PERM UNIVERSITY HERALD. SERIES “PHILOSOPHY. PSYCHOLOGY. SOCIOLOGY”

VESTNIK PERMSKOGO UNIVERSITETA. SERIYA FILOSOFIA PSIKHOLOGIYA SOTSIOLOGIYA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2022-1-146-158

Characteristics of ambiguity tolerance in social sciences and humanities students

Tatiana V. Evtukh
Candidate of Psychology,
Associate Professor of the Department of Humanities,
Mathematics and Natural SciencesInstitute for Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy
of National Economy and Public Administration under the President
of the Russian Federation, Perm branch,
e-mail: evtukh-tv@ranepa.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3731-7426
ResearcherID: AGD-7800-2022

Тatiana М. Kharlamova
Candidate of Psychology,
Associate Professor of the Department of Social Work and ConflictologyPerm State University,
15, Bukirev st., Perm, 614990, Russia;
e-mail: tanyahar@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6689-6661
ResearcherID: AGE-4129-2022

The article presents the results of research on ambiguity tolerance in Social Sciences and Humanities students representing different years of study (freshmen, sophomore, junior), different programs (State and Municipal Administration, Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Employment Psychology, Law), and different levels of ambiguity tolerance (low, medium, high). The findings indicate differences in ambiguity tolerance across the different levels (years) of the education process. Freshmen are more tolerant toward ambiguity than sophomores. In turn, sophomores show more ambiguity tolerance than juniors. This can be attributed to the greater openness of students to new experiences at the initial stages of their education versus their preference for stability of the learning process and psychological comfort at the later stages. Students specializing in psychology showed the lowest levels of ambiguity tolerance. All respondents with a positive attitude toward uncertainty were found to demonstrate less prominent negativity of mood, less sensitivity, and less anxiety, all this observed alongside a greater positivity of mood, greater activity, greater initiative, greater sociability, more prominent desire to be in the center of attention, and greater readiness to solve problems in socially acceptable ways. Furthermore, higher levels of ambiguity tolerance correspond to lower neuroticism in State and Municipal Administration and Employment Psychology students, lower emotional sensitivity in Law students and Clinical Psychology students, and greater extraversion in Psychology and Clinical Psychology students. The most prominent joint contribution to the researched phenomenon is made by the generalized indicators (factors) of character accentuation, especially in the group of Clinical Psychology students. Thus, the paper reveals the characteristics of ambiguity tolerance in the students of Social Sciences and Humanities. This topic is of value to both science and practice, it follows the modern trends in the development of the professional sphere, yet remains understudied. This work expands the knowledge of ambiguity tolerance as a complex personal construct.

Keywords: ambiguity tolerance, tolerance of uncertainty, coping strategies, character accentuation, students, Social Sciences and Humanities.

References

Arquero, J.L., Fernández-Polvillo, C., Hassall, T. and Joyce, J. (2017). Relationships between communication apprehension, ambiguity tolerance and learning styles in accounting students. Revista de Contabilidad [Spanish Accounting Review]. Vol. 20, iss. 1, pp. 13–24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcsar.2015.10.002

Arquero, J.L. and Tejero, C. (2009). Ambiguity tolerance levels in Spanish accounting students: a comparative study. Revista de Contabilidad [Spanish Accounting Review]. Vol. 12, iss. 1, pp. 95–115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s1138-4891(09)70003-2

DeRoma, V.M., Martin, K.M. and Kessler, M.L. (2003). The relationship between tolerance for ambiguity and need for course structure. Journal of Instructional Psychology. Vol. 30, iss. 2, pp. 104–109.

Friedland, N., Keinan, N. and Tytiun, T. (1999). The effect of psychological stress and tolerance of ambiguity on stereotypic attributions. Anxiety, Stress & Coping. Vol. 12, iss. 4, pp. 397–410. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10615809908249318

Geller, G., Faden, R.R. and Levine, D.M. (1990). Tolerance for ambiguity among medical students: Implications for their selection, training and practice. Social Science & Medicine. Vol. 31, iss. 5, pp. 619–624. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(90)90098-d

Hallman, R.J. (1967). The necessary and sufficient conditions of creativity. J.C. Gowan, G.D. Demos, E.P. Torrance (eds.) Creativity: its educational implications. New York: John Wiley and Sons Publ. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2019.02.003

Jach, H.K. and Smillie, L.D. (2019). To fear or fly to the unknown: Tolerance for ambiguity and Big Five personality traits. Journal of Research in Personality. Vol. 79, pp. 67–78. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2019.02.003

Kondrashikhina, O.A. and Tikhomirova, I.A. (2020). [Verbal and non-verbal creativity and tolerance for uncertainty of psychological students]. Vestnik Omskogo universiteta. Seriya: Psikhologiya [Herald of Omsk University. Series «Psychology»]. No. 1, pp. 46–52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24147/2410-6364.2020.1.46-52

