Theoretical and Experimental Psychology. 2022. 1.

The article is devoted to the psychological analysis of a new problem in the Russian psychology of understanding — understanding the unthinkable. Previously, it was substantiated that cognitive components of the phenomenon are reduced either to the incredible, impossible, what is diffi cult to imagine, or to the extraordinary, exceptional in terms of the degree of manifestation. The existential meaning of the “unthinkable” is associated with acceptance or rejection of the moral and social norms of human behavior in society, with inadmissibility of situations that are understood by most people as unthinkable. The novelty of the study is due to the original approach providing transition from categorical defi nitions of the unthinkable to the description of psychological mechanisms of its understanding. It is substantiated that one of them is an inexpressible traumatic existential experience. The study considers examples of such experience, analyzes semantics of the inexpressible, and identifi es its three main meanings: verbally “inexpressible” means unimaginable, indescribable, surpassing the means of verbal representation available to a person; “inexpressible” can mean bad, unwanted, or even hateful; “inexpressible” is what cannot be pronounced or said, qualifying a “sacred” object; one cannot speak of such an object, because it is outside the profane world and its language. It is shown that an inexpressible traumatic experience (experiencing the consequences of the Holocaust, manifestations of evil, a serious illness) indicates what cannot be expressed in words and contributes to generating an intrapersonal confl ict, in which the subject needs yet cannot express the unthinkable at the same time.

Background. Testing effectiveness of tools for measuring the quality of educational environment in kindergarten groups in predicting the executive functions development of preschoolers is an important task in modern psychology, since the success of preparing a child for schooling largely depends on their validity. 

Objective. The study had its purposes: 1) to compare the assessments of the educational environment quality obtained by means of ECERS-R and CLASS methods in groups of Moscow kindergartens; 2) to identify interconnections between these assessments and the executive functions development in the preschoolers during one academic year (from the senior to the preparatory group of the kindergarten). 

Sample. The study involved 360 preschoolers of 26 groups of Moscow kindergartens. Assessment of the levels of executive functions development was carried out twice — in the senior groups and a year later — in the preparatory groups. 

Method. To assess the quality of educational environment, two methods were implemented in the study: CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring System) (Pianta, La Paro, Hamre, 2008) and ECERS-R (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale– Revised) (Harms, Cliff ord, Cryer, 2005; Harms, Cliff ord, Cryer, 2016). To assess the main components of executive functions (visual and verbal working memory, inhibition and cognitive fl exibility), we used a set of methods tested earlier on preschoolers (Almazova, Bukhalenkova, Veraksa, 2019). 

Results. Assessments carried out in Moscow kindergartens revealed a high and average level of the quality of educational environment according to the CLASS method, and an average and low level — according to the ECERS-R method. It was found that assessments of educational environment obtained by means of ECERS-R and CLASS methods do not contradict yet complement each other and are not always linearly related. Children with a high level of executive functions development are more likely to attend groups with a high level of educational environment quality according to CLASS method and a low and medium — according to ECERS-R method. Preschoolers with a low level of executive functions development are more likely to attend groups with a low level of educational environment according to CLASS method and a medium-low level — according to ECERS-R method. Most of the differences in the assessments of executive functions in children attending groups with diff erent quality of educational environment were obtained for visual working memory and inhibition. 

Conclusion. The CLASS and ECERS-R methods complement each other and therefore it is recommended to combine them both in practical work with preschool institutions and in scientific research.

Background. The research was carried out in the context of the relevant problem of academic success and was focused on its least studied aspect — individual-typological manifestations of non-cognitive predictors of academic achievement.

Objective. The study had its purpose to analyze the individual-typological features of the relationship between conscious self-regulation, psychological well-being and academic achievement in 6th grade students.

Sample. The sample consisted of 169 students (mean age — 11.99 years).

Methods. V.I. Morosanova’s “Self-Regulation Profi le of Learning Activity Questionnaire” (SRPLAQ), Russian version of “Big Five Questionnaire — Children version” (BFQ-C) (Malykh et al.), Russian adaptation of “Well-Being Manifestation Measure Scale” (Morosanova et al.), “Attitude towards learning in middle and high school” questionnaire (modification of “Method of diagnostic of learning motivation and emotional attitude to learning in secondary and high school” (Andreeva, Prikhozhan), “Academic Motivation Scale — School” (AMS-S) questionnaire (Gordeeva et al.).

Results. The cluster analysis allowed to identify five individual-typological profiles with varying manifestations of psychological well-being, conscious self-regulation and academic achievement. The regression analysis shows that high academic achievement is supported by academic motivation and psychological well-being. Psychological well-being of students with average academic achievement is supported by conscious self-regulation. Academic achievement of these students, if their well-being and self-regulation are low, might increase due to regulatory flexibility, learning motivation and conscientiousness, and if they are average, then academic success is supported by achievement motivation and self-esteem motivation, as well as motivation to avoid failure. Students with low academic achievement can potentially improve it through self-development motivation, achievement motivation and results evaluation. The resources for maintaining psychological well-being in this group are planning, responsibility and learning motivation.

