Acculturation is the process of group and individual changes in culture and behaviour that result from intercultural contact. These changes have been taking place forever, and continue at an increasing pace as more and more peoples of different cultures move, meet and interact. Variations in the meanings of the concept, and some systematic conceptualisations of it are presented. This is followed by a survey of empirical work with indigenous, immigrant and ethnocultural peoples around the globe that employed both ethnographic (qualitative) and psychological (quantitative) methods. This wide-ranging research has been undertaken in a quest for possible general principles (or universals) of acculturation. This Element concludes with a short evaluation of the field of acculturation; its past, present and future

Face perception and memory ("face cognition") are basic facets of social intelligence, and their development is a central topic for developmental science. Nevertheless, there is acute controversy over the issue of early or late maturation of these abilities. In addition, variance in face cognition abilities was ignored so far, leading to the absence of information, how children in a given age cohort differ in these abilities and making it impossible to investigate the association of face cognition abilities with general cognitive abilities; hence, the question about the specificity of face cognition abilities in childhood and adolescence remains open. Based on the earlier differential psychological studies of the structure of face cognition and variance in adulthood, within the current dissertation this approach was adopted to childhood and adolescence. Based on the results of 338 children and adolescents, the following conclusions were formulated: a) the individual differences approach allowed to establish the 2-factorial model of face cognition abilities (face perception and face memory) and to demonstrate invariance of this structure across childhood and adolescence; b) current approach allowed to demonstrate substantial age-related performance differences in both latent factors; c) although the level of maturation of face cognition is highly associated with general cognitive development, face perception and face memory are specific and have a social character compared to object recognition. The current dissertation contains a number of methodological recommendations related to the measurement of face cognition in childhood and adolescence, most important - the development of multivariate measurement.

This book consists of previously unpublished manuscripts by Vygotsky found in the first systematic study of Vygotsky’s family archive. The notebooks and scientific diaries gathered in this volume represent all periods of Vygotsky’s scientific life, beginning with the earliest manuscript, entitled The tragicomedy of strivings (1912), and ending with his last note, entitled Pro domo sua (1934), written shortly before his death. The notes reveal unknown aspects of the eminent psychologist’s personality, show his aspirations and interests, and allow us to gain insights into the development of his thinking and its internal dynamics. Several texts reflect the plans that Vygotsky was unable to realize during his lifetime, such as the creation of a theory of emotions and a theory of consciousness, others reveal Vygotsky’s involvement in activities that were previously unknown, and still others provide outlines of papers and lectures. The notes are presented in chronological order, preceded by brief introductions and accompanied by an extensive set of notes. The result is a book that allows us to obtain a much deeper understanding of Vygotsky’s innovative ideas. 

This book offers a comparative analysis of value and identity changes in several post-Communist countries. In light of the tremendous economic, social and political changes in former communist states, the authors compare the values, attitudes and identities of different generations and cultural groups. Based on extensive empirical data, using quantitative and qualitative methods to study complex social identities, this book examines how intergenerational value and identity changes are linked to socio-economic and political development. Topics include the rise of nationalist sentiments, identity formation of ethnic and religious groups and minorities, youth identity formation and intergenerational value conflicts

The key to the upliftment of the Adivasi community is a deep understanding of their culture, psychological resources and cognitive strengths. Ecology, Culture and Human Development: Lessons for Adivasi Education presents a comparative analysis of the cultural and cognitive dimensions of various communities in Canada, Ghana, China and India, and seeks answers from this analysis for Adivasi education. It debunks the myths of low intelligence and inferior cognitive capacity of the Adivasi community, and emphasizes the remarkable performance of Adivasi children when assessed in terms of their ecological and cultural contexts. Extensively illustrated and containing substantive data on all relevant aspects of human development, this book is a much-desired addition to the literature on this crucial aspect of social development in India. It is a comprehensive resource that aims to contribute substantially towards mitigating the travails of the Adivasi community and ensuring their social empowerment.