Kuhn, G., Goldberg, R. and Compton, S. (2009). Tolerance for uncertainty, burnout, and satisfaction with the career of emergency medicine. Annals of Emergency Medicine. Vol. 54, iss. 1, pp. 106–113. DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2008.12.019

Kuznetsov, A.A. (2021). [Tolerance to uncertainty in the context of a pandemic]. Obespechenie global’noy konkurentosposobnosti nauki i obrazovaniya: sbornik nauchnykh trudov po materialam Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii (Belgorod, 12 aprelya 2021 g.) [Ensuring the global competitiveness of science and education: collection of scientific papers based on the materials of the International Scientific and Practical Conference on April 12, 2021]. Belgorod: AASR Publ., pp. 65–68. Available at: https://apni.ru/article/2177-tolerantnost-k-neopredelennosti-v-usloviyakh (accessed 27.06.2021).

Lauriola, M., Foschi, R., Mosca, O. and Weller, J. (2016). Attitude toward ambiguity: Empirically robust factors in self-report personality scales. Assessment. Vol. 23, iss. 3, pp. 353–373. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191115577188

Lifintsev, D.V., Serykh, A.B. and Lifintseva, A.A. (2017). [Tolerance to uncertainty in the context of social support: gender specificity in the youth environment]. Natsional’nyy psikhologicheskiy zhurnal [National Psychological Journal]. No. 2(26), pp. 98–105. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11621/npj.2017.0211

Lukovitskaya, E.G. (1998). Sotsial’no-psikhologicheskoe znachenie tolerantnosti k neopredelennosti: avtoref. dis. … kand. psikhol. nauk [The socio-psychological significance of tolerance to uncertainty: Abstract of Ph.D. dissertation]. St. Petersburg, 18 p.

Marchenko, E.E. (2018). [Tolerance to uncertainty as an important students’ personality trait]. Vestnik Brestskogo universiteta. Seriya 3. Filologiya. Pedagogika. Psikhologiya [Bulletin of the Brest University. Series 3. Philology. Pedagogy. Psychology]. No. 1, pp. 188–196.

Men’shikova, L.V. and Lazyuk, I.V. (2020). [Tolerance to uncertainty among university students and its development in the modern information environment]. Gertsenovskie chteniya: psikhologicheskie issledovaniya v obrazovanii [The Herzen University Studies: Psychology in Education]. St. Petersburg: Herzen SPUR Publ., iss. 3, pp. 452–458. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33910/herzenpsyconf-2020-3-18

Ryabinkina, A.N. (2018). [Tolerance of ambiguity as a personality variable of students]. Uchenye zapiski Orlovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Scientific Notes of Orel State University]. No. 1(78), pp. 295–297.

Sokolová, L. and Andreánska, V. (2019). Pre-service teachers’ ambiguity tolerance. Society. Integration. Education. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference. Rezekne, LV: Rezekne Academy of Technologies Publ., vol. 2, pp. 610–618. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17770/sie2019vol2.3676

Titova, O.I. (2018). [Tolerance to uncertainty as a factor of the relation to business interaction in the context of students’ common cultural competences development]. Sibirskiy psikhologicheskiy zhurnal [Siberian Journal of Psychology]. No. 68, pp. 131–142. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17223/17267080/68/8

Valutis, S.A. (2015). The relationship between tolerance of ambiguity and stereotyping: implications for BSW education. Journal of Teaching in Social Work. Vol. 35, iss. 5, pp. 513–528. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2015.1088927

Weissenstein, A., Ligges, S., Brouwer, B., Marschall, B. and Friederichs, H. (2014). Measuring the ambiguity tolerance of medical students: a cross-sectional study from the first to sixth academic. BioMedCentral Family Practice. Vol. 15, iss. 6. Available at: https://bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1471-2296-15-6.pdf (accessed 11.07.2021). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-15-6

Yee, L.M., Liu, L.Y. and Grobman, W.A. (2014). The relationship between obstetricians’ cognitive and affective traits and their patients’ delivery outcomes. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. vol. 211, iss. 6, pp. 1–6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2014.06.003

Xu, H. and Tracey, T.J.G. (2014). The role of ambiguity tolerance in career decision making. Journal of Vocational Behavior.Vol. 85, iss. 1, pp. 18–26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2014.04.001

Received: 28.07.2021. Revised: 26.01.22. Accepted: 05.02.2022

For citation:

Evtukh T.V., Kharlamova Т.М. [Characteristics of ambiguity tolerance in social sciences and humanities students]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Filosofia. Psihologia. Sociologia [Perm University Herald. Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology], 2022, issue 1, pp. 146–158 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2022-1-146-158