TOLERANCE FOR AMBIGUITY IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE PERSONAL COMPONENT OF SITUATIONS RELATED WITH PEDAGOGICAL PROBLEMS

Statement of the problem. Improving the quality of resolving difficult situations associated with teachers’ professional activity is possible only by studying those personal and situational variables that a) affect the resolution of difficult situations, b) are included in the personal structure and are available for comprehension. Tolerance for ambiguity (TA), being an intersubjective personality parameter, has all the necessary characteristics and can be considered when developing socio-psychological programs for teachers. However, its contribution to the resolution of difficult situations is currently not well understood. The purpose of the article is to show the place of TA in the structure of the personal component of situations related with pedagogical difficulties based on experimental data. Review of scientific literature on the problem. TA has many interpretations and is considered by researchers as a personality trait, as a metacognitive characteristic, as a socio-psychological attitude. Currently, without denying the multidimensionality of the concept, the emotional, cognitive and perceptual components of TA are considered. This means a return, at a new level, to the original idea of E. Frenkel-Brunswik, author of this psychological concept, who defined TA as an emotional-cognitive personality variable associated with the ambivalence of experiencing negative and positive properties of objects of reality. Sharing the views of E. Lehtinen and K. Merenluoto, we consider TA not as a stable, but as a dynamic characteristic. However, we have to admit that in this aspect the problem has been studied least of all. Therefore, studying the structure of the personal component of situations related with pedagogical difficulties, we consider as a separate task of studying TA as a structural component that develops in personal and situational interaction. Materials and methods. The research methodology is built in accordance with the idea of ​​L.S. Vygotsky and K. Levin, according to which any objective characteristic with which a person interacts becomes subjective through experience. The second foundation is understanding of the personality in the existential and humanistic approach as the leading instance that mediates any interaction with the world and oneself. The third foundation is a situational approach. The study involved 111 practicing teachers, who were offered five problem-solving tasks. Self-reports were processed using content analysis, the results were correlated with the data of personality techniques, including S. Badner’s TA test, and were subjected to factorization. Research results. The paper proves that TA refers to intersubjective parameters that affect the relationship between the personality and the situation. The TA factor turned out to be significant for all three groups of open, closed, and mixed models of interaction in difficult situations and is included in the structure of the personal component of situations related with pedagogical difficulties along with such factors as autonomy, communication, cognitive interest, openness, and creativity. Conclusion. The idea of ​K. Dahlbert that TA is most of all connected with the time factor was confirmed. During the study, it was found out that entering into different combinations within the personality structure, the TA parameter forms different configurations. Combined with the “orientation in time” factor, TA promotes an open type of interaction, while intolerance is associated with categoricalness and a closed type of communication in a situation of difficulty. Temporal competence enhances the personality ability to resolve a situation of difficulty through time resource management. At the same time, expectation of easiness and categoricalness lower the developmental potential of interaction in a situation of difficulty. In general, the high weight of TA in the structure of the personality component of situations related with pedagogical difficulties allows us to consider TA as a task and condition in the development of socio-psychological programs for practicing teachers.

A social cognition perspective on entrepreneurial personality traits and intentions to start a business: Does creativity matter?

PurposeThis paper proposes and empirically assesses a social cognition conceptual model linking creativity (both artistic and scholarly), entrepreneurial personality traits, and entrepreneurial intention. Specifically, the study draws on social cognition perspectives to investigate the potential role of creativity as a mechanism underlying the relationship between entrepreneurial personality traits and entrepreneurial intention.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 194 creative nascent entrepreneurs, the study tests the proposed model using Partial Last Squares Structural Equations Modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe study reveals that, among entrepreneurial personality traits, only risk-taking propensity is positively related to entrepreneurial intention. Interestingly, while artistic creativity seems to enhance entrepreneurial intention, scholarly creativity is found to stimulate a more cautious approach toward venturing. The findings also reveal that scholarly creativity fully mediates the relationship between tolerance for ambiguity and entrepreneurial intention.Originality/valueThe study makes an original contribution by showcasing how both artistic and scholarly creativity developed in the same socially situated cognitive environment can differentially influence decision-making and the relationship between entrepreneurial personality traits and entrepreneurial intention, thus contributing to social cognition perspectives and research in entrepreneurship.

The Psychological Profile of Tunisian SMEs Founders Amid the COVID-19 Crisis

The purpose of this paper is to determine the psychological profile of the Tunisian SMEs founder amid the COVID-19 crisis. The results of this research demonstrated that their psychological profile in times of COVID-19 crisis is quadridimensional and that each of these four dimensions (tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty, attitude towards risk, self-confidence and locus of control) are unidimensional. This research was conducted in three Tunisian industries (textiles and clothing industries, agro-food industries and industries of ceramic and glass building materials) via the administration of a questionnaire via LinkedIn (between March, 15 and May, 15 2020) to more than 400 SMEs’ founders. The critical contributions of this research are the clarification of the role of psychological factors in the field of entrepreneurship, which remains unclear, by enriching previous research on entrepreneurial personality. The main findings of this study: (1) the four key psychological traits correspond to the “specific traits” of an entrepreneur; (2) these “specific traits” are more suitable to study the profile of the SME’s founder profile at the time of crisis than the more “stable traits” — the Big Five traits; (3) the psychological profile of the SME’s founder in a hyper-turbulent environment (namely the COVID-19 crisis) correspond to the psychological entrepreneurial profile.

