The 32-th International Congress of Psychology (ICP 2020+)

The results of the work of The 32-th International Congress of Psychology (ICP 2020+), which took place on July 18−23, 2021 in Prague (Czech Republic), are presented. More than 9000 speakers from 87 countries took part in the congress. Reports were presented on various areas of psychology and related specialties (medicine, pedagogy, etc.). A brief summary of key interviews and lectures by D. Kahneman, F. Zimbardo, K. Maslak, R. Ptacek, E. Loftus, Y. Moytsa, S. McFarland, as well as individual symposia and short reports is described.

The logical component of thinking as a predictor of decision-making about the presence of corruption risk in a situation

The links between elements of the decision-making system on the presence of corruption risk (CR) in a situation with the logical component of thinking as a predictor are considered. The hypothesis of the role of logical reasoning component as a predictor of (1) perceptions of corruption, (2) indicators of emotional intelligence and (3) moral judgement was tested on a sample of Moscow university students (N=134; M=35±11 years old). The following diagnostic tools were used: (1) the author's test for recognising CR situations, (2) the method for assessing the content of ideas about corruption (Pogozhina, Pshenichnyuk, Sergeyeva), (3) D. Lucin’s EmIn questionnaire, (4) Molchanov's Justice-Care technique. Correlation analysis and structural modeling were used to process the data. The logical component of thinking was a significant positive predictor of the level of development of perceptions of corruption and understanding one’s own emotions and those of others. Also, the logical component significantly negatively predicted moral judgments based on instrumental individualism, reflexive empathic orientation and unconscious but internalized moral values. The findings suggest that the logical component will play a leading role in the CR decision-making system and should be specifically shaped.

The threshold of awareness as an empirical given and as a logical inevitability

The nature of the sensory threshold and approaches to solving the threshold problem in psychophysics are discussed. There were presented experimental results, empirical facts that do not fully correspond to existing psychophysical theories and do not receive an explanation in line with modern approaches. It was concluded that the explanation of the thresholds without description of the participation of consciousness raises doubts. A new look at the nature of thresholds is proposed, in which the threshold is considered as an inevitable consequence of the processes of classification and categorization. Due to the fact that the operations of identification of the non-identical and discernment of the indiscernible are mandatoryin the act of cognition, a zone is formed, within which objectively different elements are identified in consciousness andrelate to the same class. This zone exists across the entire spectrum of cognitive tasks, including detection and discrimination. Thresholds fix the boundaries of this zone. Thus, the problem of the threshold requires a description of the work of not so physiological as cognitive mechanismsfor its solution.

Serious disease as an existential problem

The results of a theoretical and empirical study of basic beliefs and their relationship with the level of post-traumatic stress, personal characteristics, and psychological safety represenrarions in people with severe somatic disease ("meningioma" (n=60)) are analysed. Basic beliefs are presented as empirical markers of a person's experience of an existential experience. Hypotheses about individual psychological differences in a person's attitude to himself and the world in the conditions of experiencing a difficult life event are tested. It is proved that people with a positive attitude towards themselves and the world have high rates on the World Assumption Scale (WAS) and such subscales as benevolence of the world, controllability, justice, self-worth and luck. It is shown that a positive attitude towards oneself and the world correlates with a certain configuration of personality traits on Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI), including sociability, poise, masculinity; the representations about psychological safety are related to the orientation of the person towards internal resources (competence, life experience, control, etc.). The people with negative attitudes towards themselves and the world, i.e. with low rates on the WAS, are characterized as neurotic, depressive, irritable, emotionally labile on FPI; their representations about psychological safety are related with the need in social support. In a group with averages on the WAS, personality profile is similar to the profile of the people with low rates on the WAS in exception of depression and femininity; the psychological safety is associated with internal and external resources. The results are discussed in the context of existential experience problem.

The subject-personal characteristics of military university officers as predictors of burnout

The results of the study of the subject-personal characteristics of military university officers (hereinafter officers) as predictors of burnout are represented. 73 officers (men) at the age of 23 to 51 years were examined. Negative relationships between phases of burnout and subjective (cognitive, volitional, emotional control, behavioral regulation, communicative potential) and personal (meaningfulness of life, moral normality) characteristics among officers have been revealed. Individual components of subject-personal characteristics are in close interrelation, which indicates that we are dealing with a complex system organization. There are significant differences among officers with various kinds of activity in terms of indicators of subject-personal characteristics. There are specific interrelations between subject-personal characteristics and phases of burnout of officers, depending on the type of official activity.

