Background. One of the debated issues of modern psychology is the characteristics of the emotional sphere in the structure of a person's intellectual and personal potential. Its most important component is emotional intelligence (EI), which can be studied from different methodological standpoints. It makes it urgent to develop appropriate diagnostic techniques. 

The objective: based on testing of the Russian-language version of the questionnaire “Trait Emotional Intelligent Questionnaire” (TEIQue-SF), the problem of understanding EI as an ability or personality trait, and the relationship of EI with uncertainty tolerance (UT) and emotional creativity (EC) is considered.

Design. EI as a trait was measured using the approved TEI questionnaire (N = 482); as ability — using the EI questionnaire (N = 230); as attitude to uncertainty — using the new uncertainty tolerance questionnaire (N = 61); as emotional creativity — using the OEC questionnaire (N = 231). 

Research results. For the TEI questionnaire, a four-factor structure, similar to the original English version was confirmed. It included the following scales: “well-being”; “emotionality”; “sociality” and “self-control”. Their convergent validity with the scales of the EmIn questionnaire has been demonstrated. Relationship between tolerance to uncertainty and emotional creativity has been established, which makes it possible to talk about the positive role of emotional intelligence in personal and style self-regulation.

Conclusions. The data obtained allow us to consider the psychometric characteristics of the Russian-language version of the TEI questionnaire satisfactory. The revealed positive relationship between the characteristics of EI according to the methods of TEI and EmIn, as well as links with EC, suggests the possibility of a broader interpretation of EI as a trait but also does not allow to deny its interpretation as an ability. Differences in methodological approaches regarding understanding the construct of EI do not prevent the possibility of measuring it as a variable of a person's intellectual and personal potential interconnected with the attitude towards uncertainty and with the creative potential of a person. 

Background. The article develops the concept of the originality of the functions, structure and genesis of empathy-identification (EI) and empathy-modeling (EM). EI is viewed as a psychological tool for organizing joint activities such as a mono-role coalition, which has developed in anthropogenesis, and consists in the ability to appropriate the emotional states of another person. In contrast, EM is a cultural technology for maintaining joint activity such as poly-role coordination, which requires the subject of activity to create and maintain in consciousness a dynamic representation of the mental state of another person while maintaining the authenticity of awareness of his own mental state. A consequence of the conceptual separation of EO and EM is the provision of two non-matching lines of their development in ontogenesis.

Objective. The aim of the article is to explicate the qualitative uniqueness of EI and EM as higher mental functions in relation to the social situation of their development and the arsenal of ideal forms, cultural means and technologies that set the content and trajectory of this development.

Design. From the standpoint of cultural-evolutionary and activity-based approaches, a conceptual analysis of literature relevant to the connotative field of the proposed constructs of EI (affective empathy, emotional contamination, emotional mimicry, imitation) and EM (theory of the mental, everyday psychology, mentalization, emotional intelligence) as well as the analysis of EI and EM constructs from the point of view of cultural determination of their development in ontogenesis was performed.

Results. It has been substantiated that EI is formed in the process of dyadic joint experience with an adult of various mental states, which an adult presents first in a visual way, and then verbally. Further development of EI takes place in play activities that include imagination. EI rarely reaches the level of complete voluntary regulation and needs to rely on external cultural means. EM is derived from the dialogical nature of human thinking. In ontogeny, EM is formed along two converging lines. On the one hand, mastering the mental vocabulary serves as the basis of “emotional literacy”, and, on the other hand, EM is the result of the interiorizationof a specific social and communicative position –the autonomization of an adult as a mental agent in the third person. The role-playing game with the subjective “animation” of the toy is of particular importance for the development of EM. At an older age, various forms of dramatization, in particular theatrical activity, act as cultural practices for the development of EM.

Conclusions. The results of the work showed that EI and EM have different sources, driving forces, ideal forms and socio-cultural technologies of formation. The originality of the lines of cultural determination of the development of EI and EM is associated with the difference in their functional role in organizing joint activities.

