2013. vol. 10. No. 3

This paper analyzes the main approaches to the problem of confidence in psychology According to the author, despite the accumulated experimental data and a number of models of confidence, a common understanding of this construct does not yet exist. This can be attributed to conflicting research approaches, as well as the methodological complexity of the measurement of this phenomenon. For a better understanding of this phenomenon, the paper provides a brief historical overview of confidence research. The article outlines local and international models of confidence and the main effects associated with confidence in cognitive problem solving, such as overconfidence and underconfidence and the relationship of this construct with speed, accuracy and other response parameters.

Over the past few years the author and their colleagues have conducted a number of experimental studies of confidence to find out what happens to the main solution parameters in simple cognitive tasks, including the dynamics of confidence under repeated conditions. The main assumption was that a person would be able to distinguish between correct and incorrect responses and would respond to such distinctions with increased confidence and repeatedly with the correct solution. To test the main hypotheses a number of tasks were selected: recognition tasks, arithmetical equations, perceptual comparisons and a mental spatial-arithmetic problem; no feedback on respondents’ performance was provided. The experimental study has proved the relationship between confidence and the probability of repeating the previous response, which was presumably caused by the after-effects of unconscious selection. Particular attention in the experimental series was paid to the measurement and calibration of confidence in psychology: several methods to measure confidence ratings were used to additionally verify the results obtained.

Several approaches explain the influence of genetics and environment on intelligence. One group of scientists views general intelligence (g) as a highly stable and largely inherited characteristic. Other researchers question the cultural independence of IQ. The latter approach, however, needs a theoretical model that would explain the role of the environment in shaping cognitive functions and would lead to empirically sound predictions. According to DV Ushakov’s structural dynamic theory, the cultural requirements for cognitive functions determine the allocation of intellectual potential to different types of activities. In this work we tested the hypotheses that cognitive abilities that are more relevant to the culture (i.e., the most commonly practiced by subjects and recognized as the most valuable in a particular culture) have: 1) higher g-loadings and 2) higher genetic determination.
Based on "naïve" subjects’ and experts’ ratings we obtained the estimates of cultural relevance (frequency and value) for 12 subtests of the Wexler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Psychology students served as naïve subjects and 5 professional psychologists acted as experts. We also used the published data on genetic and environmental components of WAIS subtests. The results confirm the hypotheses: value and frequency ratings correlated positively with g-loadings and heritability of the subtests. The authors also discuss alternative interpretations of the data. One of the main conclusions of the authors is that the cultural environment determines the types of tasks to be solved by individuals in a culture. The cognitive system develops in such a way as to be able to solve these tasks. At the same time, genetics corresponds to mental potential that one can invest to form required cognitive systems.

In everyday life, people are generally successful in orienting themselves in a variety of continuously perceived visual information, but our perception has serious limitations: we can clearly perceive only objects in focus, while the rest get lost or go unnoticed. The most effective way to overcome these attention limitations is to encode the summary statistics of a set, or an ensemble, of objects with some loss of quality in perception of the properties of individual objects. In the perception of large sets of objects the observer is able to accurately allocate the statistical parameters of the set, while continuing to perceive a set of individual objects, not an abstract parameter.

In this study, the authors examine how perceptions of the characteristics of an individual object surrounded by other objects, forming the ensemble, is distorted under focused and divided attention. The study involved 25 students of the National Research University Higher School of Economics with normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Participants were presented with sets of 1 to 16 circles of different sizes; after that they were asked to determine the size of an individual target circle in a two-alternative forced choice. Location of the target circle was prompted either before ensemble presentation (which led to the attention being focused on a single object), or after ensemble presentation (which allowed for the attention to be distributed between all members of the ensemble). A strong effect of context on the perception of the size of the individual circle was seen, both when attention was focused and distributed. Nevertheless, in the condition of distributed attention influence of the ensemble characteristics was much more pronounced. In addition, a tendency to "compression" of perceived size of the largest objects in ensembles was found; this was also most pronounced under distributed attention. The authors attribute this trend to the unification of the feature that increases the similarity between individual objects and promotes a holistic perception of the ensemble. When attention is focused, feature unification is weaker, which allows for processing of the characteristics of individual objects. 

