Vol 44, No 3 (2023)

The article considers the main approaches to the study of social optimism as a socio-psychological phenomenon, highlights its theoretical structure and functions. The results of a longitudinal empirical study conducted among adult Russians (N = 664, six measurements) from March 3 to December 26, 2022 and aimed at identifying the socio-psychological antecedents of the stability of social optimism in the conditions of crisis are presented. It is shown that social optimism is directly related to personal characteristics that underlie the resilience: self-efficacy, perceived control, dispositional optimism, positive reframing and seeking emotional support in a critical situation. The study reveals that perceived control increases the stability of the individual's social optimism in a crisis. The higher the social well-being of the individual, the belief in his ability to contribute to the development of society, the more stable is social optimism. The hypothesis is confirmed that social optimism is enhanced by socio-psychological characteristics that facilitate the consolidation of efforts for a joint response to the challenges of the crisis: civic identity; perceived social support; empathy for others affected by the war; generalized trust; trust in civil society institutions; as well as political self-efficacy, that is, the belief in the ability to influence political decisions made in the country. On the contrary, social optimism is negatively associated with belief in a dangerous world, social cynicism, and a conspiracy worldview. The main contribution to the stability of social optimism is made by collective political self-efficacy, while social cynicism accelerates its decline. The results of the study made it possible to suggest the existence of two complementary mechanisms for maintaining social optimism: through strengthening civic identification and the importance of the collective future for the individual (this role is played by moral foundations of respect for authority, loyalty to one’s group and sanctity) and through empathy and strengthening the importance of mutual assistance in a crisis (under the influence of "individualizing" moral foundations of caring for people and fairness).

The solution to the problem of “appearance (AP) — close, romantic relationships” is carried out, traditionally, in connection with the study of the physical component of AP. On the periphery of attention of researchers remains the consideration of a set of characteristics of the attitude to holistic AP. The aim was to determine the levels of severity of the various characteristics of attitudes to AP and to create a hierarchy of significance of differences depending on the levels of severity of anxiety and avoidance strategies in close relationships. The study involved 136 young people aged 18 to 30 years (Me=23; Mo=23; M=22.75; SD=2.60), 71% women, 28.6% men. Research methods: questionnaire “Experience of close relationships” in the adaptation of T.V. Kazantseva. Scalea “Self-assessment of the generalized type of attachment” (“RQ”) in the adaptation of T.V. Kazantseva; Scales: 1) “significance of AP in romantic relationships”; 2) “assessment of the dependence of the relationship with the romantic partner on the VP”; 3) “assessment of the experiences (awkwardness, stiffness, embarrassment) arising as a result of the presentation of the VP to the romantic partner”; 4) “self-assessment of the attractiveness of the VP for the partner of the opposite sex”. Mathematical procedures: rank transformation of the above variables (levels: low, medium; high); descriptive statistics; Criteria: H Kraskala–Wallis, U Mann–Whitney; Spearman correlation (IBM SPPS Statistic 23.0). Results: the severity of anxiety and avoidance strategies differentiate the levels of severity of various characteristics of the attitude to AP: a high level of anxiety strategy causes a high level of AP significance (U=532.500; p=0.025), high rating of the dependence of a relationship with a romantic partner from AP (U=564.000; p=0.046); a high level of severity of the avoidance strategy leads to a high level of severity of experiences that arise in the situation of presenting one's AP to a romantic partner (U=862.000; p=0.009), reduces the level of self-esteem of the attractiveness of AP for a partner of the opposite sex (U=947.000; p=0.043). Results are important in the development of practice-oriented programs aimed at solving problems in close relationships and reducing their dependence on the attitude to AP.

The study is devoted to the definition of individual psychological characteristics of propensity to extremism in the context of socio-psychological maladaptation. The attractiveness of the Columbine subculture and extremist movements is associated with the socio-psychological maladaptation of the individual. This actualizes the task of early identification of a risk group for the provision of psychological assistance in order to prevent the radicalization of the individual. Research hypothesis: students with a tendency to extremism have individual psychological characteristics of the personality, indicating the specifics of their socio-psychological maladaptation. We studied 578 students of 1–6 courses of study at universities in Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai, the Republic of Dagestan and Moscow. The following methods were used: Propensity of extremism detection screening method; R. Cattell’s The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF), form A; Temperament Feature Accentuation Test (TFAT); The Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (CMHS); A. Ellis' technique for diagnosing irrational attitudes and projective technique “12 archetypes plus” (12A+) by R.V. Kadyrov, T.V. Kapustina. It was found that the specificity of the socio-psychological maladjustment of students prone to extremism is determined by the following individual psychological characteristics: underestimation of one's own capabilities, painful sensitivity to criticism, isolation, alienation, a tendency to subject others to strict evaluation, denying them trust, a low threshold of emotional stability, emotional lability, suspicion and irritability, the desire to act in their own interests, neglecting social norms, rules and standards, as well as a combination of conceit and self-criticism, a combination of low tolerance for frustrating situations with an exaggeration of one's stress resistance. These students show signs of depression: depression, anxiety, a tendency to self-flagellation, immersion in gloomy experiences.

