Vol 17, No 3 (2020)

Currently, in the context of the global transition of the world education system to the remote format, it has become vitally important for a person to be able and ready to independently organise his/her educational and professional activities. The article considers methodological approaches to self-education in the context of its use in the process of lifelong learning/ continuous education. The authors discuss the existing concepts of self-education and ways of its organisation, taking into account age-specific features, forms and types of learning. The concepts of ‘self-organisation’ and ‘self-education’ are analysed. The essence of the scientific categories ‘self-learning’ and ‘self-organisation in education’ is revealed in relation to the system of higher education. The role of tutors as mediators in student self-organisation is shown and their main functions in this process are described. Based on a theoretical analysis of existing forms of self-organisation in education and the experience of using self-organisation, various directions and possibilities of their application in practice are delineated. Careful consideration is given to criticism of the use of self-organisation in learning and its advantages. The authors also discuss the prospects of using self-organisation in higher education, emphasising the importance and relevance of developing self-organisation as a student’s personality trait. A description is made of learning models based on self-organisation of students. Finally, the experience of implementing the self-organisation approach to the educational process is analysed. As a result of the study, the authors conclude that self-learning can be successful if it seems socially significant for students. The use of advanced digital technologies and Internet resources can also contribute to effective self-learning. The results of the study indicate that students should develop the ability to independently organise their educational activities as well as self-control/self-assessment skills, which is especially important in connection with the increase in independent work in curricula and the massive transition to the remote format in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The article discusses the results of a study of the relationship between executive functions (inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, working (speech and visual) memory and the development of Russian speech in children with natural bilingualism and monolinguals in older preschool age. The study involved 63 preschool children (50.8% - boys) aged from 5.6 to 7.3 years (M = 6.42, Med = 6.4) from preschool institutions of Izhevsk (Udmurt Republic). The sample included 31 children with natural bilingualism (Udmurt/Russian language) and 32 monolinguals (Russian language). Standardised methods in the Russian-language version were used to identify the executive functions: the method of verbal-colour interference of by J. Stroop (inhibitory control), the method of studying the learning ability by A.Y. Ivanova (cognitive flexibility) and the test tasks “Speech Memory” and “Visual Memory” (working memory). The level of speech development was measured using the test tasks “Speech Antonyms”, “Speech Classifications” and “Arbitrary Mastery of Speech” developed by L.А. Yasyukova. The following mathematical statistics methods were used: descriptive statistics, Mann - Whitney U-test and Spearman rank correlations. According to the results of the study, the facts of the advantages of bilingualism in older preschool age in executive functions, in particular, in inhibitory control cognitive flexibility and speech memory were confirmed. At the same time, no general patterns were determined in the development of Russian speech (L2) in connection with the development of the executive functions of bilingual children: this is explained by the individualisation of the processes of linking the components of speech activity in the second language and cognitive control. In monolingual preschoolers, the speech development in their native language (L1) is associated with the formation of higher mental (executive) functions and the development of the ability to control information processing.

The officer’s profession is of particular interest to psychology due to its deontological load and the complexity of moral and ethical foundations, when the humanistic orientation towards the protection of people and society presupposes a readiness to use the necessary violence. The study attempts to reveal this dialectic by analysing the content of the personal value-semantic sphere considered by Russian National Guard officers in terms of their professional orientation towards ensuring security. Methodologically, the study is based on the provisions of the value-semantic theory and the emerging theory of the psychology of personal security, according to which security is understood as a special value-semantic dimension that determines the subject’s attitude to danger. The purpose of the study is to identify the professional value-semantic orientations of the officers and analyse them in terms of their focus on ensuring security, in the dynamics of their formation in the process of professional training, using the example of officer candidates (cadets) of the Russian National Guard troops, whose activities have clear axiological grounds. The research base comprised all existing military institutes of the Russian National Guard troops. The subjects were cadets ( N = 779). The research methods were non-formalised written surveys, verbalised self-reports on experimental tasks, content analysis, experiment, qualitative analysis, theoretical analysis and methods of mathematical statistics. Based on the results of the study, we could identify the core values of an officer (patriotism, military duty, security of the state and society, responsibility for subordinates, military partnership and tolerance) and describe the motives for choosing a military career and professional ideas about the ideal officer (the prevailing image of a defender, a professional who is able to effectively ensure the safety and defence of the Fatherland). It was found that the value orientations of the officers as well as the sense-making motives for their choosing military careers are closely related to the focus of professional activity on ensuring security. The study showed that, under a purposeful psychological and pedagogical influence, the cadets internally accepted all the highlighted professionally important values. In this case, the value of security was the most sensitive to the influence. In the conclusions, it is noted that the value of security of the state and society is one of the elements of the system of value-semantic orientations of the officer’s personality, and it is assumed that, since other professional values of the officer are related to security in semantic unity, the professional focus on ensuring security is one of the system-forming foundations of the value-semantic orientations of the officer’s personality.

