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2017. vol. 14. No. 1
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Special Theme of the Issue.
New Methods of Psychological Assessment
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7–21
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The aim of the study was a Russian adaptation of the EBS 2.0 questionnaire (Diessner et al., 2008; 2015) measuring aesthetic responsiveness to the beauty of nature, art, ideas and moral behaviour. Besides, the hypothesis of responsiveness to technics' beauty as part of aesthetic responsiveness and the multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) model additionally distinguishing engagement scales (cognitive, somatic, emotional, spiritual) in the EBS structure were tested. The original EBS was translated into Russian, extended by an experimental Technical Beauty scale, and completed by 191 Russian lyceum students, 48% females and 52% males, 14−17 years old from classes with advanced study of mathematics, or natural sciences, or humanities. The CFA demonstrated the consistency of the the Beautiful Ideas subscale added to EBS 2.0 with the rest of the EBS. The Technical Beauty scale did not revealed such a consistency, and was excluded from analysis. The MTMM model showed good fit, with half of loadings on engagement scales being insignificant. In the reliability analysis Cronbach's α reached 0.92 for the EBS total score, 0.82−0.90 for beauty scales and 0.66−0.75 for engagement scales. The ANOVA revealed that girls rated in EBS total scores higher than boys, while humanitarians and physicists did higher than chemists and mathematicians. Furthermore, girls and boys differed in beauty scales and engagement scales profiles. Within-group factors of beauty and engagement interacted too. Thus, the EBS Russian version demonstrated good psychometric qualities in the sample of academically successful adolescents; the MTMM model matched the data. The revealed differences in aesthetic responsiveness profiles also confirm that the questionnaire is valid and the proposed model is appropriate. |
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22–37
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The article presents the results of an English adaptation of the brief summary of a “Differential Perfectionism Inventory”. The psychometric testing of the adapted version of the measure called Brief Differential Perfectionism Inventory (BDPI) was enacted with the participation of 394 Malaysian students of the Foreign Department of I.M. Sechenov First MSMU (175 males, 219 females; M = 22.01, SD = 2.05). The results showed that BDPI is comprised of two scales similar to the original scale: 1) The Normal Perfectionism Scale assesses setting standards that are high but within reach; 2) The Pathological Perfectionism Scale assesses setting standards beyond reach and reason. The BDPI scales demonstrated a satisfactory internal validity (0.76 for the Normal Perfectionism Scale and 0.71 for the Pathological Perfectionism Scale) as well as a test-retest reliability (0.76 and 0.74, respectively). These scales observed anticipated associations with the measures of perfectionism and psychological well-being. Correlational analysis revealed that normal perfectionism correlates positively with flourishing, spiritual meaning, inspiration, gratitude, personal growth initiative, etc., while pathological perfectionism is associated with wisdom, search for meaning and existence. Overall, the study supported the BDPI as a psychometrically strong measure for express-diagnostics of perfectionism in an English-speaking population. |
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38–60
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The article presents results of the validation of a novel method for assessment of an emotional state called core affect – 12-Point Affect Circumplex Scales, Adjective Format, developed by M. Yik, J.A. Russell and J.H. Steiger. This methodology allows the assessment of core affect – an elementary emotion state which lies in the core of every emotion and represents an integral unit consisting of two factors which every person feels permanently – valence (pleasure-displeasure) and arousal (activation-deactivation). The adaptation of the test was conducted on a sample of 200 individuals. In order to evaluate the construct validity, regression analysis was performed with the factors of two other tests as dependent variables: C. Izard's Differential Emotion Scale and Self-assessment of the Emotional State by A. Wessman and D. Ricks. Cronbach's alpha for each scale was estimated. Out of 12, the reliability of 11 scales turned out to be either high or very high. The results of multidimensional unfolding have demonstrated that the adapted model fits a circumplex with two main axes, namely “Arousal” and “Pleasure”. Regression analysis, in which dependent variables were the factors of two other instruments and the independent ones were the two dimensions of core affect, showed that “Pleasure” was present in a larger number of emotions than “Arousal”. Nevertheless, “Arousal” was dominant in “Interest” and “Surprise” of the Differential Emotion Scale. The results of the regression analysis are commensurate with the essence of emotions it was conducted for. The results of the psychometric check of the instrument enable the conclusion of high levels of reliability and construct validity. Practical importance of the instrument is comprised by its applicability for the assessment of human's emotional state even when the object of the feeling is not obvious. The instrument is likely to be more accurate in conducting cross-cultural comparisons, as it is less dependent on different emotional concepts across different languages. |
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61–87
