Theoretical studies

Relevance. Development and improvement of methodological tools to solve scientific and practical problems is an important issue in modern neuropsychology. This study examines consonant-vowel (СV) syllable test and word test, considers their different functional orientation and shows relevance of the dichotic listening task development. For the first time in Russian neuropsychology the authors developed the dichotic listening consonant-vowel syllables test taking into account the phonetic features of the Russian language.

Objective. Comparison of the equivalence of two dichotic listening tests: the word test that was first tested by B. S. Kotik and the two CV-syllable dichotic listening tests. 

Method. Two groups of respondents participated in the study. The first group of the participants (N = 88; M = 21.08; SD = 2.32) performed the word test and the first CV-syllable test. Participants of the second group (N = 44; M = 24.52; SD = 1.86) were presented with the word test and the second version of CV-syllable dichotic listening test. 

Results. The results confirmed the differences between the word test and the two CV-syllable dichotic listening tests. The differences and nonequivalence of the word test and the CV-syllable tests in laterality index (LI) and productivity coefficients (general productivity, right- and left-ear accuracy scores) are amplified as the stimulus material of CV-syllable dichotic listening is improved and modified. The increase of the load on working memory enhances right ear advantage (LI) and reduces performancewith an increase in the influence of working memory on the results of dichotic listening.

Conclusion. The study shows nonequivalence of the word test and the CV-syllable tests and their different functional orientation for the estimation of hemispheric specialization in audio-verbal domain.

The relevance of the article is due to the fact that the variety of research approaches and data obtained make it difficult to form a holistic picture of motherhood as a phenomenon of a woman's inner world. Scientific ideas about motherhood present a necessary basis for the formation of the demographic policy of the state, for the strengthening of family values in society and for the education of young people. 

The purpose of the article is to analyze and summarize modern studies concerning various aspects of the subjective picture of motherhood, to identify its main components, to comparatively analyze the determinants of the formation of a picture of motherhood, to describe the diversity in the ideas of motherhood.

 As a result of the analysis of Russian and foreign studies, the similarities and differences in the interpretations of many aspects of motherhood and the conditionality of the subjective picture of motherhood by a number of socio-cultural factors are described. The leading factors of readiness for motherhood, connection with childhood experiences, social ideas about motherhood, cultural and historical context of family life are reviewed. The article describes the woman's ideas about herself as a future mother, emphasizes the influence of relationships and emotional atmosphere in the parental family, the importance of identification with her own mother and her position in child-parent relationships. The peculiarities of accepting the role of the mother, the reasons for the deviations from the main role and conflicts of a woman as a result of the discrepancy between her behavior and the established (by society, others, family members, herself) role models are highlighted. Attention is payed to the results of empirical studies showing the possibility of harmonious coordination of a woman's maternal self-realization with other forms of self-realization. 

It is concluded that cultural traditions, the dominant value orientations in society, ideas about personal success, career, well-being have a significant impact on the subjective picture of motherhood but interpersonal relationships in a close social environment are of predominant importance. The subjective picture of motherhood can be viewed as part of a woman's attitude and worldview. It changes under the influence of life plans and circumstances, numerous external and internal factors. 

Acknowgements: The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 19-113-50583.

Relevance. The problem of homosexuality is constantly in the spotlight of the mass media, social media and politicians. Psychological studies of this phenomenon are easier to find in foreign rather than in Russian research. At the same time the cultural and national specificity of attitudes towards the phenomenon of homosexuality seems obvious as well as a significant polarization of opinions within society itself. This polarization can be gender, urban, class, and intergenerational, as evidenced by numerous sociological polls. With significant attention to this issue at the level of social strata, there are not many attempts to analyze the concept of homosexuality in line with the socio-psychological tradition.In a number of previous studies it was revealed that the modern Z Gen is distinguished by greater tolerance and freedom of views in terms of attitude towards traditionally segregated social groups. 

The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of homosexuality among different generations of modern Russians. Homosexuality has been singled out among other sexual orientations (LGBT) as the most discussed in public discourse. The subject of the research is social perceptions of homosexuality, particularly among representatives of different generations. 

Methods. The methodological basis of the research was the study of the structure of social perceptions (metho P. Vergesse method). The research methods were the author's questionnaire aimed at identifying perceptions of homosexuality as well as a modified version of the RAHI questionnaire (Gulevich et al., 2016). The study sample consisted of 444 people (residents of the Russian Federation,16 to 65 years old). 

Results and Conclusions. The hypotheses of the study were confirmed: an inverse relationship between age (belonging to a generational cohort) and perceptions of homosexuality as normative was revealed. A significant difference was shown in the Z Gen perceptions in terms of tolerance of homosexuality. The so-called double standards were identified in terms of attitudes towards male and female homosexuality. The rooted concept of homosexuality as a relationship based on a sexual rather than a romantic-spiritual level, was stated. 