An important condition for forecasting and preventing the outflow of young people abroad is the study of psychological mechanisms of forming the emigration intentions of youth. The aim of this study is a comparative analysis of the relationship between the components of planned emigration behavior and the values of student youth in various sociocultural contexts. The participants of the study were university students aged 18–25 from Belarus (n=208, 25% men, mean age=19.8), Kazakhstan (n=200, 26% men, mean age=20.5) and Russia (n=250, 26% men, mean age=20.0). We used the questionnaire “Planned emigration behavior” which we developed as well as the shortened version of the “Survey of Portrait Values” by Sh. Schwartz (“PVQ-21 — ESS”). For statistical analysis we used SPSS Statistics version 23 and AMOS version 23. We did an ANOVA, a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, and a multigroup path analysis. In this part of the article we showed the results of testing of the multi-group model of the author’s questionnaire “Planned emigration behavior” and cross-cultural analysis of the manifestation of values and components of planned emigration behavior among students of three countries. The configural, metric and scalar invariance of the multigroup model of the questionnaire is confirmed. According to the results, Belarusian and Kazakhtani students are more likely to implement emigration intentions in behavior than Russian students are. They are also more likely than Russian students to think that people who matter to them would approve of them moving abroad. We will present the relationships of values and components of planned emigration behavior among students of the three countries in the second part of the article in the next issue of the journal.

Article is devoted to history of scientific problems formation and development in activity of social and economic psychology laboratory Institute of psychology RAS. Dynamic of social-psychological problems is analyzed in connection with social-historical, social-economic conditions of Russian society living. Five main stages of scientifical problematic development in laboratory are highlighted. Changes in social life of the country, that generates social-psychological, economic-psychological effects in psyche and behavior of personality and group are accepted as criteria of these stages’ differentiation. It is shown that specific feature of laboratory scientific activity is variety and fundamentality of researching social-psychological problems. Contribution of IP RAS scientific department activity in development of Russian science and its applied branches is estimated. An integrative approach is emphasized in the study of socio-psychological problems, which combines works of employees performed in the humanitarian and natural science paradigms. New promising areas of research in IP RAS department scientific activity are highlighted.

In the article the authors turn to the study of the development of the scientific field of psychology of morality at the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2002–2021. The Institute's publications on the psychology of morality (monographs and collections of scientific works, a total of 20 books) were used as research material. It describes the corpus of the analyzed publications, bibliometric indicators that determine the characteristics of the formation of a scientific direction in a research center. The first part of the article considers the indicators of the dynamics of the number and volume of publications, frequency of authors, frequency of word combinations, and keywords. It is determined that the scientific direction of psychology of morality was actively developed at the Institute of Psychology (especially in 2007–2011 and 2012–2016), the merged research community was narrow and consisted mainly of employees of the Institute. The substantive characteristics of moral-psychological research were an appeal to the moral aspects of economic activity, moral problems and the state of modern Russian society, spiritual and moral education and personal development. A conclusion is made about the main trajectory of development of the direction of moral psychology at the Institute of Psychology.

In connection with the 90th anniversary of A.V. Brushlinsky, the article presents the results of a scientific study of his life path and creative activity. The key role of S.L. Rubinstein in the formation of the scientific and psychological worldview of A.V. Brushlinsky and the methods of its theoretical and experimental implementation on the material of the study of thinking by means of a procedural-activity approach is substantiated. Various directions of A.V. Brushlinsky's cognitive searches in the study of the nature of the psyche, the processes of thinking and communication, personality types and forms of her consciousness, types of interaction of social representations and communications from the standpoint of the principle of unity of consciousness and activity are characterized. The interaction of the process-activity approach with the principle of subjectivity of the psyche in the school of S.L. Rubinstein is shown, which led A.V. Brushlinsky to develop the subject-activity paradigm, which has become one of the leading in various fields of modern psychology

The article discusses a series of studies by employees of the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2018–2022), carried out on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Institute and dedicated to assessing the state of the scientific problems they study. Separately, there are considered publications in which the results of the development of basic concepts in the general theory of modern psychology, in its individual branches, in applied psychology are presented. It is argued that the research results presented in the publications are the most important theoretical and methodological cut of the actual problems of modern psychology. In addition, the wide range of studies presented in publications implements the most important function of structuring the conceptual space of modern psychological science. The series of publications prepared by A.L. Zhuravlev and E.A. Sergienko, and devoted to a comprehensive assessment of the conceptual space of research carried out by the staff of the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The system-network approach used by the authors to the analysis of the organization of modern concepts of psychology is considered. Its merits are highlighted and debatable questions are raised. It is argued that modern psychological science implements several approaches to the analysis of the conceptual space of psychological research — system-network, scientometric, subject, etc. Their advantages and limitations are highlighted.

The results of the discussion of transdisciplinary problems of cultural experience transfer to the growing generation, the use of innovative technologies in psychological practice, the choice of educational strategies in the current socio-cultural situation at the International Research and Practice Conference “Transmission of Cultural Experience and Social Practices in the Age of Transitivity” organized by the Udmurt State University (Izhevsk) on November 15-18, 2022 are presented. As a result of the conference, the need to develop new scientific approaches to address the issues raised in order to preserve the young generation in an era of global geopolitical and socio-cultural transformation, to study the new social situation of human development in a network society organization with a heterogeneous generation and multidirectional intergenerational transmission is noted. One of the most debated issues in contemporary science and psychological practice is the digital gap between different generations, the complication of intergenerational relations. In the context of digitalisation, the education system is faced with the important task of developing new technologies for socialization of the growing generation, aimed at harmonizing the modern technogenic values of world civilization with the timeless traditional values of the peoples of Russia, serving to consolidate modern multicultural Russian society. The conference, marking the thirtieth anniversary of psycho-pedagogical education at Udmurt State University, took place in 2022, declared the Year of Education in Udmurtia by the Head of the Udmurt Republic.