Issue 2 2020

Under technicalization of practically all aspects of a person’s life and the vital world, the ecology of a person’s direct experience of their relations with all elements of the world is a problem both in the real existence of modern man and in theoretical knowledge about him. The article presents the experience of philosophical reflection necessary for finding the optimal way to solve a number of fundamental issues that have become relevant again: How is a person possible in a technical world? What is the general (i.e. philosophical — as a general level of understanding) basis of human relations with the technicalized world? How is knowledge about man possible and what should it be like in the new conditions of the technical world? A person in the technical world is possible as a person, so it is necessary to develop and strengthen the ecological way of their relations, to preserve / reproduce them as relations between the natural and the artificial, the «living» and the «nonliving». The ecological approach is based on the logic of the inter-proportionality of man and the world, on maintaining proportionality, correlating the possibilities of full reproduction and development of each of the «origins» — the human and the technical — in their orientation towards each other. It is based on the principle of optimality in relations between the parties, when there are created the best opportunities for development and realization of each of the parties’ internal potential. The ecological approach has a methodological significance in theoretical and practical senses: it can be considered both as an approach in theoretical research and as an approach to organizing and implementing practical relations of a person with the technical world.

Keywords: human, technology, technical world, ecological vector, ecological dimension, ecology of human being, ecohumanism.

The article analyzes naturalistic theories of consciousness in the framework of analytical philosophy. The choice of these theories is due to the monistic interpretation of consciousness in them. This position seems, on the one hand, to be logically sound, and, on the other hand, to have sufficient explanatory power. However, there are weaknesses in this position, some of which are considered in the article. One of the obvious difficulties for any theory of consciousness, especially the naturalistic one, is the interpretation of qualia or the qualitative scope of our mental states. Scientists are faced with such questions as: «Why does it even exist?» and «What is its practical meaning?» We find possible answers to them in the theories of J. Searle, N. Humphrey, and F. Peters. Each of them agrees that consciousness is generated by the brain, but they differ in the interpretation of its ontological status. Nevertheless, their understanding of the epistemic status of consciousness is similar: correlation of views on consciousness from the position of the 3rd and 1st person is always problematic. At the same time, both consciousness itself and its qualitative scope can and should be explained within the framework of the evolutionary approach. It is obvious that none of the naturalistic theories of consciousness has yet given answers to all questions (if it is even possible), but the search for these answers, in our opinion, should be carried out precisely within this approach.

Keywords: analytical philosophy, theory of consciousness, consciousness and the unconscious, qualia, phenomenal consciousness, mental states of consciousness, physicalism, naturalism.

The key problem of social development is the unity and diversity of its staged transitions. Marxist literature of the second half of the 20th century tried to solve this issue within the framework of the formation synthesis concept. A concrete embodiment of this concept was implemented in medieval studies within the feudal synthesis concept. However, historical materialism largely gravitated to the abstract universal dialectic plan of historical reality analysis in which the description and explanation of the general in development was accompanied by a diminution of attention to the specific variety of the special in it. The excessive use of abstract-universal theory created a number of significant difficulties in the concrete analysis of the historical process, including difficulties in the analysis of specific transitions to a new formation. It is noteworthy that the variety of social development stages as a whole was described to the detriment of the diversity of individual societies, and vice versa. At the same time, empirical and conceptual generalizations were made in Soviet Marxism, which made it possible to go to the level of a concrete universal dialectic analysis of the historical process. In particular, it became possible to describe the formation transition as a process of the mutual transformation of the production methods of societies at different stages of development, which in turn made it possible to reveal the unity of the staged and synchronous diversity of historical reality.

Keywords: historical process, socio-economic formation, formation synthesis, historical law, unity and diversity of history, center and periphery.

Cognitive processes underlying the interchange of cultural information are twofold: on the one hand, the anthropospheric level of cultural knowledge organization allows the recipient to receive it in a processed and ready-to-use form. On the other hand, obtaining from the culture ready-made solutions to the problems faced leads to a decrease in the individual’s ability to produce his or her own creative ideas. The processes of cultural information processing are divided into assimilative (aimed at the inclusion of input into the recipient’s mental system) and accommodative (aimed at adapting his or her own worldview to information coming from outside) ones. The information received in the process of cultural communication is internalized by the recipient to the extent he or she is sensitive to it. In this case, sensitivity is understood as the ability to harmoniously embed the input data into the existing system of cognitive schemes. At the same time, the act of informational translation becomes a stimulus, while the internalization of data is a reaction to it. A fundamental principle of cultural information assimilation is cognitive economy — the desire to obtain the most effective solution to the problem with the minimum expenditure of mental resources. Often, the result is development of cognitive laziness, inability and unwillingness to use the resources freed up for creative work which could then be used by the person as a donor of cultural information. With the increase in the amount of assimilated information, the level of its recipient’s adaptability to the system of culture increases both in the local and global sense applicable to humanity as a whole as the largest of the cultural groups. At the same time, increasing the degree of cultural adaptation leads to a decrease in the person’s creative potential since creativity takes a person beyond the general group vector of cultural development.