Creativity, Readiness for Changes and Tolerance for Ambiguity

Under the conditions of precarious situation, caused by the global pandemic and unprecedented restrictions, aimed at countering it, productivity of specialists in various fields of work is reducing significantly. This is particularly true of activities, conducted through direct communication between concerned parties. In order to counter instability, workers have to develop creativity, readiness for changes and tolerance for ambiguity. The goal of research is to establish correlations between the type of professional activity and creativity, readiness for changes and tolerance for ambiguity. The respondents of the study were 260 people of working age –the staff of event, tourism, restaurant business, trade, IT spheres. The research procedure included organizational, target-oriented, empirical, final stages. Time limits of the study – April – July 2020. For psychodiagnostics the article uses the Torrance test of creative thinking, diagnostics of personal creativity by Tunik, the methodology “personal readiness for changes”, the scale of individual’s tolerance for ambiguity by McLain. The study found clear correlations between the indicators of creativity, readiness for changes and tolerance for ambiguity. The original model of a creative specialist (endowed with originality, adaptability, optimism and common sense) in the conditions of changes and uncertainty was formed in the research. The results of psychodiagnostics showed the highest indicators of creativity among IT workers, readiness for changes–among the staff of IT and event spheres, tolerance for ambiguity–among retail workers. In the conditions of pandemic destruction, the workers of the tourism industry were the least creative, while the workers of the event sphere turned out to be unprepared for changes and the workers of the event and tourism industries –intolerant for ambiguity. The results of the study can be used to develop correctional programs to increase the staff’s creativity, readiness for changes, tolerance for ambiguity. It is the development and implementation of effective psycho-correctional programs for the use of real communication and digital tools that are the prospect of further scientific research on the ways to solve the problem.

Missing Data in OLAP Cubes

Online analytical processing (OLAP) engines display aggregated data to help business analysts compare data, observe trends, and make decisions. Issues of data quality and, in particular, issues with missing data impact the quality of the information. Key decision-makers who rely on these data typically make decisions based on what they assume to be all the available data. The authors investigate three approaches to dealing with missing data: 1) ignore missing data, 2) show missing data explicitly (e.g., as unknown data values), and 3) design mitigation algorithms for missing data (e.g., allocate missing data into known value categories). The authors evaluate the approach with focus groups and controlled experiments. When one tries to inform decision-makers using the approaches in the research, the authors find that they often alter their decisions and adjust their decision confidence: individual differences of tolerance for ambiguity and pre-existing omission bias in the decision context influence their decisions.

COVID-19 and Subjective Well-Being: Perceived Impact, Positive Psychological Resources and Protective Behavior

While negative psychological effects of COVID-19 pandemic are actively studied, little is known about the eventual positive reactions to the pandemic including the capacity to see positive opportunities in this situation and about personality resources that may help to cope and to maintain well-being despite lifestyle restrictions. The aim of our study was to reveal positive personality resources that contribute to buffering the negative effects and its consequences on individual lives. 474 adults 18-81 years old from Siberia (Russia) participated in May 2020 in a survey about the impact of the pandemic and self-isolation and also filled out psychometric measures of well-being and psychological resources (PANAS, PWI, Value of Life Scale, MHC, MSTAT-I, LOT, GSE, Hardiness Survey, SOC, Personal Life Position inventory). One in three respondents reported worsening emotional condition through the previous two weeks and poor adherence to governmental self-isolation recommendations, and 43.6% reported increased financial difficulties. Taking into account not only the negative but also positive subjective effect of the pandemic enabled the improved accuracy in prediction of both well-being and adherence to the governmental measures. The less a person mentioned the positive side of the pandemic, the more strongly their adherence to the governmental measures depended on perceived negative effects (worries and threats). Tolerance for ambiguity, the challenge component of hardiness, harmony with life predicted perceived positive effects after adjusting for negative effects. Psychological resources could play a buffering role as regards the vulnerability to negative psychological effects of the pandemic and help to find positive opportunities.

Algorithmisches Entscheiden, Ambiguitätstoleranz und die Frage nach dem Sinn

In more and more contexts, human decision-making is replaced by algorithmic decision-making. While promising to deliver efficient and objective decisions, algorithmic decision systems have specific weaknesses, some of which are particularly dangerous if data are collected and processed by profit-oriented companies. In this paper, I focus on two problems that are at the root of the logic of algorithmic decision-making: (1) (in)tolerance for ambiguity, and (2) instantiations of Campbell’s law, i. e. of indicators that are used for “social decision-making” being subject to “corruption pressures” and tending to “distort and corrupt” the underlying social processes. As a result, algorithmic decision-making can risk missing the point of the social practice in question. These problems are intertwined with problems of structural injustice; hence, if algorithms are to deliver on their promises of efficiency and objectivity, accountability and critical scrutiny are needed.

Did Modernity End Polyvalence? Some Observations on Tolerance for Ambiguity in Sunni tafsīr

The transition from a polyvalent premodern tafsīr tradition to a more monovalent modern tradition has been noted by several authors. This article tries to more precisely locate this shift through a case study of commentaries on Q. 53:11, on the controversy over whether the Prophet saw God. I intend to show that from the nineteenth century onwards there indeed was a decline of polyvalence in the discussion of this verse, culminating in a univocal choice for an angelic instead of a divine vision in the twentieth century. I claim that one of the main reasons for the decline of polyvalence on this particular issue is the rise of the trend to approach suras as a unity in tafsīr, instead of a more atomistic approach to separate verses which was more common in premodern tafsīr traditions. A claim sometimes made that the decline of polyvalence has to do with the rise of Salafism or ḥadīth-minded scholarship of the likes of Ibn Kathīr thus seems unjustified.