Psihologičeskij žurnal

The problem of mental modelling and creation of thinking devices is one of the most significant and at the same time, the least studied in modern science. The main difficulties in solving it are associated with insufficient elaboration of the relationship between the mental and the biological, primarily from the conceptual apparatus and a unified methodological base. The article discusses the issues of the definition of alive, the emergence of the psyche, the concept of pan-interiorism, existing models of consciousness and their criticism from the position of non-disjunctive logic and proposes a new semiotic model based on a cultural substrate. The work is an attempt at an interdisciplinary synthesis of views on the above problems of the largest scientists of the XX and XXI centuries: V.I. Vernadsky, S.L. Rubinshtein, A.V. Brushlinsky, M.M. Bakhtin, Yu.M. Lotman and others. The possibility of building artificial intelligence based on cultural substrate is substantiated, as it is proposed to use semiotic systems, whose properties in many respects resemble the properties of a living organism: they possess the mechanism of autopoiesis, follow the Redi principle, are organized in the form of cholarchy, and exist only in a communicative environment.

The study was devoted to identification of the population’s everyday ideas about the functional capabilities of education that can have an impact on the development of the state. The methodological approach and research methods are based on the fact that the perception of macroeconomic processes determined by the development of education will be reflected in the everyday ideas of the population, which can be studied through structural and content analysis of the texts of messages on social networks. The work used methods of grounded theory, neural network analysis, analysis of the frequency of occurrence and emotional background of words, content and expert analysis. It is shown that, according to users of social networks, the leading functions of education are associated with its ability to influence the social, economic and political development of society and the state, including as a geopolitical subject. Users associate education with various levels of development of socio-economic processes — from personal to national. The functional essence of education as a resource for the macroeconomic development of the state dominates over other aspects (micro- and meso-levels) of ideas and demonstrates a clearly defined hierarchical relationship of priorities: national, historical, systemic, global, institutional, regional and meso-economic. As part of the discussion of educational processes, differences arise between supporters of state-oriented and socially-centered ways of developing society. The historical conditionality of Russian education among users correlates with the peculiarities of its development in the USSR, and there is no connection to earlier periods of history. Education from a functional perspective is assessed by users as a benefit for individuals and society, the achievement of which requires significant time and socio-economic costs on the part of all its participants (the state, teachers and students). Insufficient satisfaction with higher education is manifested by the majority of users and is due to an assessment of its current state. The identified results require further specification, for example, the study of algorithms proposed to overcome the current situation.

The results of an analysis of cohort differences in performance on the “Standard Progressive Matrices” test over one decade are presented. The focus of the research is on the performance of the fluid intelligence test by 1008 schoolchildren of six birth cohorts who entered the first grades of one school from 2011 to 2017, and their results after 4 years of primary schooling — from 2015 to 2021. The follow-up study solves problems related to determining the nature of cohort differences in test scores “within” one decade in the first and fourth years of education, the likelihood of changes in the size of cohort differences during primary schooling, and the degree of their dependence on the complexity of test items. The results of the analysis indicate the existence of cohort differences in the performance of students of one general education organization on an intelligence test “within” one decade. At the same time, the nature of the changes does not correspond to the trend of a progressive increase in test scores from the previous cohort to the subsequent one. The magnitude of cohort differences in the first and fourth years of study varies depending on the complexity of test items, reaching maximum values for more complex items. Four years of primary schooling significantly reduces the severity of cohort differences both in the overall score of the “Standard Progressive Matrices” test and in individual series of test items associated with individual thought processes. At the same time, the complexity of test tasks is associated with the influence of primary school education on the severity of cohort differences: the more complex the tasks, the less the magnitude of cohort differences is reduced by the end of primary school.

The results of comparing the experience of different types of stressful situations, including situations of abandonment and helplessness, and ways of coping with them in adolescence are presented. The study involved schoolchildren aged 12–14 years (x = 12.5; med = 12; sd = 0.7). Participants were 80 adolescents (39 girls and 41 boys). Methods: Color test of relationships; Adolescent Coping Scale E. Frydenberg, R. Lewis; Perceived Stress Scale for Children. The most difficult for adolescents is stressful situation of abandonment as a situation of experiencing emotional, informational and social deprivation. It was found that in terms of the level of perceived stress, the group indicated the abandonment as a more stressful situation for them is closest to the group indicated the extreme stressful situation (U = 69.0; p = 0.44) and differs from the groups indicated assessment situation (U = 51.5; p = 0.02) and helplessness (U = 82.5; p = 0.019). It was revealed that in the assessments of the projective situation, in which parents leave child alone at home for a period of time, the groups “Abandonment” and “Extremity” also turn out to be similar (mostly negative assessments on the situation were found). It was determined that the “Helplessness” group is characterized by coping strategies that indicate the relevance of applying to the social support, and for the “Abandonment” group, unlike all other groups, the ignoring strategy is more typical (p < 0.05).