The general trend in Afghanistan is clear-cut: the overall security situation has consistently deteriorated since 2009, worsening dramatically since 2014. However, in the provinces of Afghanistan adjacent to Central Asia, the security situation has deteriorated even further than in Afghanistan as a whole. This report considers the range of options available to the Central Asian neighbors of Afghanistan (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) in responding to this growing threat, both unilaterally and in their bilateral engagement with actors in Afghanistan. Furthermore, it considers how decisionmaking processes in Central Asia will be affected by future developments in Afghanistan by assessing options and likely outcomes under a set of security scenarios in Afghanistan itself.

This textbook on Instructional Design for Learning is a must for all education and teaching students and specialists. It provides a comprehensive overview about the theoretical foundations of the various models of Instructional Design and Technology from its very beginning to the most recent approaches. It elaborates Instructional Design (ID) as a science of educational planning. The book expands on this general understanding of ID and presents an up-to-date perspective on the theories and models for the creation of detailed and precise blueprints for effective instruction. It integrates different theoretical aspects and practical approaches, such as conceptual ID models, technology-based ID, and research-based ID. In doing so, this book takes a multi-perspective view on the questions that are central for professional ID: How to analyze the relevant characteristics of the learner and the environment? How to create precise goals and adequate instruments of assessment? How to design classroom and technology-supported learning environments? How to ensure effective teaching and learning by employing formative and summative evaluation? Furthermore, this book presents empirical findings on the processes that enable effective instructional designing. Finally, this book demonstrates two different fields of application by addressing ID for teaching and learning at secondary schools and colleges, as well as for higher education.

Most books and articles still treat leadership and ethics as related though separate phenomena. This edited volume is an exception to that rule, and explicitly treats leadership and ethics as a single domain. Clearly, ethics is an aspect of leadership, and not a distinct approach that exists alongside other approaches to leadership. This holds especially true for the for the military, as it is one of the few organizations that can legitimately use violence. Military leaders have to deal with personnel who have either used or experienced violence. This intertwinement of leadership and violence separates military leadership from leadership in other professions. Even in a time that leadership is increasingly questioned, it is still good leadership that keeps soldiers from crossing the thin line between legitimate force and excessive violence

This report presents the results of an ESRC-funded research project that examined the behavioural and attitudinal impacts of the English plastic bag charge that was introduced in October 2015. The project used a mixed-methods longitudinal approach, and included a national survey, a diary-interview study, and supermarket observation study. Overall, the research has shown that the English plastic bag charge has made a strong and positive impact on people’s behaviours and attitudes. The research found that the charge was eff ective at breaking old habits, and that it became more popular as people adapted to the policy. Evidence was also found that the charge increased environmental awareness and the acceptability of other environmental policies. The success of the plastic bag charge in eff ectively changing plastic bag use and increasing support for other charges to reduce waste suggests that similar policies could also be successfully implemented, such as a deposit return scheme on plastic bottles or a charge on disposable coff ee cups.

Background and aims. This research reported here presents findings from an evaluation of the development and implementation of the Healthy Community Challenge Fund (otherwise known as the ‘Healthy Towns’ programme). A key aim of the research has been to inform the development of future environmental and systems‐based ‘whole town’ approaches to obesity prevention. The overall aim of the Healthy Towns programme was to pilot and stimulate novel ‘whole town’ approaches that tackle the ‘obesogenic’ environment in order to reduce obesity, with a particular focus on improving diet and increasing physical activity. Through a competitive tender process, nine towns were selected that represented urban areas across England ranging from small market towns to areas of large cities. The fund provided £30 million over the period 2008‐2011, divided amongst the nine towns. The amounts awarded ranged from £900,000 to £4.85 million. Towns were instructed to be innovative and were given freedom to develop a locally‐specific programme of interventions. This report supplements local process and impact evaluations undertaken by each town (not reported here) by taking an overall view of the programme’s development and implementation. Our evaluation therefore addressed the following research questions: 1. What kinds of interventions were delivered across the Healthy Towns programme? 2. Were environmental and infrastructural interventions equitably delivered? 3. How was the Healthy Towns programme theorised and translated into practice? 4. How was evidence used in the selection and design of interventions? 5. What are the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of a systems approach to obesity prevention?

Crisis is a burning issue; this is not a phenomenon, which can be conquered forever. Current approach to crisis is an optimized collaboration, which allows for manageable, measurable and predictable software development. Crisis is a new reality to live and work with. The current software development crisis dates back to the 1960s. The root cause of crisis is misbalance between resources and options. Understanding the nature of crisis helps to understand the reasons for the future crises.