Keywords: cultural space, globalization, translation of information, communication mechanisms, assimilation, accommodation, interiorization of information, principle of cognitive economy, creativity.

Research into styles in psychology (from the 1950s to the 2000s) has undergone a kind of life cycle − from styles being widely studied to those falling into oblivion. Further constructive study of this problem requires creation of new R&D (research and development) programs, generalization of the experience gained in various schools of thought. The statement of the problem of business communication styles (LMS) as a model for studying styles (in general) can contribute to the further study of the phenomenon of «style» and the disclosure of a number of aspects of communication that slip away in the case of «rigid» identification of its types. The paper aims to provide a historical and theoretical analysis of the results of studies of the evolution and functioning of styles (on the model of business communication styles). Method: analysis of literary sources. Based on a critical analysis of the experience of studying the problem of communication styles and business communication styles, the following hypotheses are put forward: 1. In the general social space (activity space) there are several autonomous business communication styles (LMS). 2. The styles identified and described by the researchers (their number, composition of components, structures) are derivatives of basic scientific concepts. 3. The study of the phenomenon of «style» based on the model of business communication styles allows us to emphasize several aspects in the evolution and functioning of style that were not distinguished when studying styles on other models. The conditions for further constructive studies of the phenomenon of «styles» are discussed. Use of the model of business communication styles is believed will contribute to the disclosure of new properties of styles, further understanding of their system properties as large, open, dynamic psychological systems

Keywords: business communication styles, integral individuality, model, phenomenon, problem, methodology, approaches, system, paradigms.

The article presents the results of a theoretical analysis of the main scientific approaches to the study of the concepts of «information» and «understanding» in psychology and related disciplines. It is shown that the question of the nature of information, the process of extracting it from data and understanding it by the subject remains relevant today. It is suggested that information be understood as any messages regardless of the form of their presentation, but accessible to human perception. In turn, a message is understood as a sequence of signals of various nature presented in certain formats. The paper considers the process of converting data into information. The formation of data as the basis for the extraction of information occurs, firstly, from recorded signals from the outside world; secondly, from already published data which are presented in an inaccessible form for interpretation by the subject himself. Data are subject to processing by appropriate methods. Depending on the method of data processing chosen by the subject, information with different levels of objectivity, completeness, reliability or adequacy can be obtained. Information becomes available for understanding only after its interpretation. It has been revealed that for the process of extracting information from data and understanding it the subject needs to own certain volumes of procedural and declarative knowledge. Procedural knowledge describes the sequence of actions that a subject must use to process data. Declarative knowledge is knowledge that the subject already possesses and which represents some kind of «ground» for the process of understanding the information received. Understanding is subjective and is always based on the interpretation of the material’s content from various points of view of the subject. Therefore, in a psychological sense, interpretation is always an essential component of understanding. At the same time, interpretation is not a logical procedure. Under the semantic approach, understanding is the result of semantic processing of the information received by the subject on the basis of representation.

Keywords: information, understanding, interpretation, cognitive activity, communication, data, information properties, knowledge, procedural knowledge, declarative knowledge.

The study of activity has been a focus of Russian psychology for more than half of the century. Over this period, activity has been considered in various aspects: from the perspective of a person’s mentality formation, mentality manifestation in activity, connection of activity with individual and psychological features (properties of the nervous system, properties of temperament and the personality). There have been studied procedural and operational features and productive characteristics of activity, the style of activity as an adaptive characteristic reflecting the person’s activity and style in terms of adaptive and compensatory functions of activity. The most important condition of studying activity in the above areas of research was the solution of problem of its diagnostics. As a rule, diagnostics was carried out by means of accounting the approximate executive and control components of activity in the course of the studied activity. The present research is devoted to the development of a questionnaire for diagnostics of the school principals’ activity structure. The paper provides the results of developing a diagnostic technique with regard to the principal of the modern comprehensive school. The psychometric status of the questionnaire is presented, its reliability and validity are shown, and also the list of the questions reflecting the content of the main principals’ activities is given. The results can be used in further psychological and pedagogical research on the problems of modern education. The presented questionnaire is necessary for further study of the principals’ activity structure, for research into the formation mechanisms of the activity style, and for correction of the activity in order to increase the performance among the heads of educational organizations. Further research on the connections between the structure and style of the principals’ activity and their individual psychological features is a question of a special interest. It can be conducted on the basis of the presented questionnaire.

Keywords: activity, principal, questionnaire, IRT analysis, psychometric analysis, validity, reliability.

