Vol 19, No 4 (2022)

Over the past decades, altruistic cyber activities of online education volunteers who share useful knowledge with other Internet users have become widespread in the Internet space. Personal and group features of such prosocial behavior, which is strongly influenced by the realization of values, have not been sufficiently studied by psychological science so far. This study continues the psychological analysis of the value-orientation sphere of online educators, focusing on competent education volunteers who deal with the Internet encyclopedia “Wikipedia” (N = 92) and the question-answer (Q&A) online project “Otvety” (N = 113). The following tools were used in the work: the revised Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ-R2R) by Sh. Schwartz adapted by T.P. Butenko, D.S. Sedova and A.S. Lipatova and the Value Orientations Techniques developed by O.I. Motkov and T.A. Ogneva (version 2). The results of the analysis provide sufficient grounds to characterize the members of both groups as indivi- duals who are productively oriented towards informational and pro-social Internet activities that are not identical in format from the perspective of transfinite altruism, for the implementation of which optimal non-hierarchical-parity conditions have been created in their reference online communities, stimulating liberty in the process of individual self-realization. It is shown that, with a high homogeneity of the value profiles of the Wikipedia authors and Q&A “Otvety” service experts, the internal value-related self-determination (procedural in nature) has a basal meaning for them, since the external one, set in a heteronomous position, only weakly corresponds to their freedom-seeking way of life. It is concluded that the series of theoretical and empirical psychological studies of the diverse teams of online education volunteers will make it possible, by understanding their personal and group specifics, to lay a solid foundation, which can potentially lead to global unity of people with the prospect of large-scale amplification of knowledge as one of the highest human values.

Person’s immersion in computer virtual reality (VR) is accompanied by numerous distortions in his/her perception due to the replacement of sensory stimuli coming through visual, auditory and partially proprioceptive channels. In this case, the person’s own body becomes an immersion tool, since its movements indirectly affect the movement of the avatar in VR. Performing actions in VR on behalf of the avatar contributes to the appearance of distortions in the perception of one’s own body due to the diffuse effect of actualizing the operational image at the moment of purposeful activity (the subjective body image is modified in accordance with the need to adapt to VR conditions). There are various ways of immersing in VR, taking into account the different degree of involvement of individual parts of the recipient’s real body in controlling a digital character. Thus, the full-body tracking (FBT) technology is becoming widespread, allowing the use of almost all human gross motor skills for projection onto the movements of the avatar. The purpose of the study was to establish the specific features of the distortion of a person’s perception of the size of his/her own body, after its being immersed in computer virtual reality, and the control over the avatar using the FBT technology. The study was conducted in two stages (in 2020 and 2021) in order to compare the intensity and direction of body image distortions of the subjects when they were immersed with and without the FBT technology. The OhShape VR app for mobile immersion without FBT and a modification of the VR Chat app for mobile immersion with FBT were used as experimental exposures. Psychometric data on the subjects’ perception of their own bodies were obtained using the psychometric data on the subjects’ perception of their own bodies were obtained using Moshe Feldenkrais’ methods for physical measurements. According to the results of the study, the use of FBT during immersion in VR leads to distortions in the perception of various body sizes by the subjects, including the trunk and legs, while mobile immersion without the use of FBT only causes distortions in the perception of the dimensions of the upper shoulder girdle. It should be noted that this observation testifies to the connection of distortions with the facts of the involvement of the corresponding parts of the real body of the subjects in the process of controlling the avatar. It is concluded that there are specific distortions in the perception of a person’s own body when being immersed in VR using FBT. Finally, an assumption is made about the possible connection of these distortions with the success of performing intra-environment mobile tasks.