This paper presents the results of an experimental comparison of two competing predictions based on different theoretical models explaining the process of resolving the 9-dot problem. The first model is based on the concept of insight (the solution is found by instant transformation of the problem representation) and the second model is based on a stepwise approach and denies the existence of instant changes in the problem-solving process. Mental operators (i.e. the procedures described by Newell and Simon in their theory of problem space) were experimentally studied.

It was shown that the declarative hint of an essential operator did not lead to improved performance; on the contrary, it delayed the solution compared to the control group. Experimental manipulation of various operators could not identify any single one that, when activated, could alone speed up the solution. Apparently, a change in the holistic task representation (or at least, a change in some larger parts of the task structure, larger than those manipulated in this study) underlies the correct solution. The high efficiency of the hint consisting of four different operators provides indirect evidence of the same: in fact, in that case, the subject was presented with a unified visual pattern that was then entirely transferred from perceptual to mental space. Presumably, insight suggests the possibility to procedurally operate some earlier inaccessible parts of the problem conditions and the change in problem representation.

Thus, the present study provides evidence that the operators do not have the key to solving the problem of 9 dots and the arguments in favor of the classical understanding of insight – as a general rather than local change in the representation of the problem during the problem-solving process.

In the study, the authors investigated the effect of the words in the categorical perception effect that manifests itself in deterioration of the memorisation of individual characteristics of the objects when they belong to a single category. In the experiment, the subjects memorised the look of their new objects (images of butterflies) that had been previously associated with artificial names. The authors varied the degree of attention of the subjects to objects’ names. In one group, with the pronunciation of names, subjects were instructed that the butterflies were called by two names (artificial words: "tulnitsa" and "daryanka"), and they had to pronounce the names. In the other group, with an indication of the location, in addition to the name the subjects received a clue of where a butterfly would be and had to read aloud only the word for the location. According to the authors’ hypothesis, when accompanying actions with objects words do not always create the categorical perception effect, but rather only when a person's attention is directed to the name. As it turned out, the names led to the deterioration of memorisation of individual objects’ properties, but only when they were spoken aloud by the subjects; when the subjects did not pronounce the names, but instead the indication of the location was spoken aloud, the words did not create any categorical perception effect. In contrast to previous experiments (Lupyan, 2008; Kotov et al., 2012), the authors proved that in the perception of objects, the word alone ss not enough to create a categorical perception effect. In the case where a person's attention is directed to a verbal indication of the location of the object, the name of the object, which remains outside the attention focus, does not lead to the perception of the objects as a group. 

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of universality of the recognition of emotional coloring of information for three types of stimuli: human behavior, music, and non-musical sound stimuli. It is proposed to differentiate between two aspects in the recognition of emotional coloring of information: accuracy and sensitivity. The accuracy refers to the ability to adequately recognise the ratio of different modalities of emotion in emotional coloring of stimuli. The sensitivity refers to the tendency to exaggerate (or understate) the severity of emotional coloring of stimuli. It is suggested that the accuracy is more related to the crystallised aspect of the ability to recognize emotions and sensitivity – to the fluid aspect of the same ability. This leads to a hypothesis that sensitivity as an individual characteristic is more universal in a sense that it is manifested in a relatively similar way for different types of stimuli, whereas the accuracy is more specific to the type of stimuli. Three techniques were developed to measure accuracy and sensitivity in recognition of emotional coloring of three different types of stimuli. The techniques were carried out on a sample of 37 people. The sensitivity indices obtained by three different techniques had high internal consistency and high positive correlations with each other (0.8 to 0.9), whereas the accuracy indices were less consistent and weakly correlated with one another. This proves the hypotheses tested. The limitations of the results are discussed, especially in relation to the possible extreme response style in Likert scales. Some ways to overcome these limitations in future research are suggested. 