Relevance. The current situation of the pandemic and a number of other crisis situations in modern society have shown the insufficient development of the methodology of clinical psychology which for a long time has been focused on the study of various kinds of clinical groups, the creation of single techniques, individual correction and psychotherapy. As it turned out, such a multidisciplinary and mostly naturalistic organization of clinical psychology does not meet the problems that arise in the modern mass information society, in particular in crisis situations. The study shows that cultural-historical clinical psychology meets criteria of multiple challenges.

The objective of the article is to analyze the possibilities for the development of clinical psychology in a crisis situation of a pandemic, to compare the possibilities and ways of both traditional and cultural-historical psychology to respond to the challenges of new social and cultural realities. Our task in this research was to broadly present the main directions of development of clinical psychology with an orientation towards increasing compliance with the requirements of modern culture.

Results. A number of trends in the development of clinical psychology, its progress in the direction of cultural-historical clinical psychology are outlined. The possibilities of a shift from ascertaining studies to anticipatory and project ones are shown. This type of a shift means moving from the study of facts and data correlations to the study of cultural and historical mechanisms of the formation of disorders and psycho-techniques of corrective and preventive influence. The prospects for the move of culturalhistorical psychology in the direction from the receptive study of clinical groups to the control of the formation of patho-psychological phenomena in large social groups and information spaces are outlined.

Conclusions. A new field of methodological and ontological developments is presented with the aim of creating a systematic applied cultural-historical psychology that can actively and in anticipatory manner answer the questions of modern society and culture. The research has shown the possibility of involving this area of psychological science in solving urgent practical problems arising during the pandemic and other crisis situations.

Background. The subject matter of developmental psychology has almost never been subject to critical analysis, but it is obvious there are problems in this field. In particular, it is hard to shape the major issue of analysis in developmental psychology: personality development, psyche, age characteristics, or all of the above mentioned issues. For the further research of developmental psychology as a science, it is very important to identify the main fundamentally different areas and subject matter of research that are somehow studied, however spasmodically, often within other branches of psychology or even in other sciences.

The Objective of this paper is to clarify the subject matter of developmental psychology as a science, to verify that developmental psychology dwells on several fundamentally different areas and subject matters of research, in accordance with which it is necessary to shape the research of this science.

Design. The paper identifies fundamentally different areas of developmental psychology considered as separate subject matters of research. It is recognized that the structure of modern developmental psychology does not correspond to the subject matter of research. As a result, some areas of personality development are not identified as separate subdisciplines or sections of developmental psychology (e.g. variational personality development, development of personality substructures) lack research and are not presented in textbooks developmental psychology.

Conclusion. Developmental psychology can identify the following types of research subject matters: normative and variational human development, the development of psychological substructures of personality and psychological characteristics of age groups. It is necessary to restructure the developmental psychology based on the subjects of research highlighting the following subdisciplines: regular mental development, variable personality development, mental development (development of psychological substructures of personality), age-based studies (age groups psychology).

Background. The BPS-SR (Boredom Proneness Scale-Short Form) is a brief and most efficacious version of the famous Boredom Proneness Scale developed by R. Farmer and N. Sundberg (Struk, 2017).

Objective. This study is aimed to adapt the Russian BPS-SR version.

Design. Psychometric indicators of the Russian BPS-SR version have been assessed on the sample of males (N=151) serving sentences in prison.

Findings. The factor structure of the BPS-SR, estimated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, has demonstrated the scale homogeneity and thus confirmed the original BPS-SR authors’ hypothesis suggesting the advantage of the scale comprising only direct test items. The BPS-SR reliability (α-Cronbach=0.86) and validity indicators also have confirmed the psychometric adequacy of the Russian scale adaptation. The boredom proneness has proven to be positively associated with apathy, hopelessness, loneliness and male depressive syndrome, which allows considering it a possible factor in psychological maladjustment as an adult. The social and demographic characteristics evaluation performed using the one-way analysis of variance ANOVA has showed that age, marital status, having or not having children, offense type and sentence term do not significantly contribute to the boredom proneness, while the BPS-SR indicators depend directly on the respondents’ education. The respondents having obtained the higher and specialized secondary education have proven to be less prone to boredom than respondents having the basic secondary or full secondary education.

