Empirical studies

Study objectives: to examine the severity of the personal social psychological attitudes of an individual in the need-motivational sphere, the Dark Triad traits, and the components of burnout, as well as the interrelationships between these features among physicians with different lengths of professional experience. 

Participants: 124 people between the ages of 20 and 62; 4 groups of respondents, differing in the length of their professional experience (student, less than 10 years, 11-20 years and over 20 years of work experience).

Materials: O.F. Potemkina’s “Social psychological attitudes in the need-motivational sphere of the person diagnostics test”, “The Dark Triad inventory” adapted by M.S. Egorova and M.A. Sitnikova and the “Maslach Burnout Inventory” adapted by N.E. Vodopyanova. 

Methods of data analysis: Cronbach’s alpha, descriptive statistics, crosstabulation (chi-squared test), one-way analysis of variance (with Tukey post-hoc test), one-sample Student t-test, Spearman’s correlation, comparison of correlations using Fisher’s z-transformation. 

Results: The altruistic attitude of practicing doctors is higher than that of students, but does not depend on the length of experience. A greater intention towards work is observed for participants with the medical work experience over 10 years. There is no established connection between work experience and the intensity of burnout in the respondents. Physicians with the average experience expressed weaker non-clinical narcissism and a psychopathy than students. The structure of the interrelationships between social psychological attitudes, the Dark Triad traits, and the components of burnout has specificity on the samples with various lengths of professional experience. We suggest interpretations for differences found in the severity and patterns of the connections between the indicators; they are summarized in the psychological portrait of a physician with a certain amount of experience.

A multicomponent model of multiculturalism by the Canadian cross-cultural psychologist John W. Berry is one of the most famous approaches designed to ensure the harmonization of intercultural relations in a plural society. Today including in Russia an applicability of this model has been widely investigating. However, in the light of social cognition, the model does not clearly define relations between the multicultural ideology and various principles of intergroup categorization; the existing empirical findings within the framework of the Berry’s model and within social cognition still to some extent consider intergroup relations somewhat isolated from each other. In this present exploratory study was examined the relationships between interethnic categorization (assimilation, colorblind, multicultural, polycultural) and multicultural ideology by Berry. A survey of ethnic Russians from the Central Federal District of Russia was conducted. The results showed that the multicultural ideology was positively associated with the colorblind, multicultural, and polycultural categorization and also negatively with the assimilation one. Although the colorblind categorization that purportedly rejects cultural diversity was positively associated with the multicultural ideology, this relation had small effect size. The findings of the study suggested that an acceptance and endorsement of cultural diversity and egalitarianism in Russia that according to Berry is a content core of the concept multiculturalism can be realized through polycultural, multicultural, and to a lesser extent through colorblind categorization.

Ideas of the school students having experience of participation in the educational project and research activity (PRA) about educational researches and projects are considered that is relevant due to the need of formation, since high school, experts of research type. 

Objective: to reveal the attitude of school students towards various aspects of project and research activity. 

Methods: “Unfinished sentences”; questioning on the questions connected with participation in PRA; nonverbal method “Emoticons”. Sample included 84 school students of the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth grades. 

Results: The unfinished sentences method identified seven categories of definitions that school students give to educational researches and projects. Questioning has shown that school students prefer voluntary participation in educational project and research activity; concerning preference of educational researches or projects there are differences in verbal and nonverbal answers, however in ninth grade both methods found that students preferred educational researches to projects; the readiness for implementation of educational projects on all studied subjects from a third to a half of school students has been estimated by low points; the desire in future professional activity to carry out projects and researches has been estimated, mainly, by average points. 

Conclusions: The revealed general tendency reflects the positive attitude towards the above-named educational technology; however, there are both significant individual differences, and the differences between grades in ideas of school students of project and research activity and the attitude towards it demanding profound studying for the purpose of further improvement of this educational technology.

The article presents the result of a series of five empirical studies. Across multiple samples with typical development we have established a set of relationships between decision making strategies in Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and such traits as intelligence (general, verbal), executive functions (shifting and inhibition), as well as personality traits of tolerance/intolerance for uncertainty and Big Five personality traits.

The series of empirical studies aimed at verifying a set of hypotheses regarding the role of intelligence and tolerance/intolerance for uncertainty as predictors of choice strategies in IGT, regarding the contribution of executive functions to the regulation of these strategies, as well as identifying the specifics of prognostic strategies of professionals whose occupation involves high risk – i.e., military leaders.

The main measure was Iowa Gambling Task. This task relies on the prognostic/anticipatory activity of the person playing the game that regulates the sequence of choices that they make from four decks of “cards” that have a probabilistic structure of gains and losses, unknown to the participant at the beginning. According to A. Damasio's somatic marker hypothesis, emotional components play a key role in decision making regulation.

Studies 1 through 3 recruited undergraduate students and general population samples; studies 4 and 5 relied on samples of military leaders.

In addition to the IGT, we also measures a set of cognitive and personality traits, including executive functions (using the Go/No Go paradigm), intelligence (using ROADS and ICAR), tolerance-intolerance for uncertainty (using the NTN questionnaire), Big Five personality traits (using the TIPI questionnaire), and personal factors of decision making (using the LFR questionnaire).