Conclusion. Th e obtained results can be used to prepare individualized psychological and pedagogical programs aimed at the development of conscious self-regulation, as well as maintaining psychological well-being and academic success of schoolchildren. The article concludes with discussion of new results that require additional research to explain them.

Background. The period of preparation for the main state exam is recognized by teachers as problematic due to a decrease in positive attitude towards learning and the emergence of various defi cits in cognitive activity. In this regard, it seems relevant to study the dynamics of indicators of attitude towards learning, school engagement and disengagement among 8th and 9th grade students on the materials of longitudinal study. 

Objective. The study had its purpose to investigate the attitude towards learning and school engagement of the 8th grade students, to trace the dynamics of these indicators in the 9th grade, and to identify regulatory and motivational predictors of cognitive activity in the 9th grade.

Hypothesis: students with diff erent levels of attitude towards learning in the 8th grade differ in their level of school engagement/disengagement and its dynamics in the 9th grade and also have diff erent regulatory and motivational predictors of cognitive activity in the and also have different regulatory and motivational predictors of cognitive activity in the 9th grade. Design. The study was conducted in two stages. The first stage involved 156 eighth graders aged 13–16 (M = 13.88; SD = 0.445). At the second stage, in the 9th grade, the participants (age: M = 14.66, SD = 0.525) were repeatedly examined by means of identical package of techniques. The volume of longitudinal data was made up of 93 people. Methods. Survey technique “Attitude towards learning in middle and high school grades” (I.N. Bondarenko, I.Y. Tsyganov, V.I. Morosanova) — modification of the “Survey technique for diagnosing learning motivation and emotional attitude towards learning in middle and high school grades” by A.D. Andreeva and A.M. Prikhozhan; “Multidimensional scale of school engagement” T.G. Fomina and V.I. Morosanova — a Russian-language adapted version of the Survey technique “A Multidimensional School Engagement Scale” by M.-T. Wang and colleagues.

Results. The study results demonstrate that students with an average attitude towards learning and reduced cognitive activity, as well as those with a negative attitude towards learning, predominate among eighth graders. The hypothesis of the study was fully confirmed. By means of regression analysis it is shown for the first time that a decrease in the indicators of school disengagement in the 8th grade can provide an increase in cognitive activity in the 9th grade. In schoolchildren with an average level of attitude towards learning, the main resources of cognitive activity in the 9th grade are the regulatory process of evaluating the result, independence in working with educational material and the introjected motivation (presence of guilt for their failure). In schoolchildren with a negative attitude to learning, the cognitive activity resources in the 9th grade are the regulatory intrapersonal features of responsibility and flexibility, as well as the ability to seek help from peers and teachers.

Conclusion. Th e study results emphasize the importance of further investigating the dynamics of attitudes towards learning and cognitive activity resources in high school

Background. The study relevance is determined by the need to identify the contribution of consciousness structures to the regulation of mental states and development of the regulatory abilities of the personality. The author’s model of the structural and functional organization of the mental states regulation system served as a theoretical basis of the work. 

The study objective was to show the maturation of the students’ mental states regulation system in the course of university study (at the lectures, seminars, and exams). 

Sample. The study attended by psychology students at the Institute of Psychology and Education of Kazan Federal University, 151 people in total: 88 students of the 1st year and 63 students of the 4th year of study.

Methods. We used various methods for diagnostics of mental characteristics and regulatory abilities, as well as the author’s questionnaires for studying mental states and operational means of self-regulation. Correlation analysis was used to process the data, followed by the calculation of the structure organization index. 

Results. The study demonstrated that in the period from the first to the fourth year of the university studies the students develop new methods and techniques of mental states self-regulation, and the increase in their number is associated with the diversity of the forms of educational activities. In the fourth year of study, the students’ preferable methods of mental states self-regulation are high searching activity, increasing one’s own motivation, developing positive attitudes to study and activating positive volitional states. By the final year of study, semantic structures of consciousness, actual reflection and motivation for learning (cognition and self-development) get on the leading roles in self-regulation of mental states. In addition, the importance of the “Self-system”, of the students’ experience and their regulatory abilities is increasing. The study revealed a signifi cant role of self-awareness, perseverance, observance and leadership qualities of students in self-regulation of their mental states.

Conclusion. The results of the study will contribute to the development of the methodology of self-regulated learning and will be useful in designing technologies for the regulation of the subject’s mental states.

Background. The relevance of the article topic is determined by the obvious difficulties the disabled people face in employment, as well as insuffi cient development of the problem of professional self-determination and professional plans of people with disabilities. 

