2020. vol. 17. No. 2

The article presents the results of the development and psychometric analysis of the new psychological Apathy Scale. In three consecutive studies, in which a total of 727 adult Russian-speaking respondents took part, convincing evidence of psychometric consistency of the scale was obtained. In the first study, a preliminary approbation of the Apathy Scale was done, which indicated a homogeneous and reproducible factor structure of the scale. In the second study, the reliability and validity of the Apathy Scale was evaluated. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.85, and the differences between the mean apathy values measured during the test and retest were not statistically significant according to the Bland-Altman plot. Convergent and divergent validity of the scale was established by means of positive correlations of the scale with indicators of adolescent apathy, alienation from study, academic amotivation, alexithymia and social anhedonia, as well as negative correlations with indicators of student engagement, intrinsic cognition, achievement, personal growth, motivation for self-respect, introjected motivation and external regulation. The third study assessed the social desirability of the Apathy Scale. With the help of experimental manipulation with fake-good, standard and fake-bad instructions, as well as the analysis of correlations of the scale with the Paulhus’ Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, it was shown that the scale is stable and adequate in conditions of high social desirability. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that the new psychological Apathy Scale is a reliable and valid instrument for the psychological assessment of apathy in adult Russian-speaking respondents.

The article describes the procedure of developing the semantic differential “A strong-willed person”, which took seven stages. A semantic differential (SD) is a special form that has a number of advantages in comparison with a traditional questionnaire. The SD method enables a respondent to assess the degree of manifestation of qualities or characteristics of the evaluated concept (my volitional qualities) and allows for a wider differential range of answers. In addition to that, the “A strong-willed person” SD allows to embrace a semantic diversity of the concept of volition, which is one of the most complicated psychological phenomena. The analysis of the psychological and philosophical literature as well as dictionaries has made it possible to identify the first set of descriptors. The second set of descriptors was developed on the basis of the free associative experiment (102 respondents) and the method of defining concepts using the expertise of the professional psychologists (the 1-3 stages of SD elaboration). During the fourth stage, a primary form of the SD “A strong-willed person” was worked out on the basis of the primary matrix of the group assessment results (62 people), which was processed by identifying the semantic universals of the group assessment and the factor analysis (the fifth stage). Finally, the working version of the SD was designed to gauge the volitional qualities of a person. The adherence to the semantic structure of the assessment proves the constructive validity of the suggested form, while the method of semantic reconstruction confirms its content validity. The developed technique can be used as a diagnostic tool in consulting psychology. It might also be helpful in self-discovery and self-development.

The authors propose a method of accelerated discriminant analysis procedures using the Software complex "Brainsys" to distinguish two classes.

The development of positive psychology, health psychology and biopsychosocial approach to health in medicine shifted the emphasis in the diagnostics of emotions towards positive indicators of stable emotions in the framework of screening tools, allowing to compare positive and negative emotions with a cognitive appraisal of life. In E. Diener's model, subjective well-being is determined through its three interconnected components – satisfaction as a result of cognitive appraisal of one's life, as well as positive and negative emotions as affective сcomponents. He criticizes the most widespread in the world scale for psycho-diagnostics of emotions PANAS for its emphasize on emotions with a high level of excitation, rather than qualitative features of emotions. As an alternative, he proposed a Scale of Positive and Negative Experiences (SPANE), characterized by a greater emphasis on modality, in contrast to intensity, of emotions. The aim was to validate the Russian version of the scale. 179 students of psychological specialties and 100 adult respondents filled out this scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale. The students also answered the questions of a brief version of WHOQOL and a brief version of the Quality of Life and Satisfaction Questionnaire. According to the data obtained, the scale is characterized by sufficient reliability-consistency (Cronbach alpha 0,81–0,89), test-retest reliability (r = 0,52–0,65) and factor validity. Its subscales correlate with satisfaction with life, quality of life, especially in the domains of emotions and communication, as well as coping strategies that are traditionally described as "productive", which indicates the external validity of the scale. The scale can be used for screening diagnostics of positive and negative emotions in psychological research.

The aim of the present study was to replicate the two-level orthogonal structural model of the Russian version of D. R. Forsyth’s Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ). The confirmatory factor analysis revealed that this model fits well the empirical data and has better fit indices than the original single-level model. The replication research also established that the EPQ has good internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity. The latter was assessed using the Lie scale of the short form of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and not the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (as in the original study). This allowed evaluating not only the reproducibility, but also the retestability of the results. The data obtained in this replication study indicate the reproducibility of the two-level orthogonal structure of the EPQ.

