Psychological and Electrophysiological Correlates of Word Learning Success

Background. A rich vocabulary supports human achievements in socio-economic activities, education, and communication. It is therefore important to clarify the nature of language acquisition as a complex multidimensional process. However, both the psychological and neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning language learning, as well as the links between them, are still poorly understood. Objective. This study aims to explore the psychological and neurophysiological correlates of successful word acquisition in a person’s native language. Design. Thirty adults read sentences with novel nouns, following which the participants’ electroencephalograms were recorded during a word-reading task. Event-related potentials in response to novel words and alpha oscillation parameters (amplitude, variability, and long-range temporal correlation dynamics) were analyzed. Learning outcomes were assessed at the lexical and semantic levels. Psychological variables measured using Amthauer’s test (verbal abilities), BIS/BAS scales (motivation), and the MSTAT-1 (ambiguity tolerance) and alpha oscillation parameters were factored. Results. Better recognition of novel words was related to two factors which had high factor loadings for all measured alpha oscillation parameters, indicating the role of attention networks and respective neural activity for enabling information processing. More successful learners had lower P200 amplitude, which also suggests higher attention-system involvement. Another factor predicted better acquisition of word meanings for less ambiguity-tolerant students, while the factor which pooled logical conceptual thinking ability and persistence in goal-reaching, positively correlated with acquisition of both word forms and meanings. Conclusion. The psychological factors predominantly correlated with word-learning success in semantic tasks, while neurophysiological variables were linked to performance in the recognition task.

Psychometric Properties of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory in a Sample of Medical Students in Kazakhstan

Background. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) has demonstrated good psychometric properties among different populations, but there is no known data on its validity among Russian-speaking medical students. The CBI-Student Survey focuses only on fatigue, but measures exhaustion in four different life domains: Personal Burnout (PB), Studies-Related Burnout (SRB), Colleague-Related Burnout (CRB), and Teacher-Related Burnout (TRB). Objective. To investigate the psychometric properties of the Russian version of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory–Student Survey (R-CBI-S). Design. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 771 medical students at Astana Medical University (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan). Statistical analyses included test-retest reliability, internal consistency, item analysis, convergent and concurrent validity, and confirmatory factor analysis. Concurrent validity was evaluated by bivariate correlations of R-CBI-S with anxiety, depression, and satisfaction with the study. Results. Test-retest reliability showed an ICC of 0.81. All item-total correlations for the total scale were positive (range 0.31–0.76). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.94 (0.896 for PB, 0.884 for SRB, 0.874 for CRB, and 0.926 for TRB). The Barlett’s sphericity test result was significant (p < 0.001), and the KMO measure of sampling adequacy exceeded 0.947. Convergent validity analysis results: PB (AVE = 0.52, CR = 0.87), SRB (AVE = 0.50, CR = 0.87), CRB (AVE = 0.51, CR = 0.86), TRB (AVE = 0.56, CR = 0.88). The R-CBI-S achieved good levels of goodness-of-fit indices (RMSEA = 0.0611; CFI = 0.940; TLI = 0.933). Conclusion. The test results indicated that the R-CBI-S scale appears to be a reliable and valid instrument. The R-CBI-S may be a useful tool in future research to identify burnout factors based on specific life domains for developing effective prevention measures among medical students.

Counterproductive Work Behavior in Russian Nanotechnology Organizations

Background. Organizational behavior plays a significant role in the effectiveness of enterprises specializing in nanotechnology. Its negative side – counterproductive work behavior (CWB) – has not been analyzed sufficiently in this industry. We evaluated different theoretical approaches to this problem. Objective. To estimate the predominant forms of counterproductive work behavior in relation to dimensions such as the intensity of the nanotechnology industry, seniority in the organization, and the age and gender of the subjects. Design. We used a descriptive exploratory methodology that analyzes the preponderance of counterproductive work behavior in profile companies throughout the Russian Federation. CWB was assessed through a self-report questionnaire and in-depth interview with each employee. The results were analyzed by correlation-regression analysis in SPSS. Results. We found significant correlations between the variables “intensity of the nanotechnology industry within the organization”, “seniority of employees within the organization”, “age of employees”, and the total score of CWB. Regarding the CWB dimensions, the highest average of the scores was obtained for “low level of conscientiousness” (mean = 21.75; SD = 2.9), followed closely by “low level of personal development” (mean = 20.53; SD = 3.09). Among the CWB dimensions, it seems that the conscientiousness of the employees plays a key role in the continuation of their professional activity and consequently in the increase of seniority in the organization. Conclusion. A professional difficulty can be perceived as a challenge by an employee with good physical and/or psychological resilience. Russian nanotechnology companies should evaluate their approach to dealing with employees and mitigate situations that might be unnecessarily stressful. From the data obtained through the semi-structured interview, we found that what happens in a work group is essential in the emergence of CWB. Organizations need clear policies that empower employees to deal with certain work tasks and with employees who engage in specific CWB.

