2022. vol. 19. No. 3

The problem of a person's attitude to uncertainty is one of the most topical issues of our time. In this regard, it is important to find correct methods for detecting and measuring this construct. The most common method for assessing tolerance and intolerance to ambiguity are questionnaires. One of such questionnaires is the Measurement of Ambiguity Tolerance (MAT-50) developed in 1975 by R. Norton. Despite the fact that the original scale has high psychometric properties and allows to assess tolerance to ambiguity in a wide range of situations, it has not yet been adapted on a Russian sample. The aim of this paper is to assess the internal consistency and internal structure of the MAT-50. This article presents the first stage of adaptation of R. Norton's Measurement of Ambiguity Tolerance (MAT-50) on the Russian-language sample, namely, the analysis of the internal structure of the questionnaire. The test-retest reliability and convergent validity were also assessed. It was shown on a sample of 843 subjects, that the scale has high internal consistency. The result shows four of the eight subscales showed a good level of internal consistency. The confirmatory factor analysis didn’t confirm the original eight-factor structure. The principal component analysis revealed an eight-factor solution, which explained 41.9% of the variance. Four factors could be well interpreted according to the following subscales: Public Image, Social, Problem-solving, Habits. Adap­ta­tion of the measurement has not yet been completed, further work will be aimed at clarifying the internal structure of the scale, as well as assessing the validity and retest reliability. Adaptation of the MAT-50 on the Russian sample could significantly supplement and expand the data obtained using the existing in Russia measurement of tolerance to ambiguity.

The paper presents the results of the study on development and standardization of the “COVID-19 Vaccine Attitude Scale” (COVID-19 VAS) questionnaire. The study sample includes N = 1965 undergraduate, specialist and master students, of which N = 1592 (81%) are women and N = 373 (19%) are men aged 16 to 60 years, mean age M = 24.7, SD = 8.4, Me = 21.0. Study was conducted at Moscow State University of Psychology & Education (MSUPE). The questionnaire structure includes 5 scales identified by the method of exploratory factor analysis: Scale 1 "The benefits of vaccination against COVID-19 for an individual and society", Scale 2 "Fear of incidental effects of vaccination against COVID-19 and distrust of information about the vaccination safety", Scale 3 “Denial of the danger of coronavirus and hope for natural immunity”, Scale 4 “Confidence in the serious negative consequences of the coronavirus vaccine” and Scale 5 “Disbelief in the proven international level effectiveness of Russian vaccines”. The construct validity of the questionnaire was statistically proved. Confirmatory factor analysis verified satisfactory goodness-of-fit between the empirical data and the questionnaire structure. The scales are moderately intercorrelated, and the directions of the correlations correspond to the expected ones. The high internal reliability of all scales is statistically confirmed with the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Satisfactory convergent validity of the corresponding scales of the “COVID-19 Vaccine Attitude Scale (COVID-19 VAS)” with natural science literacy, intelligence and fear of COVID-19 disease is also confirmed. All correlations are weak, but theoretically expected and explainable. The differential validity is statistically proved. Stanines are calculated. The COVID-19 VAS can be recommended for preparation, realization and evaluation of the effectiveness of educational activities on vaccine prevention against COVID-19 among university students.

Against the backdrop of a biogenic threat (coronavirus infection), many people tried to strengthen control over their life, in particular, in eating behavior, or, on the contrary, turned it into uncontrolled autotherapy. To study changes in eating behavior and related lifestyle changes, a compact scaled questionnaire instrument by Indian colleagues was chosen (Kumari et al., 2020). To adapt the questionnaire and diagnose changes in the eating behavior of Russians, an empirical study was performed (827 respondents from 17 to 75 years old) against the backdrop of the second wave of the pandemic (November 2020 — January 2021). The research toolkit also included a modified (short) version of T.A. Nestik’s “Attitude to the epidemiological threat”, supplemented by the question of attitude to the requirements of self-isolation, and the technique “Time attitudes” by J. Nuttin modified by K. Muzdybaev. The results of the study allowed us to confirm the construct validity and reliability of the questionnaire on changes in eating behavior during the pandemic, as well as to identify the optimal (health, immunity, performance) and non-optimal behavioral strategies. In addition, it was shown that respondents with a behavioral strategy that has changed in favor of a healthy lifestyle have a more positive attitude towards their past and future, and a more meaningful attitude towards the present. They approach the demands of self-isolation more positively and more constructively, in particular by trying to reduce the threats of the situation at the level of eating behavior, which, in turn, contributes to their greater emotional stability.