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The results of a Russian adaptation of the questionnaires The Psychache Scale (Holden et al., 2001), Reasons for Living Inventory (Linehan et al., 1983) and Reasons for Attempting Suicide Questionnaire (Johns, Holden, 1997) are presented. The translation was done and then mentally healthy people aged 16-26 were questioned (150 under- and postgraduate students and high-school youth in Moscow, 66 males, 84 females; and 221 undergraduate students in Cheboksary, 50 males, 171 females). Psychometric properties of the Russian versions of the adapted questionnaires showed good results in reproducibility of the factors’ structures that constitute the questionnaires’ scales, their reliability and construct validity. With the principal components method, varimax rotation, the satisfactory correspondence of the structure of the Russian versions of the questionnaires to the structure of the original versions is confirmed. After the follow-up revision the Russian versions of the questionnaires may be used for the assessment of the suicide risk and motivation of suicidal behavior in high-school youth and university students, as well as in research purposes to study the reasons for suicidal behavior. |
Articles
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88–104
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Stereotype threat is an important factor influencing educational and professional achievements. Stereotypes are the origin of this threat that emphasize the inability of members of a social group to solve specific problems. In this study we analyzed the influence of stereotypes about psychologists ("Psychologists are not good at math") on the attitudes of students-psychologists to a statistics course and the quality of their solutions of mathematical tasks. We have suggested that the actualization of the students’ stereotype threat could worsen their attitudes to the statistics course and reduce the quality of solutions of mathematical tasks. However, this influence depends on the personal resources possessed by students: a person with higher self-efficacy and resilience (hardiness) could be less exposed to negative stereotypes. The study involved 94 psychology students, who had recently started a study of statistics. Members of one experimental group were exposed to a stereotype threat, and the other group was not. We actualized the negative stereotypes of the members of the first group: they were told that according to different studies psychologists solve mathematical problems worse than people of other professions. At the same time we didn’t actualize the stereotype threat for the members of the second group. After that, all participants filled in the questionnaire for measuring self-efficacy, resilience, attitude toward statistics and solved some math tasks. According to the hypothesis, the study results showed that the stereotype threat actually reduces the efficiency of solution of mathematical tasks and worsens the attitudes to statistics. However, this influence is mediated by self-efficacy, and by one component of resilience — commitment. |
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105–122
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The article presents a common view on destructivity (defeat) and overcomes the hampering effects of fragmentation of destructivity that still dominates psychology. Isolated views on destructive patterns exist due to their partition among trauma, depression, aggression, violence, abuse, and the like. The question of how a composition of destructive patterns appears is still unanswered. This matter is salient but least understandable from the integrative and systems viewpoint. Currently this is complicated by respective questionnaires that rely on partial theories, which obscure the multidimensional view on destructivity. Yet multidimensional questionnaires are not explored and beyond empirical studies. It is shown that there are two definitions of the notion “destructivity” (or “defeat”), which are the narrow and the broad. In a narrow sense, the destructivity consists of a personal disposition to distortion with negative connotations within the limits of defeat, damage, and breakdown of oneself and/or close others. In a broad sense, the described destructive patterns are also related to such phenomena as aggression, psychic trauma, and deviance. These issues are analyzed in three aspects. Firstly, particular destructive patterns are highlighted. Secondly, questionnaires intended to measure them are examined. Thirdly, an integrative approach to destructivity has been proposed. This approach is important because it conceptualizes fragmented parts of destructive patterns, describing them as a unified phenomenon in an integrative fashion. |
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123–139
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The questionnaire study examined the contribution of gender, age and reinforcement sensitivity to the common structure of child personality and problem behaviors in two samples, parent reports of 2-18-year-olds (N = 968) and self-reports of 11-18-year-olds (N = 1543), using the Inventory of Child Individual Differences – Short version (ICID-S) to measure personality, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to assess emotional and behavioral problems, and the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ). A joint factor analysis of the ICID-S and SDQ scales suggested a four-factor structure, including Organization, Positive, Behavior Problems, and Internalizing. This four-factor model was remarkably similar to previously reported models of personality and psychopathology. Congruence coefficients indicated that factors based on parent reports and adolescent self-reports were highly similar at all levels of the hierarchy. Gender, age, sensitivity to punishment, and sensitivity to reward generally made independent contributions to personality-psychopathology factors. Sensitivity to reward made a substantial contribution to Externalizing (conduct problems, hyperactivity and inattention), whereas sensitivity to punishment contributed to Internalizing (shyness, fears and emotional symptoms). The link between sensitivity to punishment and Internalizing in older adolescents was stronger than in younger. The protective effect of punishment sensitivity on Externalizing was found in girls only. These findings demonstrate the role of motivational brain-behavior systems in the development of normal and abnormal patterns of behavior and emotions. |
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140–166