Relevance. Historically formed scientific traditions, approaches, concepts (including those called the “competency-based approach” – the K-approach) are formed in certain social conditions to solve certain social problems, beyond them they discover their limitations. Identification of the possibilities and limitations of the K-approach contributes to both its development and the refinement of the conditions under which its implementation will be more constructive and effective. 

Methods: historical and theoretical analysis. 

Results. “Open questions” of the problem are highlighted: inconsistencies in the judgments of specialists in listing the qualities that determine the success of the subject; the number of competencies “necessary and sufficient”; non-realization of holistic, integrated approach; the place of competencies in the structure of professionalism, their role in career success and professional longevity of people; the issue of “universal” / “specific competencies”; the question about the place of the phenomenon of “competence” and the K-approach in the system of psychological knowledge; the question about the validity of the methods and the measure of the predictive value of the estimates. 

Conclusions. The interpretation of competencies and the K-approach proposed by specialists are unsatisfactory and poorly coordinated with each other. The K-approach and the established earlier approach of professionally important qualities (PVC-approach) are historically transient scientific concepts (falling into the scale of “small theories”). Both approaches have their own limitations as well as opportunities for development and integration with others. The PVC approach is characterized by an initial extremely broad statement of tasks; the K-approach – by the pragmatism of the original goals and objectives, empiricism in assessing the qualities of the subject. It is possible and necessary to search and find areas of their mutual complementarity, taking into account their ultimate goals and conditions of formation. Ignoring the merits and limitations of any scientific approach is not the best solution. The transition to an open discussion of all complex issues is in demand. 

Relevance. The ability of children with hearing impairments to recognize and determine their own conditions and those around them, to build adequate forecasts determines the success in socializing, in their interaction with others, both adults and peers, and in establishing relationships with them, which determines the relevance of the study.

The objective of the study is to determine the specifics of the relationship between the processes of identifying mental states, predicting and criteria for the success of interaction between children and other people measured by communication skills and emotional well-being / distress. 

The following methods were used: "Emotional faces" (N.Y. Semago), "Ugadayka" (L.I. Peresleni and V.L. Podobed), "Methodology for determining the level of development of the communicative abilities of preschool children" (N.E. Veraksa), “Scale of emotional distress and atypical behavior” (A.M. Kazmin, N.A. Konovko, O.G. Salnikova, E.K. Tupitsina, E.V. Fedina). 

Sample. The study involved 15 preschoolers with hearing impairment , 100 preschoolers without hearing impairment, 16 children of primary school age with hearing impairment, and 40 - without hearing impairment. 

Results. It was found that the processes of predicting and identifying mental states are interrelated; the relationship is mediated by other variables (emotional well-being, communication skills), the structure of the relationship is deteriorating with age in children with and without hearing impairments. 

The following conclusions were drawn: the structure of prognosis for children with normotypical development and hearing impairment has a general tendency in dynamics ( secondary variables fallout) and specific signs, manifested in the level of complexity and completeness of the structure; having a common foundation (subjective experience) identification and forecasting processes are interconnected only in preschool age; with time their relationship is mediated by additional variables (emotional well-being and communication skills); children with hearing impairments have a less complex structure of the relationship between predicting and identifying mental states against emotional well-being and communication skills. 

Relevance. Underachieving schoolchildren are characterized by underdevelopment of higher mental functions (HMF) as compared to well-performing pupils. At the same time, there is a lack of explicit data on which dysfunctions are the most specific to underachievers.

It is unknown how much particular neurocognitive dysfunctions affect school performance and what are the possibilities to compensate for isolated defects. 

Objectives. To identify the predictors of poor academic performance in school and to evaluate capabilities for children with certain neurocognitive dysfunctions for better progress at school. 

Method. The neuropsychological examination was used to evaluate the characteristics of neurocognitive development. Four daily routine activities, fourteen HMF, and the overall level of neurocognitive development were assessed. The index of isolation-multiplicity of neurocognitive dysfunctions was calculated. To evaluate academic performance (average grade for all disciplines) interviews with pupils and their parents were conducted, school exercise-books and assignment books were thoroughly studied. The study involved 427 children (292 boys and 135 girls) aged from 6 to 17 years, (11.7 ± 3).

Results. The results of neuropsychological diagnostics explain 24% variance in the academic performance in school grades 1–4 and 18% variance in grades 5-11. Underachievement is predominantly related to the reduction in thinking, attention, audio-verbal memory, and overall level of neurocognitive development. Time orientation turns out to be more reduced than other everyday functions in underachievers. Certain mental functions in underperforming elementary school pupils can spontaneously improve through education. Isolated neurocognitive dysfunctions (up to 3) do not result in poor school performance.