The article describes the process of development and the results of validation of a novel questionnaire "Life success". The questionnaire aims to study the components of success in life of a person as a meta-resource in the self-regulation system. The development of the theoretical construct of the questionnaire was based on the results of the analysis of socio-philosophical, theoretical and applied psychological studies, which made it possible to understand the success in life as a triadic system-functional formation in the system of self-regulation of the personality that manifests itself as a mechanism, a trait and a state. This meta-resource allows a person to reflexively correlate personal goals, values and meanings with the processes and results of subjective activity, taking into account internal priorities and emerging socio-cultural conditions. The questionnaire consists of four subscales; each measures a certain component of success in life (reflexive mechanisms, integrative qualities, emotional experiences, values). The study showed (N = 705) that the subscales have good internal consistency (Cronbach's a 0.789–0.897), construct and convergent validity. Construct validity was confirmed by validating the model using confirmatory factor analysis. The convergent validity was confirmed by means of correlation analysis with the subscales of selected questionnaires that measure motivational and psychological states, resource capabilities, levels of subjective activity, and specifics of conscious self-regulation of behavior. Respondents with high indices of life success demonstrate the most positive motivational background, life satisfaction, existential fulfillment; show such resource opportunities as resilience and readiness for personal change; have high levels of subjective activity. Nevertheless, negative correlations of indices of life success with some styles of conscious self-regulation was an unexpected result. 

Personality disorders (PD) are a significant clinical and social problem associated with a substantial financial burden. However, data on the prevalence of different PD types remain controversial due to different approaches to diagnosis and classification. Excessive diagnostic overlap, instability of PD diagnoses over time and poor diagnostic agreement called into question the clinical utility of the previously dominant categorical approach. In the last decade, classifiers of mental disorders have gradually switched to the dimensional assessment of these conditions. As a part of this approach, a short 25-item version of the Personality Disorders questionnaire for DSM-5 (PID-5-BF) was created to assess maladaptive personality traits. This work aims to conduct a Russian-language linguocultural adaptation of this tool and study its psychometric properties in the Russian population of patients with non-psychotic mental disorders (NPMD). As statistical methods, exploratory modeling by structural equations, assessment of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin sampling adequacy criterion, and Bartlett's sphericity criterion were used, and the number of factors was determined using parallel analysis. Coherence of fit criteria was calculated using the weighted least squares method, corrected for the mean and variance, with oblique equimax rotation. The study results indicate good psychometric properties of the questionnaire and confirm the transcultural nature of pathological personality traits detected using PID-5-BF. Furthermore, the Russian version of PID-5-BF showed good internal consistency in the entire questionnaire. In addition, it retained the five-factor model of pathological personality domains presented in DSM-5, which the authors of the original version proposed. Thus, the questionnaire can be used in clinical practice and for research in Russian-speaking patients.