This book is a navigator in lifecycle models, methodologies, principles and practices for predictable and efficient software development in crisis, i.e. under rapid requirement changes, resource deficit and other uncertainties. Therefore, the starting chapters suggest the major approaches to software development and their applicability in crisis. Further narration is case-based; it involves large-scale software implementations in different industries and knowledge transfer processes in IT education. The book suggests a set of principles that potentially marry the client’s and the developer’s views of the future software product in order to avoid or to mitigate the crisis.

The book will be helpful for students, postdocs, theorists and practitioners in software development. It suggests approved principles and practices of crisis management for software development.

The aging of the Russian population and the rapid shrinking of its labor force in coming decades will make the human capital each worker contributes increasingly vital for sustaining economic output and growth. While improvements in general education are necessary to build the foundation for a productive future labor force, a broad-based and effective system of adult education can provide second-chance opportunities for current workers to enhance their productivity and lengthen their working lives and for low-skilled immigrants to be integrated into the workforce. How well the Russian Federation addresses these multiple needs at and beyond the workplace will depend on how effective its adult education system is. This study targeting policymakers outlines the problems of Russia's growing skills gap, especially the shortage of higher-order cognitive and socio-emotional skills, and examines the current state of adult education.

The phenomenon of self-disclosure can be considered at different levels of scientific exploration being approached either from the socio-psychological viewpoint or from the individually determined personal perspective, where the subject of openness may serve as an individual with his personal potential in the field of social communications, and social groups or corporations as well. At the level of communicative dialogue and interpersonal relationships self-disclosure is manifestation of human potential capabilities and his readiness for open and trusting cooperation in society. In practical terms, handling these issues can be referred to as a social order from the part of the representatives of those professions where comfortable social communication appears to be an important factor of communicative competence and professionalism of the person.

Cognitive Control, Communication and Perception: Psychological and Neurobiological Aspects (CCCP 2014) workshop proceedings (Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, December 4-6, 2014)

Variability in beat-to-beat heart activity reflects the dynamics of heart-brain interactions. From the positions of the system evolutionary theory, any behaviour is based on simultaneous actualization of functional systems formed at different stages of phylo- and ontogenesis. Each functional system is comprised by neurons and other body cells, the activity of which contributes to achieving an adaptive outcome for the whole organism. In this study we hypothesized that the dynamics of spectral parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) can be used as an indicator of the system mismatch observed when functional systems with contradictory characteristics are actualized simultaneously. We presented 4–11-year-old children (N = 34) with a set of moral dilemmas describing situations where an in-group member achieved optional benefits by acting unfairly and endangering lives of out-group members. The results showed that LF/HF ratio of HRV was higher in children with developed moral attitudes for fairness toward out-groups as compared to children who showed preference for in-group members despite the unfair outcome for the outgroup. Thus, the system mismatch in situations with a moral conflict is shown to be reflected in the dynamics of heart activity.

. This paper presents a novel rodent avoidance test. We have devel-oped a specialized device and procedures that expand the possibilities for exploration of the processes of learning and memory in a psychophysiological experiment. The device consists of a current stimulating electrode-platform and custom software that allows to control and record real-time experimental pro-tocols as well as reconstructs animal movement paths. The device can be used to carry out typical footshock-avoidance tests, such as passive, active, modified active and pedal-press avoidance tasks. It can also be utilized in the studies of prosocial behavior, including cooperation, competition, emotional contagion and empathy. This novel footshock-avoidance test procedure allows flexible current-stimulating settings. In our work, we have used slow-rising current. A test animal can choose between the current rise and time-out intervals as a signal for action in footshock avoidable tasks. This represents a choice between escape and avoid-ance. This method can be used to explore individual differences in decision-making and choice of avoidance strategies. It has been shown previously that a behavioral act, for example, pedal-pressing is ensured by motivation-dependent brain activity (avoidance or approach). We have created an experimental design based on tasks of instrumental learning: pedal-pressing in an operant box results in a reward, which is either a piece of food in a feeder (food-acquisition behavior) or an escape-platform (footshock-avoidance behavior). Data recording and analysis were performed using custom software, the open source Accord.NET Framework was used for real-time object detection and tracking.

