Empirical studies

Background. The network principle of brain realization of cognitive phenomena assumes the self-organization of distributed neuronal elements into a network for processing information demanded by the organism at a given moment. Cerebral networks that are formed during rest and are associated with spontaneous associative flows are of particular interest. One of the key structures of resting-state networks is the hippocampus.

Objective. The aim of this research was to investigate spontaneous associative flows at rest in the context of left or right-sided compression of the hippocampal area.

Study Participants. The research involved 16 patients with benign meningiomas that mildly compress the medio-basal regions of the temporal lobe in the area of the hippocampus. The mean age was 47.5 years (SD = 8.3; 12 females; all participants were right-handed). One group comprised 9 patients diagnosed with left-sided tumor location (referred to as “grLS”), while the other group included 7 patients with right-sided tumor location (“grRS”). The groups were comparable in terms of morphometric characteristics of the tumors, degree of hemisphere compression, and socio-demographic factors.

Methods. The study consisted of two sessions at rest, each lasting 3 minutes. Prior to each session, the patient listened to a voice record of a modulating instruction. Immediately after the session, the patient gave a spontaneous narrative and a structured interview about spontaneous associations during rest. The entire conversation was recorded and subsequently transcribed into text format.

Results. Spontaneous associative flows had lateral specificity. In cases of left hemisphere compression, spontaneous thoughts, emotions, and memories were typically linked to the awareness of the moment of their formation, associated with specific events, and had a conscious border with fantasy plots. With right hemisphere compression, the flow was less controllable, associations were related to generalized memories, in which one’s own experience was mixed with information from any other sources and fantasy elements, and transitions had no boundaries. In the left hemisphere group (grLS), associations were predominantly visual and verbal in nature, whereas in the right hemisphere group (grRS), polymodal flows were recorded.

Conclusions. When the right hemisphere is compressed, the flow of associations is poorly controlled, transitions between real and fantasy elements have no boundaries, being combined in the same plot. When the left hemisphere is compressed, memories, as a rule, are tied to specific episodes of one’s own experience, the arbitrariness component is more pronounced in them, and the flow elements have conscious boundaries.

Background. Digital transformations have significantly changed the everyday life of modern man, which has determined the ever-increasing attention of society and researchers to the role of digital technologies in the psychological well-being of an individual, various groups, and entire generations, primarily young people — the most active Internet users.

Objectives. The paper examines the role of access to technology, user activity, attitudes towards technology, digital competence, self-management of digital tools and resilience in life satisfaction in the virtual and real worlds among young people.

Study Participants. The sample comprised 368 respondents aged between 18 and 39 years old (M = 23.6 ± 4.9 years), of whom 66.6% were female.

Methods. The following methods were used: Digital Competence Index (screening), Self-Management of Digital Everyday Life, Attitudes towards technology, Psychological Hardiness Scale (screening), Satisfaction with Life Scale and its modification for virtual life, as well as self-assessment of user activity and satisfaction with access to technology. Data were processed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, regression analysis, and mediation analysis.

Results. Satisfaction with life in the real world is strongly related to satisfaction with digital life. At the same time, satisfaction with life in both the real and virtual worlds is moderately associated with digital device management, satisfaction with access to technology, technophilia and techno-rationalism, and weakly associated with digital competence. Satisfaction with life in the real world is also weakly associated with technopessimism. Predictors of satisfaction with online life were digital device management, technopessimism and satisfaction with real life. Predictors of satisfaction with real life included digital life involvement and satisfaction, as well as user activity, satisfaction with access to digital technology and technopessimism. The results are refined based on mediation analysis.

Conclusions. Life satisfaction among young people in the virtual and real worlds are interrelated, providing further evidence of the convergence of these worlds within a single individual’s experience of a mixed online-offline reality. At the same time, the specificity of predictors of life satisfaction shows the need for a comprehensive analysis of psychological well-being in digital and real life spaces.

Background. The study of psychological resources for academic achievement and subjective well-being in students is a significant area in educational sciences. This article presents the results of an empirical study in which conscious self-regulation, teaching quality subjectively assessed by students, and school engagement are considered as such resources.

Objective. The goal of this study was to reveal the influence of these phenomena on the subjective well-being and academic achievement of students, and to establish indirect and mediating effects of this influence.

Study Participants. The study involved adolescent students (N = 559, 53% girls, average age 12.96, standard deviation 0.91).