Based on the analysis of publications, four stages of environmental studies of personal development in Russian psychology were identified: «pedological» – 1920s – beginning of 1930s; «cultural-activity» – the 1930s – 1960s; the «spatial» – 1970s; «personal-environmental» – since the mid 1990s; ecological and psychological – since the beginning of the XXI century; and ecological and pedagogical is being formed at the present time. A comparative analysis is conducted of the main methodological approaches, on the basis of which the study of educational environments in modern Russian pedagogical psychology and pedagogy is done: the collector's approach, spatial-objective approach, socio-psychological approach, environmental approach in education, cultural-historical approach and ecological approach. The possibility is proved for the generalized theory formation of environment for personality development  on the basis of synthesis of key provisions of these approaches. The conceptual-terminological and structural-contensive voluntarism is revealed, which reduces the quality of research on the environment of personality development. The acquisition of developmental opportunities of the environment by the personality is considered as the main psychological mechanism of interaction of personality with environment and as the content of psychological design of the personal developmental environment. The concept of the educational environment was formulated and its structural and contensive model was designed that synthesizes the key provisions of different schools of thought. The educational environment is understood as a spatially and / or event-limited set of opportunities for personal development that arise in its interaction with its social and spatial-objective environment. A complex of systemic parameters for the description of environment is proposed, which meaningfully integrates various areas of research on environment of personality development: breadth, intensity, awareness, generality, emotionality, dominance, coherence, social activity, structure, mobility, security and stability. The emerging scientific direction of ecological psychology of education can become the basis for the creation of ecological pedagogy that provides the design for personal developmental social and educational environments. Ecological psychology of education creates a «psychological matrix» (processes, mechanisms, principles, methods), which can be overlaid with appropriate «pedagogical blueprint» (technologies, techniques, practices).

The temporal dynamic characteristics of mood play an important role in various aspects of our lives, including our psychological health and well-being. It is assumed that individuals with high emotional intelligence (EI) are characterized by more positive and stable moods. However, most studies analyze how EI is related to emotional traits or momentary assessments of mood, hence not much is known about the relationship of EI to mood dynamics. The present study aimed at answering the following questions: How are dynamic characteristics of mood related to each other? To what extent are they independent? Which aspects of EI are related to particular characteristics of mood dynamics? Participants filled out an EI questionnaire and then reported their mood three times daily for two weeks. Mean mood scores calculated across all measurement points were regarded as static characteristics showing a mood background typical for the participant. Also, three dynamic characteristics of mood were calculated, namely variability, instability, and inertia. Mood variability and instability have been found to be very closely related to each other but not to inertia. Higher EI is related to more enduring mood states, i.e., higher mood inertia and a higher stability of the tension dimension of mood. Unlike previous studies that measured only static mood characteristics, no relationship between higher EI and positive mood have been found. Some aspects of EI were related to the inertia of negative and positive moods. The results show that experience sampling provides new insights on the role of EI in mood.

As vocational interests are a stronger predictor of future vocational success than personality or IQ, it is important to understand the vocational interests of upcoming leaders. In this scientific paper we aimed at expanding the current understanding regarding the vocational interests variability across cultures and gender by analysing gender and nationality based differences among Polish and Slovenian samples. 226 undergraduate students enrolled at the Faculty of Management in Poland and in Slovenia took part in the study. The Vocational Potential Inventory was applied in the study. The gender differences were more evident in the Polish group, with Polish women having stronger pro-social interests compared to Polish men, while Polish men showed stronger interests in leadership. Within the Slovenian sample, no statistically significant differences in vocational interests emerged. Female students in general had higher pro-social and lower technical interests. Therefore, the gender effect reflected the stereotypical gender role, women – people orientated and men – things orientated. Concerning the nationality effect, there were three clusters revealed, showing differentiation with regard to nationality. The clusters consisted of a Slovenian female group, a Polish female group and a male group. This means that cultural differences are stronger in the female group compared to the male group. Clustering revealed the male group having the strongest technical interests and Polish women the weakest. Implications of results are provided.