Conclusion. The conclusion infers that the adapted BPS-SR can actually be considered a psychometrically reasonable means to diagnose boredom proneness in Russianspeaking respondents.

Background. The main problem the world faces today is the crisis of personal identity. It began with the events of the year 1968 that is considered to be the starting point for the postmodernist worldview and resulted in significant social cultural consequences.

The Objective of the paper is to discuss these consequences, to analyse how the ideas of pluralism, tolerance and the maximum actualisation of personal freedom that lie in the basis of the postmodern society cause radicalism, fanaticism and hypocrisy.

Design. The author examines socially disintegrating and disadaptation-related tectonic societal processes associated with the breakdown of customary values ​​and attitudes, state forms, emergence of radical communities and migration issues, whose consequences are frighteningly unpredictable. It shows that the phenomenon of “escape from freedom” described by E. Fromm was embodied in the rudimentary forms of hyperidentity arising in the technological and information society.

Conclusion. Postmodernism today is becoming a mirror of the permanent crisis, either economic, political, intercultural, inter-ethnic, interconfessional, intergenerational ones. The result of the hopes of the year 1968 was a maladapted post-normal society that lost its ability to invent meanings and constructive models of self-identity further replaced by rigid and rudimentary forms of identity.

Background. The question about nature and essence of psyche and psychical form of reflection till now is opened in spite of effort of many scientists. As a result the problem of scientific definition of psyche and its nature is being one of the most fundamental problems in psychology.

The Objective of the research is to show: a) where the complexity of solving the problem of psyche lies; b) what logic options of solving this problem that are offered in national psychology, particularly in the works of А.N. Leontev and N.I. Chuprikova, can be adduced and why they are insolvent; c) how it is possible to solve the problem of psyche and mental form of reflection using the major concepts of the reflection theory and adequacy concept of behaviour in constantly changing conditions of reality.

Design. The term “psyche” as a theoretical concept is introduced to explain the ability of living organism (opposed to lifeless) to react to external impact by various activity. Critical analysis of natural-scientific definitions of psyche in the works of А. N. Leontiev and N.I. Chuprikova is presented.

Their discrepancy and insufficient scientific background are shown. Main assumptions of the reflection theory are coined, and further definitions of non-mental forms of reflection (e.g. biochemical, physiological, neurophysiological) and also essence of psyche and specific features of psychical forms of reflection are shown. The paper presents a model that reverberates the author’s idea about the dynamics of the evolving psyche and mental processes (e.g. cognitive, emotional, volitionary) due to which mental forms of reflection and of behaviour regulation are fulfilled.

Results. The analysis of natural-scientific definitions of psyche and mental form of reflection that the national psychology dwells upon show their inconsistency and scientific insolvency. The author's version of solving the problem of psyche and determining specific features of mental form of reflection are given an account based on the major concepts of the reflection theory and the need for behaviour adequacy.

Conclusions. In order to shape the essence of psyche, specific features of mental form of reflection and features of mental processes it is necessary to distinguish forms of reflection, allocation of their functions and constraints. Reflection which can be attributed to non-mental (e.g. biochemical, physiological, neurophysiological) form, does not allow to provide behaviour adequacy in a rapidly changing conditions of reality. Based on reflection, behavior always occurs with certain delay in time. If eliminated, this drawback is provided by occurrence of a brain and a property named “psyche”, which provides mental form of reflection as reflection of the near future of objective reality.

Background. The issue of the nature and origin of human psyche as a universal puzzle does not have a final solution for today. So, ideas about the subject matter of psychology, the issue of nature and the origin of human psyche discussed by A.N. Leontiev have not lost their significance for modern psychology.