 

The concept of regression is considered with an emphasis on the differences between the positions of Freud and Jung regarding its significance. The paper discusses the results of experimental analyses of individual experience dynamics (from gene expression changes and impulse neuronal activity in animals to prosocial behaviour in healthy humans at different ages, and humans in chronic pain) in those situations where regression occurs: stress, disease, learning, highly emotional states and alcohol intoxication. Common mechanisms of regression in all these situations are proposed. The mechanisms of regression can be described as reversible dedifferentiation, which is understood as a relative increase of the representation of low-differentiated (older) systems in the actualized experience. In all of the cases of dedifferentiation mentioned above, the complexity of the systemic organization of behaviour significantly decreases.

Some informal youth associations ceased to exist with the collapse of the USSR, but others continue to operate to this day, although the moral convictions of members have changed and modernized. This article describes the types, features, and differences of some modern Russian subcultures as well as subcultures of the Soviet era. The author explores the process of transformation of traditional ideas about the place of a young person in society, as well as gender relations and functions of an individual in the youth environment. Also analyzed is the active development of a new stage of formation and development of criminal subculture in Russia, which belongs within the parameter of a “classical” criminal subculture. Having considered the youth subcultures, the author identifies styles that have become constant.

The legacy of Russian psychologist Lev Semenovich Vygotsky is most closely associated with the cultural-historical paradigm and, in the West, has found its most extensive application in contemporary developmental and educational psychology. However, Vygotsky’s project was far more ambitious than this perspective implies—in fact, he conceived a new, original program of general psychology that could address human beings in their full measure, foregrounding the human potential for freedom and agency. The distinctive characteristic of Vygotsky’s approach was his profound interdisciplinarity and, specifically, his evolving dialogue with art practices and aesthetics, the scope of which has only become clear with the recent publication of previously unpublished archival material and his writings as an art and literary critic. This article has two aims: to outline a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of Vygotsky’s views on general psychology, on the basis of recent archival discoveries and publications, and attending to these materials closely, to explicate the role that Vygotsky allocated to art in his radical project of creating the “height psychology.”

The study focuses on the relationship between intercultural friendships, social identities, and well-being of ethnic Russians in three different contexts of the North and South Caucasus. We revealed the positive relations of intercultural friendships with the host society identity in all contexts and with the well-being of Russians in the culturally diverse contexts. Ethnic identity is positively related to the self-esteem of Russians in two more inclusive contexts, and, negatively associated with their life satisfaction in the least inclusive context. The ethnic and host society identities mediated the relationship between intercultural friendships and psychological well-being only in the most inclusive context.

People’s attachment to the plant world makes a great contribution to the maintenance of psychological well-being. At the same time, little is known regarding the contribution of attitudes to plants to people’s morality; the current study is aimed at filling this gap. We assumed that the more positive the attitude to plants is, the higher the level of moral motives is. The survey was conducted on the Russian sample; 257 participants (students from Moscow universities, 199 female, Mage = 21.1, SDage = 2.5), were recruited. The following tools were used: a questionnaire People and Plants (PaP) consisting of five sub-scales (joy, esthetics, practice, closeness to nature, and ecology) and Moral Motives Model scale (MMM scale) including six sub-scales (self-restraint, not harming, social order, self-reliance (industriousness), helping/fairness, and social justice). It was found that all parameters of positive attitudes to plants, except practice, were strongly positively connected with moral motives. Multi-regression analysis allowed developing certain models demonstrating the contribution of attachment to the plant world to people's morality. The proscriptive motives (especially self-restraint) are more sensitive to attitudes to flora as compared to prescriptive motives; prescriptive motive self-reliance was not predicted by the attitude to flora at all. Moreover, the findings seem to be gender-sensitive (predictions are higher in females). The obtained results are discussed referring to the reverence for life ethics by Schweitzer, deep ecology by Næss, Biophilia hypothesis by Wilson, and psychology of moral expansiveness by Crimston et al.

