Anti-Corruption Criminological Security as a New Direction of Research

The sustainability of existence and the high destructive potential of corruption determined its place among the global problems that the humanity faces. One of the unique characteristics of corruption is its ability to adapt to the changing factors of the external environment, including the preventive measures. At the same time, continuous reproduction and development of various forms of corruption predetermines the necessity for improving ways of preventing it. Delays or insufficient effectiveness of counteracting publicly dangerous forms of corruption may jeopardize the system-forming elements of the society and the state, may result in their destruction. The complex nature of the phenomenon of corruption requires a search for new fundamental approaches in counteracting it. From the standpoint of history, the Russian Federation developed the legal and organizational basis of counteracting corruption in the shortest time possible. At the same time, the analysis of how this system functions makes it possible to conclude that it is at the limit of its possible extension. The existing situation is partially explained by the fact that, in view of the urgency of problems to be solved, the practice of building the state model of corruption counteraction was always ahead of scientific findings, which led to inevitable intrasystem contradictions. To reach a whole new level in the development of anti-corruption work, it is necessary to find fundamentally new approaches which would make it possible to unite a substantial body of available interdisciplinary knowledge within one guiding idea and present an optimal theoretical model. Modern Russian research is actively studying specific features of corruption and corruption crimes as well as ways of preventing them. At the same time, there have not yet been any fundamental research of the criminological aspects of anti-corruption activities from the standpoint of ensuring national security. One of the prospective directions of such research is the development of the theoretical basis of anti-corruption security as an inter-branch direction of research. Taking into account that crimes of corruption inflict the greatest damage on public relations, it should be noted that the research of anti-corruption criminological security has a considerable scientific potential. Primary cognition of poly-aspect manifestations of anti-corruption criminological security as well as its systemic-structural characteristics will allow to estimate the prospects of the presented direction of research.

Toward a Neurocognitive Understanding of the Algorithms That Underlie Metamemory Judgments

Neurocognitive research on metamemory thus far has mostly focused on localizing brain regions that track metacognitive judgments and distinguishing metacognitive processing from primary cognition. With much known about the localization of metamemory in the brain, there is a growing opportunity to develop a more algorithmic characterization of the brain processes underlying metamemory. We briefly review some current neurocognitive metamemory research, including relevant brain regions and theories about their role in metamemory. We review some computational neuroimaging approaches and, as an illustrative example, describe their use in studies on the delayed-JOL (judgments of learning) effect. Finally, we discuss how researchers might apply computational approaches to several unresolved questions in the behavioral metamemory literature. Such research could provide a bridge between cognitive and neurocognitive research on metamemory and provide novel insights into the algorithms underlying metamemory judgments, thus informing theory and methodology in both areas.

Persuasion: From Single to Multiple to Metacognitive Processes

This article provides a brief overview of major developments in the history of contemporary persuasion theory. The first intuitive and empirical approaches to persuasion were guided by main-effect questions (e.g., are experts more persuasive than nonexperts?). Furthermore, researchers focused on only one process by which variables (e.g., emotion, source credibility) would have an impact (e.g., emotion affected attitudes by classical conditioning). As data began to accumulate, so many new theories and effects were uncovered that the discipline faced collapse from the numerous inconsistencies evident. In response to the reigning confusion of the previous era, contemporary multiprocess theories were proposed (e.g., the elaboration likelihood model). According to these more integrative approaches, any one variable could affect attitudes by different processes in different situations and thereby sometimes produce opposite effects. Finally, we describe the role of a recently discovered new contributor to persuasion: self-validation. Unlike previous mechanisms that focus on primary cognition, this new process emphasizes secondary or meta-cognition.