News About Terrorism and Attitudes Toward Countries: The Role of Mortality Salience and Intergroup Threat

Background. Media reports on armed fights or terror attacks introduce reminders of death into people’s daily lives. When people feel non-specific threats (mortality salience) or specific threats (intergroup threats), they may demonstrate unfavorable attitudes toward national outgroups. The issue is mostly analyzed today in line with Terror Management Theory and Intergroup Threat Theory. Objective. To examine such threats in the Russian context, and the impact of mortality salience (MS) on attitudes toward national outgroups that induced different levels of perceived intergroup threat. Design. In two studies, participants watched films and completed questionnaires about social distance, social thermometer, and trust toward “more or less threatening” countries. In Study 1, 120 Russian students were assigned to six groups via experimental design: 3 (MS: terrorist attacks in Europe, terrorist attacks in Russia, or a control group watching a video about dental treatment) x 2 (country: Ukraine and Belarus). In Study 2, 122 participants were similarly divided into six groups, evaluating attitudes toward the USA and China. Results. Study 1 showed that MS mostly increased unfavorable attitudes toward a country perceived as more threatening (Ukraine) than toward one perceived as less threatening (Belarus). Study 2 indicated the same effect on attitudes toward both more (the USA) and less (China) threatening outgroups. Conclusion. The results identified contradictory tendencies in MS effect, in line with Terror Management Theory and Intergroup Threat Theory. The findings could be used in improving relationships from an international perspective.

Coping and Co-creation: One Attempt and One Route to Well-Being. Part 1. Conceptual Framework

Background. All life strives to be well, but not all life is well. This suggests that cognition aimed at improving and protecting well-being might share a common core across all life forms: core cognition Objective. In this first of a two-part theoretical article, we systematically specify the evolutionary core cognition of well-being from the perspective of general living agents. In Part 2 we apply this to identity development and the theoretical approaches to well-being. This first part aims to identify the strategies and conditions for the creation and protection of generalized well-being and describes associated behavioral ontologies. Results. We defined a set of key terms that, together, specify core cognition. This set comprises quite naturally concepts like agency, behavior, need satisfaction, intelligence, authority, power, and wisdom, which are all derived from the defining properties of life. We derived coping and co-creation as two essentially different, but complementary, behavioral ontologies. Coping is for survival and targeted problem solving and aims to end the need for its activation. Co-creation is for thriving and problem prevention and aims to perpetuate its activation. Co-creation can explain the growth of the biosphere. While both strategies are essential, the successful interplay of their strengths leads to the dominance of one of them: co-creation. Absence of success leads to a dominance of coping: a coping-trap and a strong urge to curtail behavioral diversity. We summarize the key terms of core cognition and the ontologies in two tables with defined terms.

Sources of Artifacts in SLODR Detection

Background. Spearman’s law of diminishing returns (SLODR) states that intercorrelations between scores on tests of intellectual abilities were higher when the data set was comprised of subjects with lower intellectual abilities and vice versa. After almost a hundred years of research, this trend has only been detected on average. Objective. To determine whether the very different results were obtained due to variations in scaling and the selection of subjects. Design. We used three methods for SLODR detection based on moderated factor analysis (MFCA) to test real data and three sets of simulated data. Of the latter group, the first one simulated a real SLODR effect. The second one simulated the case of a different density of tasks of varying difficulty; it did not have a real SLODR effect. The third one simulated a skewed selection of respondents with different abilities and also did not have a real SLODR effect. We selected the simulation parameters so that the correlation matrix of the simulated data was similar to the matrix created from the real data, and all distributions had similar skewness parameters (about -0.3). Results. The results of MFCA are contradictory and we cannot clearly distinguish by this method the dataset with real SLODR from datasets with similar correlation structure and skewness, but without a real SLODR effect. Theresults allow us to conclude that when effects like SLODR are very subtle and can be identified only with a large sample, then features of the psychometric scale become very important, because small variations of scale metrics may lead either to masking of real SLODR or to false identification of SLODR.