Objective. The aim of the study is to investigate the specificity of art students’ ideas about their professional prospects taking into account their life satisfaction level and peculiarities of health. It is assumed that the certainty of professional plans of students with disabilities is related to their general sense of themselves as successful, prosperous and happy. 

Design. The research was conducted on the basis of Russian State Specialized Academy of Arts with the students of all faculties (theater, music, fine arts). Methods: author’s questionnaire to study various aspects of attitudes towards education, Diner’s Life Satisfaction Scale, Lubomirsky’s Scale of Subjective Happiness. Sample: 165 students, including 98 with preserved health and 67 with disabilities (hearing, vision, etc.). 

Results. A lower level of confi dence in a successful job search in their specialty was revealed among students with disabilities and impairments who fix their self-perception as “unhappy”. It is shown that students with disabilities are focused on helping people with various types of health impairments and also show a pronounced desire to perform socially signifi cant activities.

Conclusion. The analysis demonstrated that a high level of life satisfaction and subjective happiness among students with disabilities is associated with a higher level of aspirations when choosing a job. At the same time the study revealed the orientation of students with disabilities on social paternalism (benefi ts, good team, closeness to home) when searching for a job. The results obtained can be used in the development of vocational guidance and professional rehabilitation programs for people with disabilities.

Background. Sociocultural threats caused by the emergence of social confl icts, ambivalent ideas about passionarity and activity of people in the construction of the surrounding world, a pronounced state of uncertainty in understanding the goals and directions of society development, actualize the task of ensuring information and psychological safety of young people. The solution to this problem is possible through the formation of skills for safe information behavior and interaction in the digital environment, supposing development of information-psychological stability.

Objective. The purpose of the study was to develop and verify a psychological educational program for the formation of information and psychological resistance of the university students to socio-cultural threats based on the development of leveling personality resources.

Design. The psychological and pedagogical experiment was conducted on the basis of Russian State Social University and Shuya Branch of Ivanovo State University in the 2021/2022 academic year. The methodological basis was made up of cultural-historical, subject-activity and risk-resource approaches. The program included four stages: formation of motivation and knowledge, formation of informational behavior, formation of critical thinking, formation of a prosocial orientation (within the framework of academic disciplines of psychological profile and extracurricular work).

Methods. 103 students took part in the study (16% men, 84% women, aged 17 to 20 years). The following methods were used in the study: “Scale of subjective well-being” (Perrudel-Badoux, Mendelsohn, Chiche, Russian adaptation by M.V. Sokolova), “Definition of socio-cultural identity” (O.V. Krupenko, O.V. Frolova), “Moral grounds questionnaire” (J. Haidt et al., Russian adaptation by O.A. Sychev et al.), “Index of self-assessment of information skills” (Y.L. Voynilov, D.V. Maltseva, L.V. Shubina), “Scale of virtual autism” (E.N. Gilemkhanova). 

Results. According to the results of control measurements carried out before and aft er the psychological and pedagogical experiment, students who passed 4 stages of the developed Program demonstrated a statistically signifi cant positive change in the indicators of information- psychological resistance to socio-cultural threats (Student’s t-criterion, p < 0.001).

Conclusion. The study shows that development of leveling personality resources, and through them — the development of value-motivational, emotional-volitional, cognitive, interpersonal spheres contributes to the formation of a student’s Self-concept resistant to sociocultural threats through developing of agency and constructing psychologically safe informational behavior.

Practical use of the results. The psychological educational program developed for the study purposes can be useful in practical work of psychologists and teachers with young people in the system of psychological support and educational work at the university

Background. The life of a creative person, his activity takes place in close relationship with the world, in certain social, cultural and historical circumstances. Creative activity requires cooperation between creative people, certain conditions. At the same time, in psychological science creative personality is oft en considered outside of a social, cultural and historical context. Modern world needs creative people, yet the attitudes towards creative people are still complicated and controversial.

Objective. Theoretical analysis of the peculiarities of the creative person’s relationship with society. 

Design. Theoretical analysis of psychological literature focused on the formation of a creative personality, his relationship with society and psychological biographies of creative people.

Results. The mastery of a system of knowledge in the relevant field is an indispensable condition for creative activity, for creation of a socially signifi cant product. At the stage of maturation, the creative person feels the need for a developing environment and is very active in finding these opportunities. The relationship between creative people and society remains difficult in many cultures and countries of the modern world. Educational practices in many countries do not contribute to the development of a creative person. Psychological features of creative person (activity, courage, autonomy, individuality) are perceived as a threat in a socio-cultural context focused on stability, predictability and hierarchy. 

Conclusion. Creative personality is active in his relationship with the world, both at the stage of its formation and in the process of its activity. The creative person oft en finds himself in the conflict with society and at the same time is responsive to its needs. The life decisions of a creative person are largely determined by the need to realize his creative potential