Objective is to introduce the original assumptions of A.N. Leontiev that he coins discussing the nature of human psyche psyche and its origin in the course of the evolution of living beings.

Design. In this paper, the early representations of A.N. Leontiev about the nature and origin of human psyche are analyzed. The heuristic assumption of A.N. Leontiev about some living beings possessing the ability to react to external influences by displaying deep emotion or changing their primary sensation of various modality, which can be considered a pre-mental (biological) reflection, which further sets as reflection. The external objective activity of living beings changes their feelings as if they refer organism condition. The activity allows not only to create a motor image of the behaviour space, but also to use the primary experiences (feelings) to create ideas about the objects.

Results. These assumptions make it possible to view the psyche as a representation of the subject of activity and perception about the objective conditions and integral objects of the behavioural space that create the illusion of opening up the space for one's behavior. Such illusion arises due to the actual physical interaction of the subject of behaviour with the real objects of the external world.

Conclusion. A.N. Leontiev’s assumptions about the nature and origin of human psyche allow to elaborate a number of important provisions on this issue, which will be of great interest for modern psychologists and will occupy a worthy place in the theory of psychological science.

The paper proves the assumption that being a worldview of the information society postmodernism simultaneously reverberates its problems, among which is blurring personal identity. The most vulnerable part of the postmodern ideology is the implicit inability to construct steady architecture of identification. This is hampered by specific ideas related to the fundamental principle of postmodernism, i.e. pluralism leading to relativism and the loss of sustainable landmarks. Applying the pluralism principle to the full may result in unlimited choice production, which should not be considered the achievement of the information society and postmodern culture, but its main problem. The social political consequences of tolerance issues and the equivalence of opinions, attitudes and values are discussed. Lack of preferred self-identification vectors reduces the motivation for the individual to develop a stable personal identity. If no paradigm in terms of the truth can claim a given status disputes over claims of significance turn into controversies over power, thereby generating social Darwinism. The principle of pluralism actually legitimizes radical ideologies, whose extreme form is terrorism put in the mosaic and multicultural postmodern world occurs to be one of many sociocultural paradigms. Exactly the identity crisis in the conditions of mass distribution of both military and information technologies is considered the main cause of radicalism as the result of finding pathological forms of cognitive personal identity. Social cultural and worldview crises of the information society are becoming the main cause for producing endurable and irregular forms of personal identity architecture.

The paper gives a theoretical explanation and empirical verification of a conceptual emotion-regulating model, developed in the theoretical methodological context of cultural-active paradigm. A universal hypothesis concerning emotion regulation as a system including psychological and physiological levels has been verified empirically. The psychological level may be subdivided on motivational thinking level and operational-technical ones, ruled by such psychological mechanisms as reflection and symbolical mediation. It has been figured out that motivational peculiarities determine the manifestation of other analyzed components of the system of emotion regulation. This is true not only for healthy patients, but also for patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP). The significance of reflection and symbolical mediation in the system of cultural-active paradigm and emotion regulation has been determined. It has been proved that emotion regulation among patients with MVP differs from that of healthy people, highlighted by a very strong conflict of goal-achieving and fail-avoiding motives, lack of personal reflection and distortion of symbolical mediation, and very limited emotion-regulative resources. It has been shown that patients with MVP differ from the control group, suffering from far more strong emotional stress. It distributes an overall negative impact, reducing the ability to use emotion-regulating resource in emotionally meaningful situations effectively.

The paper presents a view on the issue of studying the driving forces of personality from the perspective of existential analysis. The student of V. Frankl A. Lange developed the concept of the will to meaning (Frankl’s monomotivational theory), highlighting four aspects existential relationship of personality, four fundamental motivations. Existential philosophers and followed by psychologists, while psychotherapists define these motivation as the main themes of human life, and their implementation is a condition for living true, deep life - existence. Langle allocates four aspects of existence: relationship with the realities of existence, i.e. the world, relations with dynamic, vital side of existence, i.e. life, relationship with ourselves and relations with the future. These aspects are defined as 1, 2, 3 and 4 existential fundamental motivations (FM). The article in the first part contains a description of the content of the four fundamental motivations A. Lange, and in the second - the results of own researches of the author that is dedicated to the approbation on the Russian sample test that measures the subjective experience of the integral quality of life as the sum of its constituent these four aspects.

