematics and programming: the higher the level of its development is, the higher the examination grades are. Significant predictors of examination success are regulatory competencies of evaluating results and programming educational activities, as well as regulatory properties of reliability and persistence.

Conclusions. Conscious self-regulation is a universal regulatory resource for examination success for students in technical specialties. Acute stress experiences can influence exam performance both positively and negatively. The study has identified the regulatory competencies acting as special resources for examination success.