2017. vol. 14. No. 4

The article discusses the history of the creation, multiple translation, falsification and eventual publication of a text by Vygotsky and Luria. Following this publication, the text was declared one of the foundational works of Vygotsky. The study traces the way from the original version of the text (reportedly originally composed in the late 1920s) to the typed version of the text in English that Luria passed to Michael Cole for subsequent publication in the West and, finally, to the Russian version of the text that was back-translated from English when the original Russian text was lost. The study is based on the comparative structural and textological analysis of the text and its repeating fragments (i.e., the non-verbatim semantic repetitions of the text both in the Russian version and, comparatively, in the multilingual versions of the text in English and Russian). Also, the study involved the analysis of the archival documents and memoir publications. The paper demonstrates that the Russian text of the work "Tool and sign in the development of the child" that was first published in Russian in 1984 under the editorship of M.G. Yaroshevsky was created as a result of manipulations caused by the uncoordinated work of two (or more) translators and, not unlikely, further editorial interventions. The study comes to the conclusion that the Russian text of the 1984 Pedagogika Press edition of the six-volume Collected works by Vygotsky is definitely and hopelessly discredited as Vygotsky's (and Luria's) authentic text of the late 1920s-early 1930s. Finally, the paper discusses the problem of the possible periodization of this text and, further, the problem of authenticity from the standpoint of contemporary revisionist Vygotsky Studies.

One of the fundamental achievements of the science of man at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries is the “Reflexional psychology of Vladimir Lefevbre” (Wheeler, 1990). It is the result of interdisciplinary synthesis of an array of the emerged in the XXth century reflexional sciences: logics, semiotics, psychology, conflictology, ethics, management, politology, systems science, cybernetics, physics, mathematics, cosmology. The Russian-American scientist V.A. Lefevbre contributed to each of them. V.A. Lefevbre has the Renaissant range of research interests, phenomenal creativity, encyclopeadism of professional activity. The research objective of this article is the analysis of V.A. Lefevbre’s trajectory of life and his creative achievements in the field of interdisciplinary studies of such complex psychological reality as reflexivity. For the first time the personological periodization of V.A. Lefevbre’s life was suggested, the development of his personality in three key periods of his work (Soviet, American, Transatlantic) was characterized, the analysis of his scientific achievements was conducted. The constructivity of V.A. Lefevbre’s systematic interdisciplinary approach to the study and learning of reflexive processes in the context of the modern development of science and society is shown. The novelty of the results from the study of V.A. Lefevbre’s creative life is determined by the systematic methodology of his reflexive-scientific studies according to the complementarity principle. This principle is realized by means of interaction of personological approach to characteristics of V.A. Lefevbre’s creative personality and scientific approach to the analysis of his innovative scientific work in the contemporary sociocultural context of development of science and society. In the end, the fundamental significance of V.A. Lefevbre’s interdisciplinary works for the study of reflexion on a scale of science of man and cosmology is shown.

The article presents a theme of reconstruction of the polemic between analytic philosophers and psychologists concerning the relations of thought, language and speech in expression of private experiences. The method of comparative analysis helped the author to elaborate L. Wittgenstein’s argument for reduction of cogitative operations to language, and language to logical propositions. Expression of individual experiences becomes aRb justified because of their transfer to forms of attributive kind. This procedure complicated the congruence of form and content of private experiences in speech. The alternative point of view presented by psychological ideas by J. Piaget and L. Vygotsky, as well as their contemporary expounders, provides the extended interpretation of mind considering its development across the lifespan. Types of speech, namely the external speech and the inner speech, were distinguished. The external speech showed the direct link with thought and logical forms of language to express private experiences. The inner speech disclosed opportunities to express private experiences via connection of thought with language mediated by imagination. In social-cultural regard, the inner speech becomes the channel for translation of private experiences by imposing impulses created by the person on performative forms of the statement (were disclosed in the Theory of Speech Acts by J. Austin). The novelty of the research is contained in the introduction of the modern forms of Unity-Variety dialectics, correlated to the polemic on the nature of human mind and channels for translation of private experiences. In psychology, the result opens prospects to analysis of mind structures, which mediate thought and language in expression of private experiences.

The research is dedicated to the issue of realization of inhibition as the function of cognitive control in people with various characteristics of lateral asymmetry – right or left hand or eye dominance. Groups of the subjects with right or left dominant eye, as well as right- or lefthanded solved the problems of Go/NoGo of various perceptual complexity. As a result, significant differences were found in the amplitude of components of evoked potentials N200 and P300. The differences in the amplitude N200 in the right temporal lead were found between the subjects with the right and left vectors of lateral asymmetry in 2 tasks in both conditions (Go and NoGo) in the lead T6, and they may speak for the independence of color processing of stimuli from the need to inhibit the response, as well as for the fact that in the early stage of processing the stimuli there are differences in color processing. The differences in the amplitude of the component P300 are seen in a wide range of leads and may be linked to perceptual complexity of the visual stimuli. The usage of cognitive control responses varies in groups with right and left vectors of lateral asymmetry. In the task where the relevant stimuli are out of the context, more differences are registered in the condition that demands inhibition of the irrelevant response (NoGo); in the task where stimuli are integrated in the context, more differences are registered in the condition that doesn’t demand the inhibition (Go). This fact speaks for the differences in performance of control in subjects with various types of lateral asymmetry, when they answer various types of stimuli.