The concept of «individual way of action» is introduced  an individually stable procedural characteristic of the performance of an action, due to the complex interaction of the objective conditions of activity and the mental properties of the subject himself. The individual differences of primary school children in manners of performing regulatory actions in learning are considered. Based on the methodology of the activity approach, individual ways of regulatory actions in learning of primary school children were studied in the process of their learning activity on the subject content of ordinary school lessons. The objective of the study was to identify factors that determine individual ways of implementing regulatory learning activities and their change in primary school children of different ages. A series of experimental lessons was developed, in which the subjects independently mastered the educational content — carried out actions of planning, teaching, controlling and evaluating their learning using the selected means and methods. At each lesson, each subject could independently choose from among the proposed means and methods for performing any regulatory action. In total, 60 lessons of Russian language and mathematics were held. The sample consisted of 175 subjects (from the 2nd grades there were 78 students, from the 3rd grades — 46 students, and from the 4th grades — 51 students), 68 of them were studied for several years. The results showed that the overwhelming majority of primary schoolchildren of different ages have developed individual ways of learning actions. These were due to internal factors: the totality of students' attitudes towards the learning conditions, other people and towards themselves as a student, acting in interaction with external circumstances: the subject content and the changing learning situation. Ways of learning actions were changing not only under the influence of changing conditions of activity, but also as a result of the growth and development of the students. The method and the results of the study can be used to individualize learning.

This paper describes the indicators of the emotional tone of newspapers daily news about coronavirus epidemic, published in various countries at the beginning of the epidemic. The total sample is 12,000 news entries published between 1st and 30th March 2020 in Italian, German, French and Russian languages. Among the countries under consideration, the most stable tone of the published news was observed in Russia, the predominantly negative tone of news records was in France, and positive tone was found in Italy. It is shown that the emotional tone of news was strongly related with the increase in the pandemic indicators, and was less related with the absolute indicators of its spread. The emotional tone of the press was stronger determined by the global events associated with the pandemic than by the spread within their own country. Three to 4 days was the size of the sliding window during which the press maintained the tone of the published news. Hierarchical regression method was used for built models for predicting the tone of the next day's press for each of the analyzed countries: France (R2 = 0.78), Italy (R2 = 0.75), Germany (R2 = 0.76), Russia (R2 = 0.85). The most relevant predictors were identified for each model. The most significant contribution for France and Italy was made by the parameters of the spread of the epidemic in the world in the previous 3 days and the emotional tone of the local media in the previous 3 days. The indicator of the emotional tone of the press in the previous 4 days and the emotional tone of the Italian media in the previous 1−2 days had a great explanatory power for Germany. In Russia, one can note the impact of global indicators of the spread of the epidemic and the emotional tone of the media in previous days.

The objective of the article is to study whether the psychological indicators of the dynamic system of intellectual-personal potential of high school students and the orientation of their decisions (ethical/corruptive) in situations of corruption risk (CR) governed by the system will change after changing one of its cognitive components (ability to recognize corruption) as a result of guided online training. During the online training, participants in the experimental group learned about the signs of corruption and the actions necessary to recognize it in problem situations. The indicators of development before and after online training were compared: the ability to recognize corruption (author's case test), the representations of corruption (author's questionnaire), understanding of emotions and the ability to manage emotions (tasks of the Meyer-Salovey-Caruso test). The change of preferred alternatives in situations of CR was also evaluated: ethical or corrupt decisions with a moral orientation toward justice and care. After the training, the psychological indicators within the studied system (the ability to recognize corruption, representations of corruption, understanding and management of emotions) as well as the alternatives preferred by high school students (ethical or corrupt decisions with a moral orientation toward justice and care) changed significantly. Comparison of students with high, average and low indices of the formed ability to recognize corruption (x2 Pearson, p < .01) leads to meaningful changes in their representations of corruption (cognitive component of decision-making in CR situations). High school students with high and low levels of representations of corruption differ significantly (U Mann—Whitney, p < 0.05) in their preference for ethical decisions in CR situations. The obtained results indicate that the learning implemented in the format of online group training is effective for the development of components of the decision-making system in CR situations (cognitive and personal), as well as for changing the vector of alternatives preferred by high school students in the direction of ethical decisions.