Currently, multidisciplinary research of innovative processes places more weight on the psychological component and pays attention to the idea generation process. In psychological studies of productive mental activity the tendency to analyze not only idea generation but idea finalisation and implementation stages alike is getting more pronounced. This article focuses on the problems of creativity in the context of subjects’ participation in the innovation process.

One of the major problems of studying creative activity at various stages of the innovation life cycle is the identification and analysis of the cognitive factors influencing the processes of production, modification, and search for ways to introduce new ideas. The author analyzes the most important determinants of the success of the innovation process at its different stages, as well as the relationship between them. In this case, creativity and innovation are considered as different, not intrinsically related factors. Creativity of a person mainly manifests itself in their ability to create something new, not necessarily taking into account opportunities, prospects and conditions for further practical use of such a product. A person’s innovativeness is realised in their ability to “embed” existing creative products into given economic, financial, technological and other conditions. Often these steps are separated in time and take place in different contexts. However, in the group creative activity these steps can be performed simultaneously. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the process and outcome characteristics of group creative activity. Empirical research of productive mental activity of the subject at different stages of the innovation process conducted by the author and his colleagues is also briefly described. 

This article analyzes thought and thinking as the basis of field dynamics. A strict distinction is made between idea and concept. The idea is an over-functional phenomenon of primary experience, i.e. it belongs to the field, but not the individual. Moreover, the thesis of an idea being part of a field is examined beyond the aspect of authorship. However, the field, in turn, is a product of the experience process, i.e. people in many ways create a field that produces a new idea underlying another discovery or concept. The concept appears in the field through retranslation of the phenomenon. The dialogical phenomenological model of psychotherapy offers an alternative to the narrow thinking search, unfolding within a particular paradigm of thinking. That space of primary experience is seen in the dialogical phenomenological approach as an inexhaustible source of innovation and an excellent resource for human development.
Special attention is paid to the dynamics of thinking in the etiology of "madness". The separated reality forms the basis for differentiating between a “mentally ill” and a “normal” person, separating “madness” from “mental health”. The author discusses the different activation of two experience vectors (creative and adaptive) among geniuses and everymen. It is suggested the modern culture is a culture of an alternative between creativity in the experience, followed by segregation, and adaptation to conventional reality.

This article discusses the conservation of resources theory (CRT) by Stephen Hobfoll, which allows for a more thorough approach to the problem of the origin of stress, the cause of which, from the point of view of the theory, is situations that endanger the resources owned by the individual or the community. CRT provides an objective view of the origin of a state of stress and helps to reveal features of stress adaptation and coping and explains the phenomenon of stress resistance. Resources are a central concept of the theory and represent different kinds of values ​​– material, social, personality, and energy – that are interconnected and form the individual resource stock. The article describes the basic principles of CRT: resource loss has more impact on the psychological well-being than resource acquisition and there is a need to invest resources in order to maintain the resource balance. The desire to preserve and increase resources is seen as one of the basic motivational tendencies. The data of numerous studies on the psychological effects of different stress events obtained within the theoretical framework of CRT are provided; the main results show that the amount of resources available to the individual or the community determine the choice of coping strategies, the success of adaptation to stress events and the rate of recovery. Emphasis is on personal resources, such as optimism, self-efficacy, vitality, and locus of control, as the fundamental resources that play a key role in overcoming stress circumstances and maintaining psychological well-being. The importance of theory for research and the possibility of its practical application in psychometrics and psychotherapy is emphasized. The advantages and limitations of CRT, which complements the modern system view of the stress phenomenon, are discussed. The paper outlines the prospects for further research using CRT that are to examine the most important resources for all kinds of situations, both daily and stress, that play a key role in the process of self-regulation. 