Purpose

When a major Russian energy provider introduced a new technology that required organisational adjustment, the company’s management was surprised by the degree of internal resistance these changes provoked. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors took reference to the work on readiness to change and studied how the future time perspective, which connects with early writings by Lewin (1942), would explain the attitudes and behaviour of 148 managers.

Findings

The findings indicate that only a small number of employees perceived the future as offering many opportunities and showed willingness to pursue them. The majority of employees are either fearful of future changes, or do not have a strong sense of belonging to the company and hence are disinterested in prospective opportunities within the firm.

Originality/value

The different constructs of the future introduce an emic perspective to the study of organisational change and answer calls to enrich the measurements that are currently in use.

Prevailing theories of visual working memory assume that each encoded item is stored or forgotten as a separate unit independent from other items. Here, we show that items are not independent, and that the recalled orientation of an individual item is strongly influenced by the summary statistical representation of all items (ensemble representation). We find that not only is memory for an individual orientation substantially biased towards the mean orientation, but the precision of memory for an individual item also closely tracks the precision with which people store the mean orientation (which is, in turn, correlated with the physical range of orientations). Thus, individual items are reported more precisely when items on a trial are more similar. Moreover, the narrower the range of orientations present on a trial, the more participants appear to rely on the mean orientation as representative of all individuals. This can be observed not only when the range is carefully controlled, but also shown even in randomly generated, unstructured displays, and after accounting for the possibility of location-based ‘swap’ errors. Our results suggest that the information about a set of items is represented hierarchically, and that ensemble information can be an important source of information to constrain uncertain information about individuals.

Three studies conducted in the U.S. and Russia examine a novel pathway by which the perseverance component of the personality trait grit might predict college students’ behavioral persistence when solving challenging math problems. Specifically, we focus on the intervening role of what we refer to as math determination, which captures students’ perceived tendency to persevere on challenging math problems. Across studies, we found that math determination was correlated with behavioral math persistence, whereas grit was not. Despite there being no correlation between grit and math persistence, we found statistically significant indirect effects of grit on persistence through math determination in all three studies: the grittier students were, the more they viewed themselves as capable of persevering on challenging math problems, which ultimately predicted their math persistence at a later time point.

In the recent years facial emotion recognition algorithms have evolved and in some cases top commercial algorithms detect emotions like happiness better than humans do. To evaluate the performance of these algorithms, the common practice is to compare them with human-labeled ground truth. This article covers monitoring of the advancements in automatic emotion recognition solutions, and here we suggest an additional criteria for their evaluation, that is the agreement between algorithms’ predictions. In this work, we compare the performance of four commercial algorithms: Affectiva Affdex, Microsoft Cognitive Services Face module Emotion Recognition, Amazon Rekognition Face Analysis, and Neurodata Lab Emotion Recognition on three datasets AFEW, RAVDESS, and SAVEE, that differ in terms of control over conditions of data acquisition. We assume that the consistency among algorithms’ predictions indicates the reliability of the predicted emotion. Overall results show that the algorithms with higher accuracy and f1-scores that were obtained for human-labeled ground truth (Microsoft’s, Neurodata Lab’s, and Amazon’s), showed higher agreement between their predictions. Agreement among algorithms’ predictions is a promising criteria in terms of further exploring the option to replace human data labeling with automatic annotation.

The article presents the results of the selection of relevant to the Russian context emotions perceived as primary (which humans share with animals) or secondary (experienced only by humans). Three stages of the selection and evaluation of emotions made it possible to distinguish 12 emotions: primary positive emotions (Joy, Pleasure, and Interest), primary negative emotions (Anger, Irritation, and Rage), secondary positive emotions (Inspiration, Afflatus, and Enthusiasm), and secondary negative emotions (Disappointment, Regret, and Devastation). The results of confirmatory and multigroup confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that these emotions are well grouped into primary-secondary subgroups and that their valence is important to grouping. The highlighted emotions can be used to study implicit prejudices towards various social groups