Conclusion. Thinking, attention, and audio-verbal memory dysfunctions against the background of the low overall level of neurocognitive development are most specific to underachieving schoolchildren. Under-development of attention is the most significant predictor of poor school performance in 1–4 school grades, low level of thinking – in 5–11 grades. Isolated neurocognitive dysfunctions (up to 3) that can be compensated for have no negative impact on educational performance. 

Relevance. It can still be seen in contemporary studies that the difficulties of problem children are explored in an isolated manner, without any connection to the research on social-psychological practices of aid and correction. 

The goal of the article is to integrate the approaches aimed at understanding a problem child with main organizational practices of medical, psychological and pedagogical help. The phenomenon of a problem child is being looked at in the context of developing a project-oriented approach in cultural-historical psychology. 

Methods. The article uses the method of analyzing historically formed views on understanding a difficult child together with studying major views on organizing and structuring practical medical, psychological and educational help. The research was aimed at finding common features both in studies on different groups of problem children and that of different types of practices. 

Results and conclusions. In the course of the historical-analytical study the authors highlighted main principles in structuring the rehabilitation of problem children and adolescents, showed the directions of the latest research. These principles are described as social structures and may serve as basis for designing and later constructing required social-psychological and therapeutically-developing environments for problem children. These social structures are actively involved in shaping the child’s mental organization. They are expressed in the external social relations which can be described and later organized in a particular way to help a child to overcome the existing difficulties. These social relations can be described on different levels: microsocial (interpersonal relations) and macrosocial (different social groups and stratas, subcultures, mass social processes in the society). It allows to integrate the existing research in a cross-disciplinary field. In such systematic studies, one language can be used to describe difficulties of problem children as well as therapeutic environments most suitable for their correction. Thus, it opens up a new possibility to elaborate on project-oriented approach constructed on the basis of cultural-historical psychology.

The subject of this publication is the psychological analysis of the system of pedagogical correction (therapeutic pedagogy) developed by the famous Russian educator Vsevolod Petrovich Kashchenko, specialist in the field of education of difficult children. The author concentrates on some data of V.P. Kashchenko's scientific biography that are directly related to the opening of a unique medical and pedagogical institution in 1908 – a sanatorium-school for disabled children. It led to the emergence of a network of special institutions for children with developmental disabilities in the years to follow, especially in the Soviet period. 

The article analyzes the terms used by V.P. Kashchenko: “defective child”, “difficult child”, “special childhood”. The concept of “difficult child” was introduced by V.P. Kashchenko to denote a group of children with marked behavioral disorders and character traits that disrupt their successful socialization, and in particular cause problems in learning the curriculum, and often lead to asocial behavior in school years. Subsequently, the meaning of this term changed, but now it is used in a sense close to how it was regarded by V.P. Kashchenko. 

Methods. General characteristics of V.P. Kashchenko’s effective and practically proven system of education for children with behavioral disorders are given. An attempt is made to identify the psychological foundations of V.P. Kashchenko's pedagogical correction. The main principle is social conditioning of children's exclusivity, in particular difficult character traits, that are corrected by the complex system of methods developed by V.P. Kashchenko. The psychological analysis of V.P. Kashchenko's pedagogical system is based on the ideas of Russian scientists on the unity of education and development, the commonality of the laws of mental development of normal children and those with developmental disorders. 

Results. It is concluded that it is reasonable to refer to V.P. Kashchenko’s scientific heritage as a source of psychological and pedagogical information in the field of raising children with developmental disorders.

The article is dedicated to V.P. Kashchenko 150th anniversary celebrated this year. 

Relevance of current research is determined by insufficient focus on the prevention of deviant economic socialization in children and adolescents in the conditions of high uncertainty of socio-economic prospects for Russian society and high risks of economic shocks. 

Objective. To justify the importance of prevention of deviant economic identity at the stage of formation of the "economic ethos of culture" in the senior preschool age and the subsequent "technological ethos of culture" in primary school age and adolescence and to determine the main directions of prevention.

Method. Theoretical and methodological analysis, comparative and critical analysis, as means of clarifying the concept of "deviant economic identity" and defining its place in the context of such close concepts as "economic socialization," "economic deviance," "professional identity" etc.. 

Results. The concept of “deviant economic identity” is clarified. It is understood as the association of a person not only with a given economic activity or specific professionals (as role models to follow), but also with values and ideological positions underlying such activities. The "paradoxicality" of deviance can be a discrepancy between the norms of a particular society and general cultural norms, as well as the discrepancy between the generally accepted ideas about deviance and ideas about the deviance by the particular individual or group (at the level of families, collectives), which often provokes an identity crisis.

Conclusions. Psychological and educational work with children and adolescents in order to prevent deviant economic identity is especially important because of the susceptibility of this age to socially dubious variants of economic relations and weak propaganda of worthy examples of economic behavior in the society. The article highlights the psychological and pedagogical conditions for the emergence, development and prevention of deviant economic identity in children and adolescents, which can be used in the psychological practice, associated not only with an orientation towards established values, but also with the culture (method) of the search for these values.

