Vol 15, No 3 (2018)

Various branches of science that study homo loquens, а talking man, have made an important contribution to the development of the term ‘discourse’. It is obvious that most definitions have much in common. Firstly, discourse is realized in speech; secondly, it is formed in a wide communicative context as a result of interpersonal communication and interactions between people and society; and finally, discourse has significant impact on social and personal representations and can establish group norms. The paper discusses different approaches to discourse studies, including speech act theory, conversational analysis, discourse analysis, social and cognitive psychology. Special attention is paid to Intent-analysis which considers the basis of discourse as a hierarchy of its speech intentions and their different psychological determinants. These include interpersonal relationships, personality traits, social statuses, roles and the problems speakers solve in the communication process. Several terms related to discourse are given: discoursive practice, discoursive thinking, discoursive abilities etc. The urgent issues of discourse research such as the typology of discourses, the psychological impact and interpersonal interaction mechanisms connected to the various fields of the current reality are presented.

Self-actualization and self-realization in modern psychology are considered as the most important indicators of a person’s successful development. At the same time, some studies show that teachers with increasing teaching experience are experiencing more problems with psychological health and self-realization. This article presents the results of an empirical research aimed at establishing the specifics of the self-realization of teachers at different stages of professional activity. A total of 137 teachers (77 women and 59 men) aged 27-60 years took part in the study. According to the length of their pedagogical activity three groups were singled out: the first included 46 teachers with experience from 5 to 10 years, the second group was presented by 46 respondents with an experience of 11-20 years and the third group included 45 teachers with an experience of 25-35 years. As a working hypothesis, it was suggested that the group of teachers with the experience of 11 to 20 years would reveal a more optimal implementation of self-realization, since these teachers have sufficient experience and knowledge on the one hand, and on the other hand they still have some motivation for professionalization and activity. The diagnostic methods included the Multidimensional Questionnaire of Personality Self-Realization (MQPSR) by S.I. Kudinov, the author’s questionnaire “Self-assessment of satisfaction with professional activities” and a free association test. There were revealed some differences in the hierarchical structure of the components of selfrealization in the groups of teachers with different professional experience. It was found that the most optimal self-realization is characteristic of the teachers with 11-20 years of work experience in comparison with other groups. The greatest difficulties in self-realization were revealed in the group of teachers with a work experience of 25-35 years. The results of the questionnaire and the associative test showed that higher satisfaction with professional activity is observed in the first two groups of teachers with experience from 5 to 20 years. At the same time, in the third group of teachers with more than 25 years of work experience there is a tendency to dissatisfaction, and in some cases, extreme dissatisfaction with pedagogical activity. The received results help us to understand some patterns in the successful self-realization of teachers at different stages of their professionalization and can form the basis for the development of psychological support programs.

The aim of the research presented in the article is the theoretical and empirical study of the content of the subject field of discriminatory attitudes. The study is based on the sample ( N = 168), the average age is 27.63 years, the sample is predominantly female (78.6%). The following approaches were used in the study: “Scale of basic beliefs” by R. Janoff-Bullman adapted by M.A. Padun and A.V. Kotelnikova (Padun, Kotelnikova, 2008); the characteristics of the discriminatory attitudes and attributes were collected using a specifically developed questionnaire. The ratio of the expressiveness of the fundamental beliefs was analysed in the study. It generally indicates the subjects’ beliefs in the benevolence of the surrounding world, in the value of their own Self against the background of doubting the world’s justice and the ability to control life events. The fact of the situational manifestation of the discriminatory attitudes is recorded. The content characteristics of the discriminatory attributes of the cross-group discrimination are established, including “ Unusual behaviour ”, “ That he/she does something worse than I do ”, “ That he/she does something better than I do ”, the content of which is described as “ Danger to people ”, “ He/she does everything badly ”, “ Disingenuity ” (respectively). The content characteristics of “the subject field” of discriminatory attitudes are identified including the unusual behaviour of the Others different from the generally accepted social norms, the supremacy of “my group”, adherence to a different culture or subculture. A significant “contribution” to the content of discriminatory attitudes - the fundamental belief “conviction of the need for control” - has been revealed in relation to the “unusual behaviour” described by the subjects as socially dangerous. The applied aspect of the investigated problem can be realized in the development of the preventive programs to reduce the risk of discriminatory behavior.

The changing nature of the economy and society at the information stage of the civilization development has led to a deep transformation of the labour market and new employability requirements. In addition to professional competencies, those cover a number of transversal skills that are termed as ‘soft skills’. As a consequence, the market economy countries actively pursue educational reforms that align soft skills with university curricula for bachelor and master students. As its market economy has been developing only for about 30 years, Russia is to face a challenge of working out a similar educational policy. To grasp the understanding of soft skills infusion into Russia’s university education, the authors conducted a study with a view to finding out the academic community’s perceptions of soft skills. The research entailed a theoretical and empirical stages, with the first one covering an analysis of literature on soft skills via comparative methods in order to come to a uniform definition and prevailing classification of soft skills (as a basis for questionnaires), and the surveying stage with 135 lecturers and 312 students involved. The findings implicate the participants’ perceptions of soft skills, most efficient academic disciplines and teaching/ learning techniques for fostering students’ soft skills and confirm the hypothesis that in Russia there are random soft skills inclusions in curricula and few practices to nurture the skills that justify the need for developing a new governmental policy to cover the gap.