The issue of actualization of labor interests as a motivational driver and one of the 9  sources of labor productivity is little-studied in applied and organizational psychology. The study 10  given in the paper fills some “blanks” of this problem. The leading approach to research is the 11  motivational system proposed on the basis of theoretical analysis and the developed psychological 12  model of labor interests. Using the methods of a special survey, questioning and interview guides, 13  the analysis and comparative assessment of the labor interests of 50 candidates for the  service 14  manager position  (entertainment and restaurant industry field)  was conducted; as well as of 45 15  employees of this industry aged 18 to 25. The main results of the paper show the connection of labor 16  interests with the company's personnel management system, namely with the processes of selection, 17  adaptation and training. It was revealed that the candidates who had been selected for the service 18  manager position were of primary group interest, and financial incentive was only in the second 19  place. At the same time, financial incentive contributed to the successful passage of the adaptation 20  period. Occupational interests of employees depended on their education and job specifics; career 21  interests were influenced by the time planned with the company. The recommendations necessary 22  for the employer to create the conditions corresponding to the leading labor interests of the 23  employees were substantiated. single paragraph of about 200 words maximum. For research articles, 24  abstracts should give a pertinent overview of the work. We strongly encourage authors to use the 25  following style of structured abstracts, but without headings: 1) Background: Place the question 26  addressed in a broad context and highlight the purpose of the study; 2) Methods: Describe briefly 27  the main methods or treatments applied; 3) Results: Summarize the article's main findings; and 4) 28  Conclusions: Indicate the main conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be an objective 29  representation of the article, it must not contain results which are not presented and substantiated in 30  the main text and should not exaggerate the main conclusions. 

Bishop Berkeley suggested that the distance of an object can be estimated if the object’s size is familiar to the observer. The distance can be computed by comparing the size of the retinal image of the object to the memorized size of the object. It has been suggested that humans can perceive the distance of the object by using such “familiarity” information. However, prior experiments looking for an effect of familiarity had not been designed to minimize, or eliminate potential influences of: (i) higher cognitive factors on the observers' responses, or (ii) the influences of low-level image features in the visual stimuli. We tested the familiarity effect in two psychophysical experiments that were conducted both in Russia and in Japan. Forty Russian students and forty Japanese students participated in these experiments. The visual stimuli used were images of three coins in Russia and in Japan. The participants' depth perception was measured with a multiple-choice task testing the perceived depth-order of the coins. Our expectation was that any effect of “familiarity” on depth perception would only be observed with the coins of the participant's country. We expected a substantial effect of familiarity based on our meta-analysis of the "familiarity" effects observed in prior experiments. But, our results in both experiments showed that the familiarity effect on depth perception was virtually zero. Our experiments clearly show that familiarity, studied for the first time without any obvious confounds, does not serve as a cue for depth.

This study investigates the role of the climato-economic characteristics of 85 Russian regions in the formation of collectivism in those territories. Based on the results of previous research, the authors suggested that in regions with harsh climatic conditions, the richer population has a lower level of collectivism, whereas the poorer population has a higher level of collectivism. For testing these theoretical assumptions, we prepared a dataset with statistical data about each Russian region for the climatic demand (based on the temperature characteristics), monetary resources (the gross regional product (GRP)) and collectivism (the population natural growth, multi-generational households, marriages, divorces, etc.). We used correlation and moderation analyses where regional climate and GRP were the predictors of collectivism. The study demonstrated that these factors predicted the level of collectivism in regions. The study also revealed the moderating role of GRP in the relation between regional climatic conditions and the level of collectivist among the population, which allows the identification of the specific and universal relationships of the indicators.

Why are there various personality traits and why are those traits revealed in widely-acclaimed models such as the Big Five?  The Three-Dimensional Trait System (3D-TRASY) states that any personality trait can be defined in terms of three basic sources.  The first source represents traits’ variability with regard to the brain’s functioning in terms of bottom-up and top-down processes.  The second source connects to positive (rewards) and negative (punishments) social reinforcements of the trait.  The third source reflects a multitude of situations in which a trait may unfold.  Thus, Extraversion can be defined as a proximate bottom-up positive while Conscientiousness is a distal top-down positive.  3D-TRASY provides a framework for formal, non-tautological definitions of traits; it provides explanations for various phenomena in trait research including the super-traits of Stability and Plasticity and the maturity principle of lifespan development.  3D-TRASY presumes that some traits can occasionally closely correlate and thus establish an amalgam, which exemplifies itself in Eysenckian Psychoticism and the Big-Five’s Agreeableness.  In the history of trait research, this amalgamation may explain controversies that would have facilitated emergence of novel models such as the Big Five or HEXACO.  The paper contains empirical demonstrations on how 3D-TRASY can explain apparently empirical artifacts.