Relevance. Specialists providing psychological assistance to children with developmental disorders use programs based on different determination models. Each model and the resulting technology solves a well-defined range of problems and has limitations. The content of the models, as a rule, is not reflected, which reduces their efficiency. 

Purpose of the work is to compare the models determining the development of the psyche and behavior as the basis for constructing programs of psychological assistance to children with special needs. 

Method. Theoretical critical analysis and synthesis of literature on the research problem. 

Results. The contents of determination models of the development of the psyche and behavior (classical, neo-classical, post-neo-classical) are compared according to 4 characteristics. The types of determination factors and psychological assistance programs for children with developmental disorders are analyzed. A comparative analysis of psychological assistance programs and deterministic models on the basis of which they are built is carried out. The limitations of the models when using them to build developing programs are highlighted and described. It is shown how groups of factors under study are taken into account in the content of training programs. The limitations of models are highlighted and described. An innovative technology and algorithm for studying the system of determination influences in the framework of the post-neo-classical model of the private level for their use in research and practice of helping difficult children is proposed. 

Conclusions. Determination models can be practically reviewed as clarifying and complementing each other. Understanding the possibilities and limitations of intervention technologies developed on the basis of different models expands the possibilities of providing psychological assistance to children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. 

The groups of external factors that determine the indicators of the development of "difficult" children do not fundamentally differ from those of normo-typical children.

Groups of internal factors related to the indicators of the viability of a child and adolescent with developmental disabilities can act as learning goals in the construction of programs for psychological and pedagogical assistance to difficult children.

The analysis of psychological assistance programs for children with special needs has shown that they are based on classical and neo-classical models and have both strengths and limitations due to the concepts of the systemic nature of the human psyche embedded in the models.

The relevance of the article is explained by crisis nature of modern childhood and the risks of informational socialization, reflected in loss of value in becoming mature, the loss of the leading role of education, and the growth of deviant behavior in children and adolescents. Social anomie and cultural deprivation create a diverse information environment that poses the risks of promoting the cult of violence, cruelty, extremism, suicidal behavior, involving children and adolescents in the consumption of psychoactive substances, the formation of Internet addiction and computer gaming addiction.

The purposeof the article is to analyze risk management capabilities of information socialization as a manifestation of a childhood crisis. 

Methods – theoretical and comparative analysis, generalization. 

The results.The risks of information socialization associated with a low level of information security are highlighted. Significant age-related psychological characteristics of the child are identified and analyzed. These characteristics determine the effect of the psychological impact of information products on the development of the child. They are specified for preschool, primary school age, younger and older adolescents. A comparative analysis of the features of cognitive activity and mental development is presented: the degree of vulnerability of the child to the effects of harmful content; preservation of psychological well-being; readiness to imitate the social patterns of behavior presented on the Internet. The tasks to ensure informational security of children and adolescents have been specified.

Conclusions. Accounting for age-related psychological characteristics will allow to create an effective risk management system for informational socialization of children. Such a system includes the tasks of the age classification of information products and building the developing content of the information environment. The creation of interdisciplinary science of social ecology of childhood will make it possible to make significant progress in overcoming the crisis of modern childhood. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Relevance. Research into the factors determining attraction between people is the most generally accepted paradigm in modern social psychology. The principal innovation of this study is its differentiation of the factor of the similarity of attitudes (both positive and negative), which was not introduced in previous works, either theoretical or empirical. At the same time, it seems apparent that “similarity of attitudes” is too global a characterization and requires further discrimination. Distinguishing between positive and negative attitudes makes obvious empirical sense: To what extent is similarity in some negative attitudes more important than in positive ones?

Objective. To determine the impact of coinciding negative and positive attitudes on attraction to strangers in women.

Methods. The study involved two stages. The sample at the first stage comprised 162 women, at the second there were 47; the average age of the participants was 19 years. The main methodological technique was a modified version of D. Byrne’s “fake stranger”. Statistical processing of the data included one-way analysis of variance and subsequent assessment of the significance of the differences in the dynamics of the attraction obtained by introducing additional information in the form of positive and negative attitudes corresponding to respondents' own attitudes.

Results. The introduction of additional information about attitudes that coincide with those of the respondent had a significant impact on attraction. The differences between the coincidence of the so-called positive and negative attitudes were analyzed. The authors propose a number of interpretations of the results in line with concepts relevant to modern socio-psychological science, relating to various theoretical orientations (psychoanalysis, cognitivism, interactionism, etc.).

Conclusion. In the case of coinciding negative attitudes, the increase of the resulting attraction to the object is more significant than in the case of coinciding positive attitudes.