The aim of this study was to examine whether personality traits predict sample depletion, which occurs in the studies with the two stages of data collection. Methodologically, the problem was studied in terms of the five-factor theory of personality (McCrae, Costa, 2013). The study was conducted in two stages. At Stage 1, 1030 students participated in a psychological study in classrooms, where they fulfilled the main battery of the tests. At Stage 2 the participants completed a questionnaire off-site, and 277 participants of the main sample emailed a file with the completed test to the researcher. Agreeableness, conscientiousness, and introversion predicted that the participants will take part at Stage 2. The logistic regression analysis estimated the contribution of the reflective characteristic adaptations – meta-traits and attitudes to traits – to these effects. Meta-traits are the individuals’ judgments on how their personality traits are perceived by the significant others, in our case – by parents. Attitudes toward traits are the valent (positive/ negative) evaluations of these traits by the individuals without the direct reference to their personality. Reflective characteristic adaptations incrementally predicted to the participation at Stage 2, while the role of the traits themselves was eliminated. The depletion of the sample was predicted by various meta-traits and attitudes toward various traits. The ambivalent role of attitudes toward traits and meta-traits has been further discussed in terms of the reflective-impulsive model by F. Strack and R. Deutsch. A model was empirically supported, in which the personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness) related with depletion of the sample indirectly, via reflective characteristic adaptations. Relatively small values of the coefficients of determination presumes that the role of personality characteristics in sample depletion is rather small, but yet substantial.

In the last few years Russian society has been going through a stage of political, cultural and economic transformation that brings change to the lifestyle, attitudes, and the worldviews of Russian citizens. The process of development has embraced not only science and technology, but also social and cultural aspects of life. The contemporary image of Russia is in many ways defined by its younger generation that grew up with new economic, social and political standards. Young people’s values, attitudes and aspirations differ from those of the adult generation of Russians, since the last years have been marked by transformations inside the country, as well as by some global changes. This paper demonstrates the results of a study which aimed to identify the relationship between individual values and attitude towards innovation. 380 respondents, young and adult representatives of the Russian population, took part in the research. The respondents belonged to the younger generation (under 25 years old) or to the adult generation (over 45 years old). The principal instrument used was the method of questionnaires. The methodical inventory consisted of three main blocks oriented to the study of the following constructs: the PVQ-R Method of Measuring individual Values (Schwartz et al., 2012) and the method of Self-Assessment of Innovative Qualities of a Personality (Lebedeva& Tatarko, 2009).The goal of the research was to reveal the age differences in values and attitudes towards innovation, and to find which values determine positive or negative attitude towards innovations among representatives of different generations of Russians. The younger generation values of Individually Directed Thought, Stimulation, Achievement, Power/Dominance stimulate the adoption of innovations. 

Previous research has documented the limited capacity of visual working memory (VWM) for color objects set at 3-5 items. Another line of research has shown that multiple objects can be stored in a compressed form of ensemble. However, existing data is more likely to testify that VWM can store no more than two such compressed units. But the nature of this discrepancy can be methodological: VWM for ensembles was never tested using methods that are applied in the research of VWM for objects. Here we have tested the capacity and precision of VWM for objects and ensembles using two standard methods – change detection and continuous report with a mixture model. We found that VWM for both types of units showed the similar capacity and precision when critical psychophysical parameters, such as foveal density and area are controlled. We also showed that this quantitative similarity between objects and ensembles is provided by a mechanism that represents each ensemble as a holistic VWM chunk as efficiently as it represents any single object.

The paper discusses the problem of differentiating two types of optimism, which reflect different sides of constructive thinking, dispositional optimism (DO, generalized positive or negative expectations about the future) and optimistic attributional style (OAS, explanatory style applied to positive and negative life situations). Despite a multitude of studies focused on each of these constructs, past work didn't focus on the joint contribution of DO and OAS to activity performance and psychological well-being. In a study with university students (N=141) we found common and specific features of these two constructs as predictors of well-being and academic achievement. Attributional style was measured using the brief Success and Failure Explanatory Style Questionnaire (Gordeeva, Osin, Shevyakhova, 2009) and dispositional optimism was assessed by means of Dispositional Optimism Test (Gordeeva, Sychev, Osin, 2010). These two constructs were related and similarly predicted psychological well-being. We tested a path model, where the effect of OAS for success and failures on academic achievement and well-being was mediated by effective self-regulation, whereas dispositional optimism was directly related to well-being. The model (tested by Mplus 7.4) showed a good fit to the data (χ2 = 9,315; df = 7; p = 0,23; CFI = 0,975; NNFI = 0,957; RMSEA = 0,048). Only the OAS was associated to academic achievement and its associations with the performance and well-being outcomes were mediated by self-regulation and self-organization (skills of goal-setting, planning, and persistence).