Whether short-term learning of new words can induce rapid changes in cortical areas involved in distributed neural representation of the lexicon is a hotly debated topic. To answer this question, we examined magnetoencephalographic phase-locked responses elicited in the cerebral cortex by passive presentation of eight novel pseudowords before and immediately after an operant conditioning task. This procedure forced participants to perform an active search for unique meaning of four word-forms that referred to movements of their own body parts. While familiarization with novel word-forms led to bilateral repetition suppression of cortical responses to all eight pseudowords, these reduced responses became more selectively tuned towards newly learned action words in the left hemisphere. Our results suggest that stimulus repetition and active learning of semantic association have separable effects on cortical activity. They also evidence rapid plastic changes in cortical representations of meaningful auditory word-forms after active learning.

In this study, we aimed to estimate the effect of phonological processing in the emergence of specific maths or combined maths and reading difficulties during the first year of schooling. We also estimated whether the high level of phonological processing could be a resource for coping with math difficulties. The study was conducted on a large sample of Russian first-graders (N=3296 pupils, mean age 7.3 years, 49% of them were girls). Pupils were tested twice, at the beginning and at the end of the first grade in their level of maths performance, reading performance, phonological processing, and number recognition skills. In each test, four groups of pupils were identified regarding their level of maths and reading performance: a group with mathematical difficulties only (MD), pupils with reading difficulties only (RD), pupils with both maths and reading difficulties (MDRD) and pupils without difficulties (TD). The probability to move into the MD group, the MDRD group and in the TD group was estimated for pupils regarding their group status at Time 1 and their level of phonological processing. Results revealed that at first grade, phonological processing did not correlate with specific maths difficulties, but associated with both maths and reading difficulties. At the same time, a high level of phonological processing may prevent typically developing pupils from moving into the MD group. Moreover, a high level of phonological processing increases the probability to move into the TD group for pupils who had specific maths difficulties at the start of schooling.

It is commonly believed that the visual system requires oculomotor information to perceive depth from binocular disparity. However, any effect of the oculomotor information on depth perception is too restricted to explain depth perception under natural viewing conditions. In this study, I describe a computational model that can recover depth from a stereo-pair of retinal images without using any oculomotor information. The model shows that, at least from a computational perspective, any oculomotor information is not necessary for perceiving depth from the stereo retinal images.

Psychological studies show the effect of mortality salience (MS) on attitudes and behavioral patterns in different spheres of social life, particularly, in intergroup relationships. This study examines the influence of MS on attitudes toward national outgroups. In line with terror management theory (TMT), previous studies indicate a contradictory impact of death-related thoughts. Reminders of death enhance unfavorable attitudes toward all national outgroups, however, MS reinforces the negative attitudes only toward unfriendly countries or toward those perceived as threatening. To shed light on the influence of MS, we conducted two experimental studies that were differentiated by MS manipulation and the specifics of the outgroups. In Study 1 we actualized the reminders of death through military news, whereas in Study 2 by the presentation of terrorism news (close and distant). In Study 1 (N = 180) we analyzed the impact of MS on attitudes toward Ukraine, Belarus, and Estonia. The results showed that MS mostly reinforced the unfavorable attitudes toward ‘unfriendly’ and ‘neutral’ countries. Study 2 (N = 242) focused on MS and attitudes toward Ukraine, Belarus, the USA, and China. The results indicated that MS enhanced negative attitudes toward Ukraine as an ‘unfriendly’ country. However, the close or distant terrorism-related content did not illustrate the specific influence on attitudes toward national outgroups.