The study of the socio-cultural specifics of subjective well-being, its determinants and resources are an important task of modern psychology. The authors present the results of an empirical study, the purpose of which is to identify the features of the relationship between conscious self-regulation and tolerance for uncertainty and subjective well-being in young people of different ethnic groups. The study involved 1435 respondents aged 18-35 from five regions of Russia (Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Republic of North Ossetia - Alania, Stavropol Territory, Moscow and the Moscow Region), belonging to the dominant ethnic groups in them. The design of the empirical study included an assessment of differences in indicators of subjective well-being, tolerance or intolerance for uncertainty and conscious self-regulation among various representatives of ethnocultural groups, as well as an analysis of the relationship between these indicators, in particular, using structural modeling. The results obtained confirm the influence of the cultural context of income on the level of subjective well-being. Less prosperous, as they consider themselves, are young people from ethnic groups where the socio-economic situation of the region does not provide opportunities for self-realization of the individual. The study has revealed two types of regulatory profiles: (1) a profile with a harmonious structure with a relatively pronounced general level of self-regulation, which is observed among the Russian respondents from Moscow and the Moscow region; and (2) a relatively accentuated profile, characteristic of Karachays, Circassians, Ossetians, and Russians (from the Stavropol Territory), expressed in the desire for a clear programming of their actions, their compliance with certain norms. It has been established that young people from the southern republics are less tolerant of uncertainty: they tend to solve problems in a situation of uncertainty in a ‘ready-made’ algorithm determined by traditions. Finally, the authors reveal the structure of relationships between the predictors of subjective well-being, which are presented in the form of models. The central place in these models belongs to conscious self-regulation and its basic cognitive-regulatory processes and personal-regulatory properties, which, both directly and indirectly, due to the mediator role of tolerance or intolerance for uncertainty, affect the subjective well-being of young people. The results of the study contribute to a deeper understanding of the ethno-regional specificity of the predictors of the subjective well-being of today’s youth and can serve as a basis for assisting in constructing interaction with representatives of other cultures and developing strategies for actively overcoming difficulties in a situation of uncertainty.

The effectiveness of coping behavior depends not only on a successful strategy but also on the individual characteristics of a person. Age, sex, intelligence, social status, gender identity - all these influence the coping ability and resilience of an individual. In mo- dern psychological research, there is some confusion between the concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender.’ Despite numerous studies on male and female coping strategies, gender differences in coping behavior are still poorly understood. The purpose of the study was to analyze gender-specific coping strategies of middle-aged men and women. Russian men and women (N = 286) were divided by gender (masculine, androgynous, feminine). The research was made using The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BPRT) and Lazarus & Folkman’s Test Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). This study employed a cross-sectional design. Differences among the groups were assessed using the Kruskal - Wallis H test, Mann - Whitney U test and Student t-test. The specificity of coping behavior was found to be determined by the gender identity of the study participants. The results of the present study support the gender differences hypothesis, since people with differences in biological sexual identity (male and female) use gender-specific coping strategies (masculine, feminine, or androgynous) if their gender orientations are the same. The research of masculinity, androgyny and femininity can become an important step in the long-term study of coping behavior and the basis for a better understanding of the dynamics of human behavior in a stressful situation.

In recent years, researchers have been focusing on a wide range of different constructs to study legitimizing grounds in socio-political relations. Political system justification, social dominance orientation (dominance and anti-egalitarianism) and political conservatism are considered as attitudes containing various grounds for legitimizing the currently existing socio-political relations (status quo). Maintaining these attitudes is associated with satisfying a number of psychological needs, including epistemic (e.g., the need for cognitive closure), existential (e.g., the need for security), and relational ones. The purpose of this research work was to study the contribution of needs in the maintenance of different attitudes legitimizing the socio-political status quo in the Russian context. With this in mind, we empirically examined the model, which considered needs as predictors, legitimizing attitudes as dependent variables, and sociodemographic characteristics associated with the maintenance of legitimizing attitudes (income, subjective social status, age, and gender) as control variables. The online study involved 387 Russian residents aged 18 to 73 who filled out questionnaires to assess the need for cognitive closure and fear of death as well as the relational need, social dominance orientation, political system justification and political conservatism. The data obtained were processed using structural equation modeling. The results of the study have shown that the most significant and consistent contribution in the maintenance of legitimizing attitudes is made by the epistemic needs (in particular, the need for cognitive closure). At the same time, the presence in everyday notions of a system of legitimizing attitudes makes it possible, depending on the context (e.g., the presence or absence of threats) or the socio-demographic characteristics of the individual (e.g., age and socio-economic status), to realize different needs, which ensures the flexibility of the process of social cognition.