The paper is focused on the problem of the Unknown Self (which is understudied in personality psychology). The author turns to the “Confessions” by Aurelius Augus­tinus as a source of psychological knowledge about the Unknown Self and explains new opportunities of this text for the study of personality. A personological methodology used in the research of the Unknown Self assumes the unity of references to the text of culture and its hermeneutic analysis, to theoretical psychological knowledge about the personality and to the individual experience of knowing the Self that has a universal value. A conceptual model of the hermeneutics of the Unknown Self in the text of “Confessions” has been developed and applied. This model was used to provide the explication, analysis and synthesis of Augustinus’s self-statements related to the Unknown Self. The developed reflexive-hermeneutic model of the Unknown Self of Aurelius Augustinus is presented in the paper. The main areas of study (philosophical, cultural and psychological) of the “Confessions” in modern scientific contexts were considered in order to substantiate scientific novelty of the study. The study resulted in new hermeneutic data that indicate the significance of the theme of the Unknown Self in the text of “Confessions”; Augustinus’s comprehension of not knowing the Self in various areas of external and internal life and in relation to oneself, to others and to a highly significant Other; the psychologically subtle phenomenology of Augustinus’s experiencing the Unknown Self; various hypostases and structural constituents of the Self that for Augustinus represent objects and “tricks” of not-knowing; the individual and cultural value of knowing the Self that is fulfilled in a continuous reflective dialogue with God as the Other; Augustinus’s profound and intimate appeal to God as Thou as a condition for discovering the unawareness of the Self; Augustinus’s attitude to the Thou that is assumed to be a source of overcoming this unawareness of the Self and renewal of the self-relation of the Self; the attainment of revelations about the Self in questioning, prayer and repentance before the Thou; and such richness and extent of self-relation, and such “self-completion” in knowing the Self, in which the Self can “fill up” and “merge” with the higher Other.

The present article contains a review of contemporary research on the development of concepts in children in infancy and early childhood. Human concepts underlie such fundamental cognitive functions as thinking, problem solving, planning, and decision making. The research on children's formation of concepts has recently been gaining popularity in cognitive developmental psychology. The main topics are determining the type of categories available to children for learning, establishing the age boundaries in which this learning typically occurs, and the factors that influence success. This review will present essential contemporary research demonstrating that the development of concepts and categories in infancy and early childhood is the basis for many speech- and language-based cognitive processes. In addition, we will also discuss the possibilities of using language and verbalization to develop categorization ability and category learning at different ages, and whether training in verbalization ability could help children at an earlier age to learn different types of categories and to be aware of the categorization rules. The effects of early categorization are structured in the review in regards to two directions of study of concept development: multiple systems learning theory and the problematics of the categorization level development. The structural and functional features of preverbal categorization observed in infancy are described. We show that the development of concepts and categories at an early age, after the acquisition of speech, supports the formation of basic cognitive functions: long-term memory, selective attention and distributed attention, and inductive inference. The experimental data and theoretical concepts presented in this review are virtually underreported in the Russian academic literature.

The objective of the article is to describe the opportunities for use of the Mindfulness-based techniques in the work of a practical psychologist, for development of creative thinking and creative potential in children and teenagers. The concept of Mindfulness is defined; the specifics and basic principles of this method are described. A brief analytical review of the results of foreign works devoted to the role of Mindfulness programs in the creative development of individual is conducted. The research potential of the technique in improving cognitive functioning (development of focus, accuracy, efficiency of attention, speed of information processing, working memory) is summarized. The results of the studies indicating the positive impact of these programs on the mental well-being of children are analyzed. It is stated that Mindfulness contributes to a greater productivity of children’s cognitive processes. The experience of including the method in the psychologist’s counseling and psycho-correctional work with children and adolescents is described. The main groups of techniques that can be used in the work of a practicing specialist are given. The ideas are given that can be expanded and supplemented in order to formulate original exercises for individual work in development of client’s creative potential. The specifics of application of Mindfulness practices in a group work with children is described. The materials of the article can be used by practicing educational psychologists working in schools while forming the developmental and correctional programs for children of different ages, as well as in the preparation of master-classes for teachers in order to present them methods for development of creative thinking in their pupils. The described experience of usage of the Mindfulness program can become the starting point for research psychologists in studying the effectiveness of mindfulness practices. The materials can be of help for providing psychological assistance in a digital format, for example, for development of a mobile application based on the Mindfulness approach.