Methods. The instruments included: Morosanova’s “Self-Regulation Profile of Learning Activity Questionnaire” (Morosanova, Bondarenko, 2017); E. Irving’s questionnaire for assessing teaching quality adapted by Lunkina et al. (2023); “Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale” (O.A. Sychev et al., 2018). Academic performance was assessed by the average grade in the main subjects for the previous academic term.

Results. It has been shown that teaching quality, school engagement, and conscious self-regulation are significantly associated with student well-being and academic success. School engagement is a significant predictor to both academic performance and satisfaction with school; psychological support and self-regulation make a significant direct contribution into students’ well-being. Application of the methods of structural modelling revealed that teacher’s psychological support more effectively influences student engagement when mediated by conscious selfregulation: the higher the development of mindful self-regulation, the greater the positive impact on academic performance, well-being, and school engagement. The contributions of self-regulation and perceived psychological support are roughly comparable, while the contribution of school engagement is more substantial. The age of the students is a significant moderating factor.

Conclusions. The results are discussed in the context of developing effective strategies to improve the quality of education, maintain the subjective well-being, and engage modern school students. Subjectively assessed psychological support from teachers acts as both a direct positive predictor of school subjective well-being and indirectly influences it through self-regulation and engagement. Results have been obtained substantiating the meta-resource role of mindful self-regulation in determining academic achievement and well-being of students.

Background. Professional career is an actively evolving socio-psychological phenomenon, which has been studied since the middle of the 20th century as a permanently relevant scientific and scientific-practical issue of high importance for an individual, organization, and state. In established scientific approaches, the phase of a person’s active career is often the subject of research. In the practice of career-oriented work with young people, active learning methods are widely used, though the socio-demographic characteristics of students, which are prerequisites for the formation of their career trajectories, are not taken into account.

Objective. The research is aimed at studying professional career as a phenomenon and the features of its conceptual explications as a subject of research.

Study Participants. 603 people aged 30–50 (61 private security guards, 142 nurses, 89 correspondence students of a technical university and 58 students of a humanitarian university, 36 university teachers, 121 civil servants, 96 teachers) took part in the research.

Methods. Historical and theoretical analysis, empirical research (author’s methodology — questionnaire “Dynamics of professional life style”) were applied.

Results. The analysis of the survey data showed the links between career success (“vertical career”) and a number of socio-demographic characteristics of people (their parents’ positions and education, place of birth and place of residence, birth and upbringing in a complete or incomplete family, self-realization in the family sphere: status and length of marriage, number of children, experience in management). Probably, the value orientations and motives for a person’s choice of different professional spheres (with “high” and “flat” hierarchy) and the career success are associated with the above characteristics.

Conclusions. The content of the life activity space-time in representatives of different professional spheres (the level of the position held and the education of parents, the position/education ratio, reflecting the social activity and managerial potential of parents; the relationship of the place of residence to the place of birth as the measure of geographical and social mobility; birth and upbringing in a complete or incomplete family; the completeness of a person’s self-realization in the family sphere; the ratio of age, length of service and length of management experience) shows the stability of the combination of socio-demographic and official characteristics for the subjects of each professional sample, probably determine their value orientations and motives for choosing a field of activity and success in it.

Background. There are very few modern studies on the psychology of the actor and they are mainly based on the study of individual personality traits of actors. The current article discusses L.S. Vygotsky’s approach to the psychology of the actor and presents the results of a comprehensive study of the personal characteristics of student actors. Peculiarities of professional activity and the modern socio-cultural situation was taken into account in the interpretation.

Objectives. The research is a complex analysis of personal characteristics of actors during the early stage of mastering their professional activity.

Study Participants. The study involved second and third year students of the acting faculty of the Institute of Contemporary Art (Moscow); a total of 76 people (39 girls, 37 boys), with an average age of 20.2 years.

Methods. R.B. Cattell 16 PF personality questionnaire, Eysenck EPI personality questionnaire adapted by A.G. Shmelev, short Big Five portrait questionnaire “B5-10” (authors M.S. Egorova and O.V. Parshikova), short Dark Triad questionnaire (adapted by M.S. Egorova, M.A. Sitnikova, O.V. Parshikova), A.A. Megrabyan empathy questionnaire, and the integral indicator “expert assessment of abilities” were used in the study.

Results. As a result of a factor analysis of the respondents’ indicators for all the methods used, the following 10 factors describing 69.9% of the total cumulative dispersion were identified: F1 “emotional excitability, plasticity”, F2 “sensitivity to moral constraints”, F3 “empathy”, F4 “openness to experience, trying oneself out”, F5 “publicity”, F6 “frankness, sincerity”, F7 “emotional joining the group”, F8 “insightfulness”, F9 “individualism”, F10 “free-thinking”. The identified factors are interpreted as specific personal formations involved in the realisation of acting.