The studies revealed significant and positive contributions of intelligence and executive functions (i.e., shifting and inhibition) to decisional efficiency and the development of choice strategies, thus implicating cognitive orienting as the key component of decision making in IGT. We also established a set of group differences in both strategies and patterns of the regulation of choices in IGT between military and non-military samples. We also found that it is specifically during early game stages (characterized by maximal uncertainty) that specific personality traits contribute most to decision making – tolerance for uncertainty was such a predictor for our non-military samples, and risk readiness acted as one in military leaders. Conventional Big Five personality traits did not contribute to participants’ performance in the IGT.

The article substantiates the influence of the planning style of activity on the reliability of the driver's activity. The work includes the description of the process of creating and approving the questionnaire "Individual style of driver's activity". The questionnaire contains questions assessing the means used by the driver to carry out activities (in particular, referring to the preservation of information on the road environment, schemes for organizing traffic on a particular route). Data on the reliability of the questionnaire (internal consistency and retest) are presented. The procedure for estimating the compensating effect of the planning style of the driver's activity on the reliability of the activity with a low speed of switching of attention is described. Compensation effect was determined by the ratio of the level of compliance with the requirements of the activity for the speed of switching of attention and the formation of a planning style of activity. The reliability of the drivers' activity was evaluated by a group of experts by recording the number and type of accidents involving drivers. The correlation between the reliability of the driver during life and during the last year was investigated. A higher level of reliability of driving activity is determined by a combination of a higher social status of the driver, with its greater connection with the transport sector, a more mature age, a more markedly planned style of activity, and a higher level of reliability of activities throughout life.

In different studies the concept of "subjective well-being" varies with related concepts and constructs ("life satisfaction", "happiness", "psychological well-being"). Hedonic traditions of interpretation of subjective well-being involve affective experiences as a central component, and eudmonistic variants emphasize the importance of self-realization processes of the individuals. Subjective well-being when considering it as satisfaction with life is determined by the objective conditions of human existence, but sometimes indirectly. The article describes the main results of an empirical study of eudemonic and hedonistic factors, conducted on 120 young people (students, 18-26, 60 male and 60 female). The hedonistic aspect of subjective well-being is connected both with the conditions of the environment and with personal characteristics, including eudemonistic. These objective and subjective characteristics can be called factors that determine the level of subjective well-being, but since it performs regulatory functions and directs the transforming activity of the subject, it is more correct to talk about the interdependence of these parameters. Self-relationship is connected with a sense of subjective well-being - positive self-perception, self-interest and self-acceptance increase subjective well-being, but in combination with unfavorable external conditions (in particular, low life fullness), on the contrary, reduce the experience of happiness and satisfaction. At the same time, the most important thing in experiencing happiness and satisfaction with life in adolescence is the eudemonic characteristics of a person - self-belief, maturity and the value of positive relationships with others. Realization of the potential acts as the central factor of hedonistic aspects of subjective well-being.

This article reports the results of empirical research, dedicated to the features of the relationship between perceived corporate culture and employee’s organizational identification. The influence and the nature (a moderator or a mediator) of the variable “person-organization fit” were studied. Participants were 92 employees of for-profit companies. The data was mathematically processed using a correlation analysis and a partial correlation analysis. The data indicate that the person-organization fit (as a moderator) influenced the relationship between perceived corporate culture of open paradigm and organizational identification. Thus, the person-organization fit is an intermediate variable that affects the direction and/or strength of the relation. This suggests that the more employees believe that his values fit the organizational ones, which characterize the open paradigm, the more he will identify with it. It may be assumed that the revealed relationship is bilateral, because, probably, these two variables determine each other. A further perspective of this research area is to clarify the obtained findings and to check other variables, which can influence given interrelation.

In this study we tested the hypothesis about advantage of academic motivation profile with dominating intrinsic motivation over another profile with equally high intrinsic, self-esteem and controlled types of motivation (and low level of amotivation). Latent class analysis confirmed the suggestion that these two profiles are most typical in university students. Students with high and dominating intrinsic motivation showed highest curiosity, consistency of interests, perceived academic control and academic achievements but didn’t differ from students with high controlled motivation by the perseverance of effort that was high in both types. Generally the results show that high extrinsic controlled motivation is a disadvantageous factor that decreases student motivational potential. The results are discussed from the point of view of self-determination theory and need model of motivation.

The results of the development of a new computer guidance method for senior schoolchildren on the basis of “Formulas of the profession” (E.A. Klimov) and a modern scheme for the analysis of professions (N.S. Pryazhnikov) are presented. The main stages of obtaining expert estimates are shown, which made it possible to correlate the components of professional activity with the official list of enlarged specialties of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. The advantage of 3-level grades of schoolchildren (“I want”, “I can now” and “could in the future”) is considered before the traditional assessment of schoolchildren’s actual preferences. In the process of choosing a profession, the preferred characteristics of future work activity are set not in the form of direct estimates of their traditional designations (subject, purpose, means, conditions, etc.), but through paired comparisons of the main labor activities and training activities. The computer-based online testing system works with the methodology through the Web-interface on modern software platforms — Windows, Android, MacOS, iOS, Linux.