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The article is dedicated to the analysis of talks during acquaintance on the content of recordings of speed dating. The issue of research of the romantic discourse is taken into account. The format of speed dating is described, which is not only a unique cultural and socio-psychological phenomenon and a special genre of dialog, but is also regarded as a promising methodology of communication, interpersonal relationships and attraction studies. The review of studies, based on this methodology is presented. Special consideration is given to the method of conversation analysis, created by H. Sacks et al. at the end of the 1950s to solve applied problems of expertise in phone-calls, which belongs to the group of qualitative methods of research in social sciences and is oriented to the detailed analysis of short episodes of talks of the two or more interlocutors. A model of analysis of mundane talks is proposed, which includes elements of the scene-context, the general design of the talk, ways to change the sequence of speech, recurring patterns, communicative difficulties and institutional specifics of the talks. The results of empirical research on young people (N = 48) during the process of acquaintance at the speed dating parties is presented. The phenomena of talks in this situation are found and described: typical and atypical ways to start the talk, the increase in the size of the turns during the communication, pattern “question-answer-commentary”, the search for mutual similarities as a strategy of the talkers, recapturing of initiative, the direct transference of the turn, the change of the theme as a way to avoid confrontation, speech patterns to soften misunderstanding, hesitations and their influence on the talk, clarifications, the conveyor of the interaction, the transference of content and postponed reaction, the “telegraphic style”, the lack of finishing lines in a dialog, the gender asymmetry of the interaction. |
Work in Progress
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167–177
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The state of mind-wandering is related to complete or partial detachment of attention from external information. Under this state, attention switches from the ongoing primary task towards unrelated thoughts, fantasies and feelings. Current understanding of the role of cognitive control in the initiation and maintenance of the state of mind-wandering is ambiguous, and the specific mechanisms of deterioration in the quality of performance in ongoing activity are not clear. The aim of this study was to identify changes in the ongoing task performance under the state of mind-wandering, and to find the main cause of error commission during this state – whether it is a reduction in the motor threshold, or weakening of specific representations involved in the execution of the ongoing task. The current study employed an auditory condensation task; performance accuracy and response times were analyzed. The state of mind-wandering was probed by way of inquiry interrupting the experiment. During the state of mind-wandering, as compared to the on-task state, task performance accuracy decreased, and pre-error speeding, as well as error slowing effects were abolished. The current findings demonstrate that under a state of mind-wandering the level of cognitive control involved in the ongoing external task performance decreased. The pattern of behavioral measures obtained hints that the basic mechanism of performance deterioration is related to the weakening of specific representations involved in task performance, rather than to a drop in the motor threshold. |
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178–188
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The article looks into specifics of a sensorimotor skill execution in a competitive pressure situation. It is proposed that the observed deterioration of a learned skill cannot be deemed as a discrete failure: it is better explained as a specific reaction to an erroneous action already committed which in turn leads to further de-automatization and errors. Our participants learned to putt a ball in a hole (playing “Virtual Golf”) by pressing and holding a computer key in order to control the putting distance. Then an online competition in pairs was conducted with the rival’s scores demonstrated to the participant. We measured the aspiration level (AL) of the participants. Groups with low and high AL did not differ significantly at the stage of training, but during competition the group with a high AL was significantly worse than the group with a low AL. We revealed a general frame effect that we called “losing”: when participants with high AL see a negative score on the scoreboard, they make more errors. We did not see increased performance after hits. We also found errors related to a reactive effect: competition shows an increased share of errors caused by one’s own miss in a previous trial. Not only does the number of errors after misses increase, but also the quality of those errors changes as their magnitude size also increases. There is also a shift in time estimation trend: we may interpret this as an indicator of a change in control. |
Reviews
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189–199
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Currently cannabis is the most frequently used psychoactive substance, so the impact of cannabis on public health, particularly on the central nervous system, is a hot topic for research. This review aims to answer two questions: what are consequences of cannabis use and how stable are they? There are only a few studies of cannabis use in Russia. Foreign studies show mainly disorders of executive function and working memory in cannabinoid users. However, approaches used in foreign studies substantially differ from qualitative studies of higher mental functions which are specific to Russian neuropsychology. The majority of works are devoted to the study of the acute effects, and much less attention is given to long-term effects of cannabis. But growing evidence suggests that deficits of higher mental functions persist at least a month after the last dose of the drug after cannabis use is discontinued. In our opinion the use of the syndromic analysis through qualitative and quantitative studies would be effective for the investigation of possible disorders of higher mental functions in cannabinoid users and would answer the question of how stable these disorders are. |
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