Conclusions. The personal characteristics discovered in the study are considered from the point of view of the content and organisation of the actors’ training process. They can act as an alternative to the traditional approach aimed at the development of actors’ individual mental functions. Consideration of specific psychological vectors of personal development of student-actors as a basis for the proposed in training etudes and exercises shifts the focus of training on the image of character as a semantic unit of psychotechnical training.

Background. The term “family pain” is used in family system psychotherapy to refer to the emotional state of members in a dysfunctional family. Despite the widespread use of this term in practical psychology, the structure of the phenomenon of “family pain” has not yet been described and introduced into clinical and family psychology. This study provides a scientific substantiation of the psychological construct “family pain” in the etiology and functioning of codependent behaviour based on the cultural-historical approach of L.S. Vygotsky.

Objectives. The aim is to characterize the concept of experiencing “family pain” based on a cultural-historical approach, and also to analyse the characteristics of experiencing “family pain” among people whose parents were alcoholics.

Study Participants. The sample included adults who were conditionally mentally healthy (N=52; 11 men and 41 women; Mage=24.5 years, SD=4.4), who grew up in alcoholic families and regularly attended the 12-step rehabilitation programme “Adult Children of Alcoholics”.

Methods. A phenomenological analysis of the motives for people applying to the 12-step rehabilitation programme “Adult children of alcoholics”.

Results. Individuals who grew up in alcoholic families describe “family pain” as a constant experience that accompanies them throughout their lives, due to traumatic childhood experiences in the past. Six motives for applying to the self-help rehabilitation programme “Adult Children of Alcoholics” for people who grew up in alcoholic families and experienced “family pain” were identified. They included: to overcome difficulties in communication, to cope with the death of parents, to find support and approval, to find people with similar experiences, to justify one’s own failures through the illness of a parent, to cope with current negative states connected to childhood experiences. It has been shown that attending rehabilitation programmes can both help a person to cope with the experience of “family pain” and strengthen fixation on the negative experiences of childhood.

Conclusions. The process of experiencing a common family problem by people whose parents were alcoholics can be presented and described as a special systemic psychological construct “family pain”.

Background. Vygotsky’s idea of the affect and intellect unity continues to be developed empirically. Much attention is paid to the child’s emotional development, which affects social and academic effectiveness. Knowledge regarding the relationship between language and emotional development within the social situation helps to better understand the developmental characteristics of preschool children in general and create the necessary corrective programs.

Objectives. The aim is to study the characteristics of the relationship between language and emotional development (based on the general and emotional vocabulary size) and the level of emotion understanding at preschool age.

Study Participants. The study involved 341 children aged 57 to 90 months (M = 75.42 months; SD = 7.65 months). 170 children were from the senior groups of the preschool educational institution (M = 69.09 months; SD = 4.4 months), and 171 children were from the preparatory groups of the preschool educational institution (M = 81.67 months; SD = 4.2 months).

Methods. To assess the general vocabulary size the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was used. To assess the volume of active and passive emotional vocabulary, the Roepstorff “Emotional Vocabulary” test was used. To assess ability to understand emotions in preschoolers, F. Pons’s “Test for Emotions Comprehension” method was used.

Results. It was found that age is significantly associated with indicators of general and emotional vocabulary size, as well as with the understanding of emotions in all identified aspects. Different levels of emotion understanding have different relationships with vocabulary, both general and emotional. An important result is the identification of the significance of the contribution of active rather than passive emotional vocabulary to emotion understanding, suggesting a significant role of verbalisation of the emotional state, helping preschoolers to better understand emotion.

Conclusions. The study showed that language development influenced the understanding of emotions in preschool age. At the same time, with age there is an increase in the size of children’s general and emotional vocabulary, as well as their ability to understand emotions.

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. A comparative analysis of the personal characteristics, coping behaviour, and resilience of students who left the line of contact and students living on the territory bordering zone of special military operation is the theoretical basis for the justification of the programme for psychological support for refugees from the combat zone, as well as the population living on the line of fight contact.

Objectives. The study aims to compare the personal characteristics of students who left the line of fight contact and students living on the territory bordering the SMO zone.