Questionnaire «Test existential motivations» (TEM) (A. Lange, P. Eckhard) is developed in the framework of existential analysis as psycho-diagnostic instrument to provide psychological and consultative assistance, but it also can be used for research purposes for the study of subjective attitude to existential important aspects of being. According to the developers, «TEM» is addressed to space of human feelings and able to assess the completeness of his living each of the four fundamental motivations. The first FM embodies the intention to be in this world and (is committed) seeks to the acceptance of reality. Second FM is looking for opportunities to build relationships and living values.

Third FM is aimed at implementation of respectful treatment of ourselves and others, meeting and living ourselves as having value. Fourth FM is searching for the meaning of the situation, ways to make ourselves with all our capabilities in the world. The study of the fundamental motivations allows not only to closer to life-world of the person, to enter the space of his experience, but also meets the targets of psychotherapeutic practice.

The paper aims to systematize modern concepts of body image and body scheme. For the analysis of theoretical models the following criteria were allocated: explication of the mechanism underlying the formation and restructuring of body image, development of certain aspects of body image which are explained by the presented concepts. Separately the issue of the difference between the body scheme and the body image is discussed that seems relevant in connection with the specific features of the neural mechanisms of body image. In the study of the phenomenological level of bodily experience the assumption that the body scheme is fragmented and has no hierarchical structure is considered. Significant differences in viewing basic mechanisms of developing the body image associated with attention to various bodily phenomena are showed. Psychodynamic, cognitive, socio-cultural, feminist and interdisciplinary approaches are analyzed, which permitted to identify mechanisms of integration-differentiation, cognitive generalization and internalization-introjection. The analysis suggests the consideration of the body image in the context of issues on the appropriation of the body. If person is considered as a tool for shaping and maintening integration of mental processes, the patterns of interconnected and interdependent changes in the processes that occur in the construction of the image of the external situation and the body image acquires a special psychological meaning. It becomes necessary to allocate correctly the structure of the integrating object in which the subject is involved during the normal course of life, and in exceptional cases, i.e. in the presence of physical defects, the sudden change of appearance, etc. These development objects determine specific form of body image and its possible distortions.

The aim of this research is to develop a postnonclassical cognitive processes content determination model in which mental processes are considered as open selfdeveloping, self-organizing systems. Three types of systems (dynamic, statistical, developing) were analysed and compared on the basis of the description of the external and internal characteristics of causation, types of causal chains (dependent, independent) and their interactions, as well as the nature of the relationship between the elements of the system (hard, probabilistic, mixed). Mechanisms of open non-equilibrium nonlinear systems (dissipative) and four dissipative structures emergence conditions are described. Determination models of mental and behaviour formation and development that were developed under various theoretical approaches (associationism, behaviorism, gestaltism, psychology of intelligence by Piaget, Vygotsky culture historical approach, activity approach and others) are mapped on each other as the models that describe behaviour of the three system types mentioned above.