Psychological Burnout among Professionals Working with Children with Motor Disabilities

Background. Psychological burnout is a state of psychological and physical fatigue that shows the effect of work stress on the individual and negatively affects his/her attitudes towards work. The current study was motivated by the assumption that people who work directly with students with special needs are at the forefront of professions that can create feelings of frustration, and thus may be vulnerable to psychological burnout. Objective. To identify the level of psychological burnout among professionals working with children with motor disabilities, and how these levels differ according to gender, workplace, years of experience, and the number of children the employees treat. Design. The sample comprised 195 staff members at the Al-Hussein Society for the rehabilitation of the Physically Challenged and the Cerebral Palsy Foundation in Amman, Jordan. The researchers used the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which consists of three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and the lack of a sense of personal accomplishment. Results. We found a low level of psychological burnout among those who work with children with motor disabilities. The level of psychological burnout was low for two dimensions: lack of a sense of personal accomplishment and depersonalization, whereas it was average for emotional exhaustion. The results showed statistically significant differences in the degrees of psychological burnout in its three dimensions according to the employee’s workplace, with higher levels at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. However, no statistically significant differences were found among the participants due to gender, years of experience, or the number of children they treat. Conclusion. The low levels of psychological burnout among professionals who work with children with motor disabilities might be due to the psychological and professional support they receive from their institutions.

The Performance of Visual Perceptual Tasks in Patients with Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Background. The most significant features for clinical diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) are cognitive-perceptual and disorganized symptoms. Experimental study of visual perceptual processes is important to elucidate the psychological mechanisms of cognitive-perceptual impairment in SPD. Objective. To research the performance of visual perceptual tasks in SPD. Design. Series I and II presented the subjects with visual perceptual tasks with different types of instructions (vague, verbal, or visual perceptual cues). The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) was also administered. The participants were 39 SPD patients, 36 obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) patients (F.21.8, F.60.5 in ICD-10, respectively), and 102 healthy controls. Results. SPD patients had a significantly lower number of correct answers in conditions of vague instruction and verbal cues in Series I of a visual-perceptual task in comparison with healthy subjects (р ≤ 0.01). With visual perceptual cues in Series II, patients with SPD had the same number of correct answers as controls, whereas OCPD patients had the same number of correct answers as controls with verbal cues in Series I. SPD patients had significantly lower scores in most verbal and nonverbal WAIS-R subtests in comparison with controls. SPD patients differed from OCPD patients in that they had lower scores in the “Information” (p ≤ 0.05) and “Comprehension” (p ≤ 0.05) subtests. Conclusion. With visual-perceptual cues, SPD patients were able to achieve normative results in the performance of visual-perceptual tasks, whereas patients with OCPD demonstrated lower productivity. In SPD patients, the basic impairments were associated with difficulties in inhibition of peculiar responses, stability of a subjective manner of performance and inability to revise it, low orientation to the model, and slipping into subjective associations with the stimuli.

Free Will as a Paradox: Empirical Evaluation of the Construct of Everyday Consciousness

Background. Free will belongs to the category of phenomena that are actively discussed in scientific discourse but are neither verified nor proven false. Free will is studied in philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology. We discuss this pluralism, multiplicity of perceptions, and the parties’ arguments in the theoretical part of this article. We approach the existing polemics from the point of view of a person who is in the moment of making a decision and taking responsibility for it. The usual paradoxes are mitigated if we consider free will through the concepts underlying everyday consciousness. Objective. Our aim is to introduce into the discussion of free will an understanding of its nature as a construct of everyday consciousness, one which acts as a factor in increasing the personal maturity of vital decisions. We also discuss the arguments of the various meta-positions in the dispute about free will. Design. Our empirical research was designed as a modification of the experiments on imposed attitudes. The sample consisted of 340 people ages 30–50 years. Results. The level of maturity of actions by the subjects who received the set for determinism was lower than that of the subjects who received the set for free will (U 5133; p = 0.014). Conclusion. Our study showed that the stronger a person’s belief in free will, the more personally mature that person’s choices – actions – are; and that the more active that belief in free will, the more effective are their efforts to overcome social pressure.

Postpartum Depression and Birth Experience in Russia

Background. In European countries, postpartum depression (PPD) occurs in 13–19% of women. The statistics indicate that postpartum depressive disorders affect up to 300,000 women in Russia annually. There is still an extremely acute lack of psychological comfort provided to women during labor in Russia. Objective. To our knowledge, ours is the first study that examines the association between childbirth experience and the risk of PPD in Russia. Design. We collected data from 190 Russian-speaking mothers, ages 19 to 46, (M = 32 +4.3) two months after their delivery. Results. Birth satisfaction and physical well-being two months after delivery were significantly inversely associated with PPD. Birth satisfaction negatively correlated with the perceived severity and unpredictability of labor, and positively correlated with physical well-being two months after delivery. The presence of a partner and a personal midwife or doula at birth was associated with higher birth satisfaction. Conclusion. Our results emphasize the significance of childbirth satisfaction in the context of PPD and suggest the importance of individual professional support during labor.