Whether the motor cortex activation accompanying concrete verbs comprehension is necessary for verbs conceptual processing is still a hotly debated topic in the literature. Answering this question, we examined to what extent the more difficult access to verb semantics requires an additional engagement of cortical motor system in verb generation task. Using power suppression of MEG beta oscillations (15-30 Hz) as an index of sensorimotor activation, we presented to our participants the noun cues which either were strongly associated with a single verb and prompted the fast and effortless verb retrieval, or were weakly associated with multiple verbs and were more difficult to respond to. A whole-brain analysis of beta suppression revealed that the only cortical regions sensitive to the difficulty of semantic access were the higher order motor areas on the medial and lateral surfaces of the frontal lobe. This differential activation of cortical motor system accompanied effortful verb retrieval and preceded the preparation of vocal response for more than 500 milliseconds. Since the mid-frontal frontal brain areas are involved in maintaining abstract representations of actions during their initiating and planning, we argue that our finding supports the view that motor associations contribute to retrieval of verb semantics.

This paper investigates the characteristics of the affective component in the structural mere exposure effect (SMEE). Two approaches are considered – fluency attribution approach (FA) and affect as predictive efficiency approach (APE) – within a predictive coding framework. Using the artificial grammar learning and affective priming paradigms, we demonstrate that a violation of implicitly learned regularities elicits an automatic negative affective response. This result suggests that SMEE can be observed without any overtly evaluative judgment. Participants’ decisions on the grammaticality of stimuli did not change this pattern. We conclude that SMEE is based on the affective response to prediction errors made by the cognitive system and may include the fluency attribution process in the later stages of processing.

Expectations of people with high and low intelligence differ considerably. High intelligence is associated with several desirable social outcomes, while low intelligence is associated with low social status and poverty. We assumed that attributing high intelligence to a person could lead to a more positive evaluation of them and, as a result, less negative attitudes toward them. In the experimental study (N = 781) we investigated how levels of perceived intelligence impact the long-term stigmatization of dirty workers. The results show that perceived high intelligence of dirty workers decreases long-term stigmatization towards them, but these findings relate only to people performing moral dirty work. Implicit theories about intelligence were controlled as a covariate and had no significant effect. Results are discussed in terms of the positive effect of perceived high intelligence on everyday perception. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

The human factor is always decisive in social development. The role of active behavior and above all economic behavior is obvious. However, there are some difficulties: the law regulates predominantly "external" behavior; psychology covers interests, motives, will, emotions.   This paper analyzes individuals’ interests and motives in economics. Coherence and contradictions of the labor interests are investigated on the basis of a survey made in several organizations. The rank of interests (economic, professional, career, group, corporate, territorial, and common civil) in the dependence of labor group type (shareholders, top managers, line managers, employees) is formed.  

This study tests the psychometrics of a Russian version of the Couple Motivation Questionnaire (CMQ), and analyzes the possible distinctions between the Russian and English versions of the instrument. We hypothesize that the adopted version of CMQ repeats the original structure, and a continuum of motivation in romantic relationships will be found as a result of the correlation analysis. We conducted a correlation study on an online sample of (N = 497) using CMQ, the Test of Existential Motivations in Interpersonal Relationships, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Codependency Scale. The theoretical model, which was proposed in the original study (Blais et al., 1990), linked self-determination theory's motivational styles to adaptive relationship behaviors and the general quality of romantic relationships. The model was successfully confirmed for the Russian sample using a reverse translation and the psychometric testing of CMQ. The model revealed resistance to cultural influences, and the new instrument is suggested for studies of the motivational aspects of relationships using Russian samples.

According to the scientific literature on writing, poetry and prose have their own distinct characteristics. We suppose, therefore, that the value-motivational basis for being creatively active is specific and different for poetry and prose writers. On the basis of existing studies on individual values, motivation types and creative behavior, we build hypotheses about their interrelations, specifying the differences between poetry and prose writing. The research was an empirical correlational study using questionnaires for data gathering: the revised PVQ-R of Schwartz, the authors’ questionnaire to measure frequency of creative behavior and a questionnaire on the motivation of creative behavior developed on the basis of Deci and Ryan's CBI questionnaire. The sample includes 240 representatives of “little creativity”, those involved in the non-professional writing of poetry or prose during the previous year (2016). The results show that poets and prose writers have differences in values and their relations to specific creative behavior in micro-domains of literary creativity. We also found a positive relationship between specific motivation types and the main creative behavior. We identified the mediating role of autonomous motivation between values and creativity in the poets’ group. This research demonstrates that there is sense in the division of creativity into domains and micro-domains as there are differences in the values and motivation types related to creative activities in micro-domains.