The purpose of the article is to identify, systematize and structure personal prerequisites of people that are professionally important for successful entrepreneurship, in the context of interdisciplinary research into the phenomenon of entrepreneurship and its functional specifics. The understanding of entrepreneurship as a special type of professional activity, carried out in accordance with the request for it from society and its segments, extends to the analysis of the personal prerequisites for the professional development of modern entrepreneurs. Based on the psychological theory of activity, modern theories of abilities and on functional ideas about entrepreneurship as a type of professional activity, a professional-centric approach to assessing personal prerequisites that are important for successful entrepreneurship on a professional basis, as well as for the entrepreneurial professionalization of actors, is formulated. Special objects of consideration are clusters of professionally important prerequisites — people’s entrepreneurship ability, their personal competitiveness, ownership propensities. The illegality of synonymizing entrepreneurship as a type of activity and the entrepreneurship ability as a prerequisite for the success of this activity is argued. Entrepreneurship contains a readiness to make decisions, implement a program of action, reflect on the results of activity in an environment of comparative uncertainty of the market realities of the business environment, as well as to take on professional risks. The ownership propensities is interpreted as prerequisites that are professionally important for de facto entrepreneurs as business owners. It is shown that the personal competitiveness of the actors of this type of professional activity is of professional importance for successful entrepreneurship throughout the centuries-old history of reproducing the competitive nature of the entrepreneurship environment.

The paper presents the results of assessing validity and reliability of a questionnaire designed to measure three key functions of informal subgroups in relation to a small work group, namely: (1) implementing group tasks; (2) within group positioning and influence; and (3) organizing group activity. The questionnaire contains three subscales to assess the corresponding functions of informal subgroups. Three experienced psychologists assessed content validity of the questionnaire. In addition, 290 employees from 49 working groups (departments, sectors, production units, etc.) of various organizations took part in the pilot testing and validation study of the developed questionnaire and of the associated tool for identifying informal subgroups — within the software package “Group Profile — Universal. Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and Cronbach’s alpha α were calculated, and confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The questionnaire evaluation procedure was carried out separately for the data obtained: (a) among those sample participants who were included in informal subgroups and (b) for the entire sample. The study shows that in both cases the questionnaire has adequate content validity and confirms a three-factor structure of the questionnaire with every subscale being internally consistent. The questionnaire can be used to solve research and applied problem alike. Its application will allow researchers to expand their understanding of the role of informal subgroups in the life and functioning of work groups. Practitioners (psychologists and human resource professionals) will be able to assess the prevalence of the functions of each subgroup or of a set of subgroups and, based on outcomes of such assessment, purposefully build their work with subgroups in order to improve joint activities and increase performance effectiveness of work groups.

The article is devoted to the scientific creativity of a leading specialist in social and economic psychology in the 2000–2010s. Alla Borisovna Kupreichenko (1962–2014). Her life path and main areas of research are described. Her work on the psychology of trust and distrust is discussed in detail. The periods of its development of these phenomena are highlighted — from the justification of trust/distrust as independent phenomena to the study of its specific forms and types. The key theoretical and methodological foundations for studying the psychology of trust/distrust in the works of A.B. Kupreichenko are analyzed and presents the substantive characteristics of her research activities.

22–23 марта 2024 г. состоялась 7-я Международная научно-практическая конференция “Социально-психологическая адаптация мигрантов в современном мире”. Организаторами выступили Пензенский государственный университет и Костанайский региональный университет им. Ахмета Байтурсынова (Казахстан). Работа конференции была организована в гибридном формате — очно и с помощью видеоконференцсвязи Контур.Толк. Участниками обсуждены вопросы, связанные с проблемным полем социально-психологической адаптации мигрантов и беженцев в России и в других странах. Отдельной темой для анализа и дискуссии стала проблема организации психолого-педагогической помощи мигрантам и беженцам. По итогам работы конференции был опубликован сборник материалов, раскрывающий широкий спектр исследований современных психологов в области социально-психологической адаптации мигрантов.