The article describes the relationships between personal traits and intercultural expectations of host society in Russia. In accordance with the last studies and official statistics, contemporary Russian society includes considerable number of migrants from different countries, both foreign students and labor migrants. Host society faces different problems with acceptance or negative attitudes toward migrants, while migrants try to adapt to the new culture. The theoretical backgrounds of the following study are the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits (CPM) by W. Strus and theory of acculturation by J. Berry. The questionnaire consisted of 3 blocks: acculturation expectations questionnaire («multiculturalism», «melting pot», «segregation» and «exclusion»), CPM metatraits questionnaire (Self-Restraint, Stability, Integration, Plasticity, Sensation-Seeking, Disinhibition, Disharmony, Passiveness), and socio-demographic characteristics. The sample includes 103 people living in Moscow and Moscow region (43 males and 60 females), aged 22 – 30 years old. Regression analysis of empirical data showed personal traits (Disharmony, Self-Restraint and Integration) as predictors of intercultural expectations (positive or negative). Thus, asocial personal traits are predictors of intolerant intercultural expectations (Disharmony and Self-Restraint have impact on Segregation and Exclusion). On the other hand, Integration and openness to new experience are predictors of Multiculturalism. Acquired results might be useful in development of intercultural training lessons for students and workers, as well as for migration service personnel.

The paper describes testing the hypothesis of increasing concretization of the consciously perceived meaning of ambiguous information in the presence of alternative meanings that remain unnoticed (i.e. «negatively chosen» meanings).

It is assumed that unconscious values play an important role in the process of interpreting ambiguous information: they limit the range of aspects of the consciously perceived meaning by dropping out those that are not related to this meaning. Concretization of the perceived object occurs by thinning the context of perception when rejecting less relevant alternatives, which this object is not. This eliminates the interference with the most suitable decision. In addition, it is the unconscious meaning that provides the constancy of the context. Specifically, the perceived object becomes subjectively less similar to other objects. We link this process with a narrowing of the associative field or the range of equivalence of the meaning of the perceived object. As a convenient model for studying ambiguous information, we consider double meaning figures. In the process of research the frequency of finding the semantic associations of words and figures is compared in three conditions: for unambiguous figures, for ambiguous figures with negatively chosen meanings, and also for ambiguous figures with both meanings consciously perceived by а participant. The results of the experiment show that the condition of unnoticed ambiguity differs from other conditions, both in terms of the number of errors in the omission of semantic associations, and in the ability to notice these errors. Thus, it is shown that the presence of negatively chosen alternatives is a factor contributing to the concretization of a consciously perceived meaning by narrowing its equivalence range. The conclusion is made that the essence is given not so much by conscious meaning, as by negatively chosen ones.

The article is devoted to the problem of essential ambiguity and fuzziness of the 'loyalty' concept. To solve this problem, the necessity of meaningful differentiation of the concept of 'loyalty' with conjugate and related concepts is emphasized. A comparative analysis of the often confused terms 'loyalty' and 'commitment' is carried out. The possibility of extrapolating the obtained results to the interrelation of the  similar Russian terms 'loyalty' and 'commitment' is analyzed. The following rules for the scientific application of comparable terms are recommended: 1) the term 'loyalty' is relevant to use only in the context of personal-group relations, and the term 'commitment' - also outside it; 2) the term 'loyalty' is applicable only to indicate relations of the 'subject-subject' type, which is possible only in the relations of the individual with his membership groups, characterized by real psycho-behavioral unity, and the term 'commitment' is applicable for indicating relations of the 'subject-object' type as applied to any groups; 3) the term 'loyalty' is applicable when considering the relationship of a person with a group as a system in all of its psycho-behavioral aspects taken together, the term 'commitment', applied in a person-group context, can reflect a person's attitude to single characteristics of the group; 4) psychologically, the term 'loyalty' is more appropriate to use to characterize the person as a whole, and the term 'commitment' - to characterize particular features of the person; 5) specifying displays of total regulation of behavior by norms of group, with which there a person identifies himself and forms actual partnership, it is recommended to use the term 'loyalty', and the term 'commitment' is better suited for describing the actions related to individual choices and decisions of the person not reflecting his orientation and social self-identification. The topicality of the term 'loyalty' is noted for systematic conceptual research, which studies person in a group, and the term 'commitment' is important for applied research on specific forms of social behavior.