Due to the digitalization of society and culture and the consequently accelerating pace of life, the modern man faces the need to solve many problems. Adolescents, as being persons at their formation stage, having become multi-tasking, cannot fully cope with the situation that has arisen due to the lack of self-regulation mechanisms, personal traits and qualities. This problem influenced the choice of the topic of our study. The study of the relationship between personality’s responsibility and procrastination in adolescence through volitional qualities is of practical importance for the effective organization of the educational process and provision of psychological and pedagogical support for students of this age within the process. Responsibility is understood in the paper as the control performed by an individual in various forms of activity from the standpoint of the norms and rules accepted by this individual. We investigated procrastination as a process of voluntary postponement of various activities by a person despite the expected negative consequences. There was revealed a relationship among the indicators of responsibility, procrastination and volitional qualities in the period from early to late adolescence, which intensifies and differs in the number of indicators, in the strength and nature of the relationship. For early adolescence, there were detected significant, strong correlations between the indicator of responsibility in present and the indicator of volitional qualities (self-discipline), while for the period of late adolescence we revealed significant correlations of the responsibility indicator with the indicators of volitional qualities (self-discipline, perseverance), as well as between the responsibility indicator with the procrastination indicator and the indicator of volitional quality (perseverance).

Keywords: personality, responsibility, procrastination, will, volitional qualities, age, development, education, activity, vital activity.

The paper proposes the author’s classification of psychological defense mechanisms, consisting of 20 mechanisms and representing a two-dimensional model. The idea of this model is that these mechanisms have a cross-relationship between 4 levels of the hierarchy (psychotic, infantile, neurotic, and adaptive groups) and 5 types of overcoming frustration which are the basis for the formation and functioning of the defense mechanism. The novelty of the article is the idea that each of the 20 defense mechanisms belongs to one of the 5 types of overcoming frustration — distracting type (mechanisms of regression, action out, compensation, sublimation), «guilty» type (mechanisms of hypochondria, passive-aggressive behavior, reactive formation, altruism), avoiding type (mechanisms of repression, denial, avoidance, suppression), rationalizing type (mechanisms of dissociation, displacement/transfer, rationalization, humor), controlling type (mechanisms of isolation, projection, omnipotence, anticipation). The paper provides description of the defense mechanisms, examples of their manifestation, and possible reasons for their formation. The substantiation of the defense mechanisms’ belonging to the particular groups and types of classification is given. The classification is proposed as a convenient diagnostic tool for counseling psychologists, because it has an optimal number of defense mechanisms, fairly clear criteria for their determination, their location in the structure of psychological defense and the basis for their functioning. The article also provides an overview of current classifications of defense mechanisms and voices problems related to the identification and streamlining of defense mechanisms. These problems are the subtlety of semantic difference and blurring of borders between defense mechanisms, different interpretations in terminology due to difficulties in translation from foreign languages, differences in approaches to hierarchy of defense mechanisms.

Keywords: psychological defense, defense mechanisms, classification of defense mechanisms, glossary of defense.

The article deals with the development of the theory of post-industrial society’s social stratification. Today it is difficult to present stratification research in the form of a harmonious ordered sequence. The social stratification theory of the famous French sociologist Alain Touraine does not fit any of the usual classical directions. He revises economic determinism and puts accents on the sphere of knowledge and culture. Touraine tries to overcome the long-standing traditions of structuralism through the analysis of social action and social relations when analyzing the social stratification system. The modern «programmable society» is characterized by departure from the economic struggle and economic decisions, which have lost the autonomy and the central place that they used to have in the previous societies. Touraine’s vision of the modern society’s social structure differs from the vision of other post-industrialism theorists, especially from the ideas of American sociology, in particular, those presented in D. Bell’s works. The author of the action theory focuses on the French model of society and takes into account the historical and cultural characteristics of its development. Touraine noted the significant changes which occurred in the stratification system of modern society and the nature of its main social conflict. It is the change in the power and the forms of social domination under the influence of new factors and social processes. The French sociologist made a significant contribution to the fact that the sociological explanation of the modern social stratification system is transformed. He described the main characteristics of the post-industrial society’s class structure, the main trends of its development, offered the ways of using some categories necessary for the description of the modern post-industrial society’s stratification system.

Keywords: social stratification, post-industrial society, conflict, Alain Touraine.