The article presents the results of a study of professional development stages of crises in the choice of profession, vocational training, and at the initial stage of professional activity. We used the methods of a comprehensive program aimed at studying the performance of educational and professional development, the severity of the crisis experiences, personality traits and coping strategies. The sample included high school students, university students, and budding professionals. In total 1,500 people aged 15 to 28 years old. The study revealed a high prevalence of crises in all the studied stages of professional development. The content and extent of the crisis is determined by the stage of development experiences, personal resources, and social situation of development. It is shown that increasing the importance of the choice of profession stage for the subsequent stages of professional development.

Attitude to work and features of the manifestation of burnout syndrome in management activities are considered in the context of the problem of psychological provision of occupational health. The article discusses the results of an empirical study aimed at studying the characteristics of attitudes toward work in the development of the burnout syndrome in management activities, which acts as one of the key criteria for the professional health of managers. It is shown that in general, the average level of burnout syndrome is characteristic for managers, the most significant contribution to the development of which is made by such functional components as lack of help and lack of psychological support of colleagues in work, as well as problems of professional development and self-improvement. Gender differences in the development of burnout syndrome among managers are analyzed. The obtained results can be used in the development and implementation of programs for early prevention and correction of burnout of managers based on the subject-resource approach to the psychological provision of occupational health of work subjects.

The article analyzes the concepts of “Ability”, “Professional suitability”, “Professional psychological selection”, in the development and understanding of which a significant contribution was made by E.A. Klimov. Professional psychological selection is considered as a system, the systemforming factor of which is the professional suitability of a person who chooses a specific profession. The content of the concept of ability includes the motivation and experience (knowledge, skills, and abilities) of the individual, by analogy with the dynamic functional structure of personality developed by K.K. Platonov. Its own definition of the term “Abilities” is presented.

To analyze the stages of mastering professional actions, an eco-psychological model of the formation of subjectivity is used. As an initial prerequisite for the development of this model, the notion of continuum “spontaneous activity — activity in the form of an action” is used. A description is given of the seven stages of development of subjectivity as the ability to be a subject of professional action.

Proceeding from his own concept of professional creativity, the author consistently analyzes the concepts of profession and specialty, as well as professionalism, pointing to the factors that led socially and historically to changes in the world of professional activity and the corresponding changes in vocational training. On a vast array of material, it is shown that the process of professional development as the search for non-trivial ways of development of activities should become the basis of professional training in any field.

Professional communication in the jury trial is seen as communion lawyers in complex communicative space with two circuits and two foci. We analyze the communicative tasks of lawyers and describe the possible difficulties in communicating in a professional jury, as well as some results of the study of the difficulties of understanding between lawyers and jurors in the trial.

We propose an approach to the analysis of the psychological mechanism of downshifting on the basis of the model of subjective quality of life. The use of the concept subjective quality of life allows us to approach the development of a model of the psychological mechanism of downshifting and conduct on her holistic analysis of this phenomenon. The model of subjective quality of life criteria are emotional and rational life satisfaction. A necessary condition for the downshifting is a low level of emotional life satisfaction, while the level of rational life satisfaction may be at a high enough level. An important element of objective analysis of downshifting is to modify the subjective component of quality of life as human potential, which determines the rating of the downshifting of the subject his social environment.

The problem of age-psychological aspects of professional civil servant destruction is considered. The main stages of development of moral readiness of the worker for work with strong risks of professional destructions are singled out. Characteristics of “forced” and “natural” professional destruction by civil servants are given.

The article discusses the problem of responsibility in the exercise of professional self-determination in adolescence. The value of the moral values of the personality as the basis of professional self-determination and the assumption of responsibility for the choice is discussed. The personal components of responsibility are singled out - autonomy and moral character.

The article discusses the problem of understanding the construct of “employee engagement in the organization” in scientific and practical literature. It is shown that the concept of “organizational commitment”, “organizational citizenship behavior”, “organizational identification” and “work engagement” are often seen as overlapping with the construct of “employee engagement in the organization”. There is also a variety of concepts describing the relationship of the employee with the organization, which creates terminological confusion and difficulties for their practical use. It is proposed to merge the concept of “identification”, “commitment to organization” and “work engagement” in a more general notion of “involvement of employees in the organization”. Briefly describe the results of two empirical studies that partly confirm the heuristic character of this approach.

The purpose of the cycle of works — analysis of the syndromes of occupational stress, developing in the context of the implementation of the various modern types of labor, and individually-personal characteristics of the working of the human factors that determine resistance to stressful conditions of activity on the part of ensuring the success of the work safety of mental health and personal well-being. Describes two developed in the framework of structural-integrative approach to the stress analysis of a comprehensive technology for stress management: “Integrated assessment and correction of stress” and “Individual assessment of stress resistance”. Characterized by their application to solve practical problems in the prevention and correction of stress conditions of different types of labor.