Impulsivity is considered as a personality trait opposite to purposefulness and perseverance; accordingly, a high level of impulsivity is inherent in people with insufficient self-control in communication and activity. Impulsivity as a subject of research is of both theoretical and practical interest; however, methods for diagnosing it are poorly represented in the Russian-language psychological literature. The purpose of the research is to study the factor structure, reliability and validity of the short version of V.A. Losenkov’s impulsivity questionnaire developed by the authors. The first part of the study involved 967 subjects (M = 21.2, SD = 7.7), including 652 women (M = 21.6, SD = 7.8) and 315 men (M = 20.6, SD = 7.4); in the second part, 233 respondents participated, including 126 women (M = 21.4, SD = 7.7) and 107 men (M = 20.8, SD = 7.3). The study was conducted using: (1) the full version of V.A. Losenkov’ impulsivity questionnaire; (2) Barratt’s impulsiveness questionnaire (adapted in Russian by S.N. Enikolopov and T.I. Medvedeva); (3) A.V. Zverkov and E.V. Eidman’s volitional self-control questionnaire; (4) A. Assinger’s aggressiveness questionnaire; and (5) questionnaires on assertiveness, smartphone addiction and social media addiction developed by the authors. The abridged version of V.A. Losenkov’s impulsivity questionnaire (Imp-15) includes 15 tasks that make up a four-factor model of impulsivity obtained through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Compared with the original version of the questionnaire, the abridged version has better psychometric properties. The abridged Imp-15 version satisfies the standard requirements for questionnaires in terms of their reliability, namely: internal consistency, high task distinguishability and retest reliability. The questionnaire also meets key validity criteria in terms of its design, content, “obviousness,” actual and predictive credibility, constructability and convergence. Impulsivity diagnosed by the Imp-15 questionnaire positively correlates with the data of the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11), with aggressiveness, smartphone addiction and social media addiction; however, it is negatively associated with self-control and assertiveness. The resulting four-factor model of impulsivity has good reliability indicators and is in full agreement with the obtained data. The authors present the data of psychometric testing and standardization of the abridged Imp-15 questionnaire; the appendix provides the original and abridged versions of the impulsivity questionnaire and the keys to the Imp-15 questionnaire.

The authors describe the application of various approaches to the assessment of child language development reviewing the methods most widely used in research and clinical practice. The review outlines the benefits and some limitations of longitudinal method of assessment using language recordings, language corpus analysis and transcripts of speech samples. Technical aspects of the linguistic environment recordings using LENA technology, which allows to achieve ecologic validity in the assessment of children’s language environment, are considered. Analysis of the corpus data through the transcription of the dialogues between children and adults are discussed, as well as the study of linguistic parameters of child speech in comparison to a normative group of peers. The authors offer a review of the most widely known parent reports, questionnaires, and maximum performance testing of children’s language development. Among the assessment tools available for Russian-speaking populations McArthur-Bates CDI and PLS-5 are reviewed. The authors note an importance of integration of Russian research into the international scientific knowledgebase through the adaptation of methods for assessment of language development in children.

The authors present the results of the 3rd International Forum on Commitment to Mental Health, which was organized and held by the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy of the Faculty of Philology of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) in cooperation with the National Health League, ManpowerGroup and Clever Consulting LLC (Moscow, October 5-7, 2022). The work of the forum lasted three days and its program was interesting in different formats of interaction: (1) On October 5, 2022, the following events took place online: Round Table on Commitment to Mental Health Issues: Social, Psychological and Medical Aspects, Corporate Section on Best Practices: Managing Psychological Well-Being at the Organizational Level and Section on Practical Guidelines: How to Maintain and Strengthen Psychological Health (online broadcast was organized on the website: https://mentalhealthforum.ru/); (2) On October 6, 2022, RUDN University hosted the International Scientific and Practical Conference in a hybrid format at which 194 presentations were offered including: a plenary session, seven panel session, poster session and the Mental Health Film Festival; (3) On October 7, 2022, the International Charitable Sports and Psychological Festival was held (which included a concert, art therapy master classes and outdoor sports activities). The International Forum brought together more than 1000 participants, including psychologists, teachers, medical workers, teachers, graduate students and students from 25 regions of Russia and 14 countries.