Study Participants. First-year students of the Pedagogical Institute of the Belgorod State National Research University (n = 81) aged 18 to 20 years took part in the study. Of these, 40 students left the line of contact and 41 students were living on the territory bordering the SMO zone.

Methods. To study the coping strategy of behaviour, we used the test “Overcoming difficult life situations” (by V. Janke and G. Erdmann in the adaptation of N.E. Vodopyanova). R. Kettell’s 16-factor personality questionnaire was used to determine personal characteristics. The resilience of the subjects was studied using the resilience test (by S. Muddy in the adaptation of D.A. Leontiev and E.I.Rasskazova).

Results. It is proved that students living on the territory bordering on the zone of SMO have a higher level of resilience. Their involvement in the ongoing life events, the desire to actively act, acquire new skills and experience, increase their self-confidence and contribute to the formation of pleasure from their own activities, in contrast to the students who left the fight zone and are more likely to show self-doubt, distrust of the world, anxiety, irritability, a sense of helplessness and unproductive coping strategies.

Conclusions. The study identifies distinctive features in the personal qualities, coping behaviour and resilience of students who left the fightline and students living on the territory bordering the SMO zone. Students who left the combat zone are less resilient, more often use unproductive coping strategies, are more intellectual, anxious, irritable and tense, and more often show leadership potential, compared to the students who live in the territory bordering the combat contact line. The results obtained were taken into account when developing the “Resilient Personality” training; they form the basis of the programme for psychological support for refugees from the combat zone, as well as the population living in the territory bordering the SMO zone.

Background. Modern psychology of parenting offers various phenomena for study, including parental relations, parental attitudes, and parenting practices. The study of parental attitudes enables us to describe the cognitive aspect of the family environment in which the child develops. Previous studies have found a significant association between parental attitudes and the cognitive and socio-emotional development of children. However, their results are ambiguous and require further clarification.

Objectives. The aim of this study is to analyze the connection between parental attitudes regarding the necessity of structuring the environment or supporting the child’s spontaneous activity, and the indicators of the child’s cognitive and socio-emotional development. In addition, the study examines the presence of confrontation between parents regarding the characteristics of upbringing and fostering.

Methods. We developed three groups of statements to identify parental attitudes: 1) statements about the organization of the child’s life; 2) statements about the role of play activities; 3) statements about confrontational attitudes within the family. Indicators of children’s cognitive development were identified using J. Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices and subtests of the NEPSY-II method. Social-emotional features were identified with the “Test for Understanding Emotions”.

Results. Most parents consider a structured environment to be more important for the well-being of their child. In addition, research has shown that attitudes towards the positive impact of a structured environment are a strong predictor of a child’s nonverbal intelligence. Similarly, attitudes towards the importance of spontaneous activity are predictors of auditory-verbal memory and the ability to switch tasks efficiently. Parental attitudes did not show any associations with the socio-emotional development of children.

Conclusions. Parental attitudes play a significant role in child development. The belief in the need to structure the child’s environment may have positive effects on the child’s cognitive development. However, it does not affect social-emotional development. On the other hand, the belief in the need for spontaneous activity is more likely to be associated with lower levels of executive functioning in the child.

Background. Psychological well-being ensures the positive functioning of theartist’s personality, which includes internal (subjective) and external (objective) factors. The dynamism of the art market, instability of demand and orders, displacement of individuality by mass art lead to emotional tension, increased anxiety and, as a consequence, to a decrease in the level of well-being and to the growth of psychological insecurity of artists. Psychosemantic space reflects social representations that reveal the most significant and prioritised sources of maintaining an optimal level of psychological well-being for artists.

Objectives. The aim of the study was to identify and describe meaning groups of sources of psychological well-being of artists.

Study Participants. The research participants were 57 people aged 19 to 60. Data processing was carried out by content analysis. The criterion for selecting the sample was the profile education obtained in a specialized secondary or higher education institution.

Methods. A survey with an open type of questions about well-being among artists was conducted. Data processing was carried out by content analysis and by the method of condensation of meaning.

Results. The most frequently occurring semantic groups of factors of psychological well-being are identified. External factors of psychological well-being of artists include environment, relationships, quality of life and educational environment. The internal factors of artists’ psychological well-being include: health and self-perception.

Conclusions. The selected semantic groups are reflections of emotional, communicative and behavioral components of external and internal sources of psychological well-being of artist. They determine the psychosemantic space of the studied phenomenon.

Practical application of the results. The findings give rise to the study of social representations of artists’ psychological well-being. These results can be used by artists to optimize their current state; by psychologists and teachers to develop psycho-corrective and psycho-prophylactic programmes aimed to increase the level of well-being through the actualization of artists’ personal resources.