The mainline in the development of sociological juvenile criminology is that of successive achievement of negative results. Social class, race, gender, gang-membership, culture, failed social control, low self-control, and socially disorganized neighborhood — all have been advanced and rejected as factors of criminalization and victimization of adolescents. This paper attempts to provide a brief historical overview of sociological research on juvenile delinquency with the view to identify tendencies of the theoretical development in the field. I argue that the crisis of juvenile criminology is part of the general crisis in the field of criminological research, which manifests itself in dissolution and trivialization of the sociological explanation of crime. I expound the failure of criminology to explain the peak of criminal activity between the age of 15 and 25 by suggesting an asymmetrical causation hypothesis: the reasons for engaging in criminal activities are different from those for withdrawing from. I argue that criminology and biocriminology share the same error of taking sampling traits for causes — with the result that the question of «Who commits crimes?» is answered instead of «Why do people commit crimes?» As criminology faces the general problem of the nature of social order, biocriminology eschews it by reducing social organization to things biological. I suggest that as criminology fails to assess the role of agents of social and state control, it tends to see crime as breach of social order and fails to see crime as actually being a means to sustain it.

Keywords: criminology, delinquency, criminality, crime, deviation.

The competitiveness of a university is one of the requirements of the modern education market. In order to achieve it, Russian universities increase their educational and research potential. They invite foreign students and staff. This process requires methodological and cultural changes at the university. The creation of the environment fostering tolerant interaction between foreign and Russian students, the development of tolerance are among the mandatory changes. Tolerance reduces conflicts in society as a whole and diminishes intolerance towards other cultures, nations, races, and genders. This requires a lot of control during implementation and constant monitoring of the situation. Tolerance is manifested in the process of communication and is determined through the category «attitude» and its three components — emotional, behavioral, cognitive. The purpose of this article is to characterize the current state of tolerant relations between Russian and foreign students at Perm State University. The empirical base of the study is a survey of Russian students at Perm State University about their attitude to foreign students. The authors evaluate: 1) the current state of the three components of tolerant relationships (emotional, behavioral, cognitive); 2) students’ understanding of tolerant relations; 3) attitude to the foreigners’ adaptation to educational and extracurricular activities. Perm University has a favorable environment for the development of intercultural interaction among students. Respondents adequately understand tolerance and its features and are ready to respect the cultural, national characteristics of foreign students. In practical terms, the study can clarify ideas about successful ways of developing communication among representatives of different cultures and about ways of developing tolerant relations among students from different countries.

Keywords: tolerance in a university, foreign students, emotional component of tolerance, behavioral component of tolerance, cognitive component of tolerance.

The content of professional activity of employees in the sphere of culture is being transformed under the influence of changing requirements from both the local authorities and the public. The requirements for cultural institutions are designed to provide commercialization of their activity. Under these circumstances, employees try to use various forms of fundraising including federal and local grant programs. Staff of rural cultural institutions find themselves in a particularly difficult situation due to the lack of institutional and personal resources. The article aims to identify the ways of involvement of employees in rural cultural institutions in innovative forms of work, both with the local population and with tourists. Within the framework of the study, there was conducted a survey of employees of cultural institutions (N206). It has been found that staff of rural cultural institutions have social characteristics that impede the transition to innovative forms of activity. Those employees who are gradually involved in project activities prefer the role of a provider rather than an initiator. The main difficulty in innovative and market-oriented activities is connected with the generation of new ideas. The most qualified employees with a high level of education and professional experience play a crucial role in promotion of the new methods of work. Methodologists and department heads apply for funds and carry out the main part of the project activities. The ways of working with locals are characterized by rural specifics. On the one hand, contacts with other social institutions, such as local administrations and schools, are used efficiently. On the other hand, working people and small business are not sufficiently engaged in volunteering. Such help is mainly provided by low income groups, which leads to the contradiction between the values of education and profit.

Keywords: sociology of culture, rural culture, cultural institutions, project activity, sociology of professions.

Nowadays, the city with its unique local and historical features is placed into the focus of the modern urban media. Media text verbalizes the results of a person’s subjective perception of the surrounding urban space and represents the identity of the city. The purpose of this article is to identify the representation of the «urban identity» concept in the media of the Republic of Mordovia — both in city and republican newspapers and social networks. The authors conducted content analysis of the articles published in city newspapers and the comments to the posts of local Internet communities regarding their ideas about the city. Analysis of the print media deduced that the municipal authorities realize the urgency of the urban identity formation under the competition for human, informational and economic resources. The editorial boards of newspapers do a lot to create a positive image of the city. Local urban Internet communities, which has recently appeared in the regional media space, have a powerful influence on public opinion. Their communication is built mainly around the private problems of everyday urban life and is accompanied by negative evaluation of those. It was established that active discussion of problems leads to active post-discussion, post-provocation, post-hype, post-photography, post – criticism of the authorities, post – dialogue with a representative of the authorities, post – question and post-game. There is an asymmetry in the representation of the city image created, on the one hand, by the print media, and, on the other hand, by the participants in the Internet communities. The study identified the markers that can be significant for the citizens. It also detected the dependence of the construction of the Mordovia’s cities identity and its representation and the communicative practices of the urban population.

Keywords: city, town, urban community, image of the city, urban identity, representation, print media, social network «VKontakte».