Civic identity is an important feature of a socialised person. It regulates numerous personal behavioural manifestations, e.g. commitment to the country, patriotism, willingness to participate in important processes related to democratic procedures, desire to realise values that are of paramount importance for adaptation and integration with other representatives of civil society. The aim of this research is to determine the role of civic identity in the preferences of civil and political forms of social activity among young people in provincial Russia. The study involved 305 people (35.4% men) aged 17 to 35 (M = 21.1; SD = 3.1). The study used a questionnaire aimed at determining the socio-demographic characteristics of the sample group, containing scales for assessing the degree of personal involvement in certain forms of social activity (R.M. Shamionov et al.), Civic Identity Scale (A.N. Tatarko), Self-Assessment of the Propensity for Extreme Risky Behavior Technique (the Russian version of M. Zuckerman’s Sensation Seeking Scale). The study revealed that the indicators of commitment to protest, radical-protest and subcultural activity are more homogeneous and less pronounced in comparison with the indicators of civic, political and socio-economic activity. As a result of the factor analysis, it was found that civic-political (civic, socio-economic and political) and subcultural-protest (subcultural, protest and radical-protest) forms of activity constitute two stable factors. As a result of structural modelling, it was shown that civic identity has a positive impact on social activity in the civil-political field and a negative impact on subcultural-protest activity. Seeking new experiences plays a positive role in subcultural-protest activity of young people, while the feeling of uncertainty undermines the manifestations of civic-political activity. The study also revealed an important role of socialisation conditions: the participation of parents in the public life of the country contributes to civic-political activity and the formation of civic identity of their children. Civic identity reduces the manifestation of the feeling of uncertainty and the search for new experiences among young people.

The difference between generations is becoming increasingly apparent in the modern world. These days, one can observe over and over again how the intergenerational transmission of values is violated, and the differences between generations are becoming more and more noticeable. A number of studies are focused on the features that distinguish modern generations from each other, the values of generations as well as the perception of these values both by a particular generation and members of cohorts interacting with it. Some researchers note that the modern young generation (the so-called ‘Generation Y’, ‘Gen Y’ or ‘millennials’), in comparison with their parents (the so-called ‘Generation X’, ‘Gen X’), is characterised by a rejection of previously accepted criteria for social maturity (which can be understood as compliance with a number of social-psychological standards). However, there are practically no studies addressing this topic. The article describes a quantitative and qualitative study conducted in three stages, which involved 349, 25 and 100 subjects respectively. At the first stage, the data of the Russian longitudinal monitoring survey (RLMS) of households conducted by HSE University were used and analysed; at the second stage, a series of semi-structured interviews was conducted on the topic of perception of social maturity; at the third stage, the values of generational cohorts were investigated using the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) and the author’s questionnaire, which makes it possible to assess the influence of the cultural context on the formation of values. Within the first (auxiliary) stage, the basic hypothesis was confirmed about the differences in the compliance with the social maturity criteria (age of marriage, presence of children in the family, financial independence) among the young (Y) and older (X) generations of modern Russians. As part of the second stage, the features of the perception of these differences were identified. And at the third stage, it was proposed to interpret the differences using the values identified in millennials and the features of the perception of these values by themselves and Gen Xers.

Cyberbullying is manifested in repeated deliberate acts of aggression by one or more persons who use electronic means of communication to attack a victim who cannot defend him- or herself. Cyberbullying is a form of violence through harassment, insults, bullying, humiliation or intimidation carried out using the Internet, mobile phones and other electronic devices. Cyberbullying is widespread and causes severe harm to its victims, having a negative impact on their mental and physical health. The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid questionnaire on assessing individual vulnerability to cyberbullying. The article constructs such a questionnaire and proves that it meets the standard reliability criteria: internal consistency, homogeneity and retest reliability. It is shown that the questionnaire is valid and satisfies the key validity criteria: validation in the process of designing the questionnaire, substantive, constructive and convergent validity. The questionnaire is standardised, the norms for young men and women are given, presented in average values and standard deviations. The theoretical basis of the study is the model of manipulative influence (which includes cyberbullying) and the psychological mechanism of cyberbullying described by this model. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model of the presented questionnaire has good indicators of reliability and statistical consistency. The experimental part of the study involved 307 young men and women at the ages from 17 to 21 years old - students of medical colleges and cadets of the University of the Ministry of Emergencies. The study included two stages of psychodiagnostics of the subjects carried out with an interval of two months. The states of individuals vulnerable to cyberbullying, identified using the questionnaire, are consistent with the results obtained in previous studies. The proposed questionnaire makes it possible to warn an individual about the existing or threatening danger of becoming a victim of cyberbullying. The questionnaire can stimulate the study of cyberbullying in the Russian-speaking society and, in particular, in cross-cultural studies.

The theory of social representations is one of the major theories in social psychology with the thousands of scientific articles that has been published since its birth. In this article we return to the reasons for this success. First, it can be explained by the relative flexibility of the initial postulates of this theory. This flexibility has allowed researchers who are sometimes far removed from psychology to adapt it to their own problems. But the success of the theory of social representations can also be explained by the action taken by Serge Moscovici throughout his career to spread his theory throughout the world. Finally, Serge Moscovici never ceased to suggest new ideas about social representations and many of his suggestions remain untapped to this day. They constitute a real reservoir for researchers of tomorrow.

-