Background. Person’s civil and ethnic identity, which are components of social identity, develop during socialization under the influence of a number of factors. J. Berry identifies cultural, political, economic and historical factors as the basis for identity formation. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the study of the role of the cultural factor, namely the structure of values, in the formation of a positive civic and ethnic identity of Russians.

Objectives. The purpose of this work is to study the structure of the ethnic and civic identity of Russians as well as the influence of individual values on their formation.

Study Participants. The study was conducted with the participation of 1014 respondents, ethnic Russians, aged from 19 to 83 years (Mage = 41 years; SD = 13.04; 527 women and 487 men).

Methods. J. Finney’s MEIM-R methods were used to measure ethnic identity. S. Schwartz’s PVQ-R value structure questionnaire was also applied. Civic identity was measured using the methodology from the International Social Survey Program, adapted into Russian by L.K. Grigoryan.

Results. It was found that the civic identity of Russians as the individual’s awareness of belonging to the citizens of the country is more pronounced than ethnic identity. Nationalism is expressed more than the ideology of patriotism. The affective component of ethnic identity is more pronounced than the cognitive one. Among the surveyed respondents, the values of independence, security, reputation and benevolence prevail. The values of security, benevolence and universalism increase the level of civic identity in Russians. The key positive regressor in relation to both civic and ethnic identity is the value “Tradition”.

Conclusions. Socially oriented values (preservation and self-overcoming) have a positive impact on the formation of positive civic and ethnic identity of Russians. The values of personal orientation (openness to change and self-affirmation) have a negative impact on their formation.

Background. The necessity of studying perceptions of creativity in psychology cadets is conditioned by the fact that the “soft” skill of creativity is associated with the ability to go beyond the given conditions and to act effectively in uncertain situations, and also by the fact that the successful adaptation of a young specialist to work depends on whether his perceptions of his activity coincide with its real content.

Objectives. The research is meant to identify the peculiarities of representations of creativity in psychology cadets at the adept stage.

Study Participants. A total of 201 people (122 men and 79 women) participated in the study, including representatives of different professions: working professionals and trainees, students and cadets. The average age of the sample was 31 years.

Methods. Psychosemantic methods were used in the study: group associative experiment and card sorting method. They allow to construct a subjective semantic space reflecting the peculiarities of perceptions of creativity.

Results. As a result of the associative experiment, a list of 86 frequent words describing professional activity was obtained. Sorting of the obtained 86 words by cadet psychologists, psychology students, and psychologists of the scientific platoon revealed significant differences in the content and structure of representations of creativity. Comparison of the semantics of creativity in psychologists at the adept stage shows that university students have a more complex structure of representations in comparison with cadets, connected with the allocation of a separate cluster “hobby, interest, development” and at the same time similar in content to the representations of working psychologists on the proximity of “labor, work” with creativity. At the same time, the similarity of clusters in the description of creativity by students and cadets indicates that the ideas about it are laid down at the early stages of professional training.

Conclusions. Reconstruction of subjective semantics of creativity by the method of semantic spaces in psychology cadets is a promising qualitative description method for specific characteristics of professional activity.

Background. The relevance of the study is associated with the activation of malevolent creativity at the macro level in the form of information wars and isolation of Russia, which create threatening socio-political conditions, against the background of the special military operation in Ukraine.

Objectives. Objective of the study was to find out whether there are differences at the micro-level in different socio-political conditions in malevolent creativity as well as to identify its connections with personal characteristics: hostility, the trait of “Agreeableness”, and moral identity. The following hypotheses were formulated: 1. The level of antisocial creativity varies in different contexts and will be higher in threatening socio-political conditions and 2. the relationship between such personal characteristics as hostility, Agreeableness, moral identity, and malevolent creativity will be different in different socio-political conditions.

Study Participants. The study is a cross-sectional one. The first stage was carried out in 2019 with the participation of 81 young students from one of Moscow universities (mean age 19.2, SD = 1.2). 152 young students of the same Moscow university took part at the second stage in 2023 (mean age 19.1, SD = 1.29).

Methods. Participants filled out forms with the questionnaires “NEO-FFI” (a shortened version of the questionnaire “NEO PI-R”), BRAQ-24, moral identity questionnaire, “Behavioral features of antisocial creativity”.