The development models of the mental sphere are shown to be different by the following criteria: 1) allocated determinants amount; 2) presence or absence of the system own activity that results in selecting the model not only external, but also internal determinants; 3) types of causal chains (dependent-independent-blended); 4) types of relationships between the causal chain that ultimately determines the subsequent system determination type as decisive (a tough dynamic pattern) or stochastic (statistical regularity). The continuity of postnonclassical, classical and non-classical models of mental development determination are described. The process of gradual refinement, complexity, «absorption» of the mental determination by the latter models is characterized. The human mental can be deemed as the functioning of the open developing non-equilibrium nonlinear system (dissipative). The mental sphere is described as a self-organizing system with six common features of self-organizing systems. Three general and three local demands for the development of postnonclassical determination development model of cognitive structures were defined. It is concluded that postnonclassical cognitive structures formation and development model and its application to a specific substantive material should contain a description of the three groups of factors: 1) self-development trends in the cognitive structure as an integrated system; 2) configuration and methods of effects on the cognitive structure functioning and development from the outside (external determination); 3) mechanisms of the external factors influence on the development of cognitive structures. By studying and describing these factors, it will be possible to transfer the link between learning and development from the stage of theoretical analysis to the level of applied technology. This technology allows to influence on the cognitive systems development and also increase its efficacy by external determinants influence (generative cause) on the cognitive structures self-organization mechanisms (internal determinants) according to the potentialities of its self-development.

The article features a new technique of work motivation diagnostics based on the new developed concept of motivational task. A motivational task is a tool for selfappraisal in the field of motivational objects allowing further reconstruction of motivational space. The conditions of the motivational task resolution have been implemented in the diagnostic procedure “Motivational Map”. The diagnostics procedure consists in multiple visual appraisal forms of 16 motivational objects (J.Nuttin) within a dimensional graphic space determined by 6 evaluation scales. To indicate the geometric patterns that reflect the relationship between motivational objects the term subjective motivation space is used, based on the definition of subjective psychological space in modern models of multidimensional scaling. Conditions of motivational tasks are as follows: ranking of motivational objects, determining the subjective centre of motivational space, multiple comparative evaluation of motivational objects, successive refinement of estimates of motivational objects, adjusting the motivational space with due account of placing high priority motivational object. Approbation of new assessment technique was conducted using a sample of 206 financial experts and included two series which had the test and the retest stages. These results were compared with the scores received using the results of standard questionnaires. The construct validity of the methodology was assessed by means of the regression analysis. The scales used in the standard methodologies of work motivation assessment served as the independent variables, while the parameters registered by the developed methodology served as the dependent variables. In the course of validity analysis, 32 highly important regression models were established. The results of psychometric verification of validity and reliability are presented in this paper.

In this paper we develop the criteria for evaluating scientific and academic publications and such qualification works, as diplomas, master theses and Ph. D. theses carried out using qualitative methods. The criteria are the result of a research seminar on qualitative methods held by A.N. Krichevets and O.T. Melnikova at the Department of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. The detailed steps are described and corresponding standards of planning research, preparing the target and theoretical sample, collecting and analyzing quality data, interpreting and presenting results are shown. Particular attention is given to such criteria as transparency of result interpretation, result analysis documentation, validity, availability of author’s reflexive position in the text and availability of respondents’ judgements and opinions. In addition, we show the necessity of choosing methods for analyzing the results (e.g. thematic analysis, grounded theory method, hermeneutic or descriptive phenomenology, narrative and discourse analysis), how they conform to the goals and objectives of the research, and also the adequacy of studying a particular subject area.

We discuss the key validation strategies included into the research process (validation by respondents, analysis of deviant cases, triangulation, etc.), ethical principles and sampling, communicating with respondents, working with their personal data. Developing “quality standards” is an important factor in establishing a qualitative research in the Russian national science of psychology.

The article considers the place of education in society and examines the reasons of possible conflicts between the educational goals and social needs. The author also tries to answer how adults view childhood, and how, proceeding from it, educational programs are built.

In the article specific experimental studies, performed with the use of virtual reality systems are described, Promising directions of modification of research paradigms in cognitive, organizational, social and clinical psychology are introduced. The possibility of using new technology to address educational psychology, psychotherapy and psychological rehabilitation is analyzed.

In the article specific experimental studies, performed with the use of virtual reality systems are described, Promising directions of modification of research paradigms in cognitive, organizational, social and clinical psychology are introduced. The possibility of using new technology to address educational psychology, psychotherapy and psychological rehabilitation is analyzed.