Book
Межэтническое общение: контакты и конфликты

The results of cross-cultural research of implicit theories of innovativeness among students and teachers, representatives of three ethnocultural groups: Russians, the people of the North Caucasus (Chechens and Ingushs) and Tuvinians (N=804) are presented. Intergroup differences in implicit theories of innovativeness are revealed: the ‘individual’ theories of innovativeness prevail among Russians and among the students, the ‘social’ theories of innovativeness are more expressed among respondents from the North Caucasus, Tuva and among the teachers. Using the structural equations modeling the universal model of values impact on implicit theories of innovativeness and attitudes towards innovations is constructed. Values of the Openness to changes and individual theories of innovativeness promote the positive relation to innovations. Results of research have shown that implicit theories of innovativeness differ in different cultures, and values make different impact on the attitudes towards innovations and innovative experience in different cultures.
The results of the field research of intergroup attitudes in Southern Russia (N=723) demonstrated that the relationships of the valence and uncertainty of ethnic identity, perceived discrimination and level of religious identity with intergroup attitudes depend on a group status (majority – minority) and the type of settlement (dense-sparse). The perceived discrimination predicts the intolerance of intergroup attitudes among the majority group members whereas, the valence and uncertainty of ethnic identity – among the minorities members. The salience of ethnic identity and high level of religious identity predict intolerant attitudes among migrants with the dense way of settlement, the valence of identity and perceived discrimination predict intolerant attitudes among the migrants with the sparse type of settlement. The willingness to distinguish between people by religion provides the maintenance of their group boundaries and identity in multicultural regions of Russia. The growth of uncertainty of ethnic tolerance provides better adaptation of migrants in multicultural regions of Russia.
Bilingual education including, on the one hand, access to dominating language, and, on the other, - teaching in minority languages or teaching only languages themselves at school is an important part of language politics of a state. In many regions we observe a paradoxical situation: school education does not promote acquisition of a disappearing language, though it is highly valued by members of community. The article considers features of teaching minority languages at school in the Russian Federation on two examples - Nivkh and Kalmyk. Interviews with parents, pupils, former pupils and teachers allow to describe teaching native language at school as a procedure of maintaining identity of community.
The article focuses on interconnection between ethnic and civic identity characteristics and acculturation strategies of migrants in two federal districts of Russia. Positive correlation between intensity of migrants’ ethnic identity and a “Separation” strategy was revealed. Moreover, the paper provides evidence of positive interdependence between intensity of migrants’ civic identity and an “Assimilation” strategy.
The collection represents the materials of the 2nd International scientific conference “The theoretical problems of ethnic and cross-cultural psychology” May, 30-31, 2014 held by Smolensk University for Humanities. The participants from Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Republic of Korea, Ukraine, Uzbekistan shared their methodological and theoretical approaches to such basic scientific issues as transformation of the ethnic identity, cultural influence on the personality, cross-cultural interaction, ethnic conflicts, migration and acculturation psychology, ethnic socialization, policultural formation. The book might be of interest for psychologists, ethnologists, philosophers, anthropologists and other specialists working with ethnic and cross-cultural psychology.
Students' internet usage attracts the attention of many researchers in different countries. Differences in internet penetration in diverse countries lead us to ask about the interaction of medium and culture in this process. In this paper we present an analysis based on a sample of 825 students from 18 Russian universities and discuss findings on particularities of students' ICT usage. On the background of the findings of the study, based on data collected in 2008-2009 year during a project "A сross-cultural study of the new learning culture formation in Germany and Russia", we discuss the problem of plagiarism in Russia, the availability of ICT features in Russian universities and an evaluation of the attractiveness of different categories of ICT usage and gender specifics in the use of ICT.