Results. It is shown that there are differences in variables at the microsystem level in different sociopolitical conditions: MC and hostility are significantly lower, and moral identity and cooperation are significantly higher in the sample of 2023. The predictors of MC in the sample of 2023 were the traits of Agreeableness and hostility. In the sample of 2019, the trait of Agreeableness alone predicted MC. Differences in the strength of the relationship between the variables were revealed: in the sample of 2023, the relationship of hostility with antisocial creativity and the trait of Cooperation was significantly stronger than in the sample of 2019.

Conclusions. In threatening socio-political conditions, young people with high hostility and low level on the “Agreeableness” trait fall into the risk group, due to the high probability of the realization of creativity in behavior that harms other people, while realization of MC in behavior may be restrained through actualizing moral identity. In a calm and peaceful period, moral identity and hostility are less relevant for the implementation of MC in harmful behavior, since the development of “Agreeableness” is important in this case.

Background. Studying the types of perception of difficult life situations is a demanded task, since knowledge about the subject’s perception of ongoing events allows us to predict the characteristics of his interaction with the situation. The article presents a classification of the perception of difficult life tasks — situations that involve achieving a significant difficult goal. The basis for identifying types is the subject’s focus on approaching a difficult situation or avoiding it.

Objectives. Objective is an analysis of the desire for difficulty associated with the experience of drive, as a type of perception of difficult life task.

Study Participants. The study involved 611 respondents (M age = 25; SD = 5.8; 427 women), students and specialists of various professions. The type describing the desire for difficulty was identified in 11% of cases.

Methods. To collect data, we used the Structured Description of the Situation Technique (allowing us to obtain qualitative data) in combination with the “Types of Orientations in Difficult Situations” questionnaire (TODS). Based on the profile of the respondent on the questionnaire and the characteristics significant for the type, each description of the difficult life task was assigned to one of five types. The data processing procedure included content analysis and mathematical processing (Mann — Whitney U test, frequency analysis).

Results. The features of striving for difficulty as a type of perception of difficult life tasks are highlighted based on the analysis of categories characterizing the content of the situation, emotions, energy, appraisals of life tasks, coping, goals, possibilities and restrictions, worst-case scenario and best-case scenario. It is shown that this type involves the experience of positive emotions, fullness of energy and possibilities, the desire to achieve the best results, and goals of self-development. This is associated with a positive appraisal and reappraisal, approach coping, a sense of control over the situation. At the same time, a characteristic feature of the desire for difficulty is an ambivalent attitude towards a difficult task.

Conclusions. The study demonstrated a number of signs that reliably distinguish the desire for difficulty from other types of perception of difficult life tasks, which gives grounds to consider it a separate type.

Background. Identification of typological differences in abilities of students studying in various areas of specializations at university allows us to predict the trajectory of their development in professional preparation.

Objective. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze typological differences in the general and special abilities of bachelors in preparation for socionomic professions.

Sample. The study has been conducted in 2021–2022 academic years for 98 1–4 courses’ students studying in the area of specialty 39.03.02 Social work.

Methods. The methods used included tapping test in M.K. Kabardov’s modification, a questionnaire of professional preferences by J. Holland, M. O’Sullivan and J. Guilford test, SMRP (SMIL), R. Kettell’s questionnaire, the techniques by L.P. Kalininsky (COAP), and T. Leary’s technique.

Results. The general and special abilities are established. The natural basis of the general abilities (motor indicators), cognitive (social intelligence), and personal characteristics (optimism, extraversion and responsiveness) of students, characteristic of all courses, are found. Differences in special abilities are revealed: in the 1st year, sensitivity and pessimism prevail; in the second year dependence (there is no independence) and responsiveness are observed; in the 3rd efficiency, focus of consciousness on the social goals of activity, dominance and self-confidence are identified; in the 4th research and conventional professionally oriented personality types’ abilities and traits such as social responsibility, ability to analyze and structure activities, independence are developed (0.01 < p < 0.05). A common type for all courses is “social”, characterized by cooperativeness, the ability to interact with people, psychological tact. From the 1st to the 4th year, there is a clear identification of the social worker’s profile and an increase in readiness for socionomic professions (p < 0.05).

Conclusion. It is shown that when preparing for socionomic professions, the most significant signs of the development of general and special abilities are four factors: natural prerequisites (primary-signal or second-signal type of higher nervous activity (HNA)) and social (cognitive and professional) characteristics of the individuals. Typological differences in component combinations of general and special abilities, determined by the orientation of the activity of the individual and the learning conditions, are revealed among students of different courses studying in the specialty “Social Work”.