The article investigates the development of leadership. New concepts are introduced that characterize the specific internal leadership Self – manager-leader, hero-leader and supervisor-leader. A new concept of leadership is developed and justified, according to which being a leader means being a director of one’s internal theatre. The task of the latter is not gradual or sequential provision of a scene to each kind of internal leader or their integration with each other but the establishment of a constructive dialogue between them. The true dynamics of the internal leadership is the awareness of the fundamental importance of co-existence of the hero-leader and the manager-leader, giving each of them an internal space, supporting their differences and the development of their differing internal forces. All this is to create the conflict-dialogue and as a result, generate something new that not only did not exist before but that also can be realised. Opening up the wealth of their own inner world with its passion, desires, fantasies, dreams and emotions – a world of pure creativity where everything is permitted – is the most important component of becoming a leader. It is necessary but not sufficient. This passionate, exuberant force of the unconscious must be curbed and placed under the control of consciousness in order to re-appear on stage again another time. A mature leader is one who is able to identify both the hero-leader and manager-leader and support a live relationship between them that may involve conflict but will be productive. The psychoanalytic dynamics of gaining leadership that is not static and cannot be acquired once and for all as a final result, but which represents an infinite internal process of professional and personal fulfilment and development, is discussed in various examples, in particular the example of Ingvar Kamprad, the founder and leader of the IKEA empire. 

This paper presents the world's major achievements in the study of school bullying – a topic that quickly became a trend in world psychology. Research in the phenomenology of bullying, preventive technologies and bullying termination are very important because of the possibility of the consequences of severe harassment. Bullying can be direct or indirect, with direct bullying occurring mainly in primary school and the peaks of indirect bullying being in middle and high school. Boys are more likely to become participants and victims of direct bullying whereas girls participate and suffer more from indirect bullying. Although the roles of the participants in a bullying situation (victim, persecutor, witness) are not rigidly fixed and can vary from situation to situation and from community to community, studies show that the participants of bullying often have distinctive personalities and behavioral traits and have a number of related social risks.

In addition to individual personal prerequisites of participants the article problematises social context that fosters bullying. Studies show that both victims and initiators of bullying tend to grow up in families in which domestic violence is common. Also the risk of bullying increases in socially disorganized environments and societies with authoritarian control methods. The behavior of children is affected by violence in the broadcast media, and danger in the environment and the community. The authors assess the peculiarities of the Russian social context of bullying and discuss the problems of the study of bullying in Russia. In conclusion, three main research approaches to bullying are suggested, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

This article focuses on the problems of the coping repertoire of the individual. It presents a comparative analysis of psychological classifications of coping strategies identified in international research. It is noted that in terms of the direction of human actions, strategies focus either on the situation, on oneself or something else. Such classifications are offered by R. Lazarus, S. Folkman, D. Amirkhan, R. Moos and D. Shafer and others. A number of scholars, such as S. Maddi, focus not only on the direction of coping actions, but also on the degree of their intensity – active or passive – highlighting resilience and passive coping. Close to that of S. Maddi is a classification of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies by E. Frydenberg. E. Heim examines coping strategies in terms of their modality, i.e. cognitive, emotional, or behavioral. Particular attention is paid to the systematisation of coping strategies suggested by E. Skinner and called “coping family”. It consists of twelve sections, each of which has its own strategy, similar in orientation (e.g., problem solving, information search, avoidance, search of support, etc.). This article presents a theoretical background of debatable effectiveness of coping behavior. It is shown that, for example, the strategy of avoidance, traditionally regarded as ineffective, may be adaptive in a conflict situation. Thus, it is effective to use all strategies, depending on the situation. In addition, the article discusses the dispositional or situational nature of the selected strategies. The dispositional approach to understanding coping explains it in terms of personality traits. The situational approach to coping behavior considers overcoming in the context of a particularly difficult situation affecting the intentions and actions of a person. However, recent studies have used an integrative situational personality approach by R. Moos and D. Shafer. The article also provides an overview of the six most common coping behavior measures.