Eye-tracking study of joint attention deficits in pre-school age

The article investigates joint attention deficits in various forms of atypical development using eye movement recording. Preschoolers aged 5-7 years from different clinical groups participated in the study: typically developing (n = 20), with mental retardation (ICD-10 class F83) (n = 20), preschoolers with delayed speech development (ICD-10 class R47) (n = 20), with hearing impairment (sensorineural hearing loss, ICD-10 class H90) (n = 10) and with visual impairment (amblyopia and strabismus, IBC-10 class H53) (n = 20). Contrasting group analyses allowed us to identify both specific and universal manifestations of joint attention deficit symptoms in the different forms of atypical development. Gaze tracking was used to analyze fixation duration and frequency, fixation distribution, areas of interest, and to identify markers of joint attention deficits that interfere with the child's productive interaction with an adult. Potential mechanisms of atypical joint attention are described, including atypical direction of gaze, changes in the dynamics of the operative visual field, duration of visual concentration, and accuracy in fixing the object’s elements. It is shown that fixation time in joint attention episodes can be regarded as a prognostic marker of joint attention disorders: joint attention is associated not only with spatial characteristics of areas of interest, but also with fixation duration on the object (decrease/increase in fixation duration).

Psychological features of attitudes towards unemployment as a social phenomenon: trends and perspectives of study

The article notes that the current spread of coronavirus infection creates difficult conditions for the life of society, having a negative impact on many social spheres. It is shown that the labor crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic can increase global unemployment, and as a result, have a negative impact on the development of the economy as a whole, which increases the relevance of the research problem. The authors analyzed publications devoted to studies of unemployment in various branches of science, which made it possible to identify different social levels of its negative impact (global, national and regional). A separate group includes works on the socio-psychological problems of unemployment. It was revealed that the socio-economic or personal characteristics of the experience of unemployment in the context of the coronavirus pandemic have not yet become a significant subject of fundamental research. In particular, the scientific literature does not present facts that reflect the structure of user experiences. Analysis of messages from forums of the unemployed and from social networks allowed the authors to state a high level of reasoning related to unemployment as a social phenomenon, genuine regret about the high level of education of many of them and painful feelings about the low standard of living. Frequency and semantic analysis of messages also made it possible to demonstrate ideas about the factors causing unemployment, which are most often associated with the conditions of the social environment. The analysis of the emotional background of the messages carried out in the work showed the absence of neutral or positive assessments of unemployment (all assessments are negative). High emotional tension in assessing unemployment and its consequences indicates a pronounced decrease in the psychological well-being of users, which becomes the basis for negative judgments, including political content. In conclusion, it is noted that the study of “digital traces” seems to be a very promising direction in the study of macropsychological processes.

Jaan Valsiner’s Cultural Psychology. Part I. In the Discourse of Global Science

We introduce a variant of international cultural psychology, insufficiently known to the Russian reader, the leader of which is Jaan Valsiner. It differs significantly in its methodological principles and orientations from most related to cultural psychology, both international and Russian. In a certain sense, the methodology of the school of dynamic semiosis seems to be an alternative to the modern development of the discourse of cultural psychology in Russia. Russian cultural psychological discourse primarily moves towards a general humanitarian synthesis, with a focus on the intersection of the humanitarian subject area of psychology with the humanities, while cultural psychology of Jaan Valsiner represents a movement of trans-subject synthesis, embrasing not only the humanities, but the entire scientific sphere, including the exact and natural sciences, along with the humanities. Thus, the task of “vertical” integration of psychological knowledge, that is, the integration of natural science and humanitarian psychology, appears the main target, which should become the mission of cultural psychology in the development of psychological science.

Cognitive functions and reading speed in schoolchildren with typical development and mild mental retardation

The article presents the results of an empirical study of the relationship between indicators of cognitive functioning and the success in reading in groups of schoolchildren with typical development and mild mental retardation (F70.0; ICD — 10). Information processing speed, visuospatial working memory and non-verbal intelligence were considered as indicators of cognitive development. To assess the reading speed, a check was used on the technique of reading texts in accordance with the Federal State Standard of General Education. The study involved 212 schoolchildren (39% girls) enrolled in Grades 1 — 9 of (1) a public school implementing programs of a special (correctional) school of type VIII and (2) a public school. The results revealed that age-related changes in the success of reading during compulsory schooling are characterized by a nonlinear pattern in children with typical development and a linear pattern in children with mild mental retardation. The differences between schoolchildren with typical and atypical development in reading speed increase from Grades 1 to 7, and then from Grades 7 to 9 may decrease. The regression analysis confirmed the differences in the direct effects of the influence of non-verbal intelligence, information processing speed and visuospatial working memory on the reading speed. These differences in effects depend on the type of mental development and the level of schooling. Mediation analysis showed that no more than 17% of the differences in the success of reading between schoolchildren with typical and atypical development can explain by cognitive functioning.

Pedology and applied psychology in Russia in the first third of the XX century

The article examines the formation and liquidation of pedology and psychotechnics in Russia in the 1920s–1930s. The general and the different in practical tasks and scientific problems of pedology, psychotechnics and general psychology are discussed the position of L.S. Vygotsky on the relationship between pedology and psychotechnics.The crisis of pedology and psychotechnics and their elimination after the Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) on pedology (1936) correlates with the mistakes of the representatives of these disciplines, as well as the change in the socio-economic and ideological-political conditions of society in the USSR during the reconstruction period, as well as with the aggravation political confrontation between communism and national socialism in pre-war Europe.Conclusions are drawn about the responsibility of applied psychology